The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Confession: Cleaning the Soul Within

Episode Date: August 8, 2025

Confession clears out the burdens of past sins and moves us toward a path of freedom and healing. Jeff emphasizes the importance of bringing lingering sin to Jesus in this sacrament and provides practical steps for making a good confession. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit https://media.ascensionpress.com/?s=&page=2&category%5B0%5D=Ascension%20Podcasts&category%5B1%5D=The%20Jeff%20Cavins%20Show for full shownotes!

This podcast is brought to you by Ascension. To discover even more free Catholic podcasts, videos, and resources, to help you live your faith every day, visit ascensionpress.com. Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is show 442, Confession, Taken out the Garbage of Your Soul. Hey, welcome to the show this week. I'm Jeff Kavens. Thank you for joining me. First time listeners, welcome.

Welcome to the listening family here, where we talk about the Word of God, discipleship, living out the faith. And we talk about issues of everyday living. We do that a lot. So glad you are joining us, if it's your first time. And today we're going to talk about something that's very practical, and that's confession,

and specifically taking out the garbara. garbage of your soul. As I was thinking about the show this week, I was thinking of the different topics that I wanted to talk about. And there's a, I got a whole list of things I want to share with you. But I landed on confession. And then right away, I thought, well, people know about confession. And then it dawned on me, two things. One, not everybody does. And number two, we might know about confession, but that doesn't mean that we're actually doing it, at least on a regular basis. But I'm approaching confession today from a little bit different angle, and that is the past. The things that have happened in the past that are going to affect you today and affect

you in the future. And I know that a lot of people get caught up in kind of a rut in their life, and they can't go forward because of the past. And they're carrying that baggage. They're carrying that weight in their soul, and it doesn't allow them to go forward in freedom. It's like being brought out of Egypt, but because of what happened in Egypt, you can't go into the promised land because you're not really free. Well, my friend, I want you to go into the promised land. And so allow me to take you by the hand, and together we'll do it, and we'll go into the promised land. We'll go into a place where we are free due to this marvelous sacrament called confession. So I've got some good stuff for you today. By the way, if you do want my notes,

all you got to do is text my name, Jeff Kavens, one word Jeff Kavins and text it to the number, you ready? 3377. Hey, by the way, the show is on the Ascension app now. And if you have always kind of struggled in sharing the show with others because they didn't understand the podcast world, well now all they need is the app, the Ascension app, and it's free. And so you can go to Apple or Android, you can go ahead and you can get the app and you can enjoy not only this show, but a number of other shows from Ascension Presents. So, all right, let's do this today. I'm looking forward to this. I've been thinking about it, thinking about you, praying for you, and I think this is going to be some benefit. Okay, so here's the first thing that it comes to mind.

And one of the problems that we face, which is also a blessing, and that is we are created in the image and likeness of God. Now, there's nothing negative about that, but there are some things that we have to consider when we realize that we've been created in the image and likeness of God. As you know, perhaps that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, forever. He does not change. And so God transcends time. He was yesterday. He is today. He will be tomorrow.

that's the way it is. Now, we who are created in the image and likeness of God also to a degree are in yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And so when it comes to sin in our life, missing the mark, sin can affect our yesterday. And it certainly affects today. And it will affect tomorrow. And so one of the things that we have to do is deal with the sin in our life from the past that is really clogging up the spiritual arteries to freedom. And so what I have found in my life is that if I'm going to get bogged down today, sometimes it's due to sin yesterday or missing the mark yesterday or something that happened yesterday and getting angry or envious or appetite, whatever it might be, what you did yesterday affects you today. And so if we're going to go forward in victory,

If we're going to go forward and live the life of a fruitful disciple, an activated disciple, as I call it, then you do have to make sure that the garbage is taken out. The garbage of what? The garbage of your soul is taken out. It's dealt with in confession. So one of the strengths we have is that we're created in the image and likeness of God, but one of the things that can go wrong is that we can dwell on yesterday, good and bad, and we can dwell on tomorrow. And that can be good or bad as well.

So what we want to do is we want to live fully today and be present in the moment. But if we're going to do that, we've got to take care of the garbage of the soul from yesterday. And we cannot be afraid of tomorrow. That's fear. Pope Pius X, the 12th said, the sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin. That's Pius the 12. I'll put that in the show notes for you. So he's so right, isn't he?

The sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin. don't think about it anymore and we or we have you know new words for sin like well things just didn't go well i made a mistake but we have to be sensitive to sin and the way you do that is you are more in the presence of god and in his word than you are involved in the things of sin so here's what kind of happens the sin of yesterday that lingers into today can present itself as shame Okay. So sin that lingers is shame oftentimes. And then unforgiveness. What does that do? That lands you in shackles. You are all tied up. You cannot do what you're called to do. Now, Paul had something to say about this. He said in Philippians 3, 13 and 14, brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ, Jesus. Isn't that powerful?

I like what he says there. Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do. I'm forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. Now, you can be misunderstood there in that if we have sin in the past, just forget about it. But doesn't work that way. It's not quite that easy. Your ability to forget something does not forgive. Your ability to push something under the carpet does not make it go away.

So we're not just simply saying, well, forget about what happened last year. Forget about what happened in college. No, you have to deal with it. So when Paul says, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, it's in the fuller context of the faith, the deposit of faith, and that would include going to confession. dealing with the sin of the past in an appropriate way. And you know what? As I'm talking to you right now,

I just have this sense from the Lord that you know exactly what I'm talking about. And maybe you've even dealt with this before and you could teach it. But maybe you're in the throes of past sin right now. And it's affecting everything in your life. It's affecting your marriage, your parenting, your friendships, your work,

your time, your money, your emotions. It's affecting you, and you can't just forget about it. You've got to deal with it. Now, Jeremiah 29-11, I love it. It's one of my all-time favorites in the Bible. He says, God says, for I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil to give you a future and a hope. Confession, my friend, is a part of that future and hope that we have to deal with the past. You know, I read this little small booklet years ago.

I can't, I'm trying to, I think it was called My Heart Christ's Home, a little small book, very popular years ago. And it was a, it was kind of a little story of Jesus coming into my house, which was like my heart. And he comes in and he meets me at the front door, and he's going to go through every room of my heart. And I'm going to give him a tour of every area of my life. And so we go in the entryway, then in the living room, and then the kitchen. And all along, he was asking questions about, you know, how you're eating and you're consuming this or that. And what's all that alcohol, you know, and so forth?

And then finally, after going through the whole home of my heart, there's this closet. There's a closet. And there's a lock on it. And Jesus says, well, what's in there? So, oh, we don't need to talk about that, Lord. We don't need to talk about that. That's long ago. We don't even go in there anymore.

He said, well, no, open it up. Let me see. No, Jesus, please, come on. Finally, the Lord prevails, and he has to open it up. And there it is, you name it. It's something really serious that had taken place. That's really marked this individual's life. And Jesus basically says, I can take care of that, if you'll give this to me.

And that's kind of the way our heart is, too, right? our heart, Christ's home, you might want to go through every room in your life right now and just, you know, allow the Lord to take a little walk through your life and your heart. You know, one of the scriptures that really, really speaks to this issue that I really like, it's Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 through 3, and I'm, I just slipped it in the notes here for you. Listen to this. Now, the writer of Hebrews is talking about the fact that we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, the saints, right, the great soldiers, the triumphant victors of the past. He says, therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also

lay aside every weight and sin, which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance, the race that is set before us. My friend, today, the Lord is saying to you that he's got for you a run, a race, and he wants you to persevere. But if there is sin weighing you down, we need to lay it aside. How do we lay it aside? We go to confession, and we're brutally honest about it. We confess our sins. We'll talk about that in just a few minutes here.

But I love that. Let me just read that again, because it's so good, and then I'll read the other two verses hooked onto it. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself

so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted. Isn't that good? That's Hebrews 12, 1 through 3. So, wow, that's really, really good. So we're going to talk a little bit about going to confession and the advantages of it, but we're going to do it right after this. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Hey, guys, my name's Father Mike Schmitz.

I'm so excited to tell you about new cities and new dates for the parables tour. We're going to cities in both Michigan and Texas. If you're interested in getting tickets, you can go to ascensurepress.com slash fathermike tour for access to tickets and more information. Tickets go on sale Thursday, May 22nd. God bless. Welcome back. Today's show, Confession, taking out the garbage of your soul. You know, I've collected questions over the years from this show, and this is 442.

So we had years together. And I wrote some questions down that people had, and there was Gina. asked how to make a good confession in the past. Betty, I still struggle with confession. She said, I struggle with it. I get very nervous, stuttering. Don't feel good afterwards. I feel bad, you know, which shouldn't happen,

but some people can. But if you understand what's happening in confession, you're going to walk out of they're feeling good, I really believe. Norman, a follower of various religions, eventually came back and made his first confession in 38 years. Here's one. Grace said, can't think of any sins when it comes time to go to confession.

Well, there's an answer to that, and that is prepared by keeping a notebook or a hidden text file and write down the things that you need to confess when you go in. So the question comes up, is the Catholic who confesses his sins to a priest any better off than non-Catholics who confess straight to God? Good question, isn't it? Is the Catholic who confesses his sins or her sins to a priest? any better off than the non-Catholic who confesses straight to God? The answer, yes, yes, and I'll explain.

But before I explain that, you know, one of the things I hear all the time, it's so funny, I'll talk about confession. And then one of my loving, beautiful Protestant friends will say, well, I don't need to do that. You know what? I can go out into the woods alone and just confess my sins to God, to which I asked, when was the last time you did that? Anyway, so, yes, there is an advantage.

to going to a priest to go to confession. Now, number one, you have to remember that the priest there is in persona Christi. In other words, the priest is taking that place of Christ to listen to you. And so it is Jesus that you are going to. But like so many things in the church, God uses humans and even things like oil and water and so forth and bread and wine to communicate himself to us. So, yes, there is an advantage to going to confession versus going out in the middle of the woods

and doing this in front of the deer in the antelope. First, the person who goes to confession is seeking forgiveness the way Christ intended it to be sought. And you can read about this in James. You can read about it. A number of places in the Bible, I'll give you a few scriptures, but we're following what Jesus set up. We're not making something up here.

So first, he seeks forgiveness the way Christ intended it to be sought. Second, by confessing to a priest, the Catholic learns a lesson in humility, which is conveniently avoided when one confesses only out in the woods in front of the deer in the antelope or in just private prayer. And we all, we all, don't we, we all desire to escape humbling experiences. I didn't wake up this morning and say, you know what? I'm going to seek out three really humbling experiences today. Nobody does that.

Humility just sort of hit you in the face at the wrong times. Now, third, the Catholic receives sacramental graces that the non-Catholic doesn't. They don't get them. Through the sacrament of penance, you receive sacramental graces. What's that? That's the life of the Trinity. So not only are your sins forgiven, but graces are obtained. It's a two-fer.

Why would somebody fight against that? Why? Especially when it's biblical. Go to one another, right? Confess your sin. And we know that at the end of John's gospel, we see that Jesus gives this authority to forgive. Not just to you alone, but he gives it to the leaders of the church.

And they have this ministry now where sins are forgiven. Fourth, and in some ways this could be the most important, the Catholic is assured that his sins are forgiven. He does not have to rely on a subjective, quote-unquote, feeling. I really felt, you know, like I was forgiven, or I didn't feel like I was forgiven. We're not going by feelings when we talk about sacraments. We're talking about reality. We're talking about Jesus' plan.

We're talking about his idea on how to deal with sin. We walk by faith, not by sight, not by just feelings. Not at all. So that is a really important one right there, is that when I go to confession, I know that the garbage has been taken out of my soul. And lastly, the Catholic can also obtain really good advice, if you will. Direction on how to avoid sin in the future. your miles may vary depending on the priest but you can get some good sound advice while the non-Catholic

praying out in the woods with the deer in the antelope not so much not so much by the way i wrote this down that and you can check it out catholic answers has a really good a couple of really good articles on going to confession they're really good and i'm always in favor of lifting up and giving a shout out to other good Catholic ministries. So when we go to confession, this is the deal. Repentance is the key, right? Go into confession. Repentance. Repentance is a radical reorientation of your whole life, a return, a conversion to God with all of our heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil, with repugnance towards the evil actions we have committed. And at the same time, it entails the desire and resolution to change one's life with hope in God's mercy and trust

in the help of his grace. Now, rather than you writing all that down, all you have to do is go to the catechism. Paragraph 1431, that's what I just read there, paragraph 1431. By the way, the Ascension app, it's got all this in there. It's got the Bible. It's got the catechism. It's got the podcast. It's got everything.

So going to confession, here's the key elements. and maybe this is remedial. Maybe this is learning it again, and that's fine. Because you know what? Maybe you have not gone to confession for a year. And it's been a rough road for the year and you're listening today because you found this on the search engine and you're thinking, you know what? I needed this.

I do need to go back to confession. Not everybody that listens to the Jeff Kaven show goes once a month. I've checked. I did research. I'm kidding. So key elements and go into confession. contrition. Contrition is first place when it comes to going to confession. Contrition, what is it? Well, it's a sorrow of the soul and a detestation. You detest it. Detestation for sin committed,

together with the resolution not to sin again. That's contrition. Going to confession is not a temporary insurance policy. It just doesn't buy you a month. You can't go to confession knowing I'm to buy a month, but I know I'm going to do something again. That is not healthy for your soul. It really isn't. I don't even have to sell that. We know that. We know that. So we've got to have a different attitude as we go to confession. You want a different future? You want a different road up ahead? Then we got to get serious today, right? The confession of sins, in the catechism talks about this in paragraph 1455. The confession or the disclosure of sins. That's what we mean by confession. It's a disclosure of sins. Even from a simply human point of view, frees us and

facilitates our reconciliation with others. Through such an admission, man looks squarely at the sins. He is guilty of, takes responsibility for them, thereby opens himself again to God and to the communion of the church in order to make a new future possible. Don't you love it? So here's something that is very good to do before you go to confession. It's called an examination of conscience. Before you go to confession, it's a good idea to take some time to reflect on the condition of your heart. That's what an examination of conscience is. Now, you can use the Ten Commandments as a good measure to review your life.

That's in Exodus 20. I'll put it in the notes. And that gives you some big ticket items, right? And you can reflect on basic Christian virtues like faith, hope. The love of God, love for neighbor, patience, purity, honesty. And third, you can place yourself in the presence of God and ask yourself if you have honestly pleased him with your life. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you the areas that you have failed. And that might mean in your private life.

It might mean in your business. It might mean in your marriage. It might mean with your children. It might mean your finances. It might mean what you were looking at on the Internet. Now, the mechanics to go into confession, just as a remedial here, upon entering the confessional, you can kneel or sit. You have the opportunity to make your confession face to face with a priest, or many times, if you're just very uncomfortable about this, you can go behind a curtain or a partition. There's a lot of churches out there, and you can even look around, see what you're comfortable with.

The partition was originally put there, not for you, but for the priest. Now, make the sign of the cross and say, bless me, Father, for I have sinned, and then state when your last confession was. That's number one. And if you haven't been there for a while and you're feeling nervous, your problem is not with the priest. They love it when people come back to confession. I mean, they love it.

They love it. And by the way, they're under a ban. They cannot talk about anything in the confessional. Nothing to anybody. You can't talk about it with another priest, bishop, nobody. You can be excommunicated for doing it. It's under the seal. don't worry about it okay number two confess any mortal sin and any venial sin that you wish to mention

if the priest asks you questions you should answer him truthfully and clearly and if you're guilty of mortal sin it is expected that you would mention number and kind of sin this is not a a time to beat around the bush uh-uh no life and death go into confession determined to deal with the sin in your life Now, you can find out mortal, venal sin in the catechism on the Ascension app. Pretty easy. Three, you will be asked to make an act of contrition. Now, this can either be a prayer from the heart expressing your sorrow or an intent, or there may be an act of contrition written out for you in the confessional.

And if you are uncomfortable with praying and expressing your sorrow in a spontaneous way, then you can take in with you this prayer. And as I said, oftentimes they are actually in the confessional. And the prayer is this. This is your act of contrition. This is your response to the saying your sins and the priest either giving you direction or giving you a penance, which would be something to restore your soul. Could be a prayer, a series of prayers, something to do. And then he'll say, make your act of contrition. And that's when you would say, oh, my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you. I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell.

But most of all because they offend you, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love, I firmly resolve with the help of your grace to sin no more, to do penance and to amend my life. Amen. And the priest will give you absolution. I forgive you. He says you are forgiven by the authority given to him through the church. And then the priest will give you your penance in confession. And this usually is prayer or something to do to counter the sin in your life.

In some cases, your penance may be a combination. There are a really good priests to go to. There are priests that you are very quiet and you're kind of wondering. And that's okay too because Christ is there and you are forgiven. There you go. confession what do you think about doing it this week if you are in mortal sin what do you think about doing it today i'd get myself down there real quick to be honest with you uh and so whatever you're going through in your life right now take take this this episode 442 of the show and ask

yourself did i need to hear this today let's pray the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit amen lord jesus we love you we thank you lord for giving us life, and we thank you for giving us a future. And we thank you for giving us the sacraments. You are, you're truly coming to us, Lord, and meeting with us. Lord, we ask that our hearts would really, really be tuned to you more perfectly. In Jesus' name, amen. Name of the Father's Son, and the Holy Spirit. I love you. I'm praying for you. Pray for me. Look forward to talking to you next week. Thank you.