VirTrue: Confession (Confessio) a Part of Hope

Описание: ✨ Show Notes


🎙️ Intro


Welcome to VirTrue, where we work together to turn away from vice and adopt the virtuous life we are all called to.


I’m your host, Jethro Higgins.


Today’s virtue is Confession (Confessio)


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🌿 Virtue Description: Confession


Confession is more than admitting you did something wrong. It’s hope in action.It’s saying, “I believe God’s mercy is bigger than my mess.”


As a sub-virtue of Hope, Confession gives you the courage to face your faults because you believe God still wants to heal you. It’s the virtue that says, “I am not defined by my worst day.”


Last week, we explored Contrition. This week, we look at what that sorrow leads us to:A bold, trusting step toward healing.


St. Thomas Aquinas writes:


“The virtue of penance consists chiefly in grief of heart, and secondarily in its outward manifestation. The former consists in a turning to God, and consequently in a turning away from those things which are contrary to God.”Summa Theologica II-II, Q84, A1


Confession is that outward manifestation. It’s the step you take because you’re turning back toward God.


Confession builds:


Humility: You name your fault and take ownership.


Clarity: You recognize what’s keeping you from God.


Moral strength: You choose grace over guilt and healing over hiding.


Over time, this virtue doesn’t just change your prayer life. It changes how you show up in your family, friendships, and daily decisions. It helps you live in constant hope—hope that says, “God is not finished with me yet.”


⚠️ Vice of Deficiency: Despair


DefinitionDespair is the belief that your sins are too big for God’s mercy. It shuts the door on forgiveness and says, “There’s no hope for someone like me.”


Why it fitsConfession is about moving toward God. Despair convinces you it’s not even worth trying.It doesn’t just silence confession—it steals your will to be healed.


St. Thomas Aquinas puts it simply:


“Despair consists in a man ceasing to hope for a share of God’s goodness... It is contrary to the mercy of God.”Summa Theologica II-II, Q20, A1


DescriptionDespair wraps you in shame and says you’re beyond help. It might look like hiding, avoiding church, or refusing to forgive yourself. But at its core, it’s a rejection of God’s promise to restore you.


It’s one of the sins against the Holy Spirit—not because God won’t forgive, but because you won’t ask.


🔥 Vice of Excess: Presumption


DefinitionPresumption expects forgiveness without sorrow. It assumes God will just “get it” and doesn’t feel the need to truly repent.


Why it fitsPresumption distorts God’s mercy. It treats it like a loophole instead of a lifeline.It’s the soul saying, “God will forgive me anyway, so I don’t need to change.”


DescriptionPresumption often sounds like:


“Everyone sins.”


“God understands.”


“It’s not that big of a deal.”


It avoids self-examination and treats confession like a routine instead of a relationship.St. Paul warned about this attitude in Romans 6:1:


“Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means.”


Presumption forgets that grace isn’t automatic. It’s a gift meant to transform you.


🪞 My Life


I struggled with the deficiency side of this virtue. I didn’t doubt God could forgive me—I doubted whether I was ready to receive it.


I avoided confession. I feared the shame. I’d go when required, but not because my heart longed for reconciliation.


But during my senior year, something changed.God pulled me deeper into prayer and relationship.Confession wasn’t a task anymore—it was a homecoming.And I’ve never gone back to despair.


Today, my kids ask to go to confession. They see it as hope, not humiliation.And that’s a gift we can give those we love: the example of a heart willing to be restored.


🧎 The Confiteor


I confess to almighty God,and to you, my brothers and sisters,that I have greatly sinnedin my thoughts and in my words,in what I...