There are people who think that they are without sin. But what, I didn’t kill anyone, didn’t steal anything, what my sins are, there’s nothing to talk about in my confession! Sin is lawlessness, that is, a departure from the law - God's commandments, which the Lord gave to people so that they can live worthily and gain the kingdom of heaven.
And since man is weak and weak, then, accordingly, he sins a lot before God. And in order to cleanse his soul and get rid of sins, God gave people the opportunity to atone with the sacrament of Penance, that is, confession.
Everyone should know how to prepare for confession. After all, the Sacrament of Penance does not consist in coming to the priest and saying: “God forgive me, I am sinful” and with a calm conscience go and continue my former life again. Confession assumes that a person sincerely understood his sins, repented and wants to improve. This is the essence of the Sacrament of Penance, granted to people by the Lord Jesus Christ. This gift is similar to the sacrament of Baptism, because after confession, repentance and cleansing of the soul from sins, a person is, as it were, reborn, pure and humble.
A person who realizes that he is a sinful being and wants to be cleansed before the Lord must know how to prepare for confession. Firstly, one must understand what sins are, because otherwise they cannot be seen, recognized, and, therefore, not repented.
Vanity, pride, idle talk, hostility, irritability, anger, slander, condemnation are inherent in almost every person. And besides, such a mortal sin as infanticide (abortion) - it suffers every second woman in our time, adultery, revenge, anger, appeal to fortune-tellers, and much more. All these grave sins are like a black seal that can only be removed from the soul of a person by the Sacrament of Penance.
When a person came to understand his whole sinful nature, and he decided to take the path of correction, he wonders, first of all, how to prepare for confession? One holy father said that sins are like bricks, the more they are collected, the thicker the wall becomes, which separates a person from God. And it can become so thick that a person begins to experience the mental and physical consequences of his sins. Mental ones are depression, suicide attempts, nervousness, irritability, bouts of bitterness, despair and despondency. Physical consequences affect various diseases.
When he comes to confession, sincerely repenting of his sins and washing his soul with tears before the Lord, a person receives great mercy from the Creator. Through the priest, while reading the permissive prayer, the Lord, by His omnipotent right hand, breaks this wall of sin and destroys the barrier between himself and man. What to speak in confession, so that sincere repentance leads to such a desired result and purifies the soul and heart? First of all, it is necessary to read examples of sins, so that it comes to consciousness how many people have them, so that he first of all sees them and is afraid of his future fate.
If a person decided to sincerely repent, but does not know how to prepare for confession, for this there are books in church shops called “Confession and Holy Communion”, which describe in detail what needs to be done. Of course, first of all, you need to carefully understand your life, your actions. Carefully remember and analyze all your actions in relation to other people, repent, and sincerely want to change your life, as if to start it from a new sheet. What great mercy the Lord gives people, bestowing this mercy - the possibility of correction! In order not to forget anything during confession and not to miss some sins, it is best, when preparing for repentance, to write down on a piece of paper everything that is remembered. To reveal all his sins accumulated during his life to the priest, no matter how ashamed. Sincerely repent and receive forgiveness from the Lord - this is the meaning of confession.
If a person thinks: what to say in confession - let him check his life, his actions according to the Ten Commandments of God, he will draw a lot of information for himself, comparing how to live and how he really lives. St. John of Kronstadt said that recognizing sins, confessing them, a man scourges them, strikes them in order to feel disgust and unwillingness to repeat them again. Often confessing and purifying the soul, a person comes to correction, and neglect of the Sacrament of Penance opens the door to entry and domination of dark forces in the soul.