Finding Peace in His Mercy


by Laura Roberts

Looking for Peace? Try Confession!
by Mary Ann Budnik
R.B. Media Inc.
159 pp., $9.95
(217) 546-5261

    What would you do if you were having a discussion about Confession, and the person you were talking to told you he confesses his sins directly to God, and wondered why he should have to tell his sins to a priest, who is only a man? Well, if you did not have a ready answer to that question, but want to have one for the next time, read Mary Ann Budnik’s book. Had you read her book already, you could have answered, “What assurance do we have that God will forgive us outside of confession? God sent His Son Jesus Christ to redeem us and to give us the sacraments of salvation. If we do not use Christ’s sacraments, it is presumptuous of us to think we are forgiven.”

    This is just one example of the arguments against confession refuted in her book. She begins the book with an explanation of sin, and of the necessity of the Sacrament of Penance. Budnik mentions friends and neighbors who would drop by interrupting work on the book. She says she listened to her friends talk about their troubles or the world’s, and it struck her “that sin was at the root of their concerns and sufferings.” She explains that people often “replace the hunger for God with a hunger for a bigger house, a more luxurious car, expensive vacations, designer clothes, false ambitions, and promiscuous lifestyles. . .” These substitutes for true happiness instead create anxiety, and the cycle continues as people look to people or things for their happiness, instead of looking to God.

    Budnik reminds us that “Vatican II clearly explains that sanctification is a moral obligation for everyone, not just for the pious gentleman in the third row at daily Mass.” Although easy enough to say, she does not merely tell us of our obligation, but gives practical, meaningful advice as to how each individual should be working towards personal sanctification. Confession, of course, is one of the primary ways. Budnik’s book consists primarily of responses to the objections to Confession, such as the one above. Although warning that this book is not meant to be exhaustive on the topics approached, Budnik nonetheless gives quite a bit of detailed explanation. In each chapter, Budnik answers an objection by introducing other pertinent information. For example, in response to the question of how we sin, Budnik discusses the seven deadly sins. In her argument for the necessity of an examination of conscience before Confession, she explains the Commandments, the Precepts of the Church, and the Spiritual and Corporal works of mercy. “Our confession should not be a grocery list of sins that are the same each time we go. Instead, we have to get to the root of our sins to find the main cause of our turning away from God.”

    Budnik argues that not only should we go to Confession when we are in the state of mortal sin, but so too with “only” venial sins to confess. “No matter how small a sin looks in our eyes, it’s a black blot on our souls.” As she does throughout the book, Budnik illustrates this argument with an analogy. She talks of sitting down to the computer to work on the book, and spilling tea on her skirt. Although it was “just” a small spot, it was in the middle of the skirt, and therefore made her outfit look dirty. “That is how our soul looks to God when we do our will, rather than God’s will.”

    After answering objections to Confession, Budnik explains the power of grace. She distinguishes between sanctifying and actual grace. “The first is a permanent quality granted to the soul; the second is transient help . . . Sanctifying grace is a permanent gift that can only be lost through mortal sin.... Actual grace is a spiritual help which God sends us in a particular circumstance (which choice to make) — at a particular moment (such as at the moment of temptation); in a tricky situation where prudence and wisdom are required; or as an impulse to perform some good action.”

    Budnik also examines the infused virtues we receive with sanctifying grace. The infused moral virtues include prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. The infused theological virtues include faith, hope, and charity, by which we come to participate in God’s wisdom, happiness, and love, respectively. Budnik cites Leo Trese in his book The Faith Explained when saying faith is “the virtue by which we firmly assent to all the truths God has revealed, on the word of God revealing them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived.” Budnik maintains we must accept all the truths revealed by God, for if we pick and choose, “we are in effect, saying that God is imperfect, that He can err.”

    Budnik maintains that there “are no second-class Christians obliged to practice only a ‘simplified version’ of the Gospel.” She suggests practical applications to use in our lives so that we may grow in grace. “We are to accept all the truths that God has revealed rather than pick and choose, according to our taste. We cannot say, ‘I believe in the Holy Eucharist but not in Confession.’ Or, ‘I believe in heaven but not in purgatory or hell”’ There is quite a lot of that in the Church today, with “Catholics” who believe little to nothing of what the Church teaches. This “cafeteria-Catholic” attitude is very prevalent with the sin of contraception. Perhaps people convince themselves that certain evils are not quite so evil, and that certain goods just do not look good enough, but we owe God our obedience in all things. We have no right to be selectively obedient.

    Budnik quotes Pope John Paul II: “As a rupture with God, sin is an act of disobedience by a creature who rejects, at least implicitly, the very one from whom he came and who sustains him in life.” It is therefore a suicidal act. Budnik insists that we “were born solely to know, love, and serve God here on earth and to be happy with Him in eternity .... This is our purpose for existing. This is our primary goal in life. If we are looking for peace and happiness, then all of our actions, our ambitions, our time, should be centered on this goal.” Indeed, we need to constantly ask ourselves if we are focusing on the temporal or on the eternal. God has given us free will, and with that we can choose to go towards God, or away from Him. He will not force anyone to choose Him, and will ultimately accept our decision. “By leading a life opposed to the will of God, we condemn ourselves to Hell. God does not condemn us. Our life condemns us.”

    Mary Ann Budnik has written a simple, insightful book that should be read by all Catholics, especially those who think Confession is obsolete.

Mrs. Laura Roberts is a wife and mother.

The Catholic Faith - January/February '98 - Table of Contents