D53.01.00 Concerning the priest's discretion
D53.01.01 He
who is the physician of men's souls and the
counsellor of their deeds must consider that distinction and that difference: how he shall assign
penance to men for their deeds, and yet not condemn them or cause them to despair.
D53.02.01 When one wishes to confess his misdeeds to him, first
listen to
him patiently (and learn) how his condition might be advised.
D53.03.01 If he wishes and knows how to confess his
deeds
humbly, and you perceive that his sins cause him sorrow, instruct him kindly and
compassionately.
D53.04.01 If he does not know how to confess his deeds and to
consider his offenses, ask him about his condition, and wrest the offenses from him, and search
out his deeds, and be mindful yourself that you must never pass judgment in the same way on
the
powerful and the lowly, the free and the enslaved, the old and the young, the well and the sickly,
the humble and the proud; the strong and the weak, those in orders and lay people.
D53.05.01 In every act a prudent judge must distinguish wisely how
it was done, and where and when.
D53.06.01 At no time is wrongdoing allowed, and nevertheless one
must also most earnestly be on guard against it during festival seasons and in times of fasting and in festival
places.
D53.07.01 And always, as one is mightier or greater of
rank, so must he repent wrongdoing more deeply before God and before the world. For the
powerful and the weak are not able to lift up a similar burden, nor the one who is well.
D53.08.01 And therefore one must take the measure of and
discreetly distinguish between
D52.01.01 After this let him arise humbly to his confession and then say, first:
D52.01.02 "I believe in God the great Father, Ruler of all things,
and in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit; and I believe in life after death; and I believe that I will
arise on Doomsday, and all this I believe will come to pass through God's power and
mercy."
D52.01.03 And then,
with contrite mind and humbly, let him say his
confession to his confessor, bending humbly; and say thus
D52.02.01 "I confess to Almighty God and to my confessor, the
spiritual physician, all the sins that ever through cursed spirits, have happened to me in
defilement, in deed or in thought, with men or with women or with any creature, natural or
unnatural sins of the body.
D52.02.02 "I confess greediness in eating both before and after
time."
D52.02.03 "I confess all covetousness and envy, and calumnies and
deceits, lies and evil boasts, and idle words and wrongful choices, and every ornament that has
ever contributed to the injury of my body.
D52.02.04 "I confess that I was too often a worker of sins, and a
helper of sins, and an accomplice of sins, and a teacher of sins.
D52.02.05 "I confess the mortal sins of my mind, and false oaths,
and strife, and pride, and disregard of God's commandments.
D52.02.06 "I confess all that I have ever seen with my eyes in
covetousness or calumny, or heard with my ears to ill use, or said to ill use with my mouth.
D52.02.07 "I confess to you all the sins of my body, for skin, for
flesh, for bone, for sinews, for veins, for gristle, for tongue, for lips, for gums, and for teeth, for
hair, and for marrow, for everything soft or hard, wet or dry.
D52.02.08 "I confess that I have kept to my baptism worse than I
promised to my Lord, and my rank, which I ought to have kept in praise of God and his holy
ones
and for my own eternal salvation, I have held unworthily.
D52.02.09 "I confess that I have often neglected my canonical hours
and sworn false oaths on my Lord's life, and taken my Lord's name in vain.
D52.03.01 "For all that I ask for my Lord's forgiveness, that the
devil may never charge me with fault, so that I (might be) without confession and repentance of
my sins.
D52.03.02 "So today I confess all my sins before the Lord Savior
Christ, who rules heaven and earth, and before this holy altar, and this reliquary, and before my
confessor and the Lord's masspriest, and am in pure and true confession, and with good will for
the repenting of all my sins, and afterwards to desist from those that ever I might commit.
D52.03.03 "And you, Christ the Savior, be merciful to my soul and
forgiving and blot out my sins and my offenses that ever I did, late or early, and lead me to your
high kingdom so that I might dwell there with your holy and chosen ones in eternity ever without
end.
D52.03.04 "Now I ask you humbly, priest of the Lord, that you be
my witness on Doomsday, so that the devil might not obtain power over me, and so that you be
my intercessor with the Lord, so that I might be able to repent all my sins and offenses, and
cease
from such things. For that may the Lord, he who lives and reigns ever without end in eternity,
sustain me. Amen.
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