The Prayer Before Confession is a prayer that is often recited by Catholics before confessing their sins to a priest. This prayer seeks guidance and strength from God to examine one’s conscience and to approach the sacrament of confession with humility and honesty. It is a powerful invocation that acknowledges our human weakness and sinfulness, and seeks God’s mercy and forgiveness. Many Catholics turn to this prayer as a source of comfort and support, trusting in God’s love and grace to guide them through the confession process. The Prayer Before Confession is a reminder of our need for God’s mercy and forgiveness and a call to approach the sacrament of confession with a humble and contrite heart.
Please read the prayers below which will provide guidance for Prayer Before Confession. May God Bless You!
Prayer Before Confession 1
O Holy Spirit,
Source of all light, Spirit of wisdom, of understanding, and of knowledge, come to my assistance and enable me to make a good confession. Enlighten me, and help me now to know my sins as one day I shall be force to recognize them before Thy judgment seat. Bring to my mind the evil which I have done and the good which I have neglected. Permit me not to be blinded by self-love. Grant me, moreover, heartfelt sorrow for my transgressions, and the grace of a sincere confession, so that I may be forgiven and admitted into Thy friendship.
Amen.
Prayer Before Confession 2
O my God,
Help me to make a good confession. Mary, my dearest Mother, pray to Jesus for me. Help me to examine my conscience, enable me to obtain true sorrow for my sins, and beg for me the grace rather to die than to offend God again. Lord Jesus, light of our souls, who enlightens every man coming into this world, enlighten my conscience and my heart by Thy Holy Spirit, so that I may perceive all that is displeasing to Thy divine majesty and may expiate it by humble confession, true contrition, and sincere repentance.
Amen.
Prayer Before Confession 3
Dear Jesus,
Help me to make a good Confession; help me to find out my sins, help me to be sorry for them, help me to make up my mind not to sin again. Have mercy on me, O Lord, and forgive me. Mary my Mother, pray for me. Amen. Come, Holy Spirit, into my soul. Enlighten my mind that I may know the sins I ought to confess, and grant me Your grace to confess them fully, humbly and with contrite heart. Help me to firmly resolve not to commit them again. O Blessed Virgin, Mother of my Redeemer, mirror of innocence and sanctity, and refuge of penitent sinners, intercede for me through the Passion of Your Son that I may obtain the grace to make a good confession. All you blessed angels and saints of God, pray for me, a most miserable sinner, that I may repent from my evil ways, that my heart may henceforth be forever united with yours in eternal love.
Amen.
Prayer Before Confession 4
Dear Jesus,
Thank you for helping me to make a good Confession, and thank you for taking away my sins. Help me, dear Jesus, never to offend you again. Mary, my mother, pray to Jesus for me. My dear angel guardian, help me. Amen. My dearest Jesus, I have told all my sins to the best of my ability. I have sincerely tried to make a good confession, and I know that You have forgiven me. Thank you, dear Jesus! Your divine Heart is full of love and mercy for poor sinners. I love You, dear Jesus; you are so good to me. My loving Savior, I shall try to keep from sin and to love You more each day. Dearest Mother Mary, pray for me and help me to keep all my promises. Protect me and do not let me fall back into sin. Dear God, help me to lead a good life. Without Your grace I can do nothing.
Amen.
Prayer Before Confession 5
St. Gerard,
Patron of a Good Confession, who gave courage to souls whom fear and shame had overcome; who gave sorrow to their hearts, resolution to their wills, truth to their faltering lips; help me to make a good Confession. Enable me to know my sins, to be truly sorry for them, and to be firmly resolved, with God’s grace, never to sin again. Help me to confess my sins humbly and sincerely, to confess them in the spirit of faith, as confessing them to Our Lord Himself. Stand by me in this Confession, O gentle Saint, an angel of God sent to free me from sin.
Amen.
Prayer Before Confession 6
Gracious God,
Our sins are too heavy to carry, too real to hide, and too deep to undo. Forgive what our lips tremble to name, what our hearts can no longer bear, and what has become for us a consuming fire of judgment. Set us free from a past that we cannot change; open to us a future in which we can be changed; and grant us grace to grow more and more in your likeness and image, through Jesus Christ, the light of the world.
Amen.
Add Comment