CHAPTER V.

FREQUENT CONFESSION AND THE DESIRE TO CONFESS.

CHRIST said to St. Bridget: “It is useful to him who desires to acquire and to retain My Spirit and My grace, that he should frequently confess his sins and negligences to a priest, that so he may be cleansed.” And when she saw the soul of her husband Ulpho in purgatory, she said: “O happy soul! what was it that most contributed to thy salvation?” He answered, “My confessions, which I was accustomed (when I could have access to a priest) to make every Friday, with a firm purpose of amendment.”

A certain virgin in a religious order, who had lived very piously, coming to the hour of her death, had to be cleansed before her departure from this fault, that she had sometimes neglected the grace of sacramental confession. For occasionally, when the other virgins her companions prepared themselves for confession to the priest, as her conscience did not reproach her with any grave fault, she did not care to be absolved by the words of the priest from, the mere dust, as it were, of venial sins, from which no human life can be free; but feigned to be asleep when the priest came to hear their confessions.

When St. Bridget was living in Rome, a certain man came there who wished to make sacramental confession of his sins, but could not obtain a confessor, because none of the priests understood his language. And when St. Bridget consulted our Lord on his be half, our Lord answered: “He laments because he cannot find any one to hear his confession; but thou shalt tell him to be of good courage. The will is sufficient, when a man is not able to do the good work that he desires to do. For what brought salvation to the thief on the cross? Was it not his good will? And what constitutes hell, but an evil will and inordinate affections? Therefore, let this poor man remain firm and not draw back. When he has returned to his own country, let him seek from wise and just men those things which are salutary for his soul, and let him listen to them, submitting his will to them, and following their counsel rather than his own inclination or his own judgment. And if he 242should die on the way thither, it shall be with him as I, hanging upon the cross, said to the thief: Thou shalt be with Me in Paradise ” (St. Luke, xxiii. 43). Without doubt a good will is a great and sweet treasure. He who has this, desires and endeavours to obey and to please God, and to do those things which are acceptable to Him. This is the foundation and the root of all holy virtues. It springs from the Holy Spirit, and is a great grace of God and an in fused love. Blessed is he who has received it from God, and who studies to keep it.

St. Gertrude once complained to St. John the Evangelist that she feared lest she should incur some loss because, through forgetfulness, she sometimes omitted to confess to the priest some things (though of lesser importance), since she had not, in the meanwhile, access to a priest, and they escaped her through the weakness of her memory. St. John sweetly consoled her with these words: “Fear not, daughter; for whenever thou preparest thyself with a perfect will to confess all thy sins, and wishing for a priest thou canst not obtain one, those things which thou omittest through forgetfulness to confess, will shine before the merciful Lord like precious jewels in thy soul, and make thee appear wonderfully gracious in the sight of all the citizens of heaven.”

When St. Gertrude was once praying for some other virgins of her convent, who by her desire had humbly received the Holy Eucharist, although because of the absence of the confessor, they had not made a sacramental confession; our Lord seemed to 243clothe them with a perfectly white garment, that is to say, His own innocence. This garment was ornamented all over with most brilliant jewels, having the form, and also the fragrance of violets; and by these was denoted the humility with which they had received Communion, simply following her instructions, and confiding in the goodness of God. Afterwards there was given to them also a rose-coloured garment, interwoven with golden flowers, figuring our Lord’s Passion perfect in love, by which Passion any man obtains the merit of worthy preparation. But a rose-coloured garment alone, interspersed with golden flowers, was given to those sisters who, not by the advice of St. Gertrude, but of their own accord (the grace of God co-operating with them), had communicated, though they had not confessed their sins to a priest. Lastly, those who with humility and sorrow had abstained from Communion, seemed to be present at the heavenly banquet, and to rejoice greatly in the abundance of its delights.