This is the rule with regard to our ordinary confessions; but we should sometimes make a general confession.  What is a general confession?  It is the confession of the sins of our whole life or of a portion—­say one, two or five, etc., years—­of our life.  A general confession may be necessary, useful, or hurtful.  It is necessary, as you know, when our past confessions were bad.  It is useful, though not necessary, on special occasions in our lives; for example, in the time of a retreat or mission; in the time of preparation for First Communion, Confirmation, Matrimony, etc., or in preparing for death.  It is very useful also for persons about to change their state of life; for such as are about to become priests or religious, etc.  It is useful because it gives us a better knowledge of the state of our souls, as we see their condition not merely for a month or two, but for our whole lifetime.  We are looking at them as God will look at them in the Last Judgment, considering all the good and evil we have ever done, and comparing the amount of the one with the amount of the other.  We resolve to increase the good and diminish the evil in our future lives.  We promise to do penance for the past and to avoid sin for the future; and thus we are benefited in general confession by this judgment of ourselves, as we may call it.

General confession is hurtful to scrupulous persons.  Scrupulous persons are those who think almost everything they do is a sin.  They are always dissatisfied with their confessions, and fear to approach the Sacraments.  Their conscience is never at ease, and they are forever unhappy.  It is very wrong for them to think and act in this manner, and they must use every means in their power to overcome their scruples.

Our Lord in His goodness never intended to make us unhappy by instituting the Sacraments, but on the contrary to make us happy, and set our minds and consciences at ease in the reception of His grace.  Scrupulous persons must do exactly whatever their confessor advises, no matter what they themselves may think.  Such persons, as you can plainly see, should not make general confessions, because their consciences would be more disturbed than pacified by them.

You prepare for general confession as you would for any other, except that you take a longer time for it, and do not pay so much attention to your more trifling sins.

218 Q. Why does the priest give us a penance after confession?  A. The priest gives us a penance after confession, that we may satisfy God for the temporal punishment due to our sins.

“Penance.”  The little penance the priest gives may not fully satisfy God, but shows by our accepting it that we are willing to do penance.  What, for example, is a penance of five “Our Fathers” compared with the guilt of one mortal sin, for which we would have to suffer in Hell for all eternity?  Then think of the penances performed by the Christians many centuries ago, in the early