…Regular celebration of this sacrament [of Penance and Reconciliation, alias “Confession”] will help you form your conscience; it will give you strength in your daily fight against sin; and it will help you to gain the full freedom that is yours as children of God. …

Let us remind our culture of people like Blessed Luis Magna Servin, one of our newest American blesseds, a devoted husband and father, martyred in Mexico in 1928. Facing a firing squad, he was able to speak words of forgiveness to the soldiers about to execute him: “I pardon you and I promise you that on arriving in the presence of God you are the first ones I will intercede for. Viva Cristo Rey! Viva Santa Maria de Guadalupe!”

—Abp. Gomez of San Antonio’s pastoral letter on the Sacrament of Reconciliation (via Amy Welborn b/c I can’t open PDFs on this computer, but the entire letter is here)