Most of us would rather settle things with God in the quiet of our own head. The question is not whether God knows. The question is whether we will stand in the truth with another human being who has been given authority to speak in His name.
On the evening of the first Easter the risen Lord breathed on the apostles and said, Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven. The Church has kept that room. Sometimes it is a wooden box with a grille. Sometimes it is two chairs and a purple stole. The furniture is not the point. The sentence is. I absolve you.
This little book walks through why we have to say it out loud, what you actually do once the door has closed, the difference between mortal and venial sin without panic, the seal a priest cannot break even to save his life, and how to come back after ten years. Read it if you have been walking past the box. Read it if you went last Saturday and still wonder what happened.
The door closes so that something else can open.
A Silent Homilies booklet. Written to be read in one or two sittings.