Oftentimes we approach the Sacrament of Confession with shame and fear, worried what the priest might say or scared that someone might overhear our sins and judge us. In such a frame of mind, confession seems like a dreadfully pessimistic thing where we focus on the worst aspects of ourselves. It might seem like a defeat, or at least like the place where we remind ourselves of all our greatest defeats. We imagine that priests must hate hearing confessions and that they probably find it quite depressing. This view is wrong. On the contrary, confession is actually a great victory.
J.R.R. Tolkien portrays the victory of confession in The Lord of the Rings with the character of Boromir, specifically with his death. As we know, Boromir succumbs to the ring’s temptation and tries to take it from Frodo by force. This causes Frodo to flee the fellowship. As they search for Frodo, Merry and Pippin are attacked by orcs in the woods. Boromir is mortally wounded trying to defend the helpless little hobbits. As he lies dying, Aragorn finds him, and they speak.
This scene is often interpreted as a sort of confession because Boromir makes the three acts of the penitent which are required for the sacrament. These acts are first contrition (one must be sorry for one’s sins), secondly confession (you have to tell your sins to the priest), and finally satisfaction (you have to make up for your sins, usually through the penance assigned by the priest). Their full conversation reads as follows:
Aragorn knelt beside him. Boromir opened his eyes and strove to speak. At last slow words came. “I tried to take the Ring from Frodo,” he said. “I am sorry. I have paid.” His glance strayed to his fallen enemies; twenty at least lay there. “They have gone: the Halflings: the Orcs have taken them. I think they are not dead. Orcs bound them.” He paused and his eyes closed wearily. After a moment he spoke again. “Farewell, Aragorn! Go to Minas Tirith and save my people! I have failed.” “No!” said Aragorn, taking his hand and kissing his brow. “You have conquered. Few have gained such a victory. Be at peace! Minas Tirith shall not fall!” Boromir smiled.
(Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, III.1, “The Departure of Boromir”)
We see Boromir confessing his sin to Aragorn, “I tried to take the Ring from Frodo,” and he expresses contrition, “I am sorry.” He acknowledges that he has made satisfaction for his sin, “I have paid.” After his confession, Boromir still considers himself a failure, “Farewell, Aragorn! Go to Minas Tirith and save my people! I have failed.” Aragorn strongly contradicts this sentiment and assures Boromir that he has won some victory, “You have conquered. Few have gained such a victory. Be as peace!” But what victory could Aragorn be referring to?
Militarily, Boromir did fail. Sure, he killed many orcs, but he failed to protect the hobbits Merry and Pippin, and they are now captives. Later in the book, in the battle of Helms Deep, both Legolas and Gimli each defeat twice as many orcs as Boromir (they have a contest and keep track). Also, Boromir has not kept his city safe—soon it will be under dreadful siege and will only survive thanks to the efforts of Aragorn and Gandalf. So, the only possible victory that Aragorn could be referring to is the moral victory of Boromir—he conquered his sin by contrition, confession, and making satisfaction. That alone, even in the face of these military defeats, is a great victory that can make Boromir die peacefully and win Aragorn’s respect.
This shows us how great a victory confession is! Confession is a greater victory than any military or worldly success because it is a spiritual and supernatural victory over sin. In confession, we reject and thus overcome our sin, through God’s grace, of course. In every confession, we are recalling our sins and defeats, the worst things we have done, but we are also rejecting them and, through God’s grace, making satisfaction for them in union with Christ. Every confession applies the victory of Christ over sin and death to us, to our particular sins which we confess to the priest. The joy of the resurrection is made present at the confessional when we rise from spiritual death to new spiritual life in God’s grace.
Christ Himself tells us that confession is a great victory, causing much joy in heaven. In Luke 15:7, he says, “I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” This theme also appears in St. Augustine’s Confessions where he writes that holy people rejoice when they hear the stories about our past sins, for they see the power and goodness of God in helping us to overcome our sins:
As for the good [people], they take delight in hearing of the past errors of such as are now freed from them; and they delight, not because they are errors, but because they have been and are so no longer. (Confessions, Book X, ch. 3)
Augustine helps us to learn that the victory we gain in confession is only possible due to God’s grace—it is Christ’s victory in our lives.
Both Christ’s saying and Augustine’s raise a question: If confession is such a great victory which should cause us joy, why then do we have the seal of confession? Why do we hide these victories and thus steal their joy from the whole Church? Once, in the early Church period, confessions were public—why not bring that back?
The answer is that most of us aren’t very holy. Most of us wouldn’t be as gracious to Boromir as Aragorn was. Most of us would judge our fellow sinners horribly if we heard about their confessed sins. This would be both an occasion of sin for us (an occasion for the sin of harsh judgment against our neighbor), and it would scare people, preventing them from bringing their sins to sacramental confession, and thus preventing them from having their sins forgiven. So, the seal of confession, the practice of secret confession, is a good one, given our sinful state. But if we were better (less judgmental), it would likely be practiced publicly so that the whole Church could rejoice with the heavenly hosts every time we turn from our sins back to God.
Ultimately, most of us need a paradigm shift about how we view confession. We need to see it as the great victory over sin that it is. We should rejoice when we see people in line for confession, especially if they were great sinners! Instead of judging those going to confession, we should cheer for them and rejoice with them.
