Mark 5:30
And Jesus, perceiving in Himself that power had gone forth from Him, immediately turned about in the crowd, and said, "Who touched My garments?"
Interior repentance is the most vital aspect of the sacrament of confession. It is the secret of the soul known only to God. Like the woman who touched Jesus's garments in faith, the person who is interiorly repentant — sorry for his sin from his heart and seeking the grace to change — has the forgiving power of God leap from heaven to his heart without fail and without delay. Power goes out from Jesus to forgive sin and into a genuinely penitent heart just as surely as electricity completes a circuit whenever we throw a switch. This does not mean, of course, that confession is unnecessary. Our faith must be made flesh, and confession is the way our Lord established so we could do that. But if we cannot get to confession, God can still flash out His forgiveness to the genuinely repentant heart.
