Confession

Adrienne Von Speyr was a convert to Catholicism, a mystic, a consecrated lay woman, and a spiritual directee of the prominent 20th century theologian Father Hans Urs Von Balthasar. Her many books resulted from the conversations between the two of them on various mysteries of the Faith, the sacraments, prayer, etc, and Von Balthasar stated that Von Speyer's insights were important as a kind of source material and inspiration aiding his own theological work. "Confession" isn't a book to inform people of facts about the Sacrament of Reconciliation nor an academic theological work, but will interest Catholics who want to dig deeper in exploring this Sacrament. Von Speyr was really fascinated with confession and the book consists of her prayerful and intellectual reflections and intuitions about its nature, its ecclesial dimensions, its relationship to the Passion of Christ, its fruitful practice both from the point of view of the priest and various types of penitents (single, married, priests, active and contemplative religious etc). There are some original and suprising and interesting thoughts here, without being heterodox. One of the things that intrigued me was the final section, of her imaginative comparisons of how various Saints (Francis of Assisi, Therese of Lisieux, etc) confessed, and this kind of thing can help the reader by providing edifying models of how to make a good confession. The reader encounters a vision of sacramental Reconciliation as something originating in a definite and living way in the life of Jesus and always an enounter with His passion, death, and resurrection, Confession as something truly integral to the fullness of Christian life and the Communion of Saints. This is a book that can make people really want to confess regularly, and feel more prepared to do so with understanding and grow in Christ. And that is a great benefit.

As a Catholic who goes to confession regularly, I found this book helpful in putting the Sacrament of Penance (confession) in its proper context. I like the way this author compares confession to the Passion and Death of Christ, in ways that I had not previously considered. I believe that this book helps me to derive more spiritual benefit from confession. I will, however, caution that at times this author is a little difficult to understand, and sometimes I had to re-read paragraphs a couple times in order to get it. Nevertheless, I would recommend this book especially for Catholics who wish to derive more spiritual benefit from confession.