"As regards Holy Confession, I shall choose what costs and humiliates me most. Sometimes a trifle costs more than something greater. I will call to mind the Passion of Jesus at each confession, to arouse my heart to contrition." Source: St. Faustina, Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul
"UNWORTHY Communions are made very often. How many there are who have the temerity to come to the Holy Table with sins unconfessed or disguised in Confession. How many have not the contrition that the good God demands of them, and keep a secret will to commit sin again and not to make every effort [...]
"We must, before going to the Holy Table, be sure that we have spent sufficient time in examination of conscience in order to discover our mortal sins, and that we have a great sorrow also, that our confession has thus been entire. We must have a firm determination to do, by the grace of God, [...]
"The first purification to be made is from sin; the means whereby to make it, the Sacrament of Penance. Seek the best Confessor within your reach, use one of the many little books written in order to help the examination of conscience." Source: St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Random House, [...]
"The relationship between the Eucharist and the sacrament of Reconciliation reminds us that sin is never a purely individual affair; it always damages the ecclesial communion that we have entered through Baptism." Source: Pope Benedict XVI, SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS (Sacrament of Charity), 2/22/2007
"The present is the season of confession: confess what you have done in word or in deed, by night or by day; confess in an acceptable time, and in the day of salvation receive the heavenly treasure." Source: St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures
"None [of the other sacraments] can be compared to the Eucharist… all this [Baptism, Reconciliation, Confirmation, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Marriage] seems to be only an apprenticeship to His love for men. In the adorable Sacrament of the Eucharist He goes much further." Source: St. John Vianney, The Meditations of the [...]
"A soul does not benefit as it should from the sacrament of confession if it is not humble. Pride keeps it in darkness. The soul neither knows how, nor it is willing, to prove with precision the depths of its own misery. It puts on a mask and avoids everything that might bring it recovery." [...]
"Very often demons manage to persuade us either to omit confession, or else to confess as though the sins were committed by someone else or else to blame others as responsible for our own sins." Source: St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent
"A disobedient soul will win no victory, even if the Lord Jesus Himself, in person, were to hear its confession. The most experienced confessor will be of no help whatsoever to such a soul. The disobedient soul exposes itself to great misfortunes; it will make no progress toward perfection, nor will it succeed in the [...]