The Art of Confession: Renewing Yourself Through the Practice of Honesty by Paul Wilkes

“Deep within every human heart, there is the desire to be good.” So begins Paul Wilkes’s little gem of a book on confession. Wilkes who has written numerous books on religion, including the biography of Natick priest and pastor Joseph Greer (In Mysterious Ways), traces the origins of the practice of confession from its earliest roots in human society through its expression today in various faith practices. Short sidebars about confession from a rabbi, a priest, a psychiatrist, and a Roman Catholic nun who ministers in bookstores are included. Wilkes maintains that confession is part of the need to realign ourselves with our highest good and is a necessary and important step in releasing guilt and amending our lives. He addresses some thorny problems such as when not to confess, guilt, the types of confession (moral, psychological, personal), secret confessions, and his method of “praying backward through the day.” Wilkes maintains that confession is a kind of grace that ultimately can reunite one with oneself. Don’t miss the opportunity to understand how. PM