The Meaning of Suffering and Strife and Reconciliation

Every Christian feels a natural yearning of the heart towards God, a true desire to taste the sweetness of communion, of being with Him as He created us to be; but the impurity of our hearts—full of passions, conflicts, and fears—bars the way.  Yet, these is a cure for the weight of sin which burdens the heart and soul of each one of us and afflicts the conscience, keeping us from that long-for inner peace and from peace with our neighbor and loves ones.  That cure is the Mystery of Repentance.

Archimandrite Seraphim in The Forgotten Medicine details the reasons many have for not coming to Confession, and for each of these the clearly brings forth the truth of the matter.  For those who feel awkward because of not knowing how to approach Confession, he explains in depth how to prepare before, what to do when we are with the confessor, and what to do afterwards.  He then writes of the wondrous changes in the lives of those who enter into the Mystery of Repentance, illustrating with several true accounts.