We must first acknowledge our faults, before we can atone for them.
King David, forgetting that all his glory came from God's graciousness and not from his own human strength, gave in to vanity and ordered a census of all the tribes of Israel.
But David's heart smote him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, I pray, take away the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly."
God wants us to acknowledge our sins, and not hide them from him. Sincerity is the first step towards repentance. St. Josemaría: “We cannot forget, our Father says, that original sin makes us prone to sin. We are of the same stock as that first fallen couple. We have a great propensity to fall. We still have a lingering taste in our mouths of the inheritance they left us. On account of our sins - original sin and our personal sins - we experience all those feelings that are not feelings of peace; all those errors: because human nature is very prone to error."
We have all sinned; and we all have faults and imperfections that distance us from God. “If you step slightly off the straight path, says St Jerome, it doesn't really matter whether it is to the left or to the right. What matters is that you have left the true path." And so, we should acknowledge our repentance, like David: “I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me." In thinking of all the things we have done wrong, we should bear in mind our own particular circumstances, because God has given us so much, and he is going to demand a lot of us. St John Chrysostom tells us that “if a person favored by the Holy Spirit and abundantly gifted by God falls into sin, it is not the same as when a person without such privileges commits the same fault." Given that God's faithful love for us is so very great, so superabundant and generous, no infidelity on our part can be considered small. But we mustn't be afraid to call sins by their name, however many years we may have spent serving God. “We must have clear ideas and a clear conscience. We cannot allow ourselves to do things that are wrong and say they are holy."
The best devotion is to make acts of contrition. We should always imagine ourselves returning like the prodigal son. There is no reason why we should drag a trail of wretchedness behind us. We should place it all in God's hands, and, with true humility, tell him, along with St Peter after his denials: “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you."
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