He that covers his sins shall not prosper: but whosoever confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.
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Aphrahat the Persian Sage
AD 345
I address you too, the penitents. You should not keep back from yourselves this means of healing [confession] that has been given you. For it says in the Scripture, “He who confesses his sins and abandons them, on him God has mercy.” Look at the son who squandered his wealth. And when he returned to his father, he received him in joy and slew the fatted ox for him. And his father rejoiced at his repentance and even invited his friends to rejoice with him. And his father embraced him and kept on kissing him, saying, “This my son was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.” And his father did not reprove him for the wealth he had squandered.
Mercy. This is true repentance, which enjoins, "not only to bewail past sins, but also to amend. "(St. Ambrose, ii. Pen. v.)
Sacramental confession was not required of the Jews, but they confessed their sins, when they laid their hands on the victim, Leviticus iv., and v. (Calmet)
“As confession and beauty are in the sight of God,” so a sinner who confesses his sins and says, “My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness” loses his foul wounds and is made whole and clean. But “he that covers his sins shall not prosper.”
