Vademecum

No, this is not Viaticum. It's a term I've acquired in my quest to understand the Sacrament of CPR better. The CCC explains about the Sacrament; yet there is so much I never knew growing up about the protocol of confession. What's appropriate when?

The Vademecum is a manual for Confessors, but being 'flamboyantly' Catholic as I am, I'm eager to know more about it myself. So far, I've discovered JPII's Vademecum regarding conjugal life, and this fascinating article about an Italian physician who cared for the soul of his patients foremost.

Anyone have any pertinent sources on making a good confession?

I also found the Confraternity of Penitents:

Penance has a bad connotation in today's society. People tend to think that penance means self imposed punishment and gloom. How wrong they are!

Penance means conversion, change for the better. Change from doing things my way to doing them God's way. That means that penance is a joyful obligation! To do things the way Someone far wiser than us wants them done can only bring tremendous peace and joy.

The mortifications one employs to help bring about conversion can involve prayer, fasting and abstinence, works of mercy, and simplicity of life, as they do in the Rule for the Confraternity of Penitents. Those things are only means to an end. The end is penance, conversion to God. Conversion isn't something that happens once and you've arrived! Conversion, penance, is ongoing. Every moment of every day, God calls each of us to a greater surrender to Him, to a deeper "yes."

What is God calling you to, today?