The direct purpose of the first days of the retreat is to purify the soul of all guilt of sin and all attachment to sin. For this purpose the Sacrament of Penance is the most efficient means, and the confession of sins is an integral part of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. I _Confession may be of three kinds_: a general confession of one’s whole life, or a considerable portion of one’s life; the ordinary, or weekly confession; and thirdly the annual or semi-annual review, which is of rule in many religious institutions. 1. _A general confession_ is obligatory if the preceding confessions have been badly made; it is useful at the age when a child has been fully instructed in its religious duties; when a person enters on a permanent state of life, and perhaps once more, when one approaches the portals of eternity. The anxiety entertained by some souls to repeat their general confessions over and over again is most unreasonable; it fosters scrupulosity and is injurious to spiritual progress. 2. _In the ordinary, or weekly, confessions_, which, in the case of religious, rarely include a mortal sin, earnest care must be taken that one or more real sins, recently or formerly committed, be confessed, so that matter be presented for absolution; and also that there be elicited an act of supernatural contrition for those sins, or at least for some one of them. Else the Sacrament would be invalid, for real supernatural contrition is one of its essential parts. 3. _An annual or semi-annual review_ of the weekly confessions affords marked advantages, especially when it is made during the retreat: a. Faults are thus likely to be noticed which attracted little attention at other times. As when a ray of sunshine enters into a rather dark room, and reveals more dust on the furniture than was noticed before, so the Divine light of grace, entering the soul during the Exercises, discovers various defects of which there had been no clear perception. That is a good occasion to obtain pardon for them. b. When our faults are thus seen together, they are apt to arouse more contrition, and thus secure more entire pardon. c. Such a review gives us a clearer knowledge of ourselves and shows us what defects we should chiefly labor to correct. II _To prepare for such a review_, we should consider those sins especially which are more likely to be committed by religious. In mentioning them we shall follow the order of the Decalogue. _The First Commandment_ regards the worship of God. Under this head come wilful distractions or negligences in prayer, which may spoil considerable parts of our spiritual exercises; disrespectful handling of holy things, and the unworthy reception of the Sacraments. This last sin is of course rare among religious, but very grievous if it should occur; for it bears the guilt of sacrilege.