“To know the difference between right and wrong. / To choose the good and reject the evil. / To hate the sin but love the sinner. / To die to self in order that another may live.”

These opening words from the prologue to Fr Dunstan’s reflections on confession and reconciliation are daunting. The dialogue we enter into in this book gives hope and confidence to those honest enough to admit to needing help. That help is readily available to all. Sometimes we do not know where to find it or how to ask for it.

Here we can learn how to seek reconciliation but there is also a deeper truth about ourselves that we will never come to understand.

“It won’t stop you sinning, it will make you better at repenting, but, most important of all, it will teach you how to forgive.” Rt Rev. Dom Timothy Wright, OSB, Abbot of Ampleforth

Fr Dunstan Adams is a monk of Ampleforth Abbey, entering the Community in 1953. A graduate in English from Oxford University he has taught at all levels in Ampleforth College for many years. Now retired from teaching, he spends much of his time leading retreats and also assists with the spiritual formation of the novices of the Community.