His Holiness speaks about the importance of spiritual trainings that the priest gives to his children in confession to convert theoretical conviction into practical action.

Purpose of the trainings

The trainings are a means to face the self, know its weaknesses and struggle against them; they are not mere information that convinces the mind but shake the will so it acts.

Types of trainings and follow-up

He explains that there are general trainings given to the people or a group (such as youth), and special trainings given to a penitent alone, and stresses the necessity that trainings be clear, specific, actionable, and followed up by the priest with the penitent (writing the training next to the penitent’s name in the confession notebook).

Characteristics of good training

Training must be specific with one small point that is executable within the person’s capacities (spiritual, time, health), and preferably gradual step by step until the training is established. He gives examples: a single point from the virtue of love (one item from 1 Corinthians 13), a gradual fasting level (from the sixth hour to the ninth) or training in silence and directed speech.

Handling failures

The Pope warns of the need to know the reason for breaking the training (place, person, weak will, forgetting) and address it, suggesting practical means like placing reference verses, a training notebook, repeating verses to memorize them, and sometimes educational penalties not for condemnation but as reminder.

Core of spirituality and prayer

He insists that trainings alone are insufficient unless accompanied by prayer and asking God for grace and acknowledging that strength is from Him (“without Me you can do nothing” — John 15:5), and success should be attributed to God’s grace not to personal pride.

Confessor’s role

He outlines the role of the father-confessor in disciplining and guiding according to the situation and the nature of the soul; and distinguishes between rightful rebuke and slanderous condemnation by one without authority.

Moral and behavioral guidance

He stresses controlling the tongue and avoiding harsh words, replacing them gradually with gentle speech by focused points (training point by point), and avoiding harmful companionships that corrupt good morals.

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