Hi,
To die a martyr for Jesus Christ without having gone to Confession for a mortal sin on one’s soul, is still to choose Him above all else. Our Lord said, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”(Jn. 15: 13). Such an act comes from what the Church calls perfect contrition: being sorry (in this case perhaps instantaneously) for one’s sins precisely because one has embraced God’s mercy. One cannot be loving God and cutting oneself off from Him at the same time!
Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.
