Our Lady and the Saints in Confession Prayers

As we prepare for our Holy Week Confessions...

I confess to God Almighty, to Blessed Mary Ever-Virgin, to blessed Michael the Archangel, to blessed John the Baptist, to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and to all the Saints, and to thee, Father, that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed: by my fault, by my own fault, by my own most grievous fault. Wherefore I beg Blessed Mary Ever-Virgin, blessed Michael the Archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, all the Saints, and thee, Father, to pray for me to the Lord our God.

The reason why Our Blessed Lady and the Saints are mentioned and identified in our Confiteor, or confession prayer when making a Sacramental Confession or preparing for Mass in the Preparation prayers, is that when we sin, we do so as members of the living Mystical Body of Christ - we sin not only against God but also against all the other members of the Body. Our view of sin is not only individual and personal and private, but organic, corporate, comprehensive. We offend against the charity that ought to obtain amongst all members of the Church when we intentionally break our communion with God by sin. Our sinful actions impair the unity, peace, and love of the whole Body. 

Therefore, when we confess our sins in the Sacrament of Penance, we are led through prayer to an acknowledgment that our trespasses and sins, our willful violation and breaking of God's holy will and commandments, affects all other Christians negatively within the communion and fellowship of Christ's Body. The Blessed Virgin Mary and the Saints are fellow members of the Church and the highest and best representatives of the Church, for they are in heaven - we thus confess our faults before them as we also confess our faults before the priest, who represents the Church militant on earth. 

We make our Confession to take responsibility and accountability for our sins before the whole Church - our thoughts, words, and deeds impact not only ourselves, but, if sinful, wound and weaken our bond with other believers on earth and our unity and friendship with the greater part of the Church, which is the Church Triumphant in glory. The majority of the Church is now with God in the heavenly realm, and so we take seriously how our sins draw us away from our union with that greater portion of our divine family.

Our Lady and the Saints cannot and do not forgive sins, for that mercy belongs only to God. The Saints are simply human beings who have been graced to reach their and our intended destiny. They are 'partakers of the divine nature' who have fully become what we are called to be, God-like, participants in God, Christ-bearers, divinised, Christified, Trinitarian. As we are, the Saints once were, as they are now, so we are to become. God chooses to forgive sins through the atoning victory of His Son, which conquest of evil is conveyed by divine appointment sacramentally through the ministry of His Church. But by confessing our sins before God and also His heavenly friends, His court, we bring ourselves to the realisation of just how grievous sin is, and what consequences it has for us and for the Family of God to which we belong as integral members. The Catholic conceptualisation of the Church is always first and foremost 'common,' for we are many members, but one life, one Body, one fellowship and communion. 

Our Lady and Saints, as fellow Christians and members of the one Church, can and do pray for us, willingly, joyfully, lovingly - and so in our confession we solicit the gracious prayers of those who are closer to God than we, that we may receive the benefit and help of their intercession in the face of our need. They are our elder brothers and sisters in the Faith who seek to encourage, aid, and inspire us by their prayers, that we may receive grace to turn away from sin and inherit the Kingdom prepared for them and us from the foundation of the world. But to God only it appertaineth to forgive sins...