Gabriel nodded in the dark, though the man did not see. "Everything you tell me in confession is confidential, under pain of excommunication. This is a safe space." Not for himself, it felt. Gabriel felt shaken.

He took a deep breath. "Repeat this:" and he slowly give the man each line in turn: "O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell. But most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen." He could say it sleeping. Sometimes he was hardly aware of what he was saying at all.