Placing ourselves voluntarity in God's truth

God's knowing is judicial. It is the act by which He measures His creature by the norm of the essential truth which He has established for it. His gaze judges, discards, and confirms. If this is so, confession is the act by which the creature places himself voluntarily in God's truth. Now not only is it known by Hm whose view is boundless, but it also deserves to be known by Him. It allies itself with the all-perceiving power of God's truth against its own shame and self-assertion.

Romano Guardini, The Conversion of Augustine

This is a really great book with many deep insights that seem to spring right into my heart. What an elegant way to say what I've often been told — God already knows everything you have done. Confession is for your benefit, not His.