Father, forgive me for I have sinned...

Here is a posting I made on my classroom blogsite. Perhaps remembering the kid's first confessions will help a few adults remember their need for it, too.
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I know a lot of my students this year are making their 1st Holy Communion with our Lord Jesus in the Eucharist, but some of you are wondering why you also have to make your 1st confession.

Remember when we discussed that only perfectly pure souls can stand before God? Well, it's the very similar when receiving Christ God in the Eucharist: only souls in a state of grace can receive him, that is, souls with no serious, mortal sins.

Let's look at a story Jesus told about a king who threw a marriage banquet for his son (found in Matthew 22). Now, Jesus called himself the Bridegroom (we usually just say "groom" today). So, the story is really Jesus' wedding banquet! Who is the bride, then? The Church! And through your baptism, you are part of the Church. That's how intimate a connection you are called to have with Christ Jesus in the Eucharist: as close - even closer - than husband & wife.

Back to the story: The king notices a man who tried to sneak into the wedding celebration who was not wearing the usual wedding clothes, & he says to him, "Friend, how did you come in here not wearing a wedding garment?" You see, back then all of the guests were given a lovely, white robe to wear for the wedding. So, someone wearing just their dirty street clothes was probably a party-crasher, or just bad mannered. The king had him thrown out.

We, too, were dressed in a beautiful white robe at our baptism, when all of our sins were wiped away & our souls were made perfectly clean. But as our lives wore on, we did selfish things that smudged up our clean soul. Perhaps we did some really bad things that made it so dirty, it wasn't even recognizable anymore. If we showed up wearing that to a wedding banquet, we'd be thrown out, too!

But Jesus gave his apostles his own power to forgive sins, because he doesn't want anyone separated from him; his entire mission on earth was to restore the relation between sinners & God & one another. The power of the priests to forgive sins happens in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

So what is the difference between "ordinary" sins & serious sins? Venial sins are everyday faults we have of selfishness & uncharity. These things damage our relation to God & each other, but we can heal it through prayer, fasting, & alms-giving.

However, when we've done something really wrong, we destroy our connection to God altogether - things like fighting, lying, swearing, stealing, bullying, gossiping, unforgiveness, or sins against sexual purity. It is also a very serious sin to skip Mass or to receive Communion with serious sin on your soul. These sins are also called mortal because they kill us spiritually until we go to confession.

It's like saying, "No, God, I don't want you in my life. I can get on fine without you." And God respects your decision & will patiently wait until you discover that you really do need him & come back to him in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. If someone died having said "No" to God without being sorry, God will respect that decision, too; unfortunately, this time the decision is final. We call eternal separation from God & one another hell.

Remember, the Sacrament has 5 steps...

1) You must honestly & prayerfully Examine your Conscience to see where you have failed in your walk with God. Be honest - there's no fooling God.

2) You must Be Sorry for your Sins, because sins, even minor ones, are horrible compared to God's perfect holiness. If you are not sorry for what you've done, you cannot be forgiven.

3) You must Confess your Sins to the Priest, whether behind a screen or face-to-face. You have to tell EVERY serious sin you've done, no matter how difficult or embarrassing. If you hold back anything, your confession is invalid & your sins are not forgiven. The priest will not & can not ever tell anyone what was said during Confession.

4) You must Firmly Resolve not to commit those sins again. Your sorrow for having sinned against God & your desire to live rightly afterward is expressed when you say an Act of Contrition.

5) You must Do the Penance the priest gives you to help repair the harm you've done to the Church, the Body of Christ. Whether it's as easy as saying prayers or as difficult as apologizing to someone you've offended, do your penance as soon as you can.

The priest will then give you absolution by saying the Church's prayer of forgiveness over you, invoking the name of God the Holy Trinity. You are now as free of sin as the day you were baptized, so rejoice!

- Mr. Mark

BTW, the photo at the top is a painting of the story from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 15 about the son who returns home to beg forgiveness from his father.
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