March 14, 2004
Reconciliation
First
Reconciliation
Through the month of March we are celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation
with the young people of our parish who are coming to this Sacrament
for the first time. (check out our special First
Reconciliation page)
Please pray for these young people and their families as they experience
the loving forgiveness of Jesus.
When?
In case you were wondering about when we celebrate the sacrament of
reconciliation, here is the schedule:
Weekdays after the 12:10Mass
Saturdays from
4-4:45pm
Other times by appointment. During theMonday of Holy Week we’ll
have reconciliation all day!
At College?
At St. Brigid’s we like to stay in touch through
e-mail “letters from home.”
Once a person has an e-mail address at school (or if he/she uses a personal
address), please let us know what it is so we can include them when
we write.
Here's a handy college link so you
can send this info online.
e-mail Father Ralph:
Past Columns:
March 7: A sequel from Mel?
Feb 29: Come to
Life!
Feb 22:
An Adventure to Life
Feb15: A rose
by another name?
Feb 8: If at first...
Feb 1: Our Patron Saint
Jan 25:A View From Inside
Jan 18: Our School
Jan 11: Baptism with Fire
Colums from 2003
Columns from 2002
One
effect of the movie The Passion of the Christ is that people are appreciating
Jesus’ great love -- not only through his enduring his suffering,
but through his words “Father, forgive them, they do not know what
they are doing.” Who among us would have that kind of incredible
mercy and forgiveness in the face of all the injustice and pain that was
his crucifixion?
The truth of the matter was that
they DID know what they were doing -- true, they missed the part about
his being God, but the crucifixion of Jesus was not an accident. Yet in
God’s heart, there is a mercy that’s wider than any cruel
sin.
One way to experience this mercy for ourselves is to celebrate the Sacrament
of Reconciliation sometime during Lent. There are often a few personal
objections to this: (a) It’s been such a long time that I’m
embarrassed to go now. or (b) Why do I have to confess to another person?
or (c) I really don’t have anything to confess.
The Long Time: Wait til
next year and it’ll be longer!! Why not now? Your priests in this
parish are very good at helping people for whom it has been a while. My
usual advice to folks who are coming back to this sacrament: mention any
“big” things that stand out in your conscience...anything
that has been weighing heavily on your heart; then summarize the rest.
In other words, you don’t need to remember or mention every specific
event where you lost patience (for example); just say, “I want God
to forgive me for the times I’ve lost my patience”.
Then comes the good part. Your sins are forgiven. That’s why there’s
another person (the priest) involved. You don’t imagine that your
sins are forgiven...you really know this, through the ministry of the
priest. And as for confession to another
person, people do that all the time -- to their hairdressers,
accountants, best friends, therapists, etc. But in the sacrament, they
experience forgiveness.
And if you’re stuck as to what to
confess? Well, just ask your family. They’ll be
most helpful!
You are Person
