This post is cross-posted at FrankPeach.Com
Children have an amazing ability at to act like a mirror reflecting their parents soul out to the world. They have a tendency -even without trying- to find all those little nooks and crannies that you rather leave dark and hidden. Case in point:
Reconciliation is something that I struggle with, have always struggled with, and will probably struggle with for a long time to come. This is despite the fact that in recent years I have increasingly seen the benefits of reconciliation and have greatly increased my own participation in the sacrament. About three years ago my eldest son, Zach (now 9 years old), made his first confession and it has been the goal of my fetching wife and I since that time to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation with him once a month (although we probably should be going weekly, I know). That’s the goal anyway, In practice it tends to be once every 1.5 – 3 months that we go. Less often in the summer than in the winter when we tend to have more of a schedule.
Recently I am not happy to report I have been skidding in my faith walk, shortchanging my prayer life and in general going in the wrong direction. (I do believe that we are always moving in one direction or the other, one cannot simply be stagnant in their faith. If you believe you are then you are probably moving in the wrong direction) The reason for this is most likely because of the fact that it has been 6 months or more since I have attended the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
The above facts were pointed out to me by my son this week, quite without his even knowing it. He was having some behavioral problems. I asked him why he would do such a thing (exactly what it was is inconsequential) and he began to break down and exclaim amongst his tears, “Dad, it’s because I haven’t gone to confession. I need to go to confession!” Doh! It was as if a dagger had pierced me and spread out all my faults before me, and as if God cried out to me as he did to Adam in Gen 3:8 “Where are you?”.
God bless him, I think he may be a better Catholic than I am.
Needless to say I have redoubled my efforts and, although we cannot attend our ‘regular’ confession time this Saturday, I have found another time and parish where Zach and I will be receiving this blessed sacrament tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to it. I only hope that I can do better by him in the future than he already has by me.
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Great post! And I know exactly what your son means about needing to go to confession in order to behave. One challenge I find to using the sacrament as frequently as I would like is the narrow range of times most churches schedule confession. It is almost always Saturday afternoon, right in the middle of family activity time and close to dinner. I wish more churches had weekday (or weekend) evening confession, or noontime confession on weekdays.
Amen to that! Reminds me of the need to take our children (and much moreso, myself). I can always tell when my kids need confession, I wonder if they can tell when I need it?
Thanks for the comments. Just as a follow up. We went to a new parish and I found a great confessor there. It has been such a long time since I have had a priest say anything more than some scripted remark and give me more than one 'Our Father' for penance. He also told me I need to go more often too! I am going to attempt to return to him on a weekly basis, even though it IS on Saturday afternoon and will be difficult as thomistic has already noted about the confession times.