The Importance Of Reconciliation

I grew up in and Irish Catholic family and went to catholic school from kindergarten all the way through high school graduation. In addition, I attended my church’s ROC (Reach Out for Christ) program through seventh and eighth grader as well as Youth Group all throughout high school. During my freshmen and sophomore years, I also served as a leader for the ROC program and a few grade school retreats. As a junior and senior I moved up as a leader in my Youth Group program and lead as a head leader in my Youth Group in addition to co-rector on our Kairos retreat. Looking at all of this, I may come across as an individual whom attends church regularly, has a good understanding of church teachings, and a good relationship with God, but unfortunately …show more content…
From what I have learned, as Catholics we are required to receive reconciliation twice a year. More times than not people would go during Christmas and Easter. Fortunately I have gone on a number of retreats that have always had confession as a part of them, in addition to the semi annual confession that was done both at my grade school and high school. This was not only a good time for me to share the things that weighed heavy on my heart but also to hear from priests that would talk you through those things. Often I would go to the priests that were older and I thought had probably heard the worst. They would carefully listen to me and give me a quick penance and have me on my way. Two of the longest confessions of my life are the most memorable. The first one is probably the scariest confession I had ever had. A new priest had come into my church and he was very passionate about his work. I confessed to him that I hadn’t gone to church regularly and he held up the crucifix and made me tell Jesus that I didn’t care that he died for our sins. He then proceeded to tell me that every time I skip mass I am being ignorant to what our savior has done for us and wasting the grace God had given me. This confession not only terrified me but also turned me away. I was hurt at how horrible that confession had made me feel rather than …show more content…
Throughout high school, while my brother was at college, I tried to keep with my faith and stay engaged, even though I was a little lost. I wasn’t in a great place and decided that I would participate in our semi-annual confession our school provides. Instead of going to someone I was familiar with and new it would be a cakewalk, I went to the bishop whom was always very reverent and stern. This confession ended up being a little over an hour. Not only did he listen to me but he asked me how I felt about what I did or why I did certain things. Rather than making me feel guilty like my last confession a few years earlier, he made me feel loved. We also talked about my brother. He helped me understand the undying love God has for us and that it is okay to question that. He explained that if we don’t questions or challenge aspects of our faith, then we are blindly leading our religious