Penance

Confessions are heard on Saturday after the 4:30 p.m. Mass or by appointment.

Father Eugene Kennedy once described human beings as ‘ mistake making beings’. That we are. As Scripture tells us, ‘ in many things we all offend,’ Christ gave us this great Sacrament of Pardon and Peace so that we can repair and heal the wounds our sins inflict on ourselves and others. In the Sacrament we are reconciled – made one again with God.

There are many ways to be ‘reconciled ‘ with God. Our Penitential Rite at the beginning of Mass is a form of reconciliation; every time we say an Act of Contrition we are reconciled. The celebration of the Reconciliation Service is another way. People who have neglected Mass for a long period of time and have put God on the backburner of their lives need this Sacrament to find their way back to God and God’s grace. People aware of serious sin in their lives should celebrate this Sacrament before they receive Holy Communion.

Many people have bad memories of their experience of the Sacrament. They remember standing in line and thinking up things to tell the priest or they got themselves into a routine telling of the same sins time after time. They didn’t see any change, any improvement in their lives. For many good people this is a Sacrament that needs ‘rediscovery’. They’ve been away from Confession for so many years they don’t know how to find their way back. But like the father in the story of the Prodigal Son, God is looking down the road, waiting and wanting our return to His embrace of love, forgiveness and peace.