S
Snugglebugmom
Guest
This is my story, if anyone would like to read it. The short and sweet of it is as follows: I was born and raised Catholic, but in Holland confession is pretty much non-existent, so I never got to do my First Reconciliation. I fell away from the church in my early teens when my parents got a divorce (they were the ultimate cafeteria Catholics to begin with, unfortunately) and although it kept gnawing at me, I didn’t see the inside of a Catholic church again until just a few months ago. Somehow, when my husband and I moved from the US to Canada, we landed a stone’s throw away from a Catholic church. God was calling me Home, it was time! I joined the RCIA program at that particular church (which has a Director of Spiritual Education who is just the sweetest person ever), and started going to Mass regularly not long after.
And tonight I went to the Celebration of Confirmation Mass, and afterward I did my first confession! I feel so relieved, so happy, and so blessed right now. There were ten priests scattered around the church, taking confessions, and you could pick whoever you felt most comfortable with. It was a face-to-face confession, something I never thought I would have the courage to do. As I was standing in line, I was so very nervous! I was praying to the Holy Spirit to help me and guide me, to give me the courage to confess honestly and to help me make my first confession a good one.
The priest I confessed to is such a wonderful person, patient and understanding and encouraging and kind. I received my penance and I received absolution, and that was that… A clean slate, a new start! :extrahappy:
I think the hardest part now is to forgive myself for all the times I have messed up. God has forgiven me… I haven’t. I still feel like I have disappointed Him so often, and so badly.
But He has forgiven me, and whenever I think of that it makes me feel like I am walking on air!
Just wanted to share.
And tonight I went to the Celebration of Confirmation Mass, and afterward I did my first confession! I feel so relieved, so happy, and so blessed right now. There were ten priests scattered around the church, taking confessions, and you could pick whoever you felt most comfortable with. It was a face-to-face confession, something I never thought I would have the courage to do. As I was standing in line, I was so very nervous! I was praying to the Holy Spirit to help me and guide me, to give me the courage to confess honestly and to help me make my first confession a good one.
The priest I confessed to is such a wonderful person, patient and understanding and encouraging and kind. I received my penance and I received absolution, and that was that… A clean slate, a new start! :extrahappy:
I think the hardest part now is to forgive myself for all the times I have messed up. God has forgiven me… I haven’t. I still feel like I have disappointed Him so often, and so badly.
But He has forgiven me, and whenever I think of that it makes me feel like I am walking on air!
Just wanted to share.
And I’m so sorry you didn’t have confession! How awful! I heard that’s where a lot of abuses came up after VII. I guess they haven’t changed 