Dear Community of Saint Joseph’s:

 

Lent is an intense time of purification and enlightenment.  It is period in our lives in which the Church encourages us to emphasize and reflect upon what needs to be changed about the way we live our lives.  One of the many ways we can go about entering into this purification is by celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation. 

 

For some of us the idea of going to “confession” is frightening.  It recalls nerve-wracking experiences as a child going into a dark confessional, reciting a long list of personal faults and enduring being scolded by the confessor.   In the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council the entire experience of “Reconciliation,” has changed enormously.   First the name:  to call the Sacrament “confession,” is to describe only one aspect of the action.  To confess is to merely voice one’s faults and sins.  To “reconcile,” is to be brought into right relationship with the other.  In this case, the other is our loving Father, who like the Prodigal Father in the parable is eager to welcome us home. 

 

We will be celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Thursday evening, March 22 from 5:30 in the evening until 8:00 at Resurrection Church in Aptos.  During that entire time there will be several priests on hand to welcome you into an experience of inner peace and spiritual healing.  If it has been many years since you have celebrated the sacrament, do not feel you need to make a list of every transgression.  Rather consider the consistent ways in which you have turned away from God, your family and neighbors.  Voice to the confessor the opportunities you have missed to be a loving generous person, the times you have surrendered to gossip, pornography and blasphemy.  In his Catholic Update “Understanding Sin Today,” Father Richard Gula describes an example of a contemporary reconciliation today between a confessor and a young Dad:

 

“Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.  It has been six weeks since my last confession.   I am a husband, a father of three teenage children, and I hold an executive position in a large computer firm.  Over the past month I have allowed love to grow cold at home and in my work.  At home, I have been inattentive to my wife and children as I allowed my new projects at work to consume most of my time and attention.  I have spent more time at work and little time with the family.  At work, I have selfishly neglected to disclose some data which my colleagues needed for a new project.  I wanted to gain the glory.  I have also failed to support a female colleague who was clearly being sexually harassed and I failed to confront those who were doing the harassing. 

 

This imaginary Reconciliation is an excellent example of how to express ourselves within the context of the sacrament.  At the conclusion of your confession the Confessor will ask you to participate in a Penance that may consist of some action or prayer relating to your sins.  You would then pray an Act of Contrition and receive absolution.  Although we become anxious when contemplating going to Reconciliation there is tremendous peace that awaits you on the other side of that nervousness.  Think about the possibility of celebrating Reconciliation at Resurrection Church on March 22.  I assure you it can be a positive, enriching opportunity to draw closer to God and become a holier, more peaceful person.

Father Matt Pennington

Pastor