Reconciliation

My oldest will be receiveing his first sacrament of reconciliation soon. Today he went to a 2hr. retreat with Lee to learn and prepare. It went well, Lee reports, and Jake has a mature (for an 8yr old) intellectual grasp of God and his relationship with Him.

Knowing Jake is preparing for this has set me to thinking on this sacrament as well. It is not well understood, even by faithful Catholics.

The whole nature of sacraments is so mystical and it was only recently that I could even entertain the thought of a physical sign really being a conduit of such an immeasurable substance, grace. I am not sure how or when the thought that God would not interact with humans in such a concrete, tangible way ingrained itself in my heart. Now it seems very logical, I mean He became matter Himself, being born of the flesh, therefore giving it inherant value. Why would it be so inconcievable that he would not continue to interact with humanity in such a physical presence? At some point I simply rejected that possibility without even realising it.

Confession is good for the soul. Even those who are not Catholic can agree with that. Ongoing self-examination, seeking self-knowledge, is a humbling, but satisfying work. How can we know ourselves if we don't stop and reflect, honestly and truthfully, not only on our acheivements, but also on our failings? How can we rely on God, grow in intimacy with Him, when we don't pause to see where we are falling short on our own efforts? When I am preparing to make a Confession, I reflect on all of this. Sin is real and it seperates us degree by degree from the One who loves us more than we can imagine.

The whole negative Catholic guilt thing has become cliched. In a proper balance guilt is good! Darn right my kids should feel guilty for lying, disobeying, being manipulative or using others, no matter what the "reason". Why shouldn't I feel the same?

Catholics believe that the institution of the sacraments is scriptual as well as traditional. When I go to confession, the priest is there as a servant of God and when he hears and absolves me, it is not him absolving me, it is Christ acting through the priest. In the Gospels, when He heals the paralytic he makes it clear that to absolve from sin is God's ability alone. I can also ask God for forgiveness on my own and I do that as well. The Church teaches, and I believe, that during the sacrament there is a specific transference of grace, that wonderful immeasurable stuff that you can never have too much of.

The result is not only a clean heart, but a clean mind, renewed and full of purpose and hope, because while it is true that sin is real, thorough and complete forgiveness is real too. That is what I want my son to know.