Reconciliation is a hugely misunderstood Sacrament.  Say wha?  Yup, I believe that most of us are focusing on the wrong thing when we think about the cool Sacrament of Reconciliation.

See, when most people talk about Reconciliation, they say something like "I don't want to go sit in a little room and tell some guy all the stuff I've done wrong.  What will he think of me?  I can just sit in my room and tell God myself."  Oh really?

Did you know that there are components to Sacraments?  (The fancy smart people words for this are "Matter and Form," but we won't get that specific.)  I'm going to try and make this not goofy-complicated.  There are physical components to every Sacrament.  For example, in the Eucharist, there is the physical (you know, bread looking) host, that we believe is the Body of Christ.  In Baptism there's the water.  In Annointing of the Sick there is the oil.  See?  Well, what about Penance, you say?  There is the physical act of talking with the priest.  There is the physical act of your praying the Act of Contrition.  (Don't worry if you don't know that prayer, priests are good at helping you through that.) 

Oh, and there is that really cool part of the Sacrament... you know, when the priest makes the Sign of the Cross over your head, blesses you and says "I absolve you of your sins in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen."  You know what that means?  They're gone.  Your sins -- don't exist anymore.  Bye bye.  So, when you tell God your sins in secret in your bedroom, do you say that to yourself?  Didn't think so.

Look, Reconciliation isn't something that early church folks thought up for fun.  "Hey, let's make this thing where people come and tell us all the bad stuff they've done.  It'll be fun to watch them sit there and squirm.  Then maybe we'll keep track of it and judge them.  Cause everyone knows, we don't sin."  Nope, we believe that this sacrament was a gift of Jesus Christ, when He specifically said to the Apostles in John 20: "Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."  So, yeah... I'd want mine forgiven, how about you?

This coming Sunday, March 9, Fr. Mark Noonan has graciously offered to hear Confessions for all junior and senior high school students.  He'll be in the back of Nativity Church from 4:30 PM until mass starts at 6:30 PM.  We're going to do our best to keep a reverent atmosphere in the back of church to allow for those who are going to Reconciliation.  We will also have Examinations of Conscience in the front row of those little pews in the back of church -- that's a little guide full of questions to ask yourself to help figure out where you may have screwed up.

Please, take this opportunity to go to Reconciliation.  And you don't have to worry about Fr. Mark remembering the bad things you tell him.  Look, do you want to remember the bad things you've done?  Then why would Fr. Mark want to?  Spread the word to all St. Bernadette's and Nativity youth -- Fr. Mark is available for you...