Gen X: Act of Contrition

O My God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you.
And I detest all my sins because of your just punishment.
But most of all because I offend you, My God, who are all good and deserving of all my love
I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to sin no more, and to avoid the near occasion of sin.    Amen.

All Christian religions profess contrition – an apology – to God for our sins. A lot of Christian religions use a more personal approach when approaching God with their sins and apologizing to Him within context of a normal conversation that one would have with Him.

Catholics recite what’s call the Act of Contrition. This prayer has changed over the years, more recently being changed to simpler words making it easier people to recite, remember, and understand. I was taught the old school way – with the prayer above, but there are several versions all stating the same thing: I am sorry for my sins and I deserve any punishment you may give to me.

An interesting fact about the Act of Contrition, is that it is not part of the Roman Missal itself. Most priests these days don’t require you to say a specific Act of Contrition (as pre Vatican II), and many encourage one to make contrition to God in their own words.

Use of the Act of Contrition is typical during the Sacrament of Reconciliation - where one goes to confess their sins to God. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is not a man-made one. Jesus stated, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” James 5:16

Jesus instructed us to tell our sins to one another. That is how the Sacrament of Reconciliation came to be. God works through us all. He gives us gifts and talents that we are to use to glorify Him. It’s a priests “job” to be the hands and feet of Jesus – to represent holiness, humility and faithfulness (though they are most certainly human and do in fact stumble themselves!)

During the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the priest, through the POWER OF GOD, absolves one from their sins. It is not the priest who is doing the forgiving or the priest who has the power to accept ones forgiveness – it is God and God alone. The priest is there as God’s visual representation – to be His hands and voice to the penitent.

Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. Luke 23:34

A break in Gen X

I interrupt the Gen X postings for a very important announcement: I AM A SINNER.

Just in case there was ever any doubt I wanted to come clean.

You see, I was on a wonderful retreat this past weekend. It was the same retreat I talked about here a couple of months ago – and the same format retreat that I did with the teens a few months back.

There is something utterly amazing though about being on retreat wtih 47 other women. The pure Love that was found there was breathtaking. I have formed deeper bonds with the friendships that I had and have made new friends as well. I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend.

Then I got back.

And I sinned. I fell hard. And I felt like crap. You know the mud that gets stuck to the bottom of your shoe? I felt worse than that.

I was so appaled at myself.

And then I was reminded that I am a sinner. No matter how “holy” I try to be, I’m never going to achieve the holiness that our Savior deserves. I let the devil get a hold of me – knowing full well that I was doing something that was not pleasing to God – and something that I needed to avoid.

Even though I fell on Monday, on Wednesday I triumphed. I avoided that temptation and I said “NO” to the enemy who tried like heck to get me to give in.

Desires of the flesh are strong.

I am weak.

Lord, I pray for Your mantle of protection to surround me. Help me to stand firm in my faith and avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen.

This is what I think…

The Catholic church has been bashed numerous times for her “stubbornness” and “lack of willingness to conform to societal demands”. There are many “hot topics” that circulate around the church: Abortion, Gay Marriage, Death Penalty – just to name a few.

The Church puts out her stance, and as the Catholic body of Christ we are to abide by those rules.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there who disagree and have no problem going against what the Church teaches. On the flip side, there are some extreme die-hard Catholics who are go overboard with “sin bashing” and do not take into effect the humanity of the person in question.

I’ve always been one to follow the rules – all rules – that are put before me. For the most part, I’ve maintained that mentality all through life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly not perfect and I do my share of breaking the rules – like talking on my cell phone while driving [even though I've received a ticket for it already] and speeding [which is a societal norm these days] – daily. Sometimes though, I think that people need to be people, and realize that everyone has feelings and opinions that are valid.

I’m sure this post is going to cause a lot of turmoil, but hear me out. I’m going to state, again, that the following is my opinion and my feelings ONLY. Unless specified, this is not the view of the Catholic church as a whole.

Now, lets talk about homosexuals.

I think that maybe because I’ve been surrounded my homosexuals for most of my life, that I don’t find it to be a “big deal” and I can see those who do not have loved ones who are homosexual can get upset. Let me clarify “big deal” – I have an uncle, an aunt and two cousins who are homosexual. One of my cousins is married, and I couldn’t imagine her wife not being a part of my family. Being Catholic, all of the above mentioned people are aware of the stance that the Church has. They know that we don’t approve of their marriage because it goes against Church teaching. They also know, that we love them – for who they are and will continue to all the days of our lives.

Let me clarify a misconception: the Catholic Church is NOT anti-gay. We do NOT hate gays nor do we push them out of the Church. THAT is church teaching. 100%. What the Catholic Church does NOT approve of, is the marriage between two same-sex couples. THAT is Church teaching as well. Like I said earlier, there are always going to be those who are going to push the envelope and push people away. THAT is HUMANITY not the Church. It is possible to be homosexual and still be a part of the Church – and even a part of  clergy and religious who chose to remain celibate as they have an understanding of the sanctity of marriage and family  [and don't EVEN go there with the whole pedophile thing because THAT is not a same-sex attraction - its human stupidity - which we see all the time out of the Church as well]. The Church embraces all. The Church also discourages sinning. It doesn’t matter what sex you’re attracted to, sex outside of marriage is a SIN – again, Church teaching.

There is a difference between condoning a relationship and accepting the individuals – at least in my eyes. We are ALL sinners and there is no sin that is greater than the other. It’s important to remember that when we want to “cast the first stone” or point out another’s’ sin. Yes, we are to be held accountable to one another, but the one we really  need to be accountable to is God. I am not here to judge another and to shun them from my life – and maybe that is a character flaw on my part – but it’s not something that I’m going to change.

Jesus loves everyone. He dined with the worst of sinners. His apostles who He put in charge of leading His church, denied Him and left Him “for dead”. Jesus knows we are not perfect, and He doesn’t expect us to be. We are to strive for perfection, but we will always fall short – no matter who you are.

Let us remember that we are no better off than that of our neighbor. No sin is greater than another. And Jesus’ first command was to “love one another, as I have loved you”. Jesus loves ALL His brothers and sisters. God loves ALL His children. We are all created by God – and He doesn’t love any of us more or less than another.

Forgive me Father for I have sinned…

This past weekend we had the sacrament of Confirmation at my church.

Picture blurred to protect the innocent

I had been asked to attend the confirmation as my friend Maureen’s son was confirmed. Months ago I had requested that Saturday off of work. Shortly after the time off was approved, I realized that the confirmation wasn’t going to be until 4pm and the day off wasn’t necessary.

I kept the day off anyway.

Saturday morning I found myself excited at the prospect of a Saturday off of work. It took no time at all to decide that I was going to make the most of it and go to confession before confirmation…and I was really excited about it! It was the first time I had ever gone to confession of my own accord – without there being a group wide reconciliation service of some sort.

I went to CatholicsConfess.it and did a serious examination of conscience. Brought my list and headed off to confession! I left and was on cloud nine! I was smiling from ear to ear – so filled with His grace and forgiveness and mercy and love! I proceeded to head to the confirmation where I was also singing in the choir and I was so amazed by how much He was just pouring forth from me! I was singing like I’d never sang before! It was truly a blessing and gift (especially since on Sunday I tried to sing as loud and as well and it didn’t work).

Moral of the story: Go to confession. If you want to intensify your experience, take part in the Eucharistic celebration of the Mass AND top it off with the sacrament of Confirmation! It’s heaven on earth!

Confession chronicles

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”   James 5:16

Jesus calls us to confess our sins to one another. In the Catholic faith, this takes place in the form of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, also known as confession.  (For information on the biblical soundness of the Sacrament, check out this site. Catholics are encouraged to visit this sacrament often to make use of the graces and atonement that are bestowed

I find this a very difficult thing to do…for several reasons:

1. I wasn’t raised in an environment where confession was endorsed. The extent of my Catholic upbringing was going to Mass every Sunday – that’s pretty much where it ended. The only time I ever visited a confessional was when I was made to do so for religious ed classes.
2. A good confessor. My parish has two priests. They are both excellent men in their own ways, but I often times find it difficult to do a good confession with them. One is very “oh you’re being too hard on yourself”, and the other one I work directly under. He already judges me and while I know that’s not supposed to be the case when you’re talking about a priest, I can’t bring myself to give him more “ammunition” in his judgments. Granted, those are his issues that I should just leave up to God to deal with, but that’s much easier said than done.
3. Work. Now I know this is a very poor reason, but I do work every Saturday from 6am to 4:30pm. I have yet to find a confession time that is after I get out of work. Now I know that one can go up to a priest and ask for confession at anytime, but see point number 2: lack of a good confessor.

For the next two Saturdays I am off of work. Next Saturday I have my big youth group function in which we will be offering to the teens to go to confession. The following Saturday I will be in Nashville, with another chance to be able to partake in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It will be there where I will be able to do a really good confession – in a really holy state of mind. I’ve never been so excited for confession in my life!

Sometimes, it’s hard to humble yourself to admit to your failures. It’s easy to admit them to yourselves, but quite hard to verbalize them to a priest – especially if you have a not so personal relationship with said priest. There are times when I find it very freeing to go to a priest that I will never have to see again.

What are your thoughts on the Sacrament? How often do you utilize this Sacrament?

Are you ready?

December 21, 2012…the proposed day of the end of the world.

Are you ready? Do you believe that we are nearing the end? Do you believe that He is coming?

I do.

I don’t however, believe that December 21, 2012 will be the day. (Though I do have a grand time boosting that thought to other paranoid people!)

We’ve been told that He is going to return…but we know not the day nor the hour. The time could be today…tomorrow…next year…ten years from now…we just don’t know.

Are you ready?

Are you ready to stand before the throne of God? Are you ready to meet your maker face to face?

I am. Mentally that is. Spiritually, I will never be ready. As previously posted in my last post, we are all sinners. We all have sins to atone for…sins for which we need forgiveness from. My guess is that in our humanness, we will continue to sin up to the day we die. What are you doing though, to ready your soul…to ready yourself for heaven?

Do you know if you’re going to heaven? No one does.

Are you living according to His word?

Do you have sins in which you need to be forgiven…by God or by others?

Is your heart free from ill thoughts?

I know mine isn’t…

Lord, help us to grow closer to you. In our growth, help us to learn to live like you’ve commanded…to love like you love…to be like you.