How to go to confession when you haven’t gone

March 30-31 2019:  4th Sunday of Lent

How to go to confession when you haven’t gone in years.

A practical guide for those hesitant about re-turning to the sacraments.

Going to confession for the first time in 5, 10, 20, 30 (or more) years can be daunting. We know we should do it, but there is part of us that is still reluctant or even afraid of going back to the sacraments.

Besides feelings of shame, we may simply have forgotten how to go to confession.
For those who are hesitant to receive the mercy of God, here is a practical guide to the various steps of going to confession.

Step 1: Examine your conscience
This is the most necessary part of confession. Before you can confess your sins you need to know them. Typically a person goes to confession and tells the priest the sins they can   remember since their last confession. If their last confession was 20 years ago, it might be rather difficult. The key is to tell the priest all mortal sins that you remember (to the best of your ability).
When telling them to the priest, say the sin itself and the   number of times you committed it (or at least a general estimation, like, “I didn’t go to Mass for 20 years”).
When thinking of these sins remember that the priest has heard everything before. You are not going to surprise or shock him.

Also, think about confession as going to a doctor. If you don’t tell the doctor your arm hurts, he won’t be able to diagnose it and offer a cure. Similarly, if you don’t tell the priest a sin, he won’t be able to offer absolution for it and help heal that    spiritual wound.
Step 2: Look up the local confession times or schedule a time with the priest
Sometimes if it has been a while, it is best to schedule a separate time with the local priest. However, if you don’t know the priest it might be daunting to think about it. Instead, find the nearest parish and inquire about their confession times. .. go early and try to be near the front of the line.
Step 3: Go into the confessional or Reconciliation room and start your confession
... many parishes no longer use the old-style confessional booths, or may offer them as an option along with one or more Reconciliation rooms. In a room, you still have the option of confessing anonymously behind a screen, ... You may also choose to confess face-to-face. Penitents line up outside the closed door to a Reconciliation room just as they do outside a confessional booth, entering when the person ahead of them leaves.

Wherever confession takes place, the priest typically will start first, saying, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” Then it will be your turn to talk. Since it is your first time in a while, it is best to let the priest know that, and say something like, “Father, this is my first confession in x amount of years. These are my sins.”
Then you go ahead and start telling the priest your sins. Do your best to remember them. If you need to, write them on a piece of paper ahead of time.
Step 4: Listen to the priest’s consoling words and say your act of contrition
The priest will respond with words meant to encourage you on your journey of faith. He will then give you a specific “penance,” which could be a number of prayers (like saying 5 Our Fathers), or something related to your sins. After that he will invite you to make an act of contrition, a prayer expressing your sorrow for your sins. If you are worried about that, most confessionals have the act of contrition printed and    visible to see. If they don’t, then let the priest know and he will guide you through it.
Alternatively you can print your own copy of the following prayer.
My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against you whom I should love above all things. I firmly intend, with your help, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin. Our Saviour Jesus Christ suffered and died for     us. In his name, my God, have mercy.
Step 5: Bask in the mercy of God and say your penance
Take a while in the church to thank God for what just happened. God just wiped your sins away! They’re gone. Praise him and allow God’s peace to flood your soul. Then do whatever penance the priest gave you.
      Re-commit your life to Jesus Christ, and as you leave the church, start a new chapter in your life. God is always there whenever we fall. Trust in his mercy and allow his grace to permeate every aspect of your life. Plan to head to confession again soon.

Philip Kosloski | Aug 12, 2017

The present Church crisis and Mary

March 23-24 2019: 3rd Sunday of Lent

The present Church crisis and Mary

Does the Mother of Jesus have any relevance to the present Church crisis?

Mary brings the Divine Redeemer into the world by an

obedient fiat [‘Let it be done’]. She does so with an obedient faith… Saint John Paul II confirmed that before and beyond the Petrine model of the Church is the Marianmodel…

 

 

Mary was superior to Peter in knowledge of the Gospel, wisdom in its application, and purity in its lived expression. How then would Mary respond to Peter’s authority? In spite of her superiority to Peter in most every conceivable measure, Mary responded to Peter’s office of authority with the same obedient fiat. For Mary saw Jesus in Peter, and thus continually gave the obedience to her Son’s Vicar that which she gave to her Son… It may appear “unscientific” and “non-pragmatic,” that the foundational solution to the present crisis is spiritual and interior… Mary sees everyone—bishop, priest, religious, layperson—as her little child in true need of the ongoing interior conversion which alone can make the external living of the Gospel, obediently, chastely, and joyfully, possible in our times. Our Lady, with a unique and personal maternal solicitude, encourages each of us, in the quiet of our hearts, towards a greater generosity of time in Adoration of her Eucharistic Son, in the praying of her Rosary, in the reception of the Sacraments, in obedience to her son’s Vicar— and in whatever way we personally can better “do whatever he tells you” (cf. Jn 2:5).

Let us entrust the critical need for thorough purification of the Church to the Church’s Mother, that she may guide the Vicar of Christ and the People of God, unified in obedience and solidarity, through the necessary cleansing that will courageously recover the purity, obedience, and love reflective

of the true Body of Christ.

 
Dr. Mark Miravalle, Saint John Paul II Chair of Mariology, Franciscan  University of Steubenville

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‘Thomas More is more important at this moment than at any moment since his death, even perhaps the great moment of his dying; but he is not quite so important as he will be in about a hundred years’ time. He may come to be counted the greatest Englishman, or at least the greatest historical character in English history. For he was above all things historic; he represented at once a type, a turning point and an ultimate destiny. If there had not happened to be that particular man at that particular moment, the whole of history would have been different.”

 

G.K. Chesterton, “A Turning Point in History,’ 1929; quoted in Chaput, Render unto Caesar, p.158

 

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This ancient prayer to St. Joseph has “never been known to fail”

March 16-17 2019:   2nd Sunday of Lent

As long as it is said in faith and for a particular spiritual benefit. 
Even though St. Joseph never spoke a word in scripture, his silent example of obedient faithfulness and diligent care for the Holy Family during Jesus’ formative years has made him one of the most beloved saints of Christianity.
Here is the prayer, which some claim “has never been known to fail, provided that the request is for one’s spiritual benefit or for those whom we are praying for.”
O St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in you all my interest and desires. O St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession, and obtain for me from your divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So that, having engaged here below your heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of Fathers.
O St. Joseph, I never weary of contemplating you, and Jesus asleep in your arms; I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press Him close in my name and kiss His fine head for me and ask Him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, patron of departing souls, pray for me. Amen.
Remember, God always answers our prayers. We may not always expect the response we receive.

Philip Kosloski   Feb 28, 2018 , Aleteia.

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Benedict XVI’s key to a fruitful Lent
Lent is a perfect time of the year to evaluate our own faith life and to consider various ways to improve it. Pope Benedict XVI, during his final message for Lent in 2013, gave his thoughts on what is the key to a fruitful Lent.
Benedict writes, “The celebration of Lent … offers us a valuable opportunity to meditate on the relationship between faith and charity: between believing in God – the God of Jesus Christ – and love, which is the fruit of the Holy Spirit and which guides us on the path of devotion to God and others.”

He then explains how faith leads to charity, which is a response to God’s love for us.
The entire Christian life is a response to God’s love. The first response is precisely faith as the acceptance, filled with wonder and gratitude, of the unprecedented divine initiative that precedes us and sum-mons us. And the “yes” of faith marks the beginning of a radiant story of friendship with the Lord, which fills and gives full meaning to our whole life. But it is not enough for God that we simply accept his gratuitous love. Not only does he love us, but he wants to draw us to himself, to transform us in such a profound way as to bring us to say with Saint Paul: “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (cf. Gal 2:20).
In other words, “Faith is knowing the truth and adhering to it (cf. 1 Tim 2:4); charity is ‘walking’ in the truth (cf. Eph 4:15).” Its easy to remain laser-focused during Lent on bolstering up our prayer life, which is a good and praiseworthy goal. How-ever, Pope Benedict XVI asks us to take the next step and to use that renewed faith by being charitable towards others.
As St. Paul famously put it, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1).
Charity should always be on our radar, and we can not trade it in for a better prayer life. We must allow our prayer life to drive our charity, seeking to outdo others in generosity. That is the Christian life and the key to a fruitful Lent
Philip Kosloski  Mar 12, 2019  Aleteia.

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Meet India’s newest recognized saint (part 2)

March 2-3 2019
8th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Meet India’s newest recognized saint

Blessed Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan

1876-1926

 

The foundation of the Congregation of the Holy Family
In 1903 Mariam Thresia requested her bishop’s permission to build a prayer house of solitude, but Mar John Menachery, the Vicar Apostolic of Trichur, first wanted to test her vocation. He suggested to her to consider joining the newly founded Congregation of the Francis-can Clarists, but she did not think that she was called to it. In 1912 he made arrangements for her to live in a con-vent of the Carmelite nuns at Ollur.

 

 

 

Though the Sisters would gladly have admitted her into their Congregation, she did not feel that it was her call.  Finally, in 1913 Mar Menachery permitted her to build a prayer house and sent his secretary to bless it. Thresia moved in, and her three companions joined her soon. They led a life of prayer and austere penance like  hermits but continued to visit the sick and help the poor and the needy irrespective of religion or caste. The bishop discerned that here was in gestation a new  religious Congregation for the service of the family. On May 14, 1914 he erected it canonically and named it the Congregation of the Holy Family (C.H.F.), while receiving the perpetual profession of Mariam Thresia. Her three companions were enrolled as postulants in the new Congregation, while she was appointed its first Superior with Father Joseph Vithayathil as chaplain.

 

Nurturing the new Congregation
The newly founded Congregation had no written Constitutions. The bishop himself procured the Constitutions of the Holy Family Sisters of Bordeaux from their house in Ceylon (today, Sri Lanka), adapted it and gave it to the foundress. Mother Mariam Thresia 
saw to its strict observance in the new Congregation, which she nurtured with great care. During and after the difficult years of the First World War, with indomitable energy and utter trust in divine providence, she built, in less than 12 years, three new convents, two schools, two hostels, a study house, and an orphanage.

Education of girls was Mariam Thresia’s theology in  action, without the slogan. Several young girls were  attracted to her by her simplicity, humility and shining sanctity. At the time of her death at the age of 50 there were 55 Sisters in the Congregation, 30 boarders and 10 orphans under her care. The co-founder Father Joseph Vithayathil continued, till his death in 1964, to nurture the Congregation, which grew steadily. In the year 2000, this Congregation of the Holy Family had 1584 professed Sisters, serving in Kerala, in the mission areas of North India, in Germany, Italy, and Ghana, with a total of 176 houses in 7 provinces and 119 novices.

 

Death and reputation for sanctity
Mother Mariam Thresia died on June 8, 1926, from a wound on the leg caused by a falling object. The wound defied cure owing to her diabetes. After her death the fame of Mariam Thresia spread as she continued from heaven to succor the sick and the needy through miraculous favors. In 1971 a historical commission collected the necessary evidence regarding her life, virtues and  writings and presented it in 1983 before an eparchial (diocesan) tribunal, which also collected the depositions of 15 of the surviving eyewitnesses. On June 28,1999, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints promulgated a  decree stating that the Servant of God Mariam Thresia had practiced the Christian virtues heroically, and so she was entitled to be called Venerable.

Of the numerous miraculous cures reported, the following one was examined canonically in 1992.
Mathew Pellissery was born in 1956 with congenital clubfeet and till he was 14 he could only walk with great difficulty on the sides of his feet. After 33 days of fasting and prayer invoking the help of Mother Mariam Thresia by the whole family, his right foot was straightened  during night sleep on August 21, 1970. And similarly after 39 days of fasting and prayer his left foot was straightened overnight during sleep on August 28, 1971.

Ever since then Mathew has been able to walk normally. This double healing was declared inexplicable in terms of   medical science by as many as nine doctors in India and Italy and was declared a miracle obtained through the intercession of the Servant of God Mariam Thresia by the  Congregation for the Causes of Saints on January 27, 2000. This miraculous cure thus met the last canonical requirement for her beatification in April 2000. Pellissery was grateful to be able to be present at this solemn celebration of beatification in Rome.

 

(Indian Catholic Matters | Feb 14, 2019 (concluded)