I went to confession yesterday, not because I was troubled by anything in particular, but simply because I am trying to get in the habit of going to confession more regularly. Actually, I wasn't really planning on going at all, but when my husband came home he told me that he had made a point of getting home early enough so that I could go to church. Thanks love!
I always feel so much better after confession. Being a convert to Catholicism, I haven't gone to confession more than a handful of times, but so far, each time I go I am given exactly what I need. It really is an amazing gift.
As a Protestant Christian, I always viewed The Catholic practice of "going to confession" as another road block that the Church had placed between the people and God. I confessed my sins to God in prayer and through corporate confession as a part of the church services I attended. Of course, God forgives sins when we confess them in these circumstances, but to have a priest, and God through him, listen, look one in the eye, and say the words of absolution is to experience forgiveness in a much more personal, nurturing way.
The priest who heard my confession stated that penance should be a gift, not a punishment. This statement started me thinking about all the gifts God gives me that I just don't bother opening. If there were packages on the table each morning, packages wrapped in brilliant papers with elegant bows, I would never be able to walk by and resist the urge to open them. Yet how easy is it to talk myself out of opening the gifts of daily prayer, Eucharist, confession, and trust that God places before me each day?
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Family Rosary
In May, in honor of Mary, our family started praying a decade of the rosary each night. At the time, our son was not quite two and I had trouble finding a rosary for a child of that age, so I made one for him.
I started by tracing some shapes onto card stock and cut them out - on cross, one larger circle, and ten smaller circles. I mounted the cross on yellow construction paper, the larger circle on red, and each of the smaller circles on blue. Then I added stickers from Dollar Tree (thank you Lacy at Catholic Icing!). The cross has a painting of the Holy Trinity, the large red circle a painting of Jesus praying, and each blue circle a picture of Mary. I also wrote the name of the prayer for each bead on the back, just in case. Then I laminated each shape with clear contact paper, punched two hole in each circle and strung them together using yarn.
As we tuck my now two year old son into bed each night, after his story, we say a decade if the rosary. He is still learning to cross himself and has just started "reciting" the Hail Mary ("God" and "now" are ver clear!). The other night, in true toddler fashion, he asked to say the rosary again and again. How can I refuse to let him pray? So we said three decades. If he keeps it up, we may be able to work up to a full decade far sooner than I thought!
It is really nice to pray as a family. It provides a calm focus in what can be a tantrum-filled time. It reminds my husband and I to slow down and tap into God's peace instead of giving onto frustration when our lively little boy is resisting bedtime!
I started by tracing some shapes onto card stock and cut them out - on cross, one larger circle, and ten smaller circles. I mounted the cross on yellow construction paper, the larger circle on red, and each of the smaller circles on blue. Then I added stickers from Dollar Tree (thank you Lacy at Catholic Icing!). The cross has a painting of the Holy Trinity, the large red circle a painting of Jesus praying, and each blue circle a picture of Mary. I also wrote the name of the prayer for each bead on the back, just in case. Then I laminated each shape with clear contact paper, punched two hole in each circle and strung them together using yarn.
As we tuck my now two year old son into bed each night, after his story, we say a decade if the rosary. He is still learning to cross himself and has just started "reciting" the Hail Mary ("God" and "now" are ver clear!). The other night, in true toddler fashion, he asked to say the rosary again and again. How can I refuse to let him pray? So we said three decades. If he keeps it up, we may be able to work up to a full decade far sooner than I thought!
It is really nice to pray as a family. It provides a calm focus in what can be a tantrum-filled time. It reminds my husband and I to slow down and tap into God's peace instead of giving onto frustration when our lively little boy is resisting bedtime!
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