Alarms went off in my head.  My mind shifted gears rapidly, snapping out of my thoughts and paying attention to what I was hearing.  Tara and I were in the living room while my oldest daughter and oldest son—5 years apart in age—were in the kitchen.  I could hear them but couldn’t see them (we actually want to remove that wall…).

My ears heard the unmistakable sounds of a fight starting.

Several years ago, we hosted dinner for some of our friends.  One of them brought along The Catholic Card Game (yes, that’s really a thing, Google it) for some laughs after our meal.  The instructions told us the first player was whoever had gone to the Sacrament of Reconciliation most recently.  

Last week’s blog was about the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Specifically, how it changes us, sets us free and thus changes the world and influences our neighbors and families. Making the journey to the confessional, to seek Jesus in this beautiful and intimate sacrament is often scary and can be a bit intimidating. Today, I’m going to share some resources and ideas for helping to prepare our hearts, minds and souls to jump back into Confession. 

Growing up, I believed that going to confession was one of the scariest things that I could do. I was incredibly nervous because confession is uncomfortable. We have to dig deep, reflect, sit in silence and be sincerely sorry for the things we have done that hurt another. As humans, those things seem hard, scary and many of us would much rather avoid them. 

Just recently a priest I know told me how he has been planning to completely refurbish the confessional inside his parish church.