Children, confess your sins!
Good morning young men and women,
today in the Gospel it says that Jesus drove 7 devils out of Mary Magdalene. That happened when he forgave her her many sins. After she was forgiven, and had turned away from her sins, she followed Jesus all the time, and tried to do anything she could to help him.
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The forgiveness of sins changes a person’s life, they become very happy, and they walk with God, we know this from Confession. After we have told our sins in Confession, and received absolution from the priest, we feel SO good, because we are clean and free of our sins.
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I know that the youngest children here have not yet made their 1st Confession, but most of us all go to Confession every month with our school. One thing is, you can go more often than once a month if you wish; I go every week. Some children go every week or every 2 weeks; our church has confessions on Friday and Saturday afternoons, and if you go to a different Catholic church, they have confession times too, you can just ask your parents when are the times.
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People oftentimes ask me if they can go to Confession – even if it is in the afternoon, or on a Tuesday, or somewhere else, like at the Mall or in the store. They say, ‘Father, could you hear my confession?’ It’s because they want to be free of their sins.
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But the important thing is, that we go to Confession on a regular basis. I hope that you went during the summer, when we were out of school. Confession, sometimes called Reconcilliation, or the Sacrament of Penance – it is where Jesus speaks to us through the priest. Yes, it’s the priest’s voice, but when he gives us forgivness, Jesus is doing that – taking away our sins.
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It is a relief to have a big sin taken away, to tell it; once it is told, well, that was the hard part. Sometimes older kids or students in college have some bad mortal sins; they are SO relieved when they go to Confession, so that they can forget being wicked and start to be good again.
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When we confess, we must tell all the mortal sins since our last confession, and we can tell some of the venial sins that are bothering us also. If a boy goes to confession, and he has a bad mortal sin on his soul – if he is afraid to tell the priest and he conceals that sin, is that a true Confession? No way.
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Sometimes we think a sin is SO bad, that we are afraid to tell the priest, he might be shocked. But that is not true, because we priests understand how the devil can trick people, and so we are very understanding.
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Let us make always a good examination of conscience before Confession, and then be very truthful when we confess. This way, our soul will be clean and beautiful, and this will make Jesus – and us – very happy.
