The Last First Reconciliation

 Our little caboose made his First Confession last night!  

Brendan took this sacrament very seriously and spent a long time examining his conscience and writing down his sins so that he wouldn't forget any.  Oh how I would have loved to hear what these sweet little children had to say to Father last night, can you even imagine?  While preparing, Brendan told Phil "Your first confession must be your longest confession because you have to tell all of the sins from your WHOLE LIFE!  After that, you just tell the sins since your last confession."  

Sins in hand, which he was happy to throw out in the trash after - exactly what God does.

Phil is the Director of Religious Ed at our parish, so he took Brendan with him early while he went to set up the church for the evening.  When I arrived, Brendan was sitting in a pew with a little friend, and afterwards he told me his friend started telling his sins to Brendan, "But I stopped him right away and said that he only had to tell his sins to Father.  I did hear the first one he said though, but I won't tell."

When it was Brendan's turn to receive the sacrament, he was in the confessional for a very long time (7 years of sin y'all!)  and I asked him how it went and if Father talked a lot or helped him out in any way.  Brendan said "he only had to help me with one statement".  I didn't understand the reference so I asked Phil when he got home later.  He smiled and said that Father had told the children earlier that morning to read through the pamphlet on examining your conscience, and if you could answer yes to a question (ex. Did I disobey my parents?) then in confession, you just had to turn that question into a statement (ex. I disobeyed my parents.)  

Well, these kids are only seven or eight and this was a wee bit hard for some of them to figure out, so they were repeating the questions in confession and Father was trying to help them make statements instead.  I can just picture those kids confessing "Did I fight with my siblings?  Did I go to Mass on Sunday?" and Father facepalming on the other side of the screen, like I don't know, did you?  Haha!  No wonder they took so long!

Praying his penance after.

What's a better way to celebrate a clean soul than ice cream?  

Brendan was able to pick anything he wanted, so he got a hot fudge sundae with coffee ice cream, and the rest of his adoring siblings each got a small cone or cup too.  Confession Confections :)

We love you and are so proud of you Brendan Age-of-Reason Martin!