Father are you really going to talk about confession as we conclude the Paschal season and head into summer? Aren't you being a bit of a wet blanket with bringing this up when we should be out having fun?
As a priest, I'm not here to win a popularity contest but to share the truth of our faith and support each of you along the path to salvation. Thankfully the truth of our faith and our path towards salvation doesn't prohibit us from enjoying time with family and friends, having a healthy amount of 'recharge time' and enjoying God's beautiful creation. Yet we have to not 'take our eyes off the prize' of our spiritual and Christian life which is communion and union with our Savior. So rather than avoiding this beautiful summer season, we seek to infuse it with the joy of our Lord and continue our walk with Him.
St. Theophan the Recluse tells us that 'In the Sacrament of Confession the Lord enters into man by His grace, vividly establishes communion with him and gives him to taste of all the sweetness of the Divine'. Simply put, blessed confession gives us an inner sweetness that permeates all our life. It is in this spirit that I bring up confession in this summer season, so that we can all enjoy the summer with 'all the sweetness of the Divine' and that the Sweetest Jesus would guide all our summer activities, rather than our sinful passions which can so easily be evoked during this time.
Some of us have not been to confession for a long time, or have never confessed, or may have had bad experiences with confession. Yet we feel the burdens of our sins; we are haunted and frustrated by them. This beautiful summer season may be a time where we are tortured by them even more than any other season of the year; we feel them sapping away the joy and sweetness that we desire to have with one another and Jesus.
My invitation to you is to find time over the summer to come to confession at least one time. As hard as it may be to find time for it, as hard as it may be to motivate ourselves to do it, I can assure you that your summer will be transfigured by receiving the 'sweetness of the Divine'.
With His Eminence blessing me to hear confessions, you now have even more opportunities to experience blessed confession as you can confess to Fr. Ed or myself. I put together a helpful resource for understanding and approaching confession that should have something for everyone; those who have never confessed and for the seasoned 'confessee' (CONFESSION RESOURCE HERE). Likewise, below is a summary of ways to partake of this blessed sacrament.
In Christ,
Fr. Steve
As a priest, I'm not here to win a popularity contest but to share the truth of our faith and support each of you along the path to salvation. Thankfully the truth of our faith and our path towards salvation doesn't prohibit us from enjoying time with family and friends, having a healthy amount of 'recharge time' and enjoying God's beautiful creation. Yet we have to not 'take our eyes off the prize' of our spiritual and Christian life which is communion and union with our Savior. So rather than avoiding this beautiful summer season, we seek to infuse it with the joy of our Lord and continue our walk with Him.
St. Theophan the Recluse tells us that 'In the Sacrament of Confession the Lord enters into man by His grace, vividly establishes communion with him and gives him to taste of all the sweetness of the Divine'. Simply put, blessed confession gives us an inner sweetness that permeates all our life. It is in this spirit that I bring up confession in this summer season, so that we can all enjoy the summer with 'all the sweetness of the Divine' and that the Sweetest Jesus would guide all our summer activities, rather than our sinful passions which can so easily be evoked during this time.
Some of us have not been to confession for a long time, or have never confessed, or may have had bad experiences with confession. Yet we feel the burdens of our sins; we are haunted and frustrated by them. This beautiful summer season may be a time where we are tortured by them even more than any other season of the year; we feel them sapping away the joy and sweetness that we desire to have with one another and Jesus.
My invitation to you is to find time over the summer to come to confession at least one time. As hard as it may be to find time for it, as hard as it may be to motivate ourselves to do it, I can assure you that your summer will be transfigured by receiving the 'sweetness of the Divine'.
With His Eminence blessing me to hear confessions, you now have even more opportunities to experience blessed confession as you can confess to Fr. Ed or myself. I put together a helpful resource for understanding and approaching confession that should have something for everyone; those who have never confessed and for the seasoned 'confessee' (CONFESSION RESOURCE HERE). Likewise, below is a summary of ways to partake of this blessed sacrament.
- Open Confession Time During Saturday Night Vespers - Starting in June we will be trying out having an open time for people to come to confession. You'll see on the monthly calendar a note indicating 'Confession Available' for some Saturday night Vespers. This means both Fr. Ed and I are planning to be at Vespers and one of us will serve the Vespers and the other will hear confessions. Note:
- This will NOT be by appointment and will be first come, first serve
- Anyone wanting confession should be at the service 10 minutes before so the fathers can determine who will serve and who will hear confessions
- Depending on how this goes we may expand this to Wednesday night Vespers
- Scheduling Confession - You can schedule a confession the following ways:
- For Fr. Steve, you can use the online schedule system or contact me directly if you can't find a time there
- For Fr. Ed, contact him directly
In Christ,
Fr. Steve
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