Thanksgiving Confession

I’ll admit sometimes I’m a great big cliché, but today will not be one of those days. I’m NOT going to write some hokey post about what I’m thankful for. No offense to those who ARE writing those kinds of posts today; it’s just that (if you read this blog on a regular basis) you can TELL I’m thankful EVERY SINGLE DAY, for reasons I may or may not divulge later. Have to keep you coming back for more, don’t I?

Anyway, today, Class, you be learning about the Catholic Church’s Sacrament of Reconciliation, which my son Joel received on November 20. My friend Smoosh said she couldn’t wait to read all about this, and I told her there would be nothing to post unless someone acted up in church, which they didn’t.

Brief religious history of me: parents grew up Protestant and sort of rebelled, which left me, as I liked to say, “a religious nothing.” I went to a Bible church with one set of grandparents sometimes; a Presbyterian church with the other set. When I was a teenager I “got saved” at a Youth for Christ rally. For a couple of years that’s who I was. I didn’t cuss, I tried to be a good kid, I was all about the JC and was taught in a subtle way that Catholics were people who drank and sinned all Friday night and then did Confession on Saturdays to have it all erased.

Then I started to date at age 16 ½ and dumped JC. I was basically a Bratz doll for about 7 years. Met Aron, who was a lapsed Catholic. Eventually we started going to Mass together and I converted AFTER we got married. I’m now a self-professed happily Crunchy (cloth diapers, breastfeeding, homeschooling) Catholic.

So my little Joel is in 2nd grade now, which is the year kids receive their First Communion in the spring. But first they have to do Confession (Reconciliation). Yeah, I know it’s confusing to have 10 different names for things in the Church. But who cares? What’s important, I think, is to follow the 10 Commandments.

Digression for my non-religious/spiritual readers: I know that YOU know the 10 Commandments are just a bunch of common sense anyway. Except I know you’ll argue with me that the 3rd Commandment is a bunch of hooey, but that’s for another post.

Still, it got me thinking about how misunderstood the Church is. It was cool to watch my son do Confession. And NO, he didn’t go in a room alone with a priest. He sat in a chair for the whole world to see (but not to hear), facing a priest. It was quick and painless, and I couldn’t believe the happiness in the faces of the kids after they confessed.

I prefer to talk to God one-on-one and do that all day long. I don’t go to Confession very often, but when I do it’s like a mini-therapy session. I basically tell the priest that I cuss too damn much, that I yell at my kids sometimes and that I’m not patient enough with my saint of a husband and others.

Ya’ll feel free to list my OTHER sins in the Comments section down below.

Anyway, why do other religions like to put down something that makes people so happy after they do it (I’m talking about Confession here, not sex … let’s not wander too far away from my poorly-constructed argument)? How many Protestants, Catholics, Jews, agnostics and atheists are in THERAPY???? So what’s the difference between talking to a priest and talking to a therapist, except that the priest is FREE?

Any questions? If not, go out and have a GREAT weekend!