First Confession of a Young YouTuber

During the Holy Week, I was browsing some YouTube videos and one video led to another until it led me to a young dynamic woman who was becoming Catholic.  She responded to that yearning we all have deep within for the Unconditional Love of God.

In Columbia, a Two Day Confess-a-thon Helped Shoppers at a Mall

Catholic News Agency reported that last October 18 to 19 in the Gran Estacion Mall in Bogota, Columbia, at least "120 priests administered the Sacrament of Reconciliation to shoppers and those passing by."

Pope Francis Hears Confessions at Vatican Jubilee for Teens

Student Surprised to Have Pope Francis as Confessor

Waiting in Line at the Kumpisalang Bayan: 3 Things to Do

By Velopilger (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Nearing the end of Lent and reaching Holy Thursday, there's a very good chance that there is a Kumpisalang Bayan or Community-wide Confession event in your parish.  In a nutshell, it's usually an evening set aside by the parish to give confessions to the people who attend with priests from the other parishes in the diocese invited to help out.

In fact, some of these reach until 11PM available especially for those who may have been caught in our famous Filipino version of the traffic jam.  In case you end up lining on a long queue, here's some tips to bide the time.

What to do when going on a Holy Door Pilgrimage?

The Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy started last December 8, 2015 when Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica.  What does this mean to you in your life in Christ or the spiritual life?

IEC Update: Bishop Barron and Cardinal Tagle Delight IEC Attendees

From the IEC 2016 website

Bishop Barron was able to offer a wonderful meditation on the Eucharist as a Paschal Mystery to the attendees of the International Eucharistic Congress in Cebu, Philippines.  On the next day, Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle gave his catechesis on the Eucharist and the Dialogue among Cultures.  Cardinal Tagle reflected on the throw-away culture and the culture of the Eucharist as a convocation, or a people called together as a gift.  Every four years, the Catholic Church gathers priests, religious and lay people to study, reflect and promote the centrality of the Eucharist in the life of the Church.

WYD Veterans Stress Confession for Papal Visit

The Papal visit is drawing near, and even if you can or cannot go to the Papal events, how about dropping by a chapel and avail yourself of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, especially those who haven't gone for years.  You can encounter Christ through confession in persona Christi and also go to holy communion too afterwards now that you are in a state of grace as Christ comes to you in His body, blood, soul and divinity.

With permission from CBCP News and Fr. Mickey Cardenas

MANILA, Dec. 17, 2014 — In a gathering held to prepare young people for the papal visit to the Philippines in January 2015, delegates to past World Youth Day (WYD) highlighted Pope Francis’ view that “the Church should be more like a ‘field hospital after battle’ with bishops serving as true pastors and priests spending more time in confessionals, consoling wounded souls”.

Papal Pages

Pope Francis celebrated his birthday last Wednesday, December 17, and I'm personally fulfilled since we reached 49,000 hits on that day.  In this season of giving, I'm giving thanks and I know to whom.  Alam mo yun.  Birthday niya sa 25.

And since the Pope is arriving on January 15, twenty years to the day Pope St. John Paul II went to Manila for World Youth Day, I'm jumping only once on this wagon and that's to lead you to the official website of Pope Francis' trip to the Philippines, papalvisit.ph.  The latest news and press briefings are there to keep you informed on His Holiness' visit.  

Archbishop Socrates Villegas also suggested as preparation for the papal visit to give ourselves this opportunity to go to the sacraments of confession and then the Eucharist.

Sources:
Schneible, A. Tea and Cake for Pope Francis as He Celebrates 78th Birthday. Catholic News Agency. web. December 19, 2014

One-on-One Time with Jesus

View image | gettyimages.com

Fr. C. John McCloskey invites us to the sacrament of confession in this article I'm sharing.  He actually broadens the goal for us that confession is just the wrapper for the gift that God has for us which is Himself in the Eucharist.  Fr. McCloskey says that most people whom he had spoken to who converted or reverted to the Faith really wanted their sins pardoned because they were looking for Christ afterwards in communion since they are in the state of grace already.  

We're Reaching Holy Week, Let's Pass by the Confessional

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This would be an obvious choice of topic to post but for those who did not know prior to this, popes go to confession too and have been, as do priests, and this is not really unprecedented, except being filmed like this.  Check this article from the Catholic Herald written on March 28 or on the Catholic News Agency website or Pope Francis' Facebook page.  

Cardinal Tagle on Confession and Love

By Judgefloro [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

I was able to watch this episode at home before I went to Mass that Sunday.  The Word Exposed is a Jesuit Communications show featuring Luis Cardinal Tagle giving his reflections on the liturgy of the Word for a particular Sunday.  Afterwards, he tries to answer questions taken from Facebook and other media.  Since we're about the Sacrament of Reconciliation, I got excited when I watched it.

There's a part where I liked in which he reiterated a question: "Why does the Sacrament of Confession have many names?"  Click the link to watch the video.  You can also watch his homily on the Gospel for that day which is about true free will, grace, and God's love fulfilled by Our Lord as Jesus fulfills the law as "the apex of the freedom is found in love" and "only in the heart where true love, pure love is found can we also find true freedom and true obedience to the will of God".  

Penitent in Advent?

By Ramon FVelasquez (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

At mass last Sunday, I was reminded in the homily why we don't say (or sing) the "Gloria" during Advent.  We are being penitent and getting ready for the Lord's Nativity that's why we do not say (or sing) the Gloria.  Just like during Lent when we remind ourselves of sins we did or our capability to do sin, we reflect and stand before our Lord with more contrition and appreciation for His coming.  It's an opportunity to sit down quicker, as I lean on one leg then to the next to ease the stress of standing, but we're getting close to Christmas.  After Christmas, Glorias will come back.

From Browsing Links to Humbling Joy

I was reading Simcha Fisher's piece Should We Burden Priests with Our Sins which followed up her post Ten Reasons You Should Get to Confession this Weekend, and it was about the other side of the confessional - what some priests felt when people go to them for the sacrament.  She recommended a link and it was an article by Fr. Mike Schmitz.

It was in contrast to what we as penitents do feel when we go to confession, being ashamed is one, oh and the feeling of relinquishing yourself as the center of the everybody because of the realization that there is truly the center of the universe and its not you.  However, it was humbling too that, as the conduit of God's grace in the sacrament, priests often see the bowed-head humility of people who have had their last confession just a few days ago or maybe in decades.  He said,

If they are seeking the Sacrament of Reconciliation, it means that they are trying. That’s all that I care about. This thought is worth considering: going to Confession is a sign that you haven’t given up on Jesus.

The Late Cardinal Sin and his Habit of Confessing

View image | gettyimages.com

Leslie Ann G. Aquino of the Manila Bulletin wrote a interesting part of the life of the Late Jaime Cardinal Sin of the Archdiocese of Manila and his personal commitment to the sacrament of reconciliation.  It was given during the the mass of the commemoration of the Cardinal's death eight years ago. 

Pope Francis Hears Confessions at Rome Parish

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In an article written by Sandro Magister of chiesa.espressonline.it, he noted some new things Pope Francis has done compared to recent Popes, some sort of personal style he brings being Jorge Mario Bergoglio and the Pope.  

Pope Francis - "Jesus in the Confessional is not a Dry Cleaner"

Courtesy of catholicmemes.com

Pope Francis said in his April 29 homily that the Sacrament of Reconciliation is not like a dry cleaner but the dispenser of Jesus' peace.  Here is an excerpt from the National Catholic Register.

“Many times, we think that going to confession is like going to the dry cleaner to clean the dirt from our clothes,” he observed during his April 29 homily.

But what really happens is that Jesus “donates to us the peace that only he gives,” he said.

St. Josemaria Escriva on the Sacrament of Reconciliation

For the Serious Catholic Guy, a Multi-Tools Concept

I've read this a while back and it still seems to be relevant when our lives are getting filled up with various things and moments.  A checklist is one.  If you're the organized type, a checklist is like tiramisu for those really into cake and coffee.  The checklist prioritizes the day or the week and at least it makes you finish what you started and return you to those things that need more attention, and in some cases sadly its prayer time.  

However, J. Q. Tomanek's article on Multi-tools made him unpack his pockets and, viola, he has the important Catholic sacramentals like the scapular and that ten-beaded rosary ring.  I have something like that too.  It's very handy during traffic and when you're waiting for friends who said they would arrive at a certain time only to arrive an hour later.  Yes, we all know that familiar friend, tardiness.  At the time, I could say at least I was training my virtue of patience with Mary's help.

He also has the Leatherman multi-tool: pliers, knife and screwdriver in one stainless steel thingamajig.  It's interesting though that he writes that it's "the most Catholic tool."

Tomanek elaborated it this way:

"It is the most Catholic because of its multi-functions.  The Church is universal and is the fulfillment of all places and times.  You need some forgiveness, open the confessional door.  How about some food for the journey?  We have Holy Communion.  Need to find a friend that has gone through similar trials to you?  The Lives of the Saints just about covers it all.  Can’t find your keys?  We gotcha covered.  If your spirituality is not Franciscan, we have Dominican, Trappist, Jesuit, Carmelite, Communion and Liberation, Carthusian, Opus Dei, or Missionaries of Charity, and many more."

Forgiveness is found at a sacrament.  Spiritual nourishment is found at a sacrament.  The Church has seven, yes, seven sacraments necessary in key moments of our lives to dispense much needed grace and its much to be grateful for.

What's in my pockets?  I'll only show them to my friend, tardiness.

Saint's Words: St. Francis de Sales on General Confession

Public Domain