First Reconciliation

Today, my 8 year old, David, had his first reconciliation. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is unique to Catholics, and is one of the biggest "Why do Catholics Do That" questions asked by Protestants. I'm not going to answer the "why" question in this blog. I will just say that there are really good reasons, and you really feel good when you are all done.

But, today was David's day. It was a communal reconciliation service, meaning we did a lot of the parts of the Sacrament as a group before going to individual reconciliation with a priest. I went first, and I have to say that the priest who I talked with was the most welcoming I've ever had. I'm always very nervous about this...you never want to spill your dirty laundry to another person. But, he made me feel so welcome it really put me at ease and made the whole process better. As always, I felt terrific when I was done.

I then went and waited in line with David and Amanda. It's so funny to watch all these 2nd graders sitting with the priests. They are so small, and many of them are smiling when they're up there! When it was David's turn, he sat down, then he got up and ran back to my wife and I to ask us what he should do. We sent him back and just told him to do his best. It was really fun to watch David up there. When he was done, his mom and I both gave him a big hug, then he and I went and prayed while we waited for Amanda to complete her reconciliation.

Afterward, like all good Catholic events, there was cookies and juice. There were way too many cookies, so David had 4 cookies (I had 3). Tonight, we are going to Culver's to celebrate. We told David we could go anywhere he wanted to celebrate, and initially, he chose Burger King. Neither my wife or I were very excited about that, so we suggested a few other places where we could also get dessert. Then he said, "I know, let's go to Culver's", which is better than Burger King, so I guess that's where we're going.