I was over at a friend’s house a few weeks ago. We have children that are close in age who like to play and/or fight with each other. Usually my friend and I talk about kid things during these play dates and that’s what we were discussing until I changed the topic of conversation to the matter of confession. I was immensely curious about the subject and - this is an important detail - I am not catholic so I figured I would ask my friend who happens to be married to one. I know this first-hand because I was actually in her wedding. It was a really big wedding and probably the most entertaining one I’ve ever attended. At one point the old folks were having so much fun they started swigging champagne straight from the bottle. There was also a brawl between two girls for the bouquet and other silly things of that nature. Lots of fun to watch. I also learned from my friend’s wedding that non-catholics are not actually allowed on the stage during the ceremony. I’m not sure if I was allowed on the steps or not. At any rate, my friend married a very nice catholic guy and is now my window into the catholic faith. I am otherwise surrounded by protestants and heathens.
So I asked my friend if she goes to confession. The details are sketchy but I think she said that she does not and her husband does not but maybe other members of the family do because they are quite devout. I said I’d been thinking about confession and how nice it would be to just go into the booth there and confess my sins, what a relief it would be to release those burdens in that way. I think I said something like that. Then she told me that she wasn’t sure but she didn’t think they did confessions that way any more, that she was pretty sure that you just made and appointment with the priest and went to his office to talk things over.
For some reason, this new information made me very sad. I liked the idea of anonymous confession. Not that I could actually go to confession, since I’m not catholic, but it sounded like it could actually beneficial.
You see, I’m not in the habit of confessing my sins to anyone else but I’ve been doing a little reading lately and I’m finding that this is actually something I’m supposed to do. I guess I’ve always just skipped the middle man and gone straight to God. Only sometimes, maybe it would be good to hear another human voice on the other end of the conversation. So I’m still thinking about confession and I’m wondering what you think.
About Me
- Rachel
- Thirty-something. Wasn't that a show? I think it was a pretty boring show. Wife. Mom. Part-time speech therapist. Part dreamer, part realist. Recovering procrastinator and perfectionist.
3 comments:
John has always wanted to go to confession too. He wrote a short story about it for our creative writing class. I'll send it to you. You know, if you really wanted to go to confession you could go to the Episcopal church for it; they also practice that spiritual discipline, although not as seriously as Catholics.
One of my roommates at Oxford was Catholic and she went to Confession while we were there. She said she sat and talked face to face with the priest, which was a little weird for her. I guess it still happens both ways. I'm sort of fascinated by Catholic people; I keep reading their writings again and again. I was always asking my poor roommate a million questions about Catholicism.
Good...it was as good live as it is on paper. You're a blessing!
I find it odd that in this instant society in which we live that someone hasn't come up with some sort of drive-through confessional type thingy. You know, you just pull up to the window and list off your sins, drop a dollar in the plexi-glass offering box and hit the road. Maybe the Catholics could merge with Starbucks and you could order a cappuccino once you are through with your confessions. I haven't slept much lately so I apologize profusely for this comment.
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