Father Gabriel is St. Pio's kind of priest. When I taught in a Catholic high school, the students returning from the Sacrament of Confession would complain sometimes. "Father Gabriel listens to our confession and then he asks us questions about sins we didn't even name. I don't think that's right. He asks us about sins against purity even! Puts us on the spot. Do you have any sins against purity that you need to confess today? Oh, that's so not right!" And they would slump into their seat and pout a little at that point.I wasn't Catholic then - just a Spanish teacher in a Catholic high school. But I had a memory from my own high school days that gave me wisdom and helped me to have the right words.
When I was in high school, I remember sitting in Algebra class. We'd finished our homework assignment, and we were talking quietly. I guess the Catholic kids were getting ready for Confession at their parish, because they were talking about it. They asked each other what do you say at Confession - do you really say what you did? No, I just say I hit my sister or got mad at Mom. Stuff like that. I remember thinking about their Sacrament - as an outsider looking in. And I remember saying to myself, "That can't be the way it's supposed to go. That can't be right."
When I became a teacher at Beckman High School, I made sure that I underscored the importance of a good confession and the squandered opportunity of a bad confession. And when they complained about Father Gabriel's confessional, I didn't let it stand. I made sure they knew that it was for their own good - for the good of their souls. And they needed to get over their little tantrum right then and there.
We know that adults can cause scandal, when they do not practice the faith in a rightly-ordered way, yet they flaunt their version of faith in public, in high-profile positions, in places of power.
But even young people can cause scandal, when they do not practice the faith in a rightly-ordered way, yet they flaunt their version of the faith in public. Perhaps in a public school, even. Perhaps in the presence of a Protestant preacher's kid.
Even our young ones need to know that this Catholic faith is the most important thing to us. That it is worth practicing. That it is worth practicing correctly. That it is worth sharing. And that it is worth sharing correctly.
When I speak about the Sacrament of Confession - now that I'm Catholic - my eyes fill with tears, and I tell my dear ones, oh, you don't know what you are missing. Those words of absolution, that chance to bring out all that I have done and all that I haven't done - and to just lay it down. To hear words from the mouth of the priest - and to have my spirit recognize the words of My Lord. My soul recognizes My Lord and My God! I don't know how that is possible. I just know that it is. I try to explain all of this to my non-Catholic friends, and I sigh finally and just end with, you don't know what you are missing! But, oh, how I wish you did!
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