Penance (Reconciliation)

Penance (Reconciliation)

Sacrament of Healing

Sacramental Requirements

It is a Diocesan Rule that before any student makes a sacrament, they must have two consecutive years of faith formation prior to making the sacrament. | Es una regla diocesana que antes de que cualquier estudiante haga un sacramento, deben tener dos años consecutivos de catecismo antes de hacer el sacramento.

Reconciliation
​To receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, children must be Baptized and Catholic.  They also must be registered in our Parish Faith Formation program.  At the end of the Communion Prep Level 2 Course, students who have fulfilled all requirements and have good Mass and Class attendance can make their First Reconciliation.
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Para recibir el Sacramento de la Reconciliación, los niños deben estar bautizados y ser católicos. También deben estar inscritos en nuestro programa de Catequesis Parroquial. Al finalizar el Curso de Preparación para la Comunión Nivel 2, los alumnos que hayan cumplido con todos los requisitos y tengan una buena asistencia a Misa y a Clase, podrán realizar su Primera Reconciliación.

Faith Formation Program Information (Información sobre el programa de catecismo)

Examination of Conscience

Making a good examination of conscience is an important part of preparing for the healing Sacrament of Reconciliation. Below are a few different aids to use for your examination of conscience. 

The Sacrament of Penance (Reconciliation)

There are four steps in the Sacrament of Reconciliation:

 

  1. We feel contrition for our sins and a conversion of heart to change our ways.
  2. We confess our sins and human sinfulness to a priest.
  3. We receive and accept forgiveness (absolution) and are absolved of our sins.
  4. We celebrate God’s everlasting love for us and commit to live out a Christian life.

 

Sin hurts our relationship with God, ourselves and others. As the Catechism states:

The sinner wounds God’s honor and love, his own human dignity…and the spiritual well-being of the Church, of which each Christian ought to be a living stone. To the eyes of faith no evil is graver than sin and nothing has worse consequences for the sinners themselves, for the Church, and for the whole world. (CCC 1487, 1488)

A mature understanding of sin includes reflecting upon our thoughts, actions and omissions as well as examining the patterns of sin that may arise in our lives. With contrite hearts, we are also called to reflect upon the effects of our sins upon the wider community and how we might participate in sinful systems.


Contrition and conversion lead us to seek a forgiveness for our sins so as to repair damaged relationships with God, self, and others. We believe that only ordained priests have the faculty of absolving sins from the authority of the Church in the name of Jesus Christ (CCC 1495). Our sins are forgiven by God, through the priest.


The Spiritual effects of the Sacraments of Reconciliation include:

 

  • reconciliation with God by which the penitent recovers grace
  • reconciliation with the Church
  • remission of the eternal punishment incurred by mortal sins
  • remission, at least in part, of temporal punishments resulting from sin
  • peace and serenity of conscience, and spiritual consolation
  • an increase of spiritual strength for the Christian battle (CCC 1496)

 

Individual confession with a priest is the principal means of absolution and reconciliation of grave sins within the Church. The Sacrament of Reconciliation frees us from sinful patterns of behavior and calls us to complete conversion to Christ. Reconciliation heals our sins and repairs our relationships.

This is the Sacrament in which sins committed after Baptism are forgiven. it results in reconciliation with God and the Church.

(US Catholic Catechism for Adults, Glossary)

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