Session THREE: Your First Reconciliation
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Opening Prayer
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Great Moments in Life
Life is full of great moments. When you were born, that was a great moment. Christmas, Easter, feast days, and birthdays are all great moments. The first time you score a goal in soccer is a great moment. The day you graduate from college is a great moment. Getting your first job is a great moment. Discovering your vocation is a great moment.
Ordinary moments can be great too — like a beautiful sunset, a fabulous meal with family, or meeting a new friend. Your First Reconciliation is going to be one of the great moments of your life.
Watch a Two-Minute Video on the Sacrament
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The Garden of Your Heart
The garden in this story is your heart. The beautiful flowers in the garden are the love you carry in your heart for God and for your family and friends. Every time you make a good choice, the garden becomes even more beautiful. Every time you help a friend or a stranger, a flower blooms. Each time you choose to listen to your parents, the grass gets a little bit greener. But every time you push someone on the playground or cut in front of someone at the drinking fountain, a weed grows in your garden. And each time you tell a lie or say a bad word, the thornbush begins to grow.
Jesus is the gardener. He wants to live in your heart. He loves walking in your garden, enjoying the beauty of your heart. He also wants to remove all the weeds and thornbushes from your garden. The weeds are the small sins; the thornbushes are your big sins. If you don’t get rid of the weeds and thornbushes as soon as they start to grow, they can spread very quickly and take over the whole garden.
In the Sacrament of Reconciliation we invite Jesus the gardener to come into the garden of our hearts and remove all the weeds and thornbushes.
Now watch the following video called The Garden of Your Heart
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Preparation Matters
We prepare for everything important.
You wouldn’t expect to win a big soccer tournament if you hadn’t been practicing. You cannot expect good grades if you don’t study for your exams. You wouldn’t go on a trip without packing and planning. Preparation is essential for a great experience. You are blessed to be Catholic. As Catholics we prepare for each of the Catholic Moments. We prepare for Christmas with the season of Advent. We prepare for Easter with the season of Lent. We prepare for Mass with prayer and fasting. You have been preparing for your First Reconciliation. As that wonderful day gets closer, there are some final preparations to be made.
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The Five Steps
Now let us watch the following video Practice First Confession
5 Steps to Making a Great Reconciliation
Examination of Conscience
This is a spiritual exercise designed to help us remember when we were and when we were not the-best-version-of-ourselves. By examining our conscience we become aware of our sins.
Confession
Here we say sorry to God by confessing our sins to him through the priest who is God’s representative.
Penance
The priest will ask you to spend some time in prayer or to do a kind deed for somebody. This is called penance, which is a way for you to show God that you are truly sorry for your sins.
Contrition
The Act of Contrition is a short prayer we pray promising to try not to sin again.
Absolution
The priest will then extend his hands over your head and pray a very special and powerful prayer. Acting as God’s representative, he will forgive your sins!
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Step 1: We Examine Our Conscience
Questions that may help you to examine your conscience
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Step 2: We Confess Our Sins
When you enter the Reconciliation room or confessional, you will sit in a chair across from the priest. After you make the Sign of the Cross it is time for you to confess your sins. You tell the priest about your sins. Remember Daniel from our story? This is when he would talk to the priest about the time he stole the cookie. If you get stuck or nervous, remember, the priest is there to help you. By talking with the priest about the times that we made poor choices and the times we were not the-best-version-of-ourselves, we rediscover the person God created us to be. The priest may make some suggestions about how you can grow and become a better person. Remember, although you are sitting with the priest, he is there to represent God. So you are really telling God. It is also possible to receive this Sacrament behind a screen. The priest sits on the other side of the screen and listens to you as you kneel and confess your sins. Great champions listen to their coaches so they can get better. Reconciliation is a type of spiritual coaching. Confessing our sins to God is a beautiful way to grow spiritually.
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Step 3: We Perform Our Penance
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Step 4: We Say Sorry to God
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Step 5: The Priest Offers Us Absolution
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From The Bible: The Prodigal Son
Once upon a time there was a man who had two sons. The younger son came to his father one day and said, “Father, give me the share of your money that will belong to me.” The father agreed and a few days later his younger son left and travelled to a distant land, where he wasted all the money on frivolous things. Soon he had no money and was hungry, so he took a job feeding pigs. He was so hungry he wanted to eat the pigs’ food. One day he was feeding the pigs and he thought to himself, “My father’s servants have plenty of food to eat and I am starving. I will go back home, beg my father to forgive me, and ask him to take me back, not as a son but as his servant.” The next day he set off and went to his father. When he was still a far way from home, his father saw him on the horizon. The father was filled with joy and he ran to greet his son, wrapping his arms around him and kissing him.
The son said to his father, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Take me back as a servant.” But the father said to his servants, “Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and prepare it so that we can eat and have a great celebration. For this son of mine was lost but now he is found; he was dead, but now he is alive.” Adapted from Luke 15:11–32
Jesus loved to teach in parables because each person in the story teaches us a lesson. In this parable, the father is God the Father. He always rejoices when we return to him. He is not angry with his son; he is delighted that the boy has come home. There may be times in your life when you feel far from God. But never think that God does not want you to return home. Never think that your sins are greater than God’s love. The son in this story is called the Prodigal Son. Prodigal means “careless and foolish.” We are all careless and foolish at times. When we sin we are being careless and foolish. But when we come to Reconciliation we are like the son returning home to his father, and his father rejoices.
Now let us watch the following video The Prodigal Son
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First, But Not Last
Let us watch this next video on First, but Not Last
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Your Best Friend
