First Confession

Today was a big day, Carter had his first Confession.  We have been preparing for this for a couple of months now and he knew his prayers by heart and we have been discussing the ten commandments and reading multiple examinations of conscience.  He was nervous before confession, but afterwards he can running over to me with a huge grin on his face.  He was so proud of himself, as he should be!

As you can see from this picture they did not use the confessionals, but instead the children sat with the priest at various locations in the church.

Later the afternoon he was speaking to me in confidence and he let me know that he confessed to the priest that he uses drugs.  "You know, like my inhaler and tylenol and epi pens and things like that."  Apparently one of the examinations of conscience had mentioned that drug use was a sin.  Then we had a long conversation about the differences between legal and illegal drug use.  I had such a hard time keeping a straight face because all I could think about was the Priest hearing the confession from the eight year old concerned about his drug use.  I wanted to share because I thought this was humorous, but please don't mention this to him because it was a private conversation between the two of us.

Carter boy,  we thank God every day for the amazing blessing you are in our life.  There was A Parent's Prayer they passed out during Confession and I love it so much I want to put it here on the blog as a reminder for me:

Loving GOD,

You are the giver of all we possess,

the source of all our blessings.

We thank you and Praise You.

Thank you for the gift of our children.

Help us to set boundaries for them,

and yet encourage them to explore.

Give us the strength and courage to treat

each day as a fresh start.

May our children come to know you, the one true GOD

and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

may your Holy Spirit help them to grow

in faith, hope and love

so they may know peace, truth and goodness.

may their ears hear your voice.

may their eyes see your presence in all things.

May their lips proclaim your word

may their hands do works of charity.

may their feet walk in the way of Jesus Christ,

your son and our Lord.  Amen