Planning Confession

By Charla Spalluto Misse

Going to confession is not “regularly recurring” on my schedule.  When I go to confession, it takes a lot of planning.

Of course, it takes spiritual preparation to truly search my heart, consider the implications of my actions and thoughts and assess whether I was listening and answering God’s call.

It also takes mental preparation immediately beforehand to get myself focused on making a sincere and thorough confession, to quiet myself and leave the world outside.

Usually the hardest part for me, though, is the “physical” preparation. When will I have time alone? How will I make time to get to church? What church is offering confessions nearby and when?

It takes effort to make reconciliation.  Praise and thanks be to God, I have the ability to do it, even if it’s not on a schedule.

I was thinking about this and my family over the weekend – confessions are not in their routines either. And, children certainly can’t arrange this themselves.

It occurred to me that I should plan a “family confession” every so often. I can imagine this becoming a very special time together. It would eliminate my greatest obstacle – just getting there. Plus, making a regularly scheduled confession would surely help me out, too!

We haven’t done this yet, but I am planning it. I mentioned it to my family today, and hope we are able to do this together next week.

Perhaps you might like to try it too or share your own experience in bringing your family to this sacrament. I would love to hear about it.