Is It Christmas Already?!

"it has been Christmas since my last confession..."

I wish all confessions are like that - that our lives and days can be Christmas after every confession! That amusing statement was made by one of the school boys from St Pat's earlier this afternoon to a priest friend of mine when we went there together with the rest of the priests of the East District for the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the Catholic schools.

Since we are now in the midst of Lent and in a few weeks time we would begin our Penitential services before Easter, the Catholic schools like St Pat's are already getting into gear to impress upon their Catholic students that this sacrament is ready and available if they want to make right their lives once again with God. The general impression one gets from confession with students like these are:

a. they only go for confession when 'forced' to or when presented in this manner, which is like once a year.

b. most don't really know how to begin a confession proper let alone recite the Act of Contrition.

c. boys will be boys.

d. I wonder whether the boys' parents ever take a personal and concerned interest in their life.

e. It does feels like Christmas whenever these boys finish with their confessions and the priests can see hope, no matter how small, that these boys will be someone contributive to society and their faith some day.

So, the next time you go for your confession, let me know if you feel Christmassy all over... *wink*