First Reconciliation

Tonight Andrew received yet another of his Catholic sacraments. It was his chance to receive his first Reconciliation. He has been waiting for this for weeks.

Surprisingly, the idea of confessing his wrongs or sins really didn't bother him. In fact, with a 6.30 pm ceremony, at 6pm he stunned me by saying he wanted to sit in the front row and really wanted to leave NOW so he could be there in time to get the front row. So, we had to hurry dinner along so I could take him straight there while the rest of the family finished dinner and got ready.

The advantage of being in the front row was that Fr. Rex sought me out to do a reading since they didn't have any of the parts pre-coordinated in advance. I guess while I was doing the reading, Emmalee commented that I sure sounded "American". Hmmmmm….. I wonder why! Don't know what's going to happen to this church when we move away – no more Eucharistic Ministers, scripture teacher, helpers, readers, etc. Gonna take a chunk out of volunteerism I think.

But back to Andrew. He sat in the front row with 6 of his guy friends and they listened through the whole service. It was really neat to watch them as they paid attention (and goofed around a bit) I could see bits of each of them as they might be when they grow up. When it was his turn to go up for his confession, he was the first up and he just bounded up the steps of the altar to Fr. Rex and didn't hesitate at all. There was no fear or doubt in his step. I was very proud of him. And when he came back I could see that he had thought about what was discussed, so whatever he talked about (I had said it was personal and I wasn't going to ask him about it – it was between him and God and the priest) must have sunk in a bit.

As the night went on, it was getting late and he was getting tired. You could see it in his poor little face. And he knew he has presents from his grandparents waiting, so as soon as it was over we scooted out and came home to open up a beautiful rosewood rosary from the holy land from Grammy and Grampy. Grandma and Grandpa Rhomberg gave him a crucifix with saints on it.