Religious Education and Social Justice

Sacrament of Reconciliation

The Sacrament of Reconciliation which is also called the Sacrament of Penance or Confession, is a sacrament instituted by Jesus Christ in his love and mercy to offer us forgiveness for the times we have sinned and turned away from God.

The forgiveness of sins involves four parts – Contrition, Confession, Penance and Absolution. To make a good confession, it is important that we prepare our hearts to receive the mercy of God. 

Contrition: is being sincerely sorry for having offended God and having a firm resolve not to repeat our sins. To remember what our sins are, we do an examination of conscience. To examine our conscience, we ask ourselves: 

• What are the good things I should do and did I do them well? 

• Did I do anything that I knew was wrong?

Confession: confronting our sins in a profound way to God by speaking them aloud to the priest.

Penance: an important part of our healing is the penance the priest gives us in reparation for our sins.

Absolution: the priest speaks the words by which we are reconciled to God and are absolved from our sins.

As Catholics, it is an incredible blessing that we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation, a gift that we can participate in for the rest of our lives to experience God’s loving forgiveness and mercy.

Children in our Year 2 class have prepared to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation and we ask that you keep them in your prayers as we celebrate the sacrament with them next week:

Act of Contrition

O my God, 

I am very sorry 

that I have sinned against you

because you are so good 

and with your help

I will try not to sin again.

Amen.

May God bless us all and keep us safe.

Jane Wilkinson

Religious Education Leader