Trying to Teach Forgiveness

Image by diwero/1(2008) via Pixabay CC0 Public Domain.

The parish where I teach Sunday school just had their first Family Night of Reconciliation. My son is a student there so I had the opportunity to attend with him. I thought it was not only a wonderful opportunity for us to go together  but for him to see other families  receiving this sacrament together as well.

He and I have gone to Confession together before but not on a night like this. I thought this would be a different experience for him in a beautiful kind of way.

He was able to see dads and daughters, moms and daughters, dads and sons and the list goes on. These families were waiting to embrace God's forgiveness. That forgiveness that we long for in order to be closer to our God.

The beautiful thing for me was being able to share this as a parish community. I wanted my son to have the opportunity to see that other families go to Confession too and they also want to be closer to God and receive his forgiveness. I also wanted him to learn  that his mom is not the only one who encourages her son to go to Confession to be closer to God.

This event was wonderful and powerful for me. I was able to model to my son that I, too, sin. That I, too, need God’s healing through forgiveness and that he is always waiting for us to go to him and ask for the forgiveness that he so lovingly gives. I thought that by sharing this experience with other families he would see how they long for his forgiveness too.

I continue to pray that I can model to my son that Confession is not a bad thing but a wonderful healing gift from God, his gentle embrace.

Copyright 2016 Elizabeth Desiderato