First Reconciliation Parent
Night 1
St Mary’s Parish
Leederville
Prayer
In the + Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit, Amen.
God of compassion and mercy, your love for us knows no
bounds.
Send us your Holy Spirit to help us see ourselves as you
see us.
Give us wisdom that we may recognize our need for
forgiveness, and so celebrate your gift of reconciling
peace.
Help us to know what we have done wrong and to be
truly sorry.
This we ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
In the + Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit, Amen.
Sacraments of Initiation
Baptism Confirmation Eucharist
Sacraments of Healing
Reconciliation Anointing of the Sick
Sacraments of Service
Holy Orders Matrimony
Sacraments are not isolated events intended for
individuals.
Sacraments are by their nature communal, that
is, they belong to and must be celebrated in the
context of God’s People. So, Reconciliation
reinforces our responsibility not only to
ourselves, but to God and His family.
Like all sacraments, the sacrament of penance
is an encounter with God that we experience in
the midst of our community of faith, the Church.
Communal celebrations of reconciliation show
more clearly the nature of penance.
It is the expression of our
common need for grace
and forgiveness, not only
from God, but from the
Church which is the Body
of Christ. We, the Church,
through a common
baptism share the
responsibility to show by
our lives our faith and the
Gospel that is so much in
contrast to a selfish and
sinful world.
What are your memories of
this Sacrament?
What did you call the Sacrament?
What was the focus of the Sacrament?
What do you remember feeling about
receiving it?
What are your feelings about the
Sacrament now?
God forgives us endlessly and the church
celebrates this reality through the sacrament
of reconciliation.
Even though we are baptised and confirmed,
and even though we are steeped in
Eucharist, there remains that tendency within
us to "miss the mark,“ to be selfish and to fail
to love, a tendency to sin.
God never fails to love and
the church celebrates this in
the sacrament of
reconciliation.
We call it a sacrament of
“conversion”
because in celebrating it,
we turn our hearts
empowered by the Spirit of
Love, back to Divine Love
through Christ who reveals
that Love.
We also refer to it as the
sacrament of "penance“ a
term which comes from a
Latin word: repere, which
suggests a posture of sorrow
and a process of change.
It is also called
“confession” because it is
here that we are invited to
talk out loud about how we
have sinned, and in that
talking, recognize the mercy
of God which is endless.
For Catholics, the Sacrament
of Reconciliation (also known
as the Sacrament of Penance,
or Penance and
Reconciliation) has three
elements: conversion,
confession and celebration.
In it we find God's
unconditional forgiveness,
and as a result we are called
to forgive others."
It is called the
sacrament of
“reconciliation,”
because it draws us back
to balance, it reconnects
us to our journey of faith,
and it celebrates God’s
wonderful love.
The role of the family in the
Sacrament of Reconciliation
The context of our first understanding of the Sacrament of
Reconciliation is in the life of the family.
It is in the family that we learn about the experiences that help
us understand this wonderful and healing sacrament.
In the family we learn that our selfishness has a bad effect on
those with whom we live.
In the family we learn that our actions, both good and bad have
consequences.
In the family we learn that we need to ask forgiveness and that
we need to give it when it is requested.
In the family, we also learn that there are rules for living in
society that must not be broken, but that when they
are broken, we need to view one another with compassion
and love, even though there is some reparation needed.
Jesus said to [His
disciples] again, "Peace
be with you. As the
Father has sent me, so I
send you." When he had
said this, he breathed on
them and said to them,
"Receive the Holy Spirit.
If you forgive the sins of
any, they are forgiven
them; if you retain the
sins of any, they are
retained."
~ John 20:21-23
Celebrating the Sacrament of
Reconciliation with children not only
teaches them to cherish and welcome
God's mercy, it also helps them to
develop a well-formed, healthy
conscience.
Information
First Reconciliation – 7.00 pm, Thursday
1 September
Parent night 2
– 7.00pm, 6 July
Retreat afternoon – 27 August 1.00pm 4.00pm
We Hold a Treasure
What three things did you learn that
were new to you ?
What would you like to learn more
about?