I Confess…
April 12, 2004 by Melody Laila
Filed under Columnists, Melody Laila
More than anything, I believe God is calling us to a heartfelt repentance.
I write this on Palm Sunday, the beginning of the holiest week of the year; a time when the Catholic Church promotes the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
I confess approx. once a month. Usually the people waiting for confession are negligible. Yesterday however was a different question. I reached St. Peter’s Church (which is an adjacent parish to mine) at around 5.50pm. I stood in one of the long serpentine queue for 45 mins. There were at least ten such lines.
At one point the queue I was in seemed to be the slowest of the lot - the reason, a young boy (of maybe 18-20 years) who was at the confessional for at least 20 minutes.
An old lady in front of me began grumbling “Just what is he doing there, taking so long??” she asked me.
“If he was your grandson, wouldn’t you be happy that he was making a long & good confession? Especially given the fact that so many young boys don’t even come to Church these days?” I asked her back.
“If he was my grandson,” she answered me, “I would ask him why on earth he waited till the last moment to confess all his sins.”
