Praying and Running

"Blessed is the one whose fault is removed, whose sin is forgiven. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD imputes no guilt, in whose spirit is no deceit. Because I kept silent, my bones wasted away; I groaned all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength withered as in dry summer heat. Then I declared my sin to you; my guilt I did not hide. I said, “I confess my transgression to the LORD,” and you took away the guilt of my sin." Psalm 32:1-5 One week of Lent remains. This is a great time to rediscover the Sacrament of Reconciliation or as it is commonly called confession. Most parishes will be offering extended and extra time for parishioners to receive the sacrament. I know it can be daunting if you haven't been in a long time. You don't remember the formula and you're nervous about telling someone else what you did and what that will make them think of you. To help you the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop...

A homily that I heard once and some wisdom from an old friend I think really put the Mass and our participation in the Mass into perspective. I remember the homily began by the priest telling us that our parish had lost a family to a non-denominational church down the road. He said that this family actually came to him and said they were leaving and going to this other church for two reasons. The first was that the music was better. The second reason was because they didn't feel like they got anything out of Mass. At this point I remembered something a friend once said that made a lasting impact on me. She said essentially, "I don't come to Mass for the music or for the homily or for anything other than Jesus. I come because Jesus is here in the Eucharist." I wish that those people had known my friend. Because there is no where that you can go to be so close to our Lord as you are when you receive Holy Communion at Mass. The priest reiterated this sentiment and th...

St. Joan of Arc in Kokomo, IN will be beginning another Catholic home coming program soon. Here is a link to info about the program including schedule, contact info etc. If you have been away for a while, the program will give you an opportunity to ask questions. You will get a refresher on the sacramental Catholic life. And you will get a walk through the Mass. You won't need to feel self conscience because you haven't been to Mass in so long and you won't have to wonder “should I go to communion”. In other words, you are not expected to just walk in and pick up where you left off 10, 20, or 30 years ago. Having been a “fallen away” Catholic myself, I think this is a great thing. I was away from the church for about 15 years. There was no formal program when I came home. But my children went to the local Catholic school and so I had somewhat of a connection. As students, they went to Mass twice a week and knew all of the “rules”. Even still, it was hard to go back. I...

About a year ago I made a commitment to receive the the sacrament of reconciliation on a monthly basis as a way to grow closer to God. I didn't make this commitment without some hesitation however. One thing in particular kept me from it for a while; it felt silly. What I mean by that is that I don't go around breaking commandments in big ways anymore. That being the case, I was afraid that I would sound like a second grader to the priest and instead of making a good confession and feeling the Mercy of God that I would merely be reciting a list of the various and unexciting ways that I had "sinned". There are a couple of things that have gotten me past this. First, I spoke to a priest and told the him that I wanted to receive reconciliation monthly but that I felt like I would sound like a child with "small and petty" sins. His response was two-fold. First, he said that if a person wishes to truly be close to God than no matter how "small" a sin ...