Preparing for Great Lent, Pt 4 - Confession and Repentance

Dear Parish Faithful,

This is Part 4 of the series, 'Preparing for Great Lent':

• Part 1: A Lenten Reading List
• Part 2: The Great Canon, and A Summary of Lent
• Part 3: A Season to Embrace or Endure?

Part 4: Confession and Repentance

Great Lent is the season in the year when most Orthodox Christians participate in the grace of sacramental Confession. And that is what I anticipate each year as I get ready for the start of Great Lent next Monday, March 2. 

For more than a few of you reading this letter, I can probably say, "It's about time." What I mean is that it has been at least a year since some of you have come to Confession. If you are a communicant, that is, if you receive the Eucharist with any kind of regularity, then that is simply too long of a period to continue to approach the Chalice. If Great Lent is called a "School of Repentance," then that repentance is most fully-realized in an honest and heartfelt confession of sins. In a sense, we could say that sacramental Confession is the "crown" of the lenten season, in that it is in that context of standing before the Icon of Christ, that we have the opportunity to openly acknowledge our sins before God. And this is an "opportunity" that we should avail ourselves of, as God's grace in immeasurable, and always readily available when we turn to God in a spirit of humility and repentance. No one can plead, "I am too busy." You simply have to find the time and attend to what we somewhat misleadingly refer to as our "spiritual life."

On the pastoral level, hearing the steady stream of confessions throughout the forty days of Great Lent has become my greatest challenge, simply on the level of "finding the time" to work everyone in, including all of our Confession age-appropriate children. 

Children, by the way, usually begins to come to Confession by the age of seven. Some children are quite ready by that age, others may need a bit more time. It is my humble opinion as a priest for almost forty years now, that you are not sparing your children from anything "bad;" but actually keeping them from something "good" when you hold them back from sacramental Confession. 

When children confess their sins, a deep sense of right and wrong. good and bad, is reinforced in a spiritually-healthy manner. Therefore, as I have been doing for a few years now at least, I will reserve every Saturday morning as a time to hear confessions between 9:00 a.m. - Noon. (We do have a Memorial Liturgy on the Second Saturday of Great Lent, March 14, so that may prove to be an exception). So, please plan ahead and contact me to reserve a slot on one of those available Saturdays.

Before each person's confession I read the following exhortation found in our Prayer Book that very succinctly captures the meaning and purpose of Confession:

Behold, Christ stands invisibly before you to hear your confession. Be not ashamed, neither be afraid, and hide nothing from me. Rather, do not fear to tell me all that you have done, so that you may receive forgiveness from our Lord Jesus Christ. Behold, his icon is before us. And I am only the witness, that I may bear witness before him of all that you tell me. If you hide anything from me, you shall have the greater sin. Take heed, therefore, lest having come to the place of the Physician, you depart unhealed.

Two closing notes:

1) Please keep the following in mind: If about half the parish waits until the last week or so, then it becomes very difficult to "fit" everyone in.
And 2) if you choose to see another priest for sacramental Confession, please inform me of this.