Second Sunday of Lent
February 24, 2018 News
Reluctant to Go to Confession? Confessions are a very
important part of Lent, so don’t forget to go. And please come
early in the Season, avoiding the long lines during Holy Week—
if for no other reason, out of charity to your priests.
I know some people are afraid to go to Confession and
so haven’t been in years. Some are afraid because they are
embarrassed by their sins. But remember, you can confess
behind the screen, so the priest won’t even know who you are
(and we almost never recognize a voice).
Others are afraid because they think their sins can’t be
forgiven. But remember, Jesus says: “Truly, I say to you, all sins
will be forgiven the children of man…” As long as you are truly
sorry for your sins and want and intend to try to stop sinning, the
priest, with the power of Jesus, will forgive you.
Some are afraid because they think the priest will be
angry with them. But that’s just not true. In all my 41 years of
going to Confession I’ve only had one truly unpleasant
experience. Okay, priests have bad days like all of us, but even
on a bad day priests won’t get upset with you. Priests love
forgiving sins—the bigger the better. And just because a priest
seems stern in the pulpit doesn’t mean he’s that way in the
confessional. A father may sometimes be stern when he teaches
his children to behave, but when an apologetic child comes to
him in tears, that same father opens his arms with tenderness. “A
lion in the pulpit, a lamb in the confessional.”
Some think they will shock the priest by what they’ve
done. As Ecclesiastes tells us: “there is nothing new under the
sun.” I’ve heard about 25,000 Confessions in the last 21 years,
and I have heard almost every sin imaginable—really. Nothing
shocks me anymore.
And finally, some are afraid the priest will tell someone
about their sin. This just doesn’t happen. In all my life I have
never heard a priest reveal the sins of anyone in Confession.
Priests are forbidden, under pain of automatic excommunication
(that can only be lifted by the pope himself), from ever directly
or indirectly revealing the particular sins of a particular penitent.
This is called the “seal of Confession,” and extends even to
revealing things that are not sinful that are discussed in the
Confession. (A great movie dramatizing this is Alfred
Hitchcock’s “I Confess.”)
So don’t be afraid. Come to Confession! Soon!
FORMED.ORG. A great way to get reacquainted or learn more
about the Sacrament of Penance is to make use of the online
video program at FORMED.ORG, called “The Transforming
Power of Confession, A Lent to Remember.” This 4-part series
offers reflections on the Paschal Mystery and leads you through
a step-by-step examination of the Rite of Confession. There’s
also a special “bonus” 5th video for children on how to make a
good confession—something parents may want to watch too.
While this is meant to be viewed over 4-5 weeks, it can be selfpaced
as well. You might want to watch it as a family, or gather
some friends together to discuss it (there’s a special leader’s
guide website to help with this). This is FREE for St. Raymond’s
parishioners who are registered with FORMED.ORG. If you
have not registered, just go online to
www.straymonds.formed.org. If you have any questions, see
the FORMED.ORG bulletin board in the narthex, or contact
Mike and Sheri Burns at formed@straymonds.org.
Parents Beware: Fairfax Public Schools at It Again. (Adults
only)
On February 8, 2018, the Family Life Education Curriculum
Advisory Committee (FLECAC) met to discuss infecting the
school curriculum with their twisted understanding of sexuality. I
was unable to attend, but a friend who did attend offered me these
notes from the meeting:
During the meeting, two regular citizen members of the
committee tried to offer amendments to the curriculum to remove
the phrase “sex assigned at birth,” which appears numerous
times in the lessons, along with the proposed teaching that it is
wrong for a delivery room doctor to say male and female
genitalia determine if the baby is boy or a girl.
Through parliamentary maneuvers, the amendment was
put off indefinitely without debate. The vote to cut off debate
passed 23-3. A motion for a roll call to put the members on
record was killed by voice vote so there was no debate and no
accountability.
Another citizen member made a motion that, somewhere
in the numerous lessons about various contraceptive methods
taught beginning in eighth grade, there ought to be something
about the possible health risks of certain contraceptives. This,
too, was shut down without debate, by a vote of 23-3. A roll call
of the vote was shouted down by voice vote.
Another citizen member made a motion to include a
discussion in the lessons about the health risks associated with
hormonal and surgical “transitioning.” This, too, was not
allowed.
One new member of the committee, was vociferous in
arguing that these motions should not even be discussed. One
high school student member said that transphobia stems from
white supremacy.
One county employee member asked why there was no
lesson on sodomy for the seventh graders, after all, there was a
lesson on fellatio and cunnilingus–my terms here: they used more
graphic vulgar terms. The chairman assured her that the
discussion of sodomy begins in the eighth grade. The chairman
apologized to the adults present for using those graphic terms,
even though those terms are scripted into the lessons for children.
Florida School Shootings. We all mourn and pray for the victims
and families of the February 14 shooting at Stoneman Douglas
High School in Parkland, Fla. Of course, now the finger pointing
begins, especially on partisan lines. I don’t know what the answer
is, but I think it is sadly ironic that most of the nation turns to God
in prayer after horrible events like this, while our schools refuse
to allow even any discussion of God before events like this. Is it
any wonder there is such violence in schools when we have
rejected and even mocked the teachings of the Prince of Peace? Is
it surprising that the national school system has suffered from
increasing violence and degeneracy ever since it began, a few
years/decades ago, to reject the Christian moral system that used
to teach our kids to know right from wrong?
February 14 was Ash Wednesday. Sin is the cause of all
these horrible things happening in society. And Jesus, and
repenting and believing in the Gospel, is the remedy. How is sin
effecting your schools, your family, your children, yourself? Lent
is a time to reflect on this. And to change.
Lenten Series. My talks on “The Mass and the Eucharist”
continue this Thursday at 7 pm in the Parish Hall. This week we
will look at what the Church’s Tradition teaches us about the
Eucharistic Mystery. All are invited—you need not have come
last week! Babysitting is available (call the office for
reservations).
Oremus pro invicem. Fr. De Celles