Wait! Which team am I playing for again?

I remember when I used to play basketball, back in middle school, which now feels like a long time ago. I hate to admit it, but i actually stunk really bad at basketball. I was always put into the game because every player got a chance to play. I remember one game, and I ended up rebounding the ball, which never happened, and because of my excitement I ended up forgetting that I had to run down the court in order to shoot the ball and get a point, so instead I shot it towards the other teams basket. As soon as I shot it I realized what I had done. Thankfully, I had a terrible shot so the ball didn't make it into the basket. Although no harm was done, I felt so embarrassed. The story is funny to me now, but back then it was devastating, but I did learn something very important that night: stay focused and think about what I am doing instead of acting on impulse.

I find that I can do the very same thing in my faith life that I did that night at the basketball game. When it comes to a life of faith, there is much more that comes with winning or losing compared to basketball where the only thing gained or lost is a trophy. We are dealing with good and evil, heaven and hell, angels and demons, and God and the evil one.

Reconciliation - The Sacrament of Forgiveness and Grace

I know that I haven't written a new post in quite a few months and I wish I could have kept up better with the posts but college has kept me quite busy. This current post is actually a paper I had to write about the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I am not posting this to show off my work, but feel that this Catechesis paper can be useful as many people don't have a solid idea Reconciliation. This paper is a 6 pages long, but is divided into sections, so if you don't want to read the whole thing, but a section jumps out, please read it (Note: it is meant to flow as a paper, so I do suggest that it be read from beginning to end). I hope you enjoy and if you have any questions or thoughts please comment or send an email.

"Catechesis on the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation"

“Only God forgives sins. Since he is the Son of God, Jesus says of himself, ‘The Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins’ and exercises this divine power: ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ Further, by virtue of his divine authority he gives this power to men to exercise in his name” (Mk 2:5, 10; Lk 7:48; CCC 1441). Through God’s mercy, the sacrament of Penance allows all the faithful who have been baptized to be forgiven and healed of their sins. It also reconciles each person with the Church, who has been wounded by each sin (CCC 1422).  The sacrament is a great blessing to the Church, as it is only by the sacrament that one can become washed clean of his offenses, and continue the path of conversion and life in Christ.