Benny's special night

Tonight my little Benny received the Sacrament of First Penance at church. This is not the sacrament of his Nana, or even his mother! Oh how things have changed. I remember the nausea, anxiety and nervousness. Having to wait in a line for what seemed like hours to go sit and have an awkward conversation with a priest, afraid I'd forget the words I had to say at the right time. Not anymore.

Today children are taught that is is a sacrament of healing and love. A chance to right any wrongs, get rid of your worries and start over. A few weeks ago we participated in a Saturday morning retreat where the second graders explored all aspects of the sacrament, and one of the stations was with our priest. Father Bob led the kids through penance and what it would be like, and he had them fill a bag with rocks (sins) and then talk about what it was like to carry that heavy bag around. But after penance, the bag gets emptied and all the rocks go away, no need to ever lug them around again.

For weeks I have been nervous about how Benny would approach tonight. I always think of him as my emotional child, and I thought for sure he'd be a wreck. I was wrong. I made his favorite supper tonight since it was his special day, and ten minutes before we were supposed to leave, he was getting his jacket on because he wanted to get there early! He carried with him a little paper where he had written down what he wanted to say, and he wore a pin that I bought him today. It is a little gold cross with a treble clef on it and I told Ben to never forget that God gave him the gift of music, just like God gives the gift of forgiveness with penance.

When we got to church, we waited in the back until it was our turn. The lights were all turned off, with just candles up on the altar, and gorgeous music was playing so you couldn't hear what was being said. Our priest came down to meet us, and I sat while Ben went up with Father Bob. I just sat there watching the beautiful scene. Just the two of them chatting. Ben read from his paper, and the priest looked at it and pointed to a few things... what could it possibly have said??... and they just talked. He received the blessing of absolution and down he came. My big grown up boy. The first thing he said to me was "a piece of cake!"

When we got home he was happy and proud. He took that piece of paper and ripped it up into a bunch of little pieces. All gone. No need for that stuff anymore. I told him to throw it all away, just like those sins. His response? "No Mom, I think I should recycle it instead." See? How times have changed.