Text Me Father, For I Have Sinned

The Season of Lent is upon us! I decided to begin Lent this year as I do every year with a trip to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Personally, I love going to confession, and I generally try to go every couple of weeks. However, in my mind, going at the start of Lent has some formality to it. We step into this season of change and renewal with the Sacrament that is defined by change and renewal.

So I went to a Church here in Connecticut for their scheduled confession times. My confessions are far from exciting, but I like to think they are fairly thorough. I knelt in the confessional behind the screen, and heard the unmistakable sound of a text being sent on the other side. Then the priest said, “yes?” So I began my confession. As I was talking, I heard the texting continue: the keyboard sounds for the typing, and the default sound for a text being sent. I also heard the dings indicating responses. The priest, clearly paying more attention to the phone in his hand then the confession being given, cut me off as I was talking and said, “say one Hail Mary. Do your Act of Contrition.” Then he immediately began murmuring the words of absolution- as I was saying my Act of Contrition. He was done with the formula before I was done with the prayer, giving him enough time to get one more text sent before saying, “have a nice Lent.”

Initially, to say I was annoyed is putting it mildly.

I went to the pew to say my one Hail Mary, and stewed for a few moments. I looked up at the beautiful crucifixion scene above the altar and was struck by a profound reality: my sins were forgiven despite the priest’s lack of interest.

In the end it was a powerful reminder about what really happens in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

As I sit in the pew stewing I realized how short-term our memory is. A few moments earlier I had walked into the Church thinking about the sins I had committed since my last confession, and wanting to lay them all at the feet of Jesus, so that I could encounter his mercy, forgiveness, and love. My penance was barely completed and I was writing my gripes with this priest in my head. I walked into that booth as a sinner…and so did he.

The beauty of the whole thing is that I don’t go to Confession to talk to a priest. I go to confession to encounter Jesus Christ. If confessions were heard only by Priests who had no faults they would never be heard. The bigger issue in my mind is how I managed to mess with that state of grace that I had just received. In the very short walk from the Confessional to the pew I had managed to already entertain annoyance with someone else. It’s almost like test driving a “brand new car.” The moment a new car arrives at a dealership it is no longer “brand new” the second it moves from where it was delivered, and its value begins to drop the moment it drives for the first time.

Going to confession is not about “telling a priest the things I did wrong.” It’s an admission – over and over again- to Jesus that we need him: that we need his grace! The moment the car leaves the lot its value decreases and the moment we leave that confessional the grace we have just received falls under attack.

Often during Lent we take opportunities to go to confession as part of preparation for Easter. I suggest going a few times during Lent. We need all the grace we can get in this crazy world. Pope Francis suggested that for Lent we commit to being kinder to one another on Social Media. What a sign of the times!

Oh, and to my Priest friends who will read this: put your phone on silent in the confessional please.