Important Dates for 1ST RECONCILIATION and 1ST HOLY COMMUNION
The Sacrament of Reconciliation, commonly known as confession, or the Sacrament of Penance, is open to children who are also preparing to receive their first Holy Communion. The importance of becoming sensitive to right and wrong and making responsible choices begins at an early age. Children are encouraged to form the habit of frequent confession. Preparation for First Reconciliation takes place in the context of 2nd grade religious education classes. There must be evidence that the children participating have previously been involved in at least one year of religious education. Please contact our parish DRE office for further information at 205-991-5488 or email: olvchurch@olvsch.com
There are four steps in the Sacrament of Reconciliation:
Sin hurts our relationship with God, ourselves and others. As the Catechism states:
The sinner wounds God’s honor and love, his own human dignity…and the spiritual well-being of the Church, of which each Christian ought to be a living stone. To the eyes of faith no evil is graver than sin and nothing has worse consequences for the sinners themselves, for the Church, and for the whole world. (CCC 1487, 1488)
I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever;…Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and…remains in me and I in him. (John 6:51, 54, 56)
Following Baptism, this sacrament of initiation celebrates fuller participation in the Body of Christ, the Church, and allows those who have been baptized to become full participants in the Church’s liturgical life. Sacramental preparation for our parish children receiving Jesus as Bread of Life, usually takes place in the 2nd year of their faith formation and requires at least one year of prior religious education. Please contact the parish office for further information.
By the consecration the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is brought about. Under the consecrated species of bread and wine Christ himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real, and substantial manner: his Body and his Blood, with his soul and his divinity. (CCC 1413)