Faithful Friday: The Sacrament of Reconciliation

I just got home from my very first confession.
Being in the RCIA program, and already being baptised in another religion, I won't be baptised again at Easter. In order to be Confirmed and receive Holy Communion, I need to be free of sin and in a state of grace. To be in that state, I went to Reconciliation.

I prepared before going a list of sins. I got a handy little pamphlet from the Priest at my Wednesday class on "How to Make a Good Confession". It was very helpful.
The Priest on Wednesday gave some very good advice that I utilized. Sin breaks us from God. It puts a tear in our relationship that we heal with confession. To start, he recommended we go through the 10 Commandments and judge our life thus far (since our last confession, which for me has been never...). I found I have broke several of those.
Next, he recommended that we look at the different ways our life relationships have been injured. I can tell you for sure I have injured every relationship listed below.

• Relationship with God
• Relationship with Community
• Relationship with Self

I was very nervous to begin with. Sitting waiting made me think back to being in Grade 4 when I got busted for climbing trees in the back portion of our school yard. I had to laugh because thinking back, that wasn't that bad. haha
I had written everything down, so the actual act of confession wasn't difficult. Remembering what to say was, but I had that trusty "How to" and made use of it.

It was liberating to say a lot of the things outloud. Somethings came up that I didn't even know I was holding on it. I can honestly say I will be going again (we are all sinners, get over it). The more often I go, the better person I will become.
I'm a talker, so the more people I talk to about an issue, the better I feel. I have God forgive me, even if I don't forgive myself at that moment, is very comforting.