It’s Monday night, late – in the 11 o’clock hour in Arizona. The film, Shrek Forever After is on FX. All night long I have had Confession on my mind (Sacrament of Reconciliation – for any non-Catholics). The reason it’s been on my mind all night is that I really want to go tomorrow. St. Daniel the Prophet in Scottsdale offers Reconciliation a few times during the week. The Pastor, Fr. Thaddeus McGuire, understands the importance of the Sacrament. He is a good and faithful priest. For me, Reconciliation is a place of great penance. I try to go every week or every other week depending on the severity of my 
sins. Realizing that I am weak and need God’s grace is not easy to admit, but I truly enjoy the Sacrament given to us by Jesus Christ (see Jn 20).
It’s also been on my mind from last night since that is when I read Proposition 33 from the Synod on the New Evangelization. Proposition 33 of 58 states that there should be a place of distinction (a church), in each diocese, where the Sacrament of Reconciliation is celebrated perpetually – everyday. You heard me right! Just like we have Perpetual Adoration, the synod proposes that we have Perpetual Reconciliation! What a message this would send to the secular world!
Can you imagine the conversions (Metanoia – change of heart) each diocese would have on a daily basis if the Sacrament of Reconciliation were offered daily, around the clock, during every week of every month – day or night???
The Catechism of the Catholic Church 1422 states, “Those who approach the sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God’s mercy for the offense committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example, and by prayer labors for their conversion.”
If you have not been to Reconciliation in sometime, I encourage you to go soon! With the Year of Faith upon us, make that leap “of faith” and go. If you need encouragement from a friend who goes on a regular basis, then ask him or her to go with you. If you think God won’t forgive you of your sins, think again brothers and sisters. God’s mercy, his covenant fidelity, never ceases! Ask a priest and go today!
Today at the USCCB Assembly, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said that, “As we ‘come and go’ in response to the invitation of Jesus, we begin with the Sacrament of Penance. This is the sacrament of the New Evangelization.” (Bold is mine)
The powerful video below (seen by 50,000 teens and young adults this past summer during the Franciscan University of Steubenville High School Youth Conferences) hopefully inspires you. Don’t wait another second to receive God’s abundant Grace. Here is the schedule for Confessions in the Diocese of Phoenix.
Categories: Catholicism, Sacraments
TOM PERNA 
Thank you, Tom. Nice Post…:)
Hi Mr. Perna! I agree that perpetual Reconciliation would be amazing! Being able to go whenever you wanted would make it that much easier to fit going into your daily activites (those poor priests though they would have to work long shifts like St. Padre Pio). Anyway, I just wanted to say hi and say that I like this post. It reminds me when we were learning about Reconciliation this October.
Great post – and very timely! I think the Diocese of Phoenix might need to work on their links. When you click on the church’s name, it just brings you to a general site. (no information) But still, thanks for the “reminder”!
Great Post, I read that as well and was taken back at the deepness of it, wondering if I misread it.. But indeed, perpetual reconciliation. I am just wondering what that would actually look like… I would imagine something similar to what some dioceses did 24 hours before the election have Mass around the clock… Though this would work for larger diocese with many priest, some diocese only have a few dozen priest that are in parishes miles apart. Again, the ideal is far from the reality… With that said, I think that dioceses that can do that would experience great fruit
Thanks Joseph for your comment. I know – could you imagine what they would look like and the potential impact it would have on the particular church’s as well as the Universal Church?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says in paragraph 1446 that, “Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of his Church: above all for those who, since Baptism, have fallen into grave sin, and have thus lost their baptismal grace and wounded ecclesial communion. It is to them that the sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification. The Fathers of the Church present this sacrament as “the second plank [of salvation] after the shipwreck which is the loss of grace.””
According to Pope John Paul II the Catechism of the Catholic Church “is given as a sure and authentic reference text for teaching Catholic doctrine.”