… until it’s you.
We don’t know what problems will crop up. We don’t know when “the big one” will happen.
GO TO CONFESSION.
Today an earthquake shook the Napa region north of San Francisco. Yes, wine country.
I checked a seismological map to see where the epicenter was and compared it to where I was a few weeks ago for the Napa Institute conference. The newsies say that it occurred in American Canyon, CA, which is about 6 miles south of Napa.
I figure the epicenter was about 3 miles to the southwest of where we had the conference. I marked the spot with the red star.
I am sure that some of you will suggest that the earthquake happened because I was there. Disaster follow me, after all. Cities burn in my wake like candles on my birthday cake. Okay. I’ll take the hit on this one, provided that you all
GO TO CONFESSION!
Loading ...
Keep up the good work Fr. Z. I think your focus on the sacrament of penance is truly the Lord’s work.
I think we have had a conversion in our church. Almost all our current parishioners go to the confessional at least once a month. I think I will post this blog to our parish website, and list it in our parish bulletin.
God Bless, keep up the good work!
Nice reference to the Mongol/Volga Birthday Song! But don’t worry, we don’t think you’re Genghis Z. :)
Fr. Z Writes: “GO TO CONFESSION!”
YoungLatinGuy Responds: “?bam.”
(For those not up to speed on their Latin, google translator is your friend.)
Give things a few more centuries, there might be stained glass windows in Churches in human settlements on the Moon and Mars and other parts of the solar system, with an image of Fr. Z sitting in front of an old fashioned computer, much like Saints today are depicted in front of old scrolls and old books, and on the screen of that stained-glass computer will be the words “GO TO CONFESSION!”
I blame the Folsom Street Fair, myself.
Correction: “ibam” is how it should be written.
I remember seeing this bumper sticker that went something like those who wait to repent at midnight or their last hour often die at 11:30…
Since the 1970s, I have been accused of being a Cassandra or Jeremiah. I am re-reading Jeremiah. We Catholics have the Good News. Act like a Catholic and share the Gospel while we have the light. Weekly confession is best, if one can get there. Thank you, Fr. Z.
I had a Catholic friend die in Lockerbie. She was on her way home for Christmas. My little family had landed in Iowa from England exactly one week before. I keenly remember watching the news at my parents’ and saying out loud that I hoped no one we knew was on the plane.
She was 26 and beautiful. She was talented.
Go to Confession.
We stayed in American Canyon 2 weeks ago when we moved my daughter to San Rafael. Hmmm…
Went to confession this morning…. we are blessed to have confession before every Sunday Mass. God’s mercy being poured out on the world…
Pray for the faithful Roman Catholics there in that sad city.
So beautiful
And so sinful.
Went confession yesterday …. it had been 9 weeks. Too long. Even my priest said so! I thank God for him and his wonderful spiritual advice for my husband and me. Trying to keep it up-to-date because someday it will be me! Thanks, Father Z!
Here in American Canyon we’re in pretty good shape. Only minor personal property damage for the most part. Napa, which is much older construction, is in worse shape. One of the parishes held mass outside in the courtyard, our Catholic school is closed tomorrow for cleanup and repairs, as is the Catholic home school where I work. The Catholic religious goods store is estimating a loss of at least $100,000, and earthquake insurance here isn’t common, so please keep him in your prayers. The Carmelite monastery north of town suffered significant damage to the chapel:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/t31.0-8/1547971_10201547745694008_1412074525638442043_o.jpg
Father, I hope you’ll leave St. John Cantius as you found it. (And Chicago, hopefully, a bit better…)
I love that in our parish here you can go to confession and then pray the Rosary all the way through before the rosary leader shows up right before Mass to lead the rosary, and then have Mass, all connected so you don’t have much opportunity to sin between Confession and Eucharist. It also has fewer people so my social anxieties are less aroused. The homily was amazingly well done, tieing the old testament and new testament passages on the keys, to the modern day example of being given the freedom of a bike, but with it came responsibility, and again, the keys to the family car, and it also came with responsibility, and that Peter got the keys and the responsibility, and that office passed down from Pope to Pope with responsibility. A good homily indeed.
You know this was my 16-year old daughter’s reaction to the beheadings and crisis in the Middle East, the border etc. I was just getting anxious and worked up over it all. Her reaction was to take some of her siblings and go to confession. Later, she told me that if bad things were coming our way she wanted to make sure she had been to confession. She had never done this on her own. Gulp. I didn’t even think of that! I decided to make confession a priority for our family two weeks later because of her example.
I just received news last Sunday from a Secular Franciscan friend that her pastor has started hearing confessions before the start of all daily Masses. A wonderful action and one I will take advantage of my next weekday off. As you say brick-by-brick…
Quantus tremor est futurus,
quando judex est venturus,
cuncta stricte discussurus!