St. Anthony Youth

Love for God

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’

As Jesus says, this is the greatest, the most important of all the commandments. It’s not about ‘oh yeah I love God’, but about loving him with our whole heart, soul and mind. That takes it up another notch doesn’t it! How have you been going at loving God like this?

• Have I been praying recently? Or have I let my relationship with God fall to the side?

• Do I go to Mass regularly or have I been skipping Church?

• Have I put other things before my relationship with God? Do I care more about friends, possessions, popularity, my social life or other activities than I care about my relationship with God?

• Are there areas in my life in which I have ‘put God in the back seat’?

• Do I use Gods name to swear or in other careless ways?

Love For Others

‘Love your neighbor as yourself’

In order to love one another as Christ loved us, we need to treat each other as we would want to be treated. This may sound like something your primary school teacher would have said, but really if this was something all of us did our world would look very different! Here’s some food for thought:

• How have I treated my family? Have I argued with my parents, or siblings?

• Have I been helpful at home or have I been selfish?

• Do I speak to my family with kindness and disrespect? Do I complain about them to others?

Love For Yourself

‘I praise you for I am wonderfully and fearfully made.’- Psalm 139:14 “Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you?...Therefore honor God with your body”

– 1 Cor 6:19-20

Often it is this area that we pay the smallest attention to. We think it’s ‘being selfish’ to love ourselves. Yet as the Psalmist writes, we are wonderfully made! For God, who created us with such love and care, how we treat ourselves is really, really important. And as Jesus said, we cannot learn to love others until we first learn to love ourselves.

• How do I portray myself when I dress – with modesty and self-respect or not?

• Do I stand up for my values and beliefs, or have I let others walk over me?

• Do I swear or use vulgar language?

• Have I abused alcohol or drink in excess? Have I taken illegal drugs or abused drugs?

• Have I looked at or watched pornography?

• Have I engaged in sexual activity outside of marriage? Have I pushed the sexual boundaries in relationships further than what I know is right?

Confess your sins

Now is where you simply begin by sharing those things you came to get off your chest. You may prefer to do this using your own words, but it also helps to follow a basic formula such as the one below.

‘Forgive me father, for I have sinned. It has been ‘Forgive me father, for I have sinned. It has been ___ long since my last confession __ long since my last confession __ long since my last confession. The sins I would like to confess are...’ The sins I would like to confess are...’

Now just go ahead and confess your sins in your own words to the priest. If there is no time demand, feel free to take as long as you need.

Counsel and advice

When you have finished sharing, the priest usually offers some counsel or advice to help you overcome the particular struggles you are facing. Many people find this really helpful and supportive as priests have heard many different confessions from a variety of people over the years. If the priest says something in here you’re unsure about, don’t worry, you can always follow up on it later. Remember this is between you and God.

Act of Contrition

Next the priest will ask you to pray an ‘Act of Contrition’ (a short wrap-up prayer saying you’re sorry). A simple one to pray is this:

O my God, I am very sorry that I have sinned against you. Because You are so good, and with Your help, I will not sin again. Amen.

Penance

The priest will then give you some ‘penance’ to help you live out your commitment to change. This may be a spiritual exercise such as reciting a prayer, or an active exercise such as doing some extra good deeds throughout the week ahead. The whole idea of Penance is to not just walk out of Reco, rub your hands together and say ‘well, that’s done; glad that’s out of the way!” and forget all about. Confession is meant to stir us to an ongoing conversion – a real change of heart and life.

Prayer of Absolution

The last thing the priest will do is lay his hands above your head and say the following incredible words:

“God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church, may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins and I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Sweet! What next?

‘It’s over, but it ‘aint over’, if you know what we mean. After you’ve gone to Reco, the real work has just begun; the work of moving on from your old ways and seeking to live a life that’s holy. But now you’ll be in a much better place to deal with your junk. They say that ‘a good habit leads to a good lifestyle, and a good lifestyle leads to a good character’, and good character is what you want! Here are some handy tips to help you get there:

• Get good friends around you – the kind of people who will help you be the person you want to become. The book of Proverbs in the bible says “He who walks with the wise will grow wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm” (13:20). That’s pretty wise advice from over 4000 years ago! I’d be taking it.

• Disable anything that will lead your thoughts astray from purity – such as magazines, apps, porn websites etc.

• Start to pray – If you’re not in the habit of praying every day, make an effort to start. It doesn’t have to be fancy or go for hours – just setting aside 10 minutes a day to talk/journal to God will make a massive difference to your day.

• Go to church regularly - If you’re not in the habit of going to Mass, start going at least once a week. Go with your family, or if they are not church-goers, look for somewhere that supports you in your faith as a young person

• Go to the sacrament of Reconciliation again – Book it in your diary to head back to Reco in one month from when you go. That gives you plenty of time to gather some material (jokes) and seriously, is a great habit to get into. It’s not about ‘looking for more and more sins to confess’, but about making a regular pattern of sitting before the Lord, sharing your struggles and being open to receiving His grace. Simple!