Confession

I had the great joy of confessing today. I feel joy not only for the Sacrament itself (although the sweetness and lightness of heart that this Sacrament provides is indescribable), but also because I was able to see my spiritual father again.

He is a good man, one who makes a sincere effort to imitate the piety and wisdom of the great saints of the Church. This is was made especially apparent to me today. I was to confess after the Liturgy of the Saturday of Lazarus. I had been to his parish before, but had not seen his congregation.

I was struck to see so many young people. Pregnant mothers, teenage boys and girls, children of all ages, all were in attendance. That's not surprising; my parish had a great showing of youth and converts when he was with us some years back. This is in stark contrast to the congregation now attending church. You would be hard pressed to find anyone under the age of forty. Perhaps my current parish priests have something to do with that.

My spiritual father, by contrast, is a simple man. He always has a warm smile on his face, as he genuinely enjoys what he does. He's also quite intelligent and well read; he can discuss anyone from St. Basil the Great to Nietzsche with the best of them. He's also read the book I'm currently working on (when not preparing for finals), and I look forward to having more time to discuss it with him in the future.

The Church is quite fortunate to have priests such as him in Her service; I pray that, when it his time to step aside (and may that be many, many years from now) three equally loving and wise priests step in for him.