Last night and Tuesday night saw the seven 2nd Classes from the Junior School make their First Confession.  As always at the beginning of this ceremony the kids had quite a lot of butterflies.  They would grin nervously at each other, a few were taking deep breaths, their singing at the beginning of the ceremony was quieter than normal.  Like anyone doing something for the first time they were nervous, it was apparent their First Confession was a big deal for them.

The teachers, school & parish obviously recognising and acknowledging that they would of course be nervous, made the ceremony as relaxed as possible. All the confessions take place on the Altar and the parents are asked to bring their child up to the priest and introduce them.  Then the parent steps away and there were tables to the side with candles.  Each parent would light a candle and say a small prayer.

The difference between a child going up to say his First Confession and coming back down is like night and day.  On the way up they are muttering under their breath, practicing what they are going to say. However once they have finished their confession, they would come down from the Altar beaming and some even had a small strut in their step!  The hymns they sang when all the confessions were done, raised the roof!

While the confessions were taking place there was a slide show.  The slide show consisted of pictures of the students and also art work that they had done about what love means to them.  Below are some of the descriptions the kids wrote on their pictures about what love means to them.

“Best present you can give to anyone”

“Everyone needs it”

“Love is precious it holds us to together”

“Love feels like a warm teddy bear hug”

“I think love is the most powerful thing on earth, love is God”

“It makes you feel warm & safe inside”

“It helps us to make our world better, so precious because it brings out the goodness in people”

A very notable presence, were some very colourful figures made out of play dough by the children at either side of the Altar.  Now I remember when my son had his first Confession he told me, he had made a “Bean”, this bean was a sporty one and of course totally confused I asked was it a runner bean.  He looked at me as if I had two heads and he said no, a soccer & rugby playing bean!  Confusion is not the word, I was clearly missing the whole connection between beans and confession!

Anyway, I later discovered they were not beans but “BEINGS”.  The students are told these stories about Beings.  Each Being has something different about them and the stories concentrate on a Being’s difference and how they get on with the other Beings.  The moral of each story is it is ok and a good thing to have differences.  So then the children are asked to create a Being.  Below are pictures of the kids Beings, they are so creative, really amazing!

The ceremony finishes with the children having their Baptismal candles lit and singing a final hymn.

The whole ceremony is just so lovely.  It is evident that a lot of time, thought and effort has been put into it by the teachers with little touches that really add to the whole occasion.  Hats off to them, these occasions are very hard work and it is a credit to the teachers, that they care so much for their students, and want their students’ ceremony to be the best it can be. No doubt the kids will remember fondly their First Confession for years to come.