A Short Guide for Confessions that you might like...
Can you hear the music and the dance in the Father's house?
How to prepare for Confession...The Parable of the Prodigal Son(Luke 15:11-31)
11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that fallsto me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. 13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, a nd there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’
20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
25 “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’ 28 “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded withhim. 29 So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. 30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’ 31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. 32 It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’”
In what way are you like the Prodigal Son?
In what way the deepest desire of your restless heart as lead you to be like the first son?
What thoughts, feelings, emotions, passions keep you from coming home?
As the younger son how are you deaf to voice of love that says of you "you are my son in you I delight"?
Where have you:
• sought love?
• lived rebellion?
• addictions?
• getting ahead?
• proving you are better than others?
• making money?
• love with an "if"?
Where did you experience being lost?
• wondering if anyone really cares
• tangled in needs and wants
• feel victimized
• distrustful
• world divided those for me and those against me
• where do I feel disconnected
•...family, friends, church, my deepest self
What makes you cling to your sins?
Do you truly desire what God desires by restoring my full dignity as son/daughter of His or do I really want to stay where I am?
Am I aware how difficult it is to let go of my sins and allow God to offer a complete new beginning? How does this struggle show itself?
Am I willing to become like a little child as Jesus said no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born from above?
Becoming a child of the Father, returning home means to choose, living the Beatitudes
Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
How have I lived or not the Beatitudes?
Do I pray as the way to accept God's understanding love?
Do I pray at all? Do I run? How is not praying, running away? Where do I live this?
Is prayer about measuring up?
In what way are you like the elder son?
Are you bitter, resentful, angry while being obedient and dutiful?
Are you trying always to please?
Are obedience and duty a burden, is service a slavery for you?
Are lost while still at home? Are you "good", "faithful" but full of judgment, condemnation, anger, resentment, bitter, jealously. Are you aware of how much your
heart is suffering from this. How hidden all of these feelings can be in a "good" person?
Is there in you the frozen anger of those who are so concerned to avoid "sin"?
Are you a resentful "saint"?
Do you complain in countless ways?
•How can people be so ungrateful
•I worked so hard and look...
•Why don't they respect me more
Joy and resentment cannot co-exist. Do I feel joy ever? What does resentment look like in my life?
As the older son how am I lost?
Resentment attacks itself to the underside of virtue. Where do I see this happening in my life?
How can the elder son enter the House of the Father?
How can I find the freedom of being the Son of the Father?
What do I need to confess that I cannot by myself change? Do I need to control others?
Do I accept the ascetical struggle as the elder son to live gratitude as an explicit effort to receive all that I am and that I have as a gift of love a gift that is to be celebrated with joy?
When have I made a decision between resentment and gratitude?
"Child all that is mine is yours and you are always with me"
Is my prayer a surrender into the Father or away to keep an angry God at bay?
Is what I believe God is different than what Jesus shows us of the Merciful Father?
Is my prayer a duty, obligation, a way to feel approved?
Do I pray as a form of control?
Which thoughts keep me occupied as either son:
1) Thoughts about food2) Thoughts about sex3) Thoughts about money4) Sadness5) Anger6) Listlessness7) Vanity8) Pride
Can you talk about them in confession?
When they occur?
How they relate with being the prodigal son or the elder son?
How long they have been occurring?
Why they seduce you?
What you have done to resist them?
What you think you need help with?
What images come with the obsessive thought(s)?
The last part of the parable is becoming like the Father, Jesus says, "Be compassionate as your heavenly Father is compassionate."
Are you willing, desire to become like the Father and to live out compassion in your daily life?
To receive forgiveness and love as a beloved child so grow into maturity and be for others like the Father was for you.
Compassion:
•is to accept the sorrow of the sins of the world including my own to pierce my heart
•needs many tears to let the suffering of others in my heart
•live constant forgiveness to take the risk over and over to be hurt in desire to heal and forgive
•is to be generous to be a martyr
•a witness by your whole life of the unlimited love of God
•to be able to receive others beyond my need and want of affirmation, love request.
To love for God loves. Aphatia!
Do I desire this?
What is impossible for men is possible for God? Do I desire this?
Are you open in this confession?
In this poor act of repentance that is yours, are you open to receive the joy of God who
leaves His Glory and runs to you his repentant son/daughter and who fills heaven and earth with His Joy?
Are you open to repent of cynicism and accept the joy of the Father?
Are you willing to live and seek and celebrate His Joy in the many small and hidden ways it is given and presented in this world.?
The doors are open, will you then enter and will you join the dance? Can you hear the music?
Are you ready to learn the steps of the Angels?From: http://stsilouan.org/HOWTOPREPAREFORCONFESSION.pdf
