First Communion

Yeah, so Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.

And with his burning sacred heart, and he said, if you receive First Communion for nine consecutive First Fridays of the month, he had these 12 promises that he revealed to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, what he would promise for those who fulfilled the devotion.

Now, I don't have the list of all 12 in front of me right now, but one of those promises is peace in their families.

And I have to say that I turned to my husband maybe after we had fulfilled the first Friday devotion and we were in the midst of fulfilling the second.

So my brother and sister and I were raised Catholic, but more culturally Catholic.

I mean, we did the First Communion.

We did confirmation classes.

We are confirmed, but...

But I am just saying that there are people out there, Katie, that feel like, I raised my kids.

I'll be there for the First Communions, the baptisms, this, and that's enough.

There are people that

think that way, Kate.

...

First Communion, you know, like-

Yeah

... here, here's all the things that, that you're gonna receive from this, you know?

Uh, although I would always, I would always tell dear parents and catechists, "I think it's important to tell your kids, too, you may not feel all these things."

Mm-hmm.

You know, because there are a lot of kids that go into First Communion in the Roman church, and they have all these expectations, and when they don't-

Yeah

In the evening when she came home from school, she used to take care of me while the others went out, and it seems to me I can still hear the sweet songs she sang to put me to sleep.

I remember perfectly the day of her first communion, and I remember also her companion, the poor child whom my mother dressed, according to the touching custom of the well-to-do families in Alençon.

This child did not leave Leone for an instant on that happy day, and in the evening at the grand dinner she sat in the place of honor.

Alas, I was too small to stay up for this feast, but I shared in it a little, thanks to Papa's goodness, for he came himself to bring his little queen a piece of the iced cake.

I wished very much to run after the old man and give it to him, for I thought, well, he didn't want money, but I am sure he would like to have a cake.

I do not know what held me back, and I felt so sad I could hardly keep from crying.

Then I remembered having heard that one obtains all the favors asked for on one's first communion day.

This thought consoled me immediately, and though I was only six years old at the time, I said to myself, I will pray for my poor old man on the day of my first communion.

I've been carrying around a little bit of guilt and a little bit of sadness the last few months, actually.

As you know, my son Alex is about to celebrate his First Communion, and it's coming around.

It's this Sunday.

The sacrament.

So his First Communion, he goes to a Catholic school.

It's an amazing thing.

He's learning some great things, and I'm really proud of him.

They're over 100 years old, some beautiful black antique rosary beads.

A priest's favorite sentence to hear is, can I be Catholic, please? And it's happening all the time.

Last Saturday, Father Dan welcomed and gave confirmation in the First Communion to five new people at this parish.

Look in the bulletin, see information how that can happen.

On Monday night, one of our high schoolers approached Father Zane, Father, I have a question.