Penance

Things come into my mind at the weirdest times….

This morning I was washing my hair and as I was this thought went through my mind…..

:::::::This post is NOT meant to offend anyone! It is mearly my thoughts.  No bashing is intended::::

Being raised as a catholic all my life I wondered this about penance.  The Catholics have penance as one of their sacraments.  I remember having my first penance back in fourth grade I believe.  Could be wrong as I am not good with dates/years.  You went into a booth and the priest was on the other side and you confessed your sins to him and so on.  The priest gives you absolution.  If it a very bad sin you have to have absolution by a bishop or the pope? Really…..besides maybe education and more experience that gives them more authority to abolish your sins. As I was thinking of this I thought (opinion)…Our God is a forgiving God.  All we have to do is talk to God, confess our sins to him and show him that we can live in a “Godly manner” and prove that we are sorry for our wrongs by correcting them.  God is forgiving and therefore has forgiven our sins once we do this.  Why go through the middle man.  Why wait until the Catholic Church has a penance session.  Can we not talk/confess to God 24/7.  Maybe I missed something in class at the parochial school that I was attending when we learned about penance.  I dunno…maybe some of the practices of the Catholics I struggle with and tis the reason of leaving the church that I have been a member of for 30 some years.  The church I go to now makes more sense.  The God they talk about (even though it is the same one) and the way they go about their daily practices is more down to earth.  It doesn’t matter what you do for a living, how much your income is, or who you are related to.  All that matters is that you have a personal relationship with God.  Isn’t that what it is all about to begin with? After all it isn’t the priests or the pastors that you have to answer to when you leave this world.  They are not the ones that will be judging you at the gates.  You only have to answer to one person, so I guess that is why I don’t understand the whole penance thing.  God knows me and he knows my heart. I try living the way God intends me to live.  I have a ways to go but like most, I am getting there….That is all that matters 🙂    No regrets, no shouldas, no couldas, no wouldas……. Yes, Life is good! No matter what!