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My Advent Wish

Less than 24 hours remain in Advent 2014, and while the season hasn't been particularly hard, life itself has been.  Reflecting back, I think my life has been in a semi-tailspin since late January 2012, from which I've only partially recovered.
Without revealing too much, I've been struggling to overcome a habitual sin that has plagued me for far too long; my economic contribution to my family has been negligible, and I've been ambivalent about joining the Roman rite of the Catholic Church since Spring 2012.
What I (think) need is a priest who can find that balance in the confessional between saying, "Quit Fu@&ing around" and "Jesus loves you more than you can imagine, keep following Him, do not, under any circumstances, take your eyes from Him."


Does anyone in SE Michigan know of such a priest?
Here's hoping your Advent has been fruitful.

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Comments

Rachel said…
Scot, I'm sorry you're having such a tough time. Confession is still weird for me. It's one of those sacraments that I love and hate at the same time. Actually, I hate it ahead of time, and love it afterwards. :) Here's a post by Fr. Stephen Freemen (OCA, sorry) that I found helpful: http://blogs.ancientfaith.com/glory2godforallthings/2014/12/05/youre-not-better/

As for finding a priest for confession, you might want to try a priest at one of the Byzantine Right churches--he might be able to draw from a well of spiritual praxis that a priest from a more western background might not automatically think of.

You are right, Jesus does love you more than you can imagine. When I'm particularly unsettled, I find the Jesus Prayer to be peace-giving.

I'll be praying for you.
December 28, 2014 at 8:43 PM
Scot said…
Thanks, Rachel. I don't think anybody *loves* confession singularly. It's always afterward that we are glad we went.
January 16, 2015 at 1:48 PM
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