Penance

Penance is the consequence to our sin that we must serve. Although Baptism washes away our sins, it doesn’t make us perfect, only God can be perfect. We still and always will commit sin even after Baptism because it is our human nature, which, due to the efforts of Original Sins, still suffers from an inclination to sin, we call this concupiscence. How we serve this penance is first by going to confession. We receive confession through the sacrament of reconciliation. What takes place here is that we would go to the Church during the designated time for confession. We would then go the confession room and confession our sins to the priest. All priest are different and I say that because lets say you ate being mean to a sibling, one priest may say '' okay for these sins I want you to say the Lord's prayer for your penance." Another priest my say, " for these sins, I want you compliment your brother everyday for 6 years and pray 5 our fathers daily during this time period." This penance is a little harsh for something like this, you could then go to another priest for a reasonable penance.

The mass in the early Church

We have:

• The Gathering on Sunday
• On the day we call the day of the sun, all who dwell in the city or country gather in the same place.
• Reading of the Scriptures
• Here, the memoirs of the Apostles and the writings of the prophets are read. Memoirs meaning the Gospels.
• The Homily
• When the reader has finished, he who presides over those gathered admonished and challenges them to imitate these beautiful things, normally the priest.
• Prayers of the Faithful
• Then we all rise together and offer prayers for ourselves and for others, wherever they may be.
• An Offertory
• Then someone brings bread and a cup of water and wine mixed together to him who presides over the brethren.
• Eucharistic Prayer
• He takes them and offers praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and for a considerable time he gives thanks, in Greek we would call this Eucharistian, that we have been judged worthy of these gifts.
• Reception of the Eucharist
• Last but not least, we have the Reception of the Eucharist. This is when he who presides has given thanks and the people have responded, those whom we call deacons give those present the 'eucharisted' bread and wine and water

The Catechumenate

This is a process that a person must take part in if they wish to become a part of the Church. They are instructed in the teachings of the Faith and prepared for the Sacraments of Initiation. These new member would customary be initiated at the Easter Vigil, the night before the commemoration of Christ's Resurrection. This isn't a Sacrament but it is essential if one wishes to take part on the Sacraments.

Sacraments

The sacraments were given to us for 3 reasons:

• To sanctify man
• To build up the Body of Christ
• To worship God

Through these Sacraments helps us to grow in our faith and to grow closer to God. Why sacraments though? God instituted Sacraments because this is his way of dispensing his Grace to us. I will be talking about one sacrament in particular which is the sacrament of Baptism.

I want to talk about Baptism because our teacher just had a baby and went or will be reviving this Sacrament. We see Jesus get baptized by St. John at the beginning of his public ministry, this wasn't an efficacious or a sacramental Baptism. This merely symbolized the recipient's desire to live more variously. Sacramental Baptism is a voluntary act of a person indicating his or her repentance from sin. Baptism normally takes place at birth. A priest will take holy water and pour it over the head of the baby. The water symbolizes the Holy water washing away our sins.