Confession: Part I - We Need to Grow Up Inside

Baby animals need the kind of food that will help their bodies grow. We are always changing. To become a real person, a human being needs a kind of food that helps them grow INSIDE ! People don't just need to grow a more grown-up body. To grow we need the right kind of food.

Orthodox Christians call the place inside of you is called “the heart.” It is where fear, anger, & sadness, peace and happiness come from. Your heart is where you decide what will make you happy, angry, or sad. It is where we are sorry when we do wrong. Animals & little children have almost no control over these things, but the more they grow up inside, people do. Once we want that, God will help.

Like your body, your soul needs to be fed to grow. To grow inside, you need spiritual food. When you were little, you were a child-member of your family’s Communion. Your parents could see when you did not act like a good person - you missed that mark - but you weren’t grown-up enough to see it yourself, so they just said: don’t do that ! Now! It’s time to learn why. When we are little children we are too young to understand that everyone is in charge of themselves before God. Before, your parents were still carrying you the way your mother carried you inside her body before you were born. They went to Confession, not just for themselves, but to help your family co- operate with God. You were too little to help then with this spiritual work. But you are no longer a little child now. Your body has grown, and you need to begin to grow inside for yourself.