Day 17 #100DaysOfOldDays

I haven’t been inside a confession box in years. Since 1992 to be exact. Any sins I’ve committed since then, I’ve confessed in the privacy of my own head. Not that I have much to confess!

As children we used to go to confessions every second Saturday. The three pews beside the confession box would be full of school children.

The chapel was huge in the eyes of a small child, and every little noise echoed from high ceilings to tiled floors, convincing innocent little minds that the holy statues were alive. Anxious little sinners whispered, asking each other what the devil made them do since their last confession.

Hearts thumped in their little ribcages, as the priest’s shutter closed briskly, and the one opposite opened. When one child left the box, the next in line entered. Then the seats would creak, as the others slid across one by one, getting closer to their turn. The nearer you got to the box, the faster your heart would beat.

You were so close now you could hear the mumblings of the priest, and the soft whispers of your fellow delinquent pleading for forgiveness. Or it might be the Pam Ayres sound-alike, rhyming her sins off so loud even the nuns in the front pew prayed for her!

Once inside the box, there was no turning back. It took a few seconds for your eyes to adjust to the darkness, all the time you’re rehearsing your sins in your head because if you were to forget one, you’d go home with a black spot on what was meant to be a squeaky clean soul. And the mad thing is; the sins were the same every time. I was disobedient, I was unkind, I told lies and I cursed. Every time!

It was important to be quick about it too, because the longer you spent in the confession box, the more sins people said you had.

The same rule applied to how long you spent saying your penance when you came out. If you spent too long on your knees, it was assumed you had a lot to be sorry for.

Usually it was three Hail Marys and one Our Father, and the Act of Contrition. I remember one lad having to say a decade of the Rosary. He actually grew up to be a grand fella…so he did!