Our Readers Respond-November 30, 2011

Reconciliation a blessing
Editor: I was inspired by Pete Sheehan’s column on confession (TLIC 11/16) to write about my own positive experience with the healing sacrament. I’d stayed away for many years, and once I did come back, I would confess to the priest who happened to be in the confessional. That turned out to be akin to seeing a different physician each time one visits the doctor’s office. But once I started confessing to the same priest every time, I was able to experience God’s loving mercy by having developed a trusting relationship and seeing the compassion on his face. By God’s grace and the help of this trusted priest, I was finally freed of a particular burden I’d been carrying around for a long time. Because he knows me, he was able to incorporate a little humor while giving my penance, which provided relief from the pain I’d been experiencing. What a blessing it is that we have the sacrament of reconciliation available to us.
Julia Brandimarte
Mastic Beach

Embracing the new translation
Editor: I agree wholeheartedly with Ann Cook of Northport who wrote (TLIC 11/16) that she prays all will accept and embrace the richness of the new Mass translation. Having experienced it (last Sunday) for the first time at Mass at St. Isidore’s in Riverhead, I am thrilled with the new translation and hoping that all will come to appreciate the richness of our Catholic faith even more. The Lighthouse Catholic Media CD Ann mentioned in her letter, “A Walk through the New Mass Translation” by Dr. Edward Sri, is still available for anyone who truly wants to understand the scriptural background and basis for the changes. For information on how to get one, contact me at (631) 848-7612 or at tpiekut@yahoo.com.
Theresa M. Piekut, Division Manager
Lighthouse Catholic Media, Not for Profit