Confession is a ritual in the Catholic Church in which a person confesses their sins to a priest. Then the priest tells the person how many prayers they must say to atone for these sins. Afterward, the person has been forgiven by God and may receive Communion. The First Confession is supposed to be a time of solemn reflection, but still a happy milestone for a child growing up in the church. It is supposed to teach a child about the impartial divine forgiveness that Catholics believe is available to all humanity when they repent their sins.
Confession Quotes in First Confession
The First Confession quotes below are all either spoken by Confession or refer to Confession. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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First Confession
Quotes
Then, to crown my misfortunes, I had to make my first confession and Communion. It was an old woman called Ryan who prepared us for these… She may have mentioned the other place as well, but that could only have been by accident, for Hell had the first place in her heart.
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She didn’t know the half of what I had to tell—if I told it. I knew I couldn’t tell it, and understood perfectly why the fellow in Mrs. Ryan’s story made a bad confession; it seemed a great shame that people wouldn’t stop criticizing him.
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Confession Term Timeline in First Confession
The timeline below shows where the term Confession appears in First Confession. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
First Confession
“To crown [his] misfortunes,” soon after this Jackie has to make his first Confession and Communion. A neighbor woman called Mrs. Ryan prepares the children in town for these...
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The day Jackie is supposed to go to Confession for the first time with his class, he fakes a toothache to get out of...
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Jackie expects that he won’t be able to make a full Confession and then, according to Mrs. Ryan’s story, he will die in the night and “be...
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It’s Nora’s turn for Confession, and she comes out looking serene and devoted. Jackie thinks “God, the hypocrisy of women!”...
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The priest helps Jackie stand up and asks him kindly if this is his first Confession. He reassures Jackie that “a big hefty fellow” like Jackie will have “terrible sins” and...
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