This weekend, my second son will be going for his confirmation camp. It is a three days camp. I am considered a veteran mom now that my eldest son had gone through the same camp conducted by Martin Jalleh two years ago.
I was just telling my second son that Martin Jalleh is going to be very nervous when he sees my face because that’s the same face he is going to see again and again for four times. (i.e. if he is still around to do the camp in 10 years time when my youngest son is 16 years old)
Martin is going to run out of new jokes to make me laugh. You see, usually after the camp, Martin Jalleh will have a talk with parents only for about 1-2 hours. So, whatever he is going to tell me, I probably have heard before. Hehehehe. Anyway, Martin Jalleh is a great guy and I hope parents will heed what he said because he is fantastic with the teens. He always advocate less emphasis on the children’s achievement and instead be a buddy to them. Actually, that’s my style so what Martin has to say is probably already adopted in my style of parenting.
Now, what is the hardest thing to do for this confirmation camp? Parents are supposed to write a letter to their children. The letter will be revealed to them after their healing prayers. I was told that usually, it is a very emotional process as the parents are asked by Martin (we got a letter with a guidelines on what to say) express what our hearts felt.
In return, the children will write a letter to the parents and it will be given to us at the mass.
So, what’s so hard about it? It is a love letter, asking for our children’s forgiveness for our shortcomings, misunderstandings and whatever that we have failed them. And we are supposed to express our love for them. I haven’t done it yet eventhough I am supposed to drop the letter in church this week.
Sigh…I asked the hubby to do it because I did that for my eldest son. But no way, that man is tongue tied. I never get a love letter from him so what makes me think he can even write a letter to the son, huh?
So, I am going to prepare a wad of tissue later tonight and write. Maybe I will write with a pen and paper for more personalised thoughts…..Sigh…..I love being Catholic. It keeps us rooted and in touch, real with our feelings and not just blindly bulldozing through our daily lives.
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