First Penance: A Sacrament of Healing

"On the evening of that first day of the week,"  Jesus showed 
himself to his apostles. He breathed on them, and said to them:
"Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are
forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."                                 John 20:19  22-23

For the sins committed after Baptism, we are blessed with the Sacrament of Penance, Reconciliation or commonly known as Confession. Penance is known as one of the two sacraments of "healing."  The other being, the sacrament of "Anointing of the Sick." The main vocation of the Christian is to HOLINESS OF LIFE, which involves a continuous conversion of heart and lifestyle to the Lord.
Conversion is a contrite movement of the heart that is drawn and seared by grace to respond to the merciful love of God, who first loved us.  (1John 4:10)
Jesus' call to conversion and penance, like that of the prophets before him, does not aim first of outword works as sackcloth and ashes, fasting and mortification, but rather at
the conversion of the heart.   From the Catechism of the
Catholic Church (CCC) #1421 we read:
      The Lord Jesus Christ, physician of our souls and our bodies,
       who forgave the sins of the paralytic and restored him to
       bodily health, willed that his church continue, in the power
       of the Holy Spirit, his work of healing and salvation, even
       among her own members.  This is the purpose of the two
       sacraments of healing: the sacrament of Penance and the
       sacrament of Anointing the Sick.

Dimensions of the Sacrament:
       Penance: Is seen as a sacrament of conversion, because it            makes present Jesus' call to conversion from whom we have strayed.
         It is also called a sacrament of penance, as we are called to die
         to sin and rise to new life in Christ Jesus!
                    Penance is referred to as the sacrament of confession;
         as we acknowledge our sinfulness through confessing our sins to
         a priest, who represents both Christ and the Church.
 

For second graders their preparation for the Sacrament
of Penance or Reconciliation usually occurs in March.
While the Sacrament of Eucharist or First Communion 
is celebrated in May. 

The sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation
is an encounter with Christ to receive forgiveness for sins
that are committed after Baptism. On Easter Sunday
night, Jesus appeared to the apostles and gave them
authority to forgive the sins of Christians when he said:
that are committed after Baptism.  

"On the evening of that first day of the week,"  Jesus showed 
himself to his apostles. He breathed on them, and said to them:
"Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are
forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
                                                            John 20:19, 22-23