During the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, the Sisters of Charity celebrated the sacrament of Reconciliation. It truly was a celebration of light and forgiveness!

The sacrament of Reconciliation frees us from our sins, but it also challenges us to have the same kind of compassion and forgiveness for those who sin against us. We are liberated to be forgivers. We obtain new insight into the words of the Prayer of St. Francis: “It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.”

The winter solstice, also called the hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth’s poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere.