Confession (2)

In my last blog post I recommended four books on the Sacrament of
Reconciliation / Confession.  It is so important that we begin again to recognize this sacrament as a thing of beauty, a gift of grace from a Father Who loves us more than we can fathom.  A number of folks have talked to me about Confession and the difficulties they have with coming.

The difficulty that is raised over and over again is “What do I confess?”  This difficulty is especially raised by our older brothers and sisters, and in particular those who are relatively home-bound.  I can understand that we find ourselves in a quandary on this issue.  After all, we live in a culture that very consistently redefines sinful behavior as nothing more than misunderstanding of the actor’s motivation, meaning, or simply dismisses the idea that the behavior is sinful as a cultural idea.

Another difficulty we run into is we see our venial sins as sometimes so small as to not matter.  And yet, they most certainly DO matter.  What seems small to one person can loom rather large in the mind and heart of someone on the receiving end.

Imagine what would happen if we had the same attitude towards a little grain of dust in our automobile engine.  As we know, those little bits of dust eventually build up until they cause real problems.  That’s why we change the oil and filters in our vehicles regularly.  So it is with our sins.  That is why it is well-worth our while to come to Confession regularly, even frequently, to flush even those tiniest bits of sin out of our system. 

When these things are taken care of on a regular basis we find a particular joy in driving our vehicles.  They run so much better and make even an everyday drive a joy.  This is true in the spiritual life as well.  When the system is well maintained by regular (even frequent) Confession we discover more than a simple oil change and tune-up, we discover the joy of God’s presence in our lives.

Think that analogy is too far-fetched?  Then why do car collector completely wash, tune-up, and even change the oil in their cars after only a short afternoon drive?  And just think, you are worth more than all the collectible vehicles in the world combined!

Take care of yourself like the treasured collectible you are.