Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Cleaning your dirt

Fr. Daren Zehnle's new blog, A Beggar for Love, has already been quite a source of inspiration with its collection of quotes from il Papa. For those who struggle with confession or fail to see its utility, his words here are invaluable.

Even if, as I said, it is not necessary to go to confession before each Communion, it is very helpful to confess with a certain regularity. It is true: Our sins are always the same, but we clean our homes, our rooms, at least once a week, even if the dirt is always the same; in order to live in cleanliness, in order to start again. Otherwise, the dirt might not be seen but it builds up. Something similar can be said about the soul, for me myself; If I never go to confession, my soul is neglected and in the end I am pleased with myself and no longer understand that I must always work hard to improve, that I must make progress. And this cleansing of the soul which Jesus gives us in the sacrament of confession helps us to make our consciences more alert, more open, and hence, it also helps us to mature spiritually and as human persons.
How eloquent - even if it seems the same dirt comes back again and perhaps even the same dirt we never cease to clean it when it is physical dirt - how much more must we do so with our spiritual dirt!