Lent: Time to take out the
trash
By David Myers
Waste disposal is a very holy endeavor.
We’ve all done at least a few really stupid
things: cheated on a test … hurt someone we cared about … failed to help
someone in need ... committed grand theft auto.
Sure, we all commit foibles. We’re only human.
But why is it that years later, the guilt -- and
guilt’s little sister, depression -- still worm their way into our emotions?
Didn’t God say that when we ask forgiveness, our sins are thrown into a “sea of
forgetfulness?”
Unfortunately, for most of us those sins
often wash back onto shore. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were an easy way to
expel those awful feelings of guilt and depression that come back to haunt us
-- to truly forgive ourselves? Sometimes I wish I could turn on the TV, and
somewhere between episodes of “I Love Lucy” and “The Andy Griffith Show,” hear
the following:
“Are you haunted by past failures? Are you
feeling overwhelmed with guilt due to the sins of yesterday? Do you often dive
head-first into a vat of oozing depression and self-anger because of some
poorly thought-out decision you made a long time ago that proved costly?
“I know I did -- that is, until I discovered Guilta-Thiamin X, a pleasant tasting and fast acting liquid
remedy for those hard to shake feelings of guilt, anger, and depression. Here’s
Margaret to tell her story:”
“I once refused to help a freezing
homeless man. I avoided his plea for help. I didn’t even make eye contact. I
pretended he wasn’t there. I was warm in my coat and I just kept on walking to
my car where I knew I could turn the heater fan up to high. I had an
inexpensive travel blanket in the car, but I didn’t give it to him. It would
have been so easy to help him. I came back the next day to apologize. He didn’t
say a word, he only stared. I never forgave myself.”
“Then Margaret found Guilta-Thiamin
X, and with only one dose, she began to feel those annoying pangs of guilt slip
away.”
“I’m so glad I found Guilta-Thiamin
X! I no longer despise myself!”
Unfortunately, Guilta-Thiamin
X really exists for some people, only it’s in the form of a couple shots of
Vodka with a Pepsi chaser. I’ve had some experience with this. If you’re trying
to shake those vampire-like emotions – those dated feelings that occasionally
rise up to suck your self-respect dry -- poisoning yourself isn’t the way to do
it. Just ask my ulcer.
This is why waste disposal is a very holy
endeavor. See, after Christ died for our sins, we no longer had to leave our
sins piling up everywhere, attracting flies and stinking up the place. And some
of those sins can get really, really stinky.
Thanks to Christ, all we need do is haul our
sins out to the corner and let God come and take them away.
Of course we learn from our past
mistakes, but should we dwell on them? Should we continue to eat
ourselves up with guilt? When was the last time you stayed awake at night
thinking, “Those onions! Those old, slimy, moldy onions I took out to the
garbage 10 years ago! They were so stinky! I ... can’t ... get ... them out of
my mind!”
There is a word for this act of taking out
the trash – of cleansing our spirit and finding healing: “confession.” And the confessional? It’s kind of like a little
waste-disposal room. And the priest? Well, he’s sort
of like …. Wait -- if God is the garbage man, and the confessional is the
waste-disposal room, then the priest is … hmmm. Well, if he’s the conduit God
uses to rid you of sins so that He can cleanse your soul, then I guess the
priest would be in the “sanitation of the soul” business.
When hearing confessions, the priest is,
indeed, in the waste disposal business. That’s one of the incredibly powerful
faculties the priest is given. Take advantage of it! In fact, don’t think of it
as confession; think of it as taking out the trash!
We humans have all sorts of weaknesses, all
sorts of reasons why we continue to slap ourselves upside the head, all sorts
of reasons why some of us want to take that next drink, all sorts of reasons we
remind ourselves that we’re less than we are.
As Lent approaches, remember the sacrament of
confession and that great gift of being able to take out the trash. And
once the trash is gone, leave it gone! God invites us to take out the trash.
Who are we to take it back?