Fr. Tony’s Midweek Message
Noticing the Dirt
June 8, 2016
Just after the Elizabethan Eucharist, one
parishioner came up to me and said, “It’s good to be reminded about how
penitential the old Prayer Books were. I
am happy that our current Rite II is less beat-the-breast 'we are sinners all'
than those in the past. It’s been a
while since I heard those words from the old general confession: '[we are]
heartily sorry for these our misdoings; the remembrance of them is grievous
unto us; the burden of them intolerable.'
That, and the prayer of humble access, really touched me. It’s good to be reminded from time to time
of how far we are from the mark.”
This coming Sunday’s readings are all about
confession and absolution of sin. It’s
important. It is not about morbid
self-loathing or overly dramatic and maudlin belittling of oneself. It is about simply being honest. I make a point of saying a general
confession each day in Morning Prayer. I
try to have private confession with my spiritual director on a regular
basis. I think we do ourselves harm
when we try to avoid confession or contrition simply so that we might be able to think "more positively” about ourselves. Doing an honest moral inventory regularly
and talking it through with ourselves, God, and another human being is an
important spiritual practice that keeps us from self-deception. Doing this with a “wise and discreet priest”
who can give us sacramental absolution is an important way of making the loving
and overwhelming grace and forgiveness of God concrete for us in our very specific
circumstances.
C.S. Lewis wrote to a friend:
“No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be very muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes are in the airing cupboard. The only fatal thing is to lose one’s temper and give it up. It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the very sign of His presence” (from The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume II).
Grace and Peace,
Fr. Tony+
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