Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Noticing the Dirt (Midweek Message)





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+

No comments:

Post a Comment