Each evening I call Baxter to get his coat brushed. He comes at once and purrs his way through my vigorous stokes up and down his body. I follow this routine to minimize the number of hairballs he and I must endure. Getting all the loosened hair away from him and collected in a wire brush so that it can be disposed of benefits both of us. Baxter doesn’t have to undergo the convulsive hacking of spitting up non-digestable hair, and I don’t have to clean up after the episode. It’s a win-win for the two of us.
We all need to get rid of useless and annoying stuff that clings to what we wear to protect us and keep us warm: ideas and attitudes that hold us back from accepting new challenges in our lives; biases and prejudices which prevent us from giving others a chance to help and succeed; fears and apathy that prevent us from making a better life for ourselves and others. These are just some of the loose hairs that we carry around with us each day. They get on everything we do and say, and when we take them inside ourselves, they become obstacles to nourishing our spirits on God’s grace. They clog our minds and hearts from thinking clearly and openly, from feeling free to respect and love others. They entangle our other thoughts, feelings and actions, so that we lose the good we could do because of the deep-seated junk we have consumed in grooming ourselves.
But there is help. God has provided a brushing of sorts to get rid of these loose hairs that can gag us. It’s called the Sacrament of Penance. This sacrament is meant to change our minds and hearts by calling us to a deep conversion in living the vision of the Gospel we profess. Too often we approach this sacrament on the surface, and just run through the routine list of our sinning. But the sacrament calls for something more vigorous than a list of typical piccadillos.
The loose hairs we carry with us are hidden in the coats we wear. They have to be vigorously brushed out, if we are to begin to free ourselves of their effects. We brush our souls not by becoming scrupulous about every little detail of our lives. Oftentimes, this is a way to distract ourselves from the loose ends we carry with us. We gather these only by going deeper and broader in our examination of conscience. We need to ask ourselves the wired questions: What keeps me from doing what my heart is telling me is right? Whom or what do I avoid dealing with and why? What are my common excuses for doing things differently? What am I passionate about, and is my commitment directed to the right things?
These are the kind of prickly questions that will get rid of the entanglements that clog up our lives from receiving the love and care God offers to us. The Sacrament of Penance raises such questions for us if we use it well. It can free us from the useless strands of selfishness hidden in the usual appearance we present.
Baxter comes running when I call him to be brushed. God is calling us to free our souls from loose thoughts, words and actions which prevent us from absorbing the rich graces He offers for nourishment. Come when He calls. Don’t run away!
