All analogies have areas of similarity and dissimilarity so bear with this.
Yesterday morning, I went to the dentist. It had been a year and a half or better since I had gone and I had broken off part of one of my molars so it was time. I sat in the chair and had x-rays taken of the one that had broken off and the dentist starting numbing the area around the bad tooth. Then, he started looking around and found two other teeth that he was fairly certain would need to have fillings replaced. So, I went back today to get them done and get the cleaning that was long over due. In the middle of it, he found two other teeth that needed to have their fillings replaced. I'll go back a week from Thursday to get them done and, hopefully, be finished with fillings for a while.
But, it did prompt me to reflect on the idea of reconciliation. Most catholics in today's world simultaneously say that they don't need to go to confession and that the church instills a sense of guilt. Confession is like that visit to the dentist that I should have done a year ago. It clears out all the things you need to be guilty about so that you can go on with your life. Otherwise, you bring all this baggage along with you and the result is guilt. And, while it's true that you only need to go to confession once a year, it's just as true that we probably need to go more often than that. It's definitely something that feels worse before we do it. I always feel better when I leave than when I start.
So, find a good dentist and get your teeth cleaned and a good priest and get your soul done too.
1 comment:
I appreciated your analogy. I think that the "sense of guilt" statement is a hang over from previous decades. Most people today don't seem to recognize or have a sense of sin. We are seldom challenged to look at the cracks in our soul. The short confession lines show that most of us do not recognize the sin in our lives...we need priest, like you, to be like Jesus. To challenge us to recognize our own sinfulness before we cast stones. Thanks for the challenge.
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