Garbage night - an American tradition - that day of the week when we go through the house and gather up everything that we want to dispose of - to eliminate from our lives. It might be the stack of daily newspapers or the kitchen garbage or maybe the pile of tin cans and bottles that we no longer need or want. Whatever it is - we remove it from our homes and take it out to the street to be hauled away the next morning. Whomever removes our trash is one person that we really appreciate. That person takes old and smelly and used things out of our lives and takes them to a place far away from our lives and homes.
Going to confession and spending time with your priest confessor is very much like taking out the garbage - only in confession you are disposing of spiritual garbage. Things that impede our spiritual development - things that we do not need - guilt - fear - worry - issues not our own - anything that separates us from God. In confession, with the help of our confessor, we use spiritual tools to sweep our lives clean of all sorts of spiritual garbage. Then when it has all been gathered up our confessor - like the garbage collector - delivers all of it to Jesus. He lays it at the foot of Christ's cross where Jesus alone deals with it. Thank God for the gift of confession - for reconciliation - for forgiveness - for Jesus who loves us in spite of our spiritual garbage. Alleluia! Alleluia!
Deacon Dale
