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Create a Clean Heart in Me, O God Editor's note: This article is included as a reflection on the 'Litany of Interior Freedom or of Love'. Quite some time ago a friend told me about a talk she had heard about a priest who heard confessions for peasants in a small village in Eastern Europe. This priest, who lived many, many years ago, also heard the confessions of wealthy noble families and royalty. The stories that my friend shared were fascinating to me and have since impacted the way i examine my own conscience and make my confessions. This change in my own spiritual life has been a source of great grace and freedom for me, and is one that i continually find humbling and challenging. The striking and life-changing story is this; the priest shared how the confessions of the rich and noble women were most often 'dolled up' and decorated in the classic 'dancing around the bush' way. The noble women would never really state their sins outright, but often fashioned them delicately and, dare i say, with flowery vanity. However, in the case of the peasant women, a totally different and humbling scene took place. The poor women would boldly and blatantly state their sins, uninhibited, naked before God. There was no hiding their sins. The contriteness of their hearts for their offenses against God was clear, as was their understanding of the sacrament and its graces. There was no vain cover-up, but rather an honest, straight-forward examination of what they had done wrong before the eyes of Almighty God. The priest remarked on the striking difference between these confessions and hailed the peasant women for their ability to openly and humbly declare their faults before God without a pretty cover-up. After my friend told me about this story and we talked at length about it, i spent many days pondering. How very often had i been like those noble women! It was a point of serious conversion for me, and a turning point in my attitude towards confession. For i learned that the more i could practice this type of examination and confession, the more freeing it was. It seemed like grace was tangible, because i no longer tried to 'pretty up' my confessions, but instead i tried extra hard to just state the humbling truth as it was and as Our Lord knew anyway. How silly it is to think of 'beautifying' a confession. It is almost contrary to the very purpose of confession. I am so grateful for how God has used this little story shared by my friend to jump-start my own spiritual awakening. I pray, create in all of us Lord, a humble and contrite heart! |