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APRIL 17, 2008
Springtime is here:
Time for pruning our spiritual weeds
It’s weed season, which means a few things in the Moore household.
First, it means a blessed ignorance dominates our work outside since our children do not realize how much a landscape maintenance company could earn by doing the same work they will do for a toy from the Dollar Store.
It also means that spring is here and even pulling weeds is a welcome activity in the 80 degrees that will herald triple digits. And it also means one more teachable moment in our quest to nurture the little souls of our children.
I have told our two oldest workers that weeds are funny things. They start out very little, and they can blend in so as to go unnoticed for most of the day. There is a certain time of the day, however, when the light hits them in such a way that each one is revealed. In many ways, I tell them, weeds resemble our sin. The danger in letting little sins go on too long is that they can become so big that it becomes difficult to get rid of them with simple maintenance. And just as weed begets weed, so does sin beget sin.
I want our children to understand that a serious sin is not committed out of nowhere, but is usually the result of smaller sins unconfessed. My hope is that we are sowing good seed in this outdoor lesson. My prayer is that they will develop a great desire for the sacrament of reconciliation out of a thirst for grace.
God’s grace from reconciliation
Unfortunately for many Catholics, I think, reconciliation has become a somewhat bothersome task of their faith, an obligation that is only expected of them once a year. So as a result, many have convinced themselves that only serious sins need confessing. But the tragic result of not availing oneself of the sacrament regularly is not being considered a “bad Catholic.” Rather it is an unnecessary sacrifice of the grace available through it.
I am not certain why some people stop going to confession. I suppose for a few it is scheduling issues. Perhaps for others, it is a Protestant-adopted approach to sin which says that we can just as easily confess our sins directly to God without “going through” a priest. But I have to wonder if it isn’t also simply a result of living in the same shadowy light as many others who are missing the grace. That is, if everyone you know has an excuse for not going to confession, one that hinges on its minimal yearly requirement, then it’s harder to make out the weeds in your own yard.
Unless, of course, you are a parent.
In the book of Tobit, Tobiah is often referred to as the “light” of his parents’ eyes, and I can guess why. I live in the direct rays of my own children, and the result is a clear view of the weeds. I know when I need to go to confession the way some people realize they need an adjustment from their chiropractor. I get out of whack, often becoming more critical, less patient and sometimes saying things that sound as if they came out of another person’s mouth. I have told my children this, and to my dismay, they have reacted — more than once in public — to my impatience with, “Mom, I think you need to go to confession.”
And so I go, and the Lord removes my sin, root and all. And the grace I receive spills over into my children and my patience begets their patience, making us all better at the smaller things involved with the work of family life. Even yard maintenance.
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