Losing the baggage but keeping the suitcase

The homilist for the 12:10 p.m. cathedral Mass today, Father Ricardo Coronado-Arrascue, talked poignantly about the importance of the sacrament of confession in our lives and particularly touched on how hard it is for us to truly believe that God has forgiven our sins and wiped our slates clean. Father Ricardo gave a great analogy of carrying baggage in a suitcase. In confession, we often let God take the baggage out of the suitcase, but we still cling to the suitcase expecting to fill it up again. But in confession, God wants to take both the baggage and the suitcase away. The suitcase can represent many things, such as those sins that are repeated often and the emotional and spiritual baggage it repeatedly produces. When God takes away our sins, there is no further need to punish ourselves (something I am ocassionally guilty of), which usually increases the chances of committing those sins again.

We live in a morally relatavistic world where we are taught that we are no more than hypocrites who are just waiting to screw up. To strive for any kind of holiness "infringes" on others so we need to just keep it to ourselves. But that's not how God created us. He created us to be in community, lifting each other up when we fall and helping to keep each other's gaze toward heaven. John Paul II's theology of the body teaches us that the best way to know God and ourselves is to make a gift of ourselves to others. Yeah, we can be hypocrites, but that's not who we really are. It should not handcuff us from continuing to grow and to aid others who need help. Confession is a gift from God to unlock those handcuffs.

It's hard to truly believe one's soul is completely clean after confession when it takes place amid such a worldly environment. But such healing and love are glorious truths that we need to hold onto this Lent and it should make Confession, not a dismal experience, but one of great humility and love.