“Everyone has a little dirty laundry.” Or so proclaimed an ad for a popular TV show about desperate housewives. Well, I don’t know if everyone has a little dirty laundry, but I do know that today’s gospel speaks to us when we do. Jesus reminded us that while we might keep secrets from other people, we can’t keep them from God. He sees and knows all that we do, and he holds us accountable for it.
Yet at the same time, God wants to forgive us of these things. We might say that while God sees all our dirty laundry, he wants to wash it for us too! Or as St. Augustine once said, “The one who made you is watching you, and the one who called you is helping you.”
It’s important that we me realize this, because sometimes our “dirty laundry” can fill us with so much shame that we become afraid to bring it to the Lord. We worry that we’ll be rejected or condemned. Then we avoid confession, we avoid Holy Communion, and sometimes we avoid church altogether.
But this is not what God wants us to do. He wants instead to release us from our shame and lift the burden of our guilt so he can fill us with his peace and joy. As the author of today’s psalm wrote, “I said, ‘I confess my faults to the Lord, and you took away the guilt of my sin.’”
Readings for today’s Mass: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/101411.cfm
Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons
