How Confession Helps Us at Work
Confession helps us work better. Here's how:
I don't know about you, but I need God at work. Some days, there's so much to do, so many responsibilities lying before me, I can be overwhelmed. You know how it is. Even when you carefully plan your day, and get an early start, stuff comes up you didn't anticipate. You can't put it off. But you can't put off the stuff you planned to do either...and there are only 24 house in a day!
Anyway, if you have days like this, maybe you appreciate why I need God at work. He's my only source of encouragement, my only refuge. I don't always think of Him or turn to Him when the action gets hot and heavy and I'm in deep concentration pushing to meet a deadline. But I do try to start my morning off right with prayer and meditation. Maybe I'm able to get to Mass first thing. And maybe I even spend my first minutes thoughtfully praying my Morning Resolve before jumping into the fray.
Yes, prayer and the sacraments really do bring graces that "set me up" to dig in and work like a dog without panic or anxiety - no matter what comes up.
But it's always a lot better after I've been to Confession. That's the sacrament I used to kind of dread, but I'm learning not to dread it so much these days.
Regular Confession keeps me close to God. The operative word is "regular." Getting to Confession from time to time is better than nothing. But regular Confession - at least for me - is key. When I get to Confession at least once a month, it puts Confession at the center of my spiritual life, not just some thing I do from time to time. It keeps the idea that I need forgiveness front and center. And so I walk in God's sight more easily than I used to. (You know He sees everything, right?) Not that I never sin, you understand. But my going to Confession on a regular basis recognizes that yes, I do sin, but yes, I know that's not good, and yes, I want to square myself with God.
In the past, without this understanding, there would be times when I wasn't right with God and so felt apart from His Love - my own fault, of course. Being apart, I didn't feel free to turn to Him when I need help. And if a day overwhelmed me I was on my own. At least that's how I thought of it.
The thing is, if you know you're a sinner, and you just let it go at that, then how in heck are you going to naturally, easily, urgently turn to God when you need Him? Maybe you can do this, but I sure can't. I know He sees everything, so I know He knows that things aren't right between us. And if I'm not going to Confession regularly, what must I be thinking? Am I thinking that He should wait until I can spare a moment to get to the sacrament? Or worse, that it's just too embarrassing to confess this or that sin, so He'll just have to be patient and wait until I gin up the courage to just spit it all out to the priest in the confessional?
Anyway, now that I get to Confession regularly, and the sacrament is part of my life - at the very center of my spiritual life - I'm not afraid or reluctant to turn to God when I need His help (or any other time for that matter).
And in spite of the fact that there are definitely times when I'm embarrassed to step into that box and tell Him - through the priest - what I've done to offend Him, I'm starting to understand just why Our Lord gave us this sacrament, and just how perfectly beautiful the whole idea of regular Confession really is.
Besides, it really does help me at work. And boy, do I need His help!
Gents, it's Advent. If you aren't already getting to confession at least once a month, make this one of your Advent resolutions. And if you haven't been to confession for more than a month, go now. OK?
I don't know about you, but I need God at work. Some days, there's so much to do, so many responsibilities lying before me, I can be overwhelmed. You know how it is. Even when you carefully plan your day, and get an early start, stuff comes up you didn't anticipate. You can't put it off. But you can't put off the stuff you planned to do either...and there are only 24 house in a day!
Anyway, if you have days like this, maybe you appreciate why I need God at work. He's my only source of encouragement, my only refuge. I don't always think of Him or turn to Him when the action gets hot and heavy and I'm in deep concentration pushing to meet a deadline. But I do try to start my morning off right with prayer and meditation. Maybe I'm able to get to Mass first thing. And maybe I even spend my first minutes thoughtfully praying my Morning Resolve before jumping into the fray.
Yes, prayer and the sacraments really do bring graces that "set me up" to dig in and work like a dog without panic or anxiety - no matter what comes up.
But it's always a lot better after I've been to Confession. That's the sacrament I used to kind of dread, but I'm learning not to dread it so much these days.
Regular Confession keeps me close to God. The operative word is "regular." Getting to Confession from time to time is better than nothing. But regular Confession - at least for me - is key. When I get to Confession at least once a month, it puts Confession at the center of my spiritual life, not just some thing I do from time to time. It keeps the idea that I need forgiveness front and center. And so I walk in God's sight more easily than I used to. (You know He sees everything, right?) Not that I never sin, you understand. But my going to Confession on a regular basis recognizes that yes, I do sin, but yes, I know that's not good, and yes, I want to square myself with God.
In the past, without this understanding, there would be times when I wasn't right with God and so felt apart from His Love - my own fault, of course. Being apart, I didn't feel free to turn to Him when I need help. And if a day overwhelmed me I was on my own. At least that's how I thought of it.
The thing is, if you know you're a sinner, and you just let it go at that, then how in heck are you going to naturally, easily, urgently turn to God when you need Him? Maybe you can do this, but I sure can't. I know He sees everything, so I know He knows that things aren't right between us. And if I'm not going to Confession regularly, what must I be thinking? Am I thinking that He should wait until I can spare a moment to get to the sacrament? Or worse, that it's just too embarrassing to confess this or that sin, so He'll just have to be patient and wait until I gin up the courage to just spit it all out to the priest in the confessional?
Anyway, now that I get to Confession regularly, and the sacrament is part of my life - at the very center of my spiritual life - I'm not afraid or reluctant to turn to God when I need His help (or any other time for that matter).
And in spite of the fact that there are definitely times when I'm embarrassed to step into that box and tell Him - through the priest - what I've done to offend Him, I'm starting to understand just why Our Lord gave us this sacrament, and just how perfectly beautiful the whole idea of regular Confession really is.
Besides, it really does help me at work. And boy, do I need His help!
Gents, it's Advent. If you aren't already getting to confession at least once a month, make this one of your Advent resolutions. And if you haven't been to confession for more than a month, go now. OK?
Divine Infant of Bethlehem, come and take birth in our hearts.
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