Parsley recently taught me the power and need for confession.
Say what?
Let me explain.
I always end up with a clump of parsley in the vegetable bin of my fridge because it’s sold in clumps larger than I need. For years I would throw out the wilted parsley. One day, someone taught me to trim off the dead ends of its stalks and place the bunch in an inch or two of water on the counter. Within a few hours, the parsley that had drooped over the cup’s edge pitifully, with no sign of life apparent, stood straight and tall, green and perky.
A Spiritual Lesson
The grace of the sacrament of Reconciliation works with similar efficacy.
Parts of our life, parts of our heart hang limp. They’ve been given no water. It feels like a dessert.
To trim off what’s dead in us, what’s preventing us from receiving the water of life from God, we step into the life-giving sacrament of REconciliation. We tell the priest what we wish to trim away. We express our contrition for we don’t like: our droopy looks and actions; our dried-up heart.
We can’t seem to stand up on our own when our heart is burdened. The priest hears our confession, absolves us of our sins, and the grace of God floods over us. Our soul is immediately refreshed; our body responds happily with the removal of the weight of the sin(s) we’d been carrying. Our heads and hearts no longer droop.
Like water for limp parsley, confession can change what looks like a hopeless situation into one full of new life.
Never give up on limp parsley or hard-hearted souls.
When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” John 5:6