Cleaning out your "Junk Drawer"

Most of us have that one drawer in the house that is the junk drawer. That particular drawer that you put all of those things that you cannot seem to find a place for and we can never seem to find what we really need in it. That short piece of rope that you may need some time, the remote from that VCR that you haven’t used in ten years, the collection of paint can openers, miscellaneous batteries for something you may need again later, that charging cable from the phone you had 12 years ago, and the many other items that you may or may not use in the next few decades. It is the drawer that you do not ever want to clean and organize because you know what will happen, you will pull the items out of the drawer and then all of the stuff will just end up back in the drawer.

Have you ever thought the same thing about confession? The sacrament of Confession forces us to do something that we may not want to do, and that is to open up that drawer full of junk and empty it. To take the time and go through all of the junk we do not need and get rid of all of it, but then the trick is to not try and fill it up with junk again, but fill it with stuff that will be useful and beneficial to us. Sins that we do in our lives are the things that we know we should not hold onto, but we do anyway. We keep collecting them until the drawer is just too full or we start putting them in other places and either we become hoarders of sin, or finally go through it and get rid of the stuff we don’t need.

Sometimes I hear people say that they do not want to go to Confession because, like the emptying and refilling of the junk drawer, they will end up doing the same sins again and again. Even if that is the case, we still need to do it. I know in my own case, I tend to do the same sins, even after I go to celebrate the Sacrament. We get into the habit, even if we walk out of the confessional with the intention to not do it again, it can be challenging. One of my professors reminded us that it is better to do the same sins (unless they are very serious) than to go through the Commandments and decide which ones we are going to do this time. I also know that it can be difficult to go to Confession because it forces us to look at the things that we have done wrong, but in the end, it is a wonderful way to unburden ourselves with the junk that we have been collecting over the many days, weeks, or years. Take that time and dump the junk into the accepting arms of God.

God bless,
Fr. Ken