We ask you, urgently: don’t scroll past this
Dear readers, Catholic Online was de-platformed by Shopify for our pro-life beliefs. They shut down our Catholic Online, Catholic Online School, Prayer Candles, and Catholic Online Learning Resources—essential faith tools serving over 1.4 million students and millions of families worldwide. Our founders, now in their 70's, just gave their entire life savings to protect this mission. But fewer than 2% of readers donate. If everyone gave just $5, the cost of a coffee, we could rebuild stronger and keep Catholic education free for all. Stand with us in faith. Thank you.Help Now >
As We Move Toward the End of Lent: Still Time to Clean House and Make Room for God
Cleaning out garages is a metaphor for so much more. Cleaning out the house within is an even greater challenge. However, failure to do so carries with it much more of a consequence. After all, the Christian vocation is always a call to make room for God.The call to develop a life of prayer and dialogue with God in a communion of love is forever challenging. It requires our continual response to His continual invitations. It also entails \"cleaning out the garage\" at times, cleaning out the place within, where God wants to come and dwell. He deserves the best of quarters, emptied of anything that will compete with His residency.
Highlights
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
4/3/2017 (7 years ago)
Published in Lent / Easter
Keywords: Lent, cleaning house, penance, confession, penance, penitence,
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) - "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him." (Jesus, St. John, Chapter 14)
"God built heaven and earth to be the dwelling place of the human race. But He also built the human body and soul to make them his own abode, so that He might dwell therein and rest there as in a well kept house." (Pseudo Macarius. 4th Century)
"The Spirit is the place of the saints and the saint is the place of the Spirit" (Basil of Caesaria)
Finally, we are having some beautiful Spring days. This weekend, I will clean my garage. As has been the case for many, many years and in many homes, I have put the task off for far too long.
Sound familiar?
I procrastinate both because it is an unpleasant experience and, in my case, because it involves sorting through boxes of materials, some of which contain disappointing and painful experiences out of my past. I would rather not revisit them. However, with the continued "encouragement" (I am being diplomatic) of my dear wife, I will finally undertake the task.
It will be, as it always is, cathartic. There is much that is "new" beginning in our life together. I know that unless I clear out what we have accumulated from the past, and make room, there will also be no place to hold what is needed for the next chapter.
Cleaning out garages is a metaphor for so much more. Cleaning out the house within is an even greater challenge. However, failure to do so carries with it much more of a consequence. After all, the Christian vocation is always a call to make room for God.
We were created, and re-created in Christ, to become a dwelling place for God. We therefore need to make room for Him, to clear out the clutter which arises over the years and has the tendency to distract us from what really matters.
We have so many helps, such as the examination of conscience and the gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, to assist us in the task. All of the resources of the Church are there to help us to fulfill our Baptismal vocation to live in God, for God and, with God. To live in the heart of the Church for the sake of the world.
The call to develop a life of prayer and dialogue with God in a communion of love is forever challenging. It requires our continual response to His continual invitations. It also entails "cleaning out the garage" at times, cleaning out the place within, where God wants to come and dwell. He deserves the best of quarters, emptied of anything that will compete with His residency.
Jesus told us that we are to be the "salt of the earth" (Mt. 5:13). He warned that salt can lose its savor. When it does, it no longer seasons or preserves. Our capacity to love God, and in Him, to love those around us, expands as we empty ourselves of the unnecessary "stuff" that we accumulate in this pilgrimage of life.
This is part of the reason why confession and authentic repentance are so important if we hope to progress in an interior life and cultivate a vibrant relationship with the God who comes to dwell within.
Lethargy of soul or "luke-warmness" in the spiritual life, in the words of one of my favorite priest writers, Father Fernandez, "gives up at the slightest difficulty" and "makes mountains out of molehills". "Love for God, on the other hand" the good priest writes "makes a molehill out of the mountain."
When we clean out the house within, we make more room for the presence of God. He comes and lives within, transforming us by His Spirit and expanding our capacity to love. Let us make room for God.
---
'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'
Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online
Join the Movement
When you sign up below, you don't just join an email list - you're joining an entire movement for Free world class Catholic education.
-
Mysteries of the Rosary
-
St. Faustina Kowalska
-
Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary
-
Saint of the Day for Wednesday, Oct 4th, 2023
-
Popular Saints
-
St. Francis of Assisi
-
Bible
-
Female / Women Saints
-
7 Morning Prayers you need to get your day started with God
-
Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Daily Catholic
- Daily Readings for Thursday, December 05, 2024
- St. Sabas: Saint of the Day for Thursday, December 05, 2024
- Infant Jesus of Prague Novena Prayer: Prayer of the Day for Thursday, December 05, 2024
- Daily Readings for Wednesday, December 04, 2024
- St. John of Damascus: Saint of the Day for Wednesday, December 04, 2024
- Thanks for Family and Friends: Prayer of the Day for Wednesday, December 04, 2024
Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, © Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited.
Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.