Abbey-Roads2

Guard against venial sin.

I realized the interior image I imagined of my soul this morning simply appeared to be like a pomegranate…it was a more palatable analogy.  Upon reflection, it was more like the wound pictured above, infested with maggots.  It becomes a metaphor for the soul who is not careful about venial sin.

When we become careless regarding venial sin, we become less fervent in our service of God.  It weakens the will, compromises our ability to resist evil, making us more tolerant of the evil that surrounds us, exposing us to the dangers of mortal sin.  “He who is faithful in insignificant things is faithful in important matters, likewise, he who is faithless in insignificant things, is also unfaithful in important matters.” - Luke: 16:10

Venial sins are of course forgiven with a sincere act of contrition, Holy Communion, or good works and penance.  Nevertheless, they are very good to examine and bring to the sacrament of penance, because they often are symptomatic of a deeper disorder, which predisposes us to sin.  It is referred to as a root sin.

Imperfections overlooked, along with venial sin disregarded, may cause a foul and festering wound in our souls.  (I don’t know if that is theologically correct, yet it seems so to me.)  Venial sin displeases God.  The effects of venial sin, even the sin itself, may seem to be insignificant.  Yet when the Divine Light illumines the soul, and they are contrasted with the ineffable purity of God, they appear to be foul, festering, maggot encrusted wounds upon the soul.  We may gain some understanding how God views the slightest of sins when we consider how God punished Moses for only a slight sin of thought.

This is what I meant in an earlier post today when I described my soul as a cesspool of vice.  For years I struggled with very grave sin, after the Lord freed me from these, I unconsciously, little by little, grew lax as regards venial sin and imperfections.  That was a big mistake.

“How good God is to Israel,

to those who are pure of heart.

Yet my feet came close to stumbling…

How useless to keep my heart pure…

Then I said: ‘If I should speak like that,

I should betray the race of your sons.’

I was stupid and did not understand,

no better than a beast in your sight.

Yet I was always in your presence…” - Psalm 72

It is praiseworthy to be careful of venial sin.

“Because you’re sweet and lovely girl I love you
Because you’re sweet and lovely girl it’s true”  - Beatles

Rhapsody moved to St. Blogs!  It is aptly named:

+bleu clair rhapsody et la symphonie de [relocated] crickets+

The Rhap-star is just moving in and I know Lee Anderson - who does such fantastic work for St. Blogs, is probably busy transferring her entire old blog to her new home.  St. Blogs is a very nice place to be!

“Because you’re sweet and lovely girl I love you
Because you’re sweet and lovely girl it’s true”

Carnival in Venice.

I love the idea of Venetian Carnival before Lent, going about the city in long cloaks and masks, permitting every sort of revelry, safeguarding the participant’s anonymity.  It seems to be something of a metaphor for contemporary life.  We all wear our masks, and some of us say, think, or do things we are not proud of in the disguise of some good.

Carnival often became a cesspool of vice, a term that occurred to me this morning as I prepared for confession before Mass.  It is such a grace to see my soul as a cesspool of vice, while being struck with contrition and obtaining the grace to confess, opening myself to the Divine Mercy.

Sometimes our sins are so cleverly hidden, disguised by habit, self-love, or a sort of unconscious rationalism, that we cannot see them.  We may see the symptomatic sins, while never finding the root sin, from whence these spring.  The psalmist tells us this when he prays,  “My sins so overcome me, that I cannot see.”  Crying out,  “From my hidden faults, acquit me O Lord.”

This morning it seemed to me my soul opened up to allow a penetrating insight, as it were, much like a pomegranate we pull apart, revealing its seeds - only this pomegranate was rotten, and the fruit was putrid and foul.  I began my confession, “My soul is a cesspool of vice…”

It was an astonishing revelation for me this morning…an experience of grace - sheer grace.  It has provided me my direction for Lent.

I received Communion this morning as viaticum…begging Our Lord to accompany me on the way of repentance.