Whitewashed Souls

You already know how it feels. You spend the day working. It could be in the garden or in the fields at work. You know how it feels to ‘get dirty’ after a long day’s work. You also know the feeling of the dirty washing off and stepping out of the shower, clean and ready for a new day.

There is a huge difference between being clean and appearing clean. One requires action. The other is just a show. What really matters is that we know the truth about how clean we really are. We know if we are putting on a show.

The Lord said to the Jews who had come to him, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of extortion and rapacity. You blind Pharisee! first cleanse the inside of the cup and of the plate, that the outside also may be clean. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”

Matthew 23.23-28

At some level we are all hypocrites. We are all sinners pretending to be faithful Christians. We all know that ‘one guy’ who just changes clothes without washing, and we’ve all done it before to save time. The problem is, we know the truth. We know are not clean on the inside.

Eventually people will notice the stench coming from our bodies. Eventually clean clothes no longer fool anyone. Eventually we must get serious and clean ourselves before going ‘back out there’ to show ourselves off. We call that Holy Confession.

Holy Confession is like that hot shower after a long day’s work. We enter the shower covered in filth and exit clean and ready for another day. One shower is not enough to last a lifetime. Another day’s work brings more dirt. Eventually we must learn to avoid filth to remain clean.

Obviously, we can’t avoid work if we want to live. If we do not work, we do not eat. But we can take steps to work ‘cleaner’ so the filth doesn’t stain our skin. We can learn to avoid filth by taking advantage of the proper tools at the workplace. We call that repentance.

Repentance is learning to avoid filthy sin in the first place. The tools of the Church help us keep working without getting filthy. Prayer, fasting, almsgiving and the sacraments are all tools that keep us clean and ready for another day. Without all of them, the filth builds up.

Don’t let the filth build up. Clean the inside “that the outside also may be clean.” That is the message of today’s Gospel. We can’t avoid the dirt of life. We can work to keep clean. Don’t give up!