One of my summer jobs as a kid was working for a retired farmer. My parents knew this would be a good character-building opportunity and drove me out to his farm most every week in the summer. I mowed the huge yard and did many other odd jobs. One job that I hated the most was digging up the thistles in the pasture. I was given a spade and told to go “dig them up by the roots”. When the prickly thistles have grown up taller than you, they can be nasty. It’s tempting to cut them off at the ground and walk away…but unless you dig up the whole root, you know they will grow back. Looking back on it now, weed killer would have been very helpful.
 
As it turns out, our readings for today reminded me of digging up thistles in the pasture all those years ago. Our 1^st reading from the prophet Jeremiah and Psalm 51 both speak to us about sin and the importance of repentance. Psalm 51 was written by King David after he had seduced Bathsheba and had her husband killed. After a severe rebuke by the prophet Nathan, David understood the severity of his sins and asked God for mercy and compassion. He asked God to create for him a “clean heart” and to renew a “steadfast spirit” within him. He begs God: “Cast me not out from your presence, and your Holy Spirit take not from me.”
 
Understanding our relationship with sin is especially important during Lent but needs to a be priority every day of our lives. Father John Burns is a priest from Milwaukee who recently gave a talk for our men’s group. He told us about a mentor he had from seminary who summed it up well. He said that, “Sin makes us unhappy” (2x). That may seem like an oversimplification of such a serious topic but it’s true on many levels. Sin can destroy the loving relationship that God wants to have with us. Sin will certainly make us unhappy and if we don’t do anything about it…if we remain in that state of sin too long…that temporary unhappiness will become a permanent and eternal damnation in hell.
 
The Good News is that Christ’s life, death and Resurrection allows us to rise above the darkness and unhappiness of sin. We know we are made in the image and likeness of God. We know that God is love and He is incapable of sin. When our image and likeness of God is sinful and unloving, we are, by our very nature, unhappy. By avoiding sin and living a sacramental life, we can better receive God’s graces and enjoy the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience and self-control.
 
If we find ourselves restless and longing for more love, more joy, more peace, more patience or more self-control in our lives, God may be trying to tell us something. That longing and desire to grow closer to him is a gift from God. St. Augustine understood this well when he said: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”
 
If we want OUR hearts to rest in the peace of Christ, we need to tackle the unhappiness of sin head on. We need to dig the thistles up by the roots, so they don’t grow back into our lives. Digging up thistles is a nice metaphor but how does this really look in our day to day lives?
 
St. Frances de Sales was a bishop from France who lived in the 1600’s. Although he was declared a Doctor of the Church for his great intellect, he spoke with simplicity and wisdom. One of his many written works was published as a book called: “Introduction to the Devout Life”. It instructs us in our approach to God in prayer and the Sacraments and provides some great insights on rooting out sin in our lives.
He said that people sometimes turn away from a sinful habit but remain attached to it in their hearts. They reluctantly determine to sin no more but long for the pleasures they left behind. St. Francis tells us that we “must not only abandon the sin, but also prune from (our) heart all the affections that cling to it. These “affections continually sap (our) spirit and weigh it down.” He said that if we do not address these deep-rooted attachments to sin, we are like “a woman who detests her sinful love affair but still likes to be courted and pursued.” We can’t have it both ways.
 
This may seem overwhelming, but God wants to help us…and the Saints in heaven are cheering us on. They overcame the attachment to sin in their own lives so let’s ask for their help. If we feel like we are confessing the same sins every time…try something different. Ask the Holy Spirit to help us make a good confession and ask our favorite Saint for their intercession. Instead of cutting the same old thistles off at ground level, ask the priest to help us dig deeper. They can help us find the roots of our sin and any remaining attachments we have to them.
 
During a talk about Reconciliation, St. John Paul described the need for a “purpose of amendment”. When confessing our sins, we should desire to amend our lives and avoid the temptations that lead us back into sin. We can get to the roots of our sin if we are honest about the actions that lead us into temptation and avoid those triggers. If our cell phone or computer lead us into sin, make that behavior more difficult. Consider limiting their use or sharing your browser history with a partner that can hold us accountable. If a place, activity or group of people lead us into sin, try making a clean break. Addictive behaviors are often triggered by locations or situations. If we commit to a daily plan of action that leads us away from temptation, the thistles we dug up by the roots will dry up and blow away.
 
As we look ahead to the next 2 weeks, let us pray that the remaining days of Lent will prepare us for a blessed Easter.