Parsley recently taught me the power and need for confession.
I always end up with a clump of parsley in my vegetable bin of my fridge because it’s sold in clumps larger than I need. For years I would throw out old wilted parsley. One day, someone taught me to trim off the dead ends of its stalks and place the bunch in an inch or two of water on the counter. Within a few hours, the parsley that had drooped over the cup’s edge pitifully, with no sign of life apparent, stood straight and tall, green and perky.
The grace of the sacrament of Reconciliation works with similar efficacy. To trim off what’s dead in us, what’s preventing us from receiving the water of life from God, we step into the life-giving sacrament. We tell the priest what we wish to trim away. We express our contrition for we don't like our droopy looks and actions. We can't seem to stand up on our own. He absolves us and the grace of God floods us. Our soul is immediately refreshed; our body responds happily with the removal of the weight of the sin(s) we’d been carrying. Our heads and hearts no longer droop.
