Spring Cleaning for Our Hearts

Just like in Spring we clean our homes, Lent is a time for “spring cleaning” for our hearts. It’s an opportunity to take stock of where we have stopped loving God and others. Sin stains our hearts, weighs down our spirit and soul, leaving us no longer free to love ourselves or others in a balanced, ordered way. It skews our thinking and understanding, making life and relationships messy and painful. We know when we’ve done wrong and have stopped loving yet Jesus in Luke 15 tells us that we can always return to our Heavenly Father for reconciliation and a new start. God offers us boundless and loving hospitality.

Repentence After a Scandalous Affair

After having a scandalous affair with Bethsheba, King David had a moment of truth: he recognized his sin and turned towards God. In Psalm 51, David realizes how his own sin damaged relationships including with God who gifted him every privilege and power he enjoyed. Before God, David admits his wrongdoing, pleading for God’s mercy to begin again starting from within: «A clean heart create for me, O God.». Moreover, David reveals two important points: when we’re honest about our sins before God, He welcomes us back with arms open. What God asks of us when we sin: to turn to Him, recognizing what we’ve done wrong and offering Him a remorseful heart willing to change. King David’s words of repentance ring true then as they do today. Lent bears the best fruit for our lives when we can be honest before God about the cleaning our hearts need.

Reconciliation: A Sacrament of Healing

When we turn to God, recognizing our sin, He draws near in kindness and truth, bringing forgiveness and freedom. He offers us a doorway to healing through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

What parts of your hearts have stopped loving? Would you be willing to present them to God and let him make in you a clean heart?