When was the last time you washed your hands? When did you last take a shower or a bath? Do you shampoo your hair? Do you have a dishwasher? Do you wash your clothes? Do you vacuum the rug, wash the windows, clean the table, or take out the garbage? Most of us even clean our fingernails, toenails, and teeth. Some people have full-time jobs doing cleaning or making machines that clean. Almost all of us spend significant time and money in personal and household cleanliness. If cleanliness were next to godliness, most Americans would be very godly.
Jesus wants us to be physically clean, but a higher priority should be our spiritual, interior cleanliness. Jesus said: "You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but within you are filled with rapaciousness and evil. Fools! Did not He Who made the outside make the inside too?" (Lk 11:39-40) Going to Confession should be a higher priority than taking a bath, washing our clothes, or taking out the garbage.
The prayer of our hearts should be: "A clean heart create for me, O God" (Ps 51:12). "Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me" (Ps 51:4), "Cleanse me of sin with hyssop, that I may be purified; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow" (Ps 51:9).
| PRAYER: | Jesus, by Your blood, cleanse my conscience from dead works (Heb 9:14). |
| PROMISE: | "Christ freed us. So stand firm, and do not take on yourselves the yoke of slavery a second time!" –Gal 5:1 |
| PRAISE: | Pope St. Callistus cleansed the "cup" of his life by giving up his life for Christ in martyrdom. |
Reprinted with permission from Presentation Ministries, a lay association of the Catholic Church that focuses on evangelization and discipleship through Bible teaching, daily Mass, the charisms of the Holy Spirit, and Small Christian Community. Their ministries include:
· One Bread, One Body
· Daily Bread Radio Program
· Annual Bible Institute
· Discipleship Retreats
· Guadalupe Bible College