Piling Manure

A lot of cattle are heading out of the corral and into the summer pasture.  Fences are being fixed, stretched, and clipped up to keep all critters contained.  But there is a mess left behind, literally.  It is usually a time ranchers clean up those corrals that fed calves all winter or calved heifers all spring.  Piling manure and hauling it out  is a routine thing and it would make the next season harder if the corral wasn't cleaned out.  Imagine if the corral wasn't cleaned year to year, it would pile up and become almost too deep and soft for the cattle to travel within it.  Then when a rancher finally got around to let's say once every ten years, it'd be a massive undertaking.  

The same goes with our souls and the manure from sin dirtying it up.  Venial sin is like cattle after cattle and year after year of feces piling up.  At the time it doesn't seem so bad, but the more you do it and the more you neglect it the more it becomes a problem.  It could be the vice of swearing or talking bad about your neighbor.  Everybody has those neighbors or family members that rub you the wrong way.  So how do we clean our souls?  As Catholic's we have the opportunity to be freed from venial sin, every time we go to Mass, the confiteor that we pray before the Liturgy of the Word prepares our souls to be completely receptive to God's Word and ultimately the Word made Flesh in the Holy Eucharist.  The thing is, I've sat in a new skid loader or tractor and had no idea how to get it started or even operate it, so if we don't know how to use these tools given to us by Holy Mother Church how are we going to be able to enjoy the convenience of them?

Next time you go to Mass, go a little early and pray that the Holy Spirit can show you what kind of manure is inhabiting your soul, it's the waste you need to hand over to Jesus at this part of the Mass and sincerely ask for Mercy in the Kyrie.  The Mass isn't a bunch routine things we just do because we're Catholics, each part is special and we just have to use them to get into it.  You wouldn't neglect your corrals this bad, so don't neglect your soul it's going to live forever.