Away from the Light

He insisted that there was nothing wrong with his white shirt. That it was clean. In fact, he said out loud, "It is so clean, I can not see a single dirty spot nor any stain on it!"

He stood in front of everybody,smiling. Proud of his immaculately white shirt.

However, everybody was straining to see the shirt. Their eyes squinting. How could they see the shirt when it was dark?

"Will somebody turn on the light, please." Somebody at the back requested.

The lights were turned on. Enveloping with glaring light, illuminating all and everything in the room. Including, of course, the immaculately white shirt.

Which when seen against the light, the shirt was not after all clean and without stain. Against the light that illumined everything, the shirt was clearly seen as dirty and needed to be washed.

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The closer we are to the Light, the more we see how unclean we are. The closer we are to the Most Holy God, the more we realize how sinful we are.

The farther we are from the Light, the less we are able to see how unclean we are. The farther we are from God, the Most Holy One, the less we acknowledge our sinfulness.

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"Father, forgive me for I have sinned. It has been ten years since my last confession." The voice on the other side of the box murmured nervously. I said to myself: "This would be a long confession".

"I told lies. I disobeyed my parents. I spoke bad words. These are all, Father."

Ten years of being away from God. Ten years but no sin to confess.

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I wonder why when we veer away from the sacraments and away from God, suddenly we have "no sins" at all.
But people who have experienced the holiness of God see how unworthy they are in their sinfulness.