Simplify Your Life- Clean Up Your Past

One reason our lives are so complicated is because we haven’t truly dealt with our past, and because of that, most of us are burdened by shame, regret, and unforgiveness. To help us identify those burdens and surrender them to the Lord, Jeff gives us a helpful exercise wherein we examine the “5 rooms of our heart.” Jeff then shares tips for making a good confession and cleaning up your past, once and for all.


 

Shownotes
Feedback from other episodes 
  • A listener introduces Jeff to a saint in his “spiritual posse”—St. René Goupil
Intro to this episode’s topic—cleaning up your past and offering it to the Lord (6:00)
  • We are created in the image and likeness of God
    • We have will, intellect, capacity to love
    • God is omniscient and omnipresent. He is yesterday, today, and tomorrow
    • We, on the other hand, are limited by the constraint of being in one place at one time
    • Often we dwell in our past, and focus on our past failures, regrets, and missed opportunities
    • We can learn from yesterday and be encouraged by what has happened yesterday, but Satan is always looking to use yesterday as a mallet to beat us down—our shame, regrets, memories of sin
What Sins in Our Past Do We Need to Clean Out? (12:00)
  • Pope Pius XII “The Sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin.”
    • We need to determine what is and isn’t sin in our past
  • What things in our past keep us in shackles?
    • (14:25) Shame?
      • When something that was meant to be kept private was made public
      • Maybe it’s something we did; maybe it was something others did to us
    • (16:25) Regret keeps you in a loser’s mode
    • (18:20) Unforgiveness
Scriptures to help us move away from the past and look towards the future with hope (21:20)
    • Philippians 3:13-14
    • Jeremiah 29:11
Clean Out These 5 Rooms of Your Heart (23:30):
  • Living room—Examine your relationships and your speech.
  • Family room—Look at your entertainment and media consumption. What do you do for entertainment? Am I being healthy?
  • Bedroom—Are you living chastely, whether single or married? If married, do you need to forgive something that’s happened in the past between you and your spouse?
  • Kitchen—What do you eat and drink? Are you being temperate? Are you experiencing gluttony? Are you being moderate with your alcohol consumption?
  • Hall Closet—The sins you’ve hidden away in the dark. No one else knows, and you’ve never dealt with it.
Basic Elements of a Good Confession
  • Don’t be afraid of going to confession—sometimes it helps to go behind the screen
  • The priest cannot talk about anything you confess. It’s completely private
  • CCC 1431—Repentance….
  • Exodus 20
  • Reflect on basic Christian virtues
  • Place yourself in front of the Holy Spirit
Mechanics of Confession (33:10)
  • “Bless me father…”
  • Confess any mortal sins and number of times. Then confess any venial sins.
  • Make an act of contrition- “O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because of thy just punishment, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all good and deserving of all my love.”
  • The priest will give you absolution and a penance to help you heal.
We’d Love to Hear from You

Do you have comments or questions for Jeff? Use the comment box below, or email Jeff at thejeffcavinsshow@ascensionpress.com. You may hear your question or comment in an upcoming podcast episode!

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