St John Cassius teaches us something taught to him by a monk named Isaac today in A Year with the Church Fathers. He says that our souls are light, like feathers, until sin weighs them down. When our souls are sin free, they will lift up to the heavens on the slightest breath. But when weighed down with the wetness and filth of sin, they drop to the ground and stay there.
Even though it's a metaphor, it's a very apt and powerful one, isn't it? How many times have we slogged our way through a dreary day, simply because we're focused on something bad. We allow the "cares of this world" to drag the feather of our soul down into the mud. The anger and resentment that we won't let go of clouds our vision and keeps us from seeing the beauty of the sunset or enjoy the refreshment of a splash of cold water.
The great thing about it, though, is that when your feather gets wet and dirty... you can clean it. Confessing those sins that weigh us down washes our feathers clean and allows them to soar to the heights of love and contemplation once more.
God, thanks for making our souls so light. Please help us keep them clean.
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