I got into my car this morning, which is a 1997 Orange (well, 5 shades of orange depending on which fender you are looking at) Chevy Geo with 140,000 miles, named “Betty,” and she had something to tell me this morning: the oil light came on. I looked up at the little sticker in the upper left hand corner of my windshield, and sure enough, I am about 2,000 miles passed my recommended oil change. So now I have to find some time to change my oil… hopefully by the time this column runs, or Betty and I are in trouble.That reminded me of a story with my brother Owen. (Sorry Owen, while I suspect you may not read this, so I am going to go forward with this. You can write about ME in your column if you want.) (He doesn’t have a column, folks) Owen is a few years older than me, and when I was very young, he had a very nice Audi that he drove around. It was a cool car to drive around in, and I don’t remember much about it except that it was tan, and this story that follows.Owen is a great guy, but in his youth, he wasn’t always good to the cars he owned. This Audi, in particular, was no different. It turns out that in his younger days, Owen didn’t have time to change the oil in his car with the frequency that he wanted. I was with him one day when driving, smoke started billowing out of the car which we pulled over, and got out of, and watched it sort of smolder there. It turns out that it had been months (more than a year?) and thousands on top of thousands of miles since he had changed the oil in his car. The results were that Owen had to find a new car all of a sudden. They had those 15 minute oil places back then- 40 bucks and 20 minutes of his time would have saved the tan Audi, but instead, it went to the great junkyard in the sky. Actually, I think it went to the junk yard on the west side of Lima, Ohio.
You know, you have to change the oil in your car. It takes a few minutes, and costs about the same as a tank of gas does these days. If we change the oil in our car, we can be assured that things will run smoothly, and is a simple way to preserve your car for many thousands of extra miles. I am usually fairly studious about changing the oil, which is why I am shocked that I missed it this time.
What happens to the oil is that as it goes through the engine, it gets dirty. Even though there is an oil filter which cleans things, you eventually get more dirt than the filter can filter, and if you don’t change the oil, you end up grinding gears, and smoking on the side of the road.
We are pretty much the same way. There are natural filters in our life, like reception of communion and prayer, or holy water, which gets a lot of the small “dirt” in our lives, but sometimes it builds up over time- the little stuff- and we get a little “dirt” in our oil. It gums up our “spiritual engine,” and we might not be as charitable as we would like, or be able to pray as well as we should because our “gears are grinding.”
That is why we have the sacrament of Reconciliation, also known as confession. With just a few minutes of your time, you can get a spiritual oil change!! Clean out all the gunk and junk that is clouding your journey. The last thing you want is to end up stranded on the side of the road smoking, completely stuck in your spiritual life. Confession helps you to get a nice infusion of grace for the journey of life! I know my car always sounds better after an oil change, and I always work better after a good confession.
Lent is a time in which a lot of Catholics go to confession. Then they don’t go again until Advent. That always seems funny to me…. we are kind of like cars- we need confession every few months, or after every few thousand miles if we want to keep our souls in tip top shape. So go to confession this Lent, certainly, but make sure you go sometime in the 9 months between Lent and Advent too!
Here is an easy way to remember- you know that little sticker on your windshield that tells you when to change oil at the Jiffy Change? Well, now that is your reminder to go to confession. Every time you see that little sticker, reminding you of the mileage of your car’s next oil change, it now reminds you of when to go to confession. So basically, any time you change the oil in your car, it is time to go to confession. Some of you need to take better care of both your car AND your soul! (People always tell me they don’t change the oil in their car when they should) You will be out in a “jiffy,” and your spiritual life will keep you on the road running nice and smooth!
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