As we near the end of the Lenten season and look back on our efforts to remove sin and sinful ways from our lives, I found these words from a 19th century Danish Bishop (Monrad) to be helpful to me. These words brought me face to face with my tendency to excuse my thoughts or behaviors under the guise of a greater good.
"It is very important that we are without pretense when we come before Christ's countenance. All adornment, all excuses, must be cast aside. We must not give ourselves out as anything other than we are. Wares often pass in trade under false names in order to win easier sale; but is is still more common that the human heart houses cravings to which it gives false names in order to justify love for them. Deceit is called cleverness; greed is called concern for spouse and children; hatred and anger are called zeal for truth and justice. No sinful desire is found in the human heart that does not sail under a false flag and steal a name that does not belong to it. It is a great step forward when we are able to give the right name to all that lives within us. It is one of the blessings of prayer that it calls upon us for serious self-examination and brings into souls, half unconscious, part truth, part falsehood. Everything that lives within us should be laid bare in prayer."
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