Part 1, Chapter 22
Recently, I had a rotten egg in my fridge. I couldn’t figure where the smell was coming from. I looked and looked but I couldn’t figure out where the smell was coming from. It smelled horrible. But being a guy, I looked for another solution to what was the real issue. I even put a bowl of vinegar in the refrigerator. It seemed to help. Still, I couldn’t get rid of the smell. Than one morning I am cracking eggs for breakfast, and this egg cracks normally and it comes out disgusting. The smell is one hundred times worse. I had to throw the egg out and take it to the trash. The house begun to smell better really fast and so did the fridge. Thankfully the smell and the egg went away.
Sometimes we try to mask the real issue. Sometimes we try to take the easy way. Getting rid of mortal sins is never enough. We have to get to the core of the issue. Yes, it smelled in the fridge, but I kept masking the smell with the vinegar. The core of the problem was that the egg was rotten and it was not going to improve until I got rid of it. The fridge is our hearts and the smell is the mortal sins, and the egg is our venial sins. See the heart of the matter is that venial sins, our inclination toward them and desire for them are like having a rotten egg at our core. They will keep leading us in a direction toward hurting God and not loving Him as we should. They will keep moving us toward mortal sins. “Just so, though venial sins may not lose the soul, they will spoil its devotion, and so burden its faculties with bad habits and evil inclinations” (Introduction to the Devout Life, 33-34). We have to throw out that part of our heart that is rotten and let the light of Christ shine in it. This is the only way that we are going to continue to grow in the Devout Life.
Throw out the spoiled eggs so that we can be devout!
