“Who can understand sins? From my secret ones cleanse me, O Lord” (Ps 19:13).
We are not always aware of all the faults we carry within us. Our self-knowledge does not reach the ultimate depths. Therefore, it is possible that there are contents in our unconscious that we will have to reject and bring before the Lord once we perceive them, so that He may purify us.
Even if these contents are not faults, as we have not given our deliberate consent to unconscious attitudes, they are still an obstacle to our Christian witness and can burden the people around us.
Let us consider the psalm verse an invitation from our Father to open our unconscious depths to Him and ask Him to free us from anything that might tarnish our Christian witness. Using our free will, we reject all evil within us. In other words, we tell our Father that we want nothing contrary to His love, no matter how hidden it may be.
In the Pentecost Sequence, we invoke the Holy Spirit, imploring Him: “Our inmost being fill.” We can apply this supplication concretely and ask the Holy Spirit to permeate us with His light.
It is an immeasurable gift of our Father’s love that He purifies our souls. He will accomplish this work if we entrust ourselves entirely to Him, and He will help us take all the necessary steps. He may simply free us from some things and make us aware of others so that we may persistently bring them to His Son on the cross.
It is a subtle process. The more we free ourselves from bad attitudes and inner blockages, the more receptive we will become to the presence of the Lord within us. This will benefit not only us, but also our neighbor.