Spiritual Housecleaning

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ThornGenX

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I really need to start cleaning my house physically since it’s beyond dirty and way overdue. While getting rid of physical dirt and clutter, it would be a good time to do “spiritual housecleaning” as well. By that I mean getting rid of anything like pictures, books, magazines, cd’s (or any form of media on or offline) that is morally offensive, sinful or a near occasion of sin. In other words, get rid of anything that could lead me away from God.

To anyone who has done anything similar, I would love to see your stories and/or tips/hints on having a spiritually cleaner home. I actually did a partial spiritual cleanup a few years ago (ok, over a decade ago, but it feels like a few years ago) with my music collection. My uncle all but scolded me for tearing apart and throwing away music with offensive and sometimes outright satanic lyrics saying I should have sold them instead!
 
House cleaning can happen quickly or slowly. It has been a slow process for me. Don’t worry about selling the ‘junk’ for money. Just dump it in the garbage. Look at it as poison…that it is.
I rarely watch television anymore.
My CD & DVD player only play religious…but mostly they are silent. So is my radio. My car radio is silent too.

Decorate your dwelling with simplicity and humility.

The more prayful you are the easier the change will be.
 
You might also want to say the Leo XIII prayer and sprinkle some holy water 😃
 
Hello Thorn!

😃 Let me first congratulate you on this clean up you are making!!

I did this same thing about three months ago and I can’t begin to discribe the difference it has had on my life. As to any hints or advice you may want, I’d say that expect it to be difficult. If you are like me, I find it hard to justify letting go of things that are in perfect running order. I gave most of my stuff to charities or libraries.

Also, there may be times ( at least there was for me) when you go through periods of missing the things you have ‘cleaned’ from your home. the solution? try prayer. I have found that very helpful.

These ‘missing things’ I talk about may sound odd to you, but it really is a kind of radical lifestyle change and it’s a challenge to live a more spiritually healthy lifestyle in today’s world, and as such, it will take some getting used to. But persevere! The fullness of your ‘new lifestyle’ will be astounding!

GodSpeed!

Jade.
 
In the first few years of our marriage, we ran across a large trash bag full of letters from my old girlfriends.

I knew it was down there because I remembered moving it from my apartment to the house we bought the same day we got married. I never actually disposed of them, as I probably should have.

Well, my wife really let me have it. She poured the bag out onto the kitchen table and went through them, stopping to read a few, while I had to sit there. She actually kept a few photos that were in there. There were some good photos of me and my friends in college included in the letters.

It was embarrassing at first, and I said that as far as I am concerned she can just trash all of these herself. Well, she did but she kept going through. Then she’d ask me questions. Funny thing though, she did all this in such a non-judgmental way that I began to feel closer to her. The letters have been gone for over 15 years and I never missed them a bit! Glad they are gone, they really just fed my pride by being there.

Alan
 
Thanks everyone for your encouragement, advice and stories. I have started with my CD collection by trashing my Marilyn Manson and Type O Negative CDs. After reading the posts about all the recent media blasphemies and anti-Catholic material, I could no longer justify having material like the above in my home.

It may be contributing in part to my recent struggles spritually and outright backsliding. As the saying goes, better to the safe than sorry. In the case of Type O Negative, one of their songs literally chants “**** you God” and another song centers on selling one’s soul.
 
while I have many talents housekeeping is not one of them, but my attitude toward it has changed since I became a Benedictine Oblate. one cornerstone of Benedictine spirituality is hospitality, and keeping the house clean, organized and always ready to welcome guests is part of that. the holy rule talks about proper care of kitchen utensils and other household necessities, which because they are used for hospitality - for the comfort of the residents as well as guests - are analogous to the vessels of the altar, since in welcoming others we welcome Christ himself.
 
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ThornGenX:
Thanks everyone for your encouragement, advice and stories. I have started with my CD collection by trashing my Marilyn Manson and Type O Negative CDs. After reading the posts about all the recent media blasphemies and anti-Catholic material, I could no longer justify having material like the above in my home.

It may be contributing in part to my recent struggles spritually and outright backsliding. As the saying goes, better to the safe than sorry. In the case of Type O Negative, one of their songs literally chants “**** you God” and another song centers on selling one’s soul.
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Hey, I am with you on the trashing the music, but I still kept some for nostalgic reasons I suppose.
I think Pantera was the hardest one to get rid of…
For some reason I ended up keeping all my Sepultura and Megadeth CD’s.
I even tried listening to Christian heavy metal for a while (Living Sacrafice, and As I Lay Dying) but it just doesn’t work anymore.
My problem is that I can’t seem to stop listening to good guitar music, and I found that I absolutely love Joe Satriani now because he has no lyrics on 95% of his songs and man can he play!!!
BTW, I didn’t sell my CD’s, I TRASHED them…my friend told me it would be better because if they are evil, then they will do no one any good and there is no reason to make $ off of something like that.
 
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Primitive:
Hey, I am with you on the trashing the music, but I still kept some for nostalgic reasons I suppose.
I think Pantera was the hardest one to get rid of…
For some reason I ended up keeping all my Sepultura and Megadeth CD’s.
I even tried listening to Christian heavy metal for a while (Living Sacrafice, and As I Lay Dying) but it just doesn’t work anymore.
My problem is that I can’t seem to stop listening to good guitar music, and I found that I absolutely love Joe Satriani now because he has no lyrics on 95% of his songs and man can he play!!!
BTW, I didn’t sell my CD’s, I TRASHED them…my friend told me it would be better because if they are evil, then they will do no one any good and there is no reason to make $ off of something like that.
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I can relate because I have not rid myself of all my bad CDs or even songs downloaded from the internet yet. The two artists works I did get rid I considered among the very worst with no redeeming value at all. There remain more to toss due to reasons of morality. Others I may let go of using anti-clutter rules (putting a sticker on the cd or tape and peeling it off when I listen to that cd or tape, if the sticker remains after a certain amount of time then I give it away (if it’s morally sound, but just not being used).

I forget the amount of time, but maybe 6 months or a year.
 
I think this becomes sort of a never ending battle, but the amount of stuff one dumps gets less and less as time goes on. Maybe a picture or letter (as Alan said) or music might cause one to dwell on less chaste relationships one has had. I think we all know deep inside us if something we are hanging onto is “an attachment to sin”, and the rest should be textbook simple, right? 🙂

It’s funny. I went to confession this evening for this very thing. It’d only been about 3 months, but I just felt like I needed to do some of that spiritual housecleaning because of some stuff that has been bothering me lately. Like I told Fr. Sean, I just don’t want that stuff in my life and I often ask Our Lord to make me more like Him in every way. (I have a long way to go. :o )

In the end, I think that is what regular confession is really all about. Taking a good long look at one’s soul and then disposing of those things that we know are less than pleasing to Our Lord.

I like to know that I’m really starting over well and truly cleaned up and so I intentionally go after a plenary indulgence and will complete it at Mass tomorrow. I don’t know about other folks, but I know myself well enough to know that I want every grace I can get because it takes it all for me to be my best…and that’s just exactly what I want.

I guess it’s like a “Spring examination of conscience” or something… 😃
Pax vobiscum,
 
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