Sins Are Like Mushrooms

 

Mushrooms, Fungi — And Our Sins

By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio - articles - email ) | May 28, 2024, edited for length

    My wife and I have been battling mushrooms amid the lush grass in one section of our front yard. A few normally pop up here and there, but this Spring there have been hordes of them, especially after significant rain, for they love moisture.    And according to knowledgeable authorities, there isn’t a great deal you can do about this, as the cure makes things worse for the lawn.

    The mushrooms, you see, are a symptom of fungi growing in crisscrossing mats under the soil, feeding on, “fallen leaves, twigs, old grass clippings, animal waste, buried wood, old stumps, and dead or dying tree roots.” And, lo and behold, we removed a large tree from that section of the yard 3 years ago.

    All of which leads me to contemplate a spiritual problem!

Faulty regimen

    My wife and I browse over the lawn’s surface in the mornings, pulling up the new mushrooms that spring up overnight. We hope to pluck them up before they drop their spores, but it turns out that this is not a long-term solution.

    And this is where we find an analogy to the spiritual life - particularly in the effort to conquer HABITUAL SINS.

    Yes, I said the word, "sins." Don't be scared - keep reading.

    Like with the mushrooms, it is good for us and for others, to yank out our sins as soon as they appear.
    But that treats the symptom, without changing the the sub-layer of temptation and hidden weaknesses which underlie the visible sins.
    Because, in the spiritual life, we must dig down and change the soil of our souls. We have to strictly control the “sin nutrients” we allow there.
    In fact, we must actively substitute grace for temptation, and good habits for bad.

    If we don't do this, the very BEST we can expect is to just nip at our sins after they become visible.

    This is why our spiritual life cannot fall into the see-saw of "sinning and seeing our sins," then running for forgiveness through the sacrament of Penance.
    Yes, the sacrament gives grace — it increases the life of Christ in us.
    But if we willingly sin, planning to confess and beg forgiveness after, then we commit TWO sins:

1. The sin itself

2. The abuse of the sacrament known as Presumption.

    So, we just keep falling into the same sins again and again - and adding a new one each time!

    Now, Our Lord could just remove all temptation and make us His little robots. But, He gives us a will of our own, and He expects us to overcome temptation by the merit of effort.
In this way we develop spiritually, and earn His grace. 
    So its on us to remove the conditions that give rise to temptation, and strengthen our resistance to it through the disciplines of prayer and sacrifice. 
    In other words, we must work at changing the interior soil of our soul, where our sinful inclinations grow and thrive.
    This means we must do our part to engage in prayers and sacrifices which test our love, prayers and sacrifices through which we both ask God’s help and deliberately fight against our selfish inclinations. 

    So, regardless of what modern, "feel-good" preachers tell you, He's a God of Justice and it 'aint a free ride.

Imagination

    Persistence in this is a quick and beneficial way of changing our mental habits—or really, the interior habits of our very souls. In this way we gradually weaken the grip of temptation. Essentially, our goal is to develop and strengthen good interior habits. 
    Over time, this continued good will and development diminishes the hold temptation has over us.

    But just as with controlling mushrooms, it takes constant work beneath the surface to change our spiritual condition.
We must strive for two things:

1. Make it ever more difficult for evil to grow

2. Make it ever more effortless to embrace the presence of God. 

    You might call this “custody of the imagination”. 

    But for some sins, this must also involve what is called “custody of the eyes”. This is especially so for lust and cupidity. These two, in particular, demand the habit of deliberately refusing to feed these sins, to purposefully block them at the door to our souls. Because once they are in, they grow and create havoc. 

    For example, when a scantily clad girl passes by, the spiritually conscious man averts his eyes as soon as he becomes aware. He makes himself look elsewhere, without giving offense. The same applies to women, too; this isn't just a "man thing."
    And while we like to say, "there is no harm in looking," there actually IS great harm in it, if we do nothing to stop ourselves. This also applies to the material we read, the pictures we view, and so on.
    Likewise, the same method applies to those tempted by gambling, or fancy cars, or expensive cruises, and so on. That is, one must stop visiting gambling sites, or viewing advertisements for cars or cruises. And it applies to many other forms of temptation.
    Basically, this is altering the soil that we constantly shovel into our souls.

    Custody of the tongue is another way to improve our, "interior soil," so that it grows virtue, rather than encouraging vice to take root.
    Can you imagine anything crude, wicked, or lascivious, false or unkind, passing between the lips of Christ or Mary, or even your favorite saint (at least, once they became saints)?
Of course not.
    So don't try to kid yourself (as so many do today) that how you speak has no effect on how you live, or the state of your soul. Instead, keep watch over your speech to keep watch over your soul.

It’s a start

    And, don't think you have to do this flying solo. Taking charge of your soul's condition means asking for help - the help of Jesus Christ.
    So ASK FOR IT! Allow Him the chance to help!
    This is where the prayer element comes into play. 

    Keep foremost in your mind that you live in Christ, and Christ lives in you. I frequently quote St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians, where he says:

    “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  
I do not nullify the grace of God” 

(Gal. 2:20-21). 

    You might now be thinking,... "Yeah, well, easy for you to say; that's harder to do than you know."
    This is because the pull of sin is strong in us by nature, and the sinful world encourages us to take the easy way out. So we may struggle - step by painful step - to welcome Christ into our souls. 
    That's okay...you are forgiven for being human. But the endgame is to sincerely claim, OUT LOUD... "I live for Christ, and Christ lives in me." 
    That is the most important object in life, so start by doing just that - say it OUT LOUD. 

    Of course, some will argue that mushrooms are "natural," or useful, even delightful, once you learn which are poisonous. But they serve here as a spiritual analogy, and not as literal devices. So, while there are useful things in this world, they may not belong in the soil of your soul, or mine.
    What do I mean? Just this:

    Whatever encourages, or facilitates, the growth of sin has no place for those living in Christ.

    Whether the sin is the misuse of one’s body, or the misuse of one’s position, or wealth, we must admit that not every "good" thing is good for us at any given moment.
    Here's a personal example.

    I removed the TV from my bedroom because it was a tempting doorway to view things I should not look at. Now, the TV can be a useful, "good" thing, and it is not to blame for how it is used. But if it feeds the sin I want to avoid, then any "goodness" it has changes into something NOT good. 

    The situation is simple: lacking spiritual discipline, we remain slaves to our passions, and it is impossible for us to grow into full stature in Christ (Eph 4:13). 
    This is true whether we are speaking of a younger person who may be plagued by sexual temptation or, an older person who may be plagued by the temptation of selfish, and endless, travel.
    In the spiritual life, the distinction between toadstools and mushrooms is irrelevant. It's the difference between staying close to God, or clinging to self, the choice between virtue and vice.

    In the end, it is all about how we manage the “soil” in which vice will — or will not — grow.

Jeffrey Mirus holds a Ph.D. in intellectual history from Princeton University. A co-founder of Christendom College, he also pioneered Catholic Internet services. He is the founder of Trinity Communications and CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.