coming clean by getting dirty

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"Some people find it difficult to speak these words of confession and contrition. In our modern efforts towards 'positive self esteem' it can seem counterproductive to declare ourselves to be miserable sinners. If we focus on our shortcomings, won't others think less of us? Our common desire to appear better than we are, to 'put our best foot forward,' can hinder us from even acknowledging we have shortcomings. But Ash Wednesday is first and foremost about honesty--coming clean by getting dirty, paradoxically speaking. The purpose of confession is not to feel 'bad' about yourself, but to be humbled in the sense of grounded in earth (humus), to be thoroughly human, to be cleansed from the past to be free for the present and the future."

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(Vicki K. Black, Welcome to the Church Year, page 59)
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