This Week in Catholic Liturgy: Binding and Loosing

The terms "binding" and "loosing" have scatological connotations nowadays, but they are perfectly appropriate for God's purposes.  Resentments, fears, and unworthy conduct can adhere to our soul like so much waste that causes spiritual sepsis.  The sacrament of Reconciliation is the "general anaesthetic" that enables the Divine Physician to clean us out--a procedure in which the patient's involvement is far from passive, although s/he is not the Agent of healing.