Giving up chocolate, our favorite tv show, coffee, Guinness, or scotch are all lenten practices that I have tried - to varying degrees of success. In our house growing up, my sisters and I gave up many things, but we were also expected to do more. Instead of jut giving up stuff, we were to perform more acts of kindness - volunteer, attend more masses. We were meant to change our lives as much by addition than by subtraction.
Our lives today are busier and more hectic than ever and working to eliminate some of the burden is important, but as the saying goes, "Nature abhors a vacuum." When you free up time and space in you life, what will you do with that time?
Lent attempts to remind us that by working on our own lives, we can then go out and change the lives of others.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Gossip: The Devil's Radio
A few years back, many actually, George Harrison sang a song called, The Devil's Radio, a song about gossip.I think it is pretty safe to assume that most people have started, passed on, and been the victim of gossip.
Gossip weakened from within. It is subversive. It is everywhere. Much of what we see in the press about celebrities that is called gossip truly is actually promotional material coming from celebrity publicists. But even the true gossip we feel we must learn. because of all the information about various celebs on tv, the internet, twitter, or in print media ends up meaning we know them better than members of our own families.
Gossip among our families, friends, school communities, work, and more truly divides. The Book of Proverbs makes clear, "a perverse person spreads strife, and a gossip separates close friends." (16:28) Many of us have had that experience of losing friends because of gossip and the damage caused is not easily repaired. "The words of a gossip are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body."(Prov. 18:8) Like food from a great meal, gossip is not easily forgotten.
However, gossip can be stopped though it takes effort. We often say, " I don't even realize that I am gossiping" or "It just slipped out". Whether or not we intended to gossip, the damage is still done. Watch to movie "Doubt" and see what the priest teaches about how gossip damages. But to NOT gossip, that can only happen through the clear intent and decision to NOT gossip. The action of closing my mouth comes from my intention of not wanting to gossip.
Let our intentions be good in order to guide us to good actions.
Gossip weakened from within. It is subversive. It is everywhere. Much of what we see in the press about celebrities that is called gossip truly is actually promotional material coming from celebrity publicists. But even the true gossip we feel we must learn. because of all the information about various celebs on tv, the internet, twitter, or in print media ends up meaning we know them better than members of our own families.
Gossip among our families, friends, school communities, work, and more truly divides. The Book of Proverbs makes clear, "a perverse person spreads strife, and a gossip separates close friends." (16:28) Many of us have had that experience of losing friends because of gossip and the damage caused is not easily repaired. "The words of a gossip are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body."(Prov. 18:8) Like food from a great meal, gossip is not easily forgotten.
However, gossip can be stopped though it takes effort. We often say, " I don't even realize that I am gossiping" or "It just slipped out". Whether or not we intended to gossip, the damage is still done. Watch to movie "Doubt" and see what the priest teaches about how gossip damages. But to NOT gossip, that can only happen through the clear intent and decision to NOT gossip. The action of closing my mouth comes from my intention of not wanting to gossip.
Let our intentions be good in order to guide us to good actions.
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