Sunday Meditation: Wash your Face, Put on a Smile, and Stop Complaining!

It's a good thing to remember that everyone has troubles and, really, no one wants to hear a long litany about yours. Ask for prayers but leave the dissertation unread. A confessor urged me a few months ago to "kill the spirit of complaining." I'm working on it, but I think it's a lifetime work. I better get busy because I don't have that much lifetime left. I'll ask all the angels and saints, especially my guardian angel and the Blessed Mother to intercede for me with Jesus to put a lid on it!

Sunday Meditation: How Do You Fight Against the Noonday Devil?

Our sermon today was on the noonday devil, also called acedia or sloth. How many people have any idea what that means? I'm betting most have never even heard of "acedia" and probably think "sloth" is a synonym for laziness. But the reality is much worse.

Who Am I? Who Are You?

Did you ever take one of those personality tests? Please Understand Me was all the rage back in the 80s and 90s. It identified four character traits (eight really) with a possibility of 16 types. This was the breakdown:

• E or I (Extraversion vs. Introversion)
• N or S (INtuition vs. Sensation)
• T or F (Thinking vs. Feeling)
• J or P (Judging vs. Perceiving)

When I was on the parish council at St. Louis in Alexandria, the pastor wanted us all to take the test. I think I came out as an ENFJ, although, if I remember correctly the N and S and the T and F were pretty close. But I'm definitely an extrovert and I like closure, so the J was accurate as well. That put me at odds with the pastor who came out with the same letters except he was a P. He was also a liberal so clashes between us were inevitable. But one of the most frustrating things was that he seemed never to care whether the council decided anything or not. We talked a lot at the meetings (yadda yadda), but rarely decided anything. 

A Lenten Reflection on that Predominant Fault You Haven't Conquered Yet

Sloth from The Seven Deadly Sins by Hieronymus Bosch

Have you ever considered the question, "What is my predominant sin/fault and how can I subdue it?" There are seven deadly sins and most of us are tempted more strongly by some vices than others. And, of course, at different seasons of life, some hold more sway. 

When you feel discouraged, read the saints!

I'm reading the Autobiography of  St. Anthony Mary Claret. What an incredible priest!

Who needs the "new evangelization" when we had great saints like this giving us a sound prescription for an effective evangelization based on tried and true methods!

We need to get back to the "old" evangelization!

St. Anthony was born about two hundred years ago. Nabi's posts make me think of him because of his call for virtue in the clergy! That, without doubt,  is the beginning of an effective evangelization.

Here's what St. Anthony said about the sinful culture of his own day:

The sole reason why society is perishing is because it has refused to hear the word of the Church, which is the word of life, the word of God. All plans for salvation will be sterile if the great word of the Catholic Church is not restored in all its fullness.