Fasting.
“Your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw.”
The prophet Isaiah reveals to us the kind of fast that is acceptable to God: “Releasing those bound unjustly,/ untying the thongs of the yoke,/ setting free the oppressed,/ breaking every yoke;/ sharing your bread with the hungry,/ sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;/ clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.” - Isaiah 58, Friday after Ash Wednesday.
Taking these words to heart, I decided to take down some of my more controversial posts. The critical spirit can be so harmful it can create even more division amongst souls. What is much worse is that it can alienate others, and I don’t want to do that any longer. I will try to live my faith and write from that perspective, which if the Holy Spirit desires, he can use to teach, instruct, or admonish - myself first, others second. But I am not a teacher, it is not up to me to say who should or should not be doing this or that; everyone has the commandments, and we have a hierarchy and teaching magisterium to take care of these things.
If I were “locked up” in a monastery I most likely wouldn’t know what was going on in the world, I would never read a blog or watch TV, no one would ever know how or what I think, and the world would continue on. There is only one thing necessary, and if I am converted and seek that, and God-willing find that, I want everyone else to find it too.
Thoughts from Dostoevsky.
“Remember especially that you cannot be the judge of anyone. For there can be no judge of a criminal on earth until the judge knows that he too is a criminal, exactly the same as the one who stands before him, and that he is perhaps most guilty of all for the crime of the one standing before him.”- Fr. Zosima, Talks and Holilies, The Brothers Karamazov
“If the wickedness of people arouses indignation and insurmountable grief in you, to the point you desire to revenge yourself upon the wicked, fear that feeling most of all; go at once and seek torments for yourself, as if you yourself were guilty of their wickedness. Take these torments upon yourself and suffer them, and your heart will be eased, and you will understand that you too are guilty…”- Fr. Zosima
“No one is saved alone. The lives of others continually spill over into mine: in what I think, say, do, and achieve. And conversely, my life spills over into that of others: for better and for worse.”- Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi
February 8th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Terry:
I’m not sure which posts you will take down, but consider the fact that they maybe important for only one person.
February 8th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
“If the wickedness of people arouses indignation and insurmountable grief in you, to the point you desire to revenge yourself upon the wicked, fear that feeling most of all …
Take these torments upon yourself and suffer them, and your heart will be eased, and you will understand that you too are guilty…”
- Fr. Zosima
“No one is saved alone. The lives of others continually spill over into mine: in what I think, say, do, and achieve. And conversely, my life spills over into that of others: for better and for worse.”- Pope Benedict
Amen!
February 8th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
I’m an honest gal so I tell it like I see it and I know that you are a big enough boy to handle it…. so perhaps unsurprisingly then, I must say that I agree with your decision.
I understand that you have an artisitic temperament, I appreciate that you have an incredible propensity to humour/sarcasm/wit etc - and I have benefitted from it and enjoyed it (perhaps I shouldn’t have)on many occassions.
But I have also read such dramatically different posting styles here that when I first started coming here I would have sworn that this was a group blog and that there were 3 or 4 authors to it, until that is, I learned that there was just one of you!
February 8th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Deb - Is it really that varied? Gosh! What if I have MPD - Multiple personality Disorder? LOL! Well I hope I keep that going - without offending people now!
It is so funny you say that because the priest I went to confession to last night kind of expressed the same thing to me - he noted that I seem to have incredible extremes.
Oh well, we all have our cross to bear. I appreciate your comments and that you stil read my blog. I always thought Brits like eccentric people anyway.
February 8th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Don’t chastise yourself too much. Even Jesus got angry–I would have loved to have been a “fly on the wall” when he threw the hissy fit in the temple! A person who does not get angry is a person who wears blinders. It is hard not to be critical when we see so much that is wrong in the world. I have finally realized that I cannot “save” everyone. What I can do, however, is help the people who cross my path each day–and I ask God for the grace to do it. I enjoy your blog because you include many devotions (often, forgotten ones) and you honor your readers by letting them see your personal struggles. Keep doing that. I know you’ve been an inspiration to me personally!
February 8th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
I’m with plantlady - you post forgotten devotions and I love that.
February 9th, 2008 at 5:05 am
Terry,
I always thought Brits like eccentric people anyway.
It takes one to know one and I don’t mind *knowing* you.
February 9th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Keep on “keeping on,” Sybil! LOL!
February 10th, 2008 at 6:05 am
Dear Terry:
As a blog reader, I have been through a similar examination of conscience since Lent started, and I went to confession about this (and not a few other things) yesterday.
Although blogs serve a worthy purpose, too often they are hyper-critical — which I enjoy way too much! — and the comment sections also have discussions that are not edifying but which I enjoy, like a spectator at a street fight. For me, blog-surfing is also a huge time-waster.
(You may wonder why I am commenting at all if I’m giving up blog-surfing for Lent — because it’s SUNDAY!)
Seriously, I am glad to hear that you will be “with me” in spirit this Lent! I enjoy your sense of humor and your snarkiness very much and will miss them, but I feel sure that you are doing the right thing for your spiritual well-being.
God bless you.
February 10th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Plant Lady - Thank you very much.
Robin - I haven’t given up blogging - hopefully just the snarkiness - and also a lot of blog surfing.
Happy lent y’all!