Amusing incident:
Here in the home of my granddaughter, Jenny, her husband, Sean, and the 1 month old and 3 ½ year old, they love to pray the rosary every evening before bed aloud. Well, it can get difficult if the baby is crying and the older sister is running around wildly. So, here was their creative solution one evening: Jenny had the baby in one of these cotton sling holders around her bosom and she was walking around to put the baby to sleep. But Teresa, the 3 ½ year old was jealous and whiney. So, Sean, suddenly grabbed a huge carrier and put the 35 lb. girl into it and walked her around, meanwhile praying the decades! I thought it was a very creative penance since he could also lose weight himself doing it!!!!
Here in the home of my granddaughter, Jenny, her husband, Sean, and the 1 month old and 3 ½ year old, they love to pray the rosary every evening before bed aloud. Well, it can get difficult if the baby is crying and the older sister is running around wildly. So, here was their creative solution one evening: Jenny had the baby in one of these cotton sling holders around her bosom and she was walking around to put the baby to sleep. But Teresa, the 3 ½ year old was jealous and whiney. So, Sean, suddenly grabbed a huge carrier and put the 35 lb. girl into it and walked her around, meanwhile praying the decades! I thought it was a very creative penance since he could also lose weight himself doing it!!!!
A theme for this time in my life that allegedly was given to me by Mother Mary, was to try to be much slower and softer at the same time. The form it takes is stating truths to others in a more gentle witness type style vs. confrontational – full of “you should’s”
Back to some Games Catholics Play:
(scroll way back to early August for an explanation of this theme)
We can think that ridicule is okay because it is funny and true. A way to overcome this temptation is to think about how much we like being ridiculed ourselves! How does ridicule fit with the admonition “Speak the truth with love"?
Gossip as necessary:
A distinction is made in spirituality between telling someone about another person as a necessary warning because of pastoral concerns or gossip. A clear example would be telling your teen that a certain friend is a drug addict who has to be avoided. Now, on the basis of such pastoral concern some of us justify telling others everything juicy that is bad about others in the present or people in the past. Or, we gossip in that bad way for 15 minutes but end with a 1 second prayer for the same person..
(scroll way back to early August for an explanation of this theme)
We can think that ridicule is okay because it is funny and true. A way to overcome this temptation is to think about how much we like being ridiculed ourselves! How does ridicule fit with the admonition “Speak the truth with love"?
Gossip as necessary:
A distinction is made in spirituality between telling someone about another person as a necessary warning because of pastoral concerns or gossip. A clear example would be telling your teen that a certain friend is a drug addict who has to be avoided. Now, on the basis of such pastoral concern some of us justify telling others everything juicy that is bad about others in the present or people in the past. Or, we gossip in that bad way for 15 minutes but end with a 1 second prayer for the same person..
You might say – but it is healthy to vent. We can’t just swallow all the bad and never talk about it. We do need to vent, but I find that when I vent with people who I deem to be holier than myself, they turn the vent very soon into prayerful reflection about good ways to handle those bad things!
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