No new deadly sins
1) Stations of the Cross tonight, 7 pm, with Eucharistic Adoration to follow.
2) Holy Week Confessions:
- Wed, 6:30 – 8 pm
- Good Friday, 1:30-3 pm
- Holy Saturday, 2-4 pm
-------------------------------------
You might have seen news reports earlier in the week about the Vatican publishing a list of “the new seven deadly sins”. Well, it turns out these reports were not true, as the following article from Zenit.org (“The World Seen from Rome”) explains:
(Bishops) Say Vatican Didn't Publish List of 7 Modern Misdeeds
LONDON, MARCH 11, 2008 (Zenit.org)- Reports that the Vatican has published a new list of the seven deadly sins of modern times that includes littering and economic inequality is simply not true, affirmed the episcopal conference of England and Wales.
The conference released a statement today clarifying that an interview published Sunday by L'Osservatore Romano with Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, regent of the tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary, was misinterpreted in the media as an official Vatican update to the seven deadly sins, laid out by Pope Gregory the Great in the sixth century.
"The Vatican has not published a new list of seven deadly sins; this is not a new Vatican edict," said the conference. "The story originated from an interview that Bishop Gianfranco Girotti gave to the L'Osservatore Romano in which he was questioned about new forms of social sins in this age of globalization."
The Vatican newspaper interviewed the bishop at the conclusion of a course that took place last week on the "internal forum" -- questions of conscience -- organized by the tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary to strengthen the training of priests in administering the sacrament of confession.
In the interview titled "Le Nuove Forme del Peccato Sociale" (The New Forms of Social Sin), journalist Nicola Gori asked the prelate what he thought are the new sins of the modern era.
Bishop Girotti responded: "There are various areas in which today we can see sinful attitudes in relation to individual and social rights."Above all in the area of bioethics, in which we cannot fail to denounce certain violations of the fundamental rights of human nature, by way of experiments, genetic manipulation, the effects of which are difficult to prevent and control."
"Another area, a social issue, is the issue of drug use, which debilitates the psyche and darkens the intelligence, leaving many youth outside the ecclesial circuit."
The bishop also mentioned social inequality, "by which the poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer, feeding an unsustainable social injustice," and the "area of ecology."
posted by Fr Greg @ 10:01 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
I went to the Penance service on Monday, and I found myself actually laughing at myself, probably not the most appropriate place to be doing that, but whatever. I was laughing b/c I wasn't nervous or stressed at all. I’d mostly been an "anonymous" confessor, going only to priests who I didn't know and would probably not see again for some time, if ever. I could sit face-to-face and talk without one bit of anxiety or worry. Put me in front of a priest I know, and that’s a different story. I get nervous, I fidget, I stress- and it’s so stupid b/c I know they don’t look at me like I’m some monster. I’m never treated with anything less than respect, compassion and care. So- why the angst? I hate to admit it, but it is all about pride; I’d like to think it’s not, but I come up with no other conclusion.
Fr. Greg has talked about pride quite a bit, both here and in his homilies (and to me directly). Often when he does, I’ll say to myself, “Well, he’s talking about someone else. I’m not full of pride.” Realizing that I am is a good thing though, for it let’s me see that I am, as is often the case, the one who gets in my way the very most. That is something which I do have the power to change.
It takes me a awfully long time to hear some things!
Whew! I, for one, am glad there are no new sins! Have enough to worry about, with the old ones.
On a serious note...
Last night at Adoration, Deacon Mukri suggested that we keep Mary in mind as we prayed. The following, is a current reflection and prayer from " Mary Day by Day," prayer book.
"The Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith and loyally persevered in union with her Son unto the Cross...
There she united herself with a maternal heart to His sufferings."
"O Mary, you suffered with Jesus as you stood beneath the Cross and you offered your suffering with His. Help me to accept my daily crosses without complaint and offer them for the good of the world."
With Mary and Jesus in mind, let's also remember St. Joseph whose Feast day is today. I love this beautiful prayer to him:
Ancient Prayer to St. Joseph
O St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in you all my intersts and desires. O St. Joseph do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, Our Lord; so that having engaged here below your heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of Fathers. O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press Him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me, and ask Him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, patron of departing souls, pray for me. Amen.
Once again, reading two articles got my brain thinking. The Zenit’s post about sins, or the lack of new ones and an article in www.taize.com addressing silence, got me thinking about my own sins in relation to our youth. Yes, it may be a weird combination of articles to put together, but, it was not deliberate. I stumbled into the Taize article because of my ignorance on the Taize evening prayer offered on March 11th. Since my Catholic friend with 12 years of Catholic grade school and 4 years attending a Catholic college couldn’t explain the evening, I resorted to the internet for my answer.
Zenit’s comments on our youth: "Another area, a social issue, is the issue of drug use, which debilitates the psyche and darkens the intelligence, leaving many youth outside the ecclesial circuit."
Taize’s comments on silence: “Christ says: ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you’ (John 15:12). We need silence in order to welcome these words and put them into practice. When we are agitated and restless, we have so many arguments and reasons not to forgive and not to love too easily. But when we ‘have calmed and quieted our soul’, these reasons turn out to be quite insignificant. Maybe we sometimes avoid silence, preferring whatever noise, words or distraction, because inner peace is a risky thing: it makes us empty and poor, disintegrates bitterness and leads us to the gift of ourselves. Silent and poor, our hearts are overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit, filled with an unconditional love. Silence is a humble yet secure path to loving.”
My thoughts on our youth: There are probably very few parents reading this blog site that would not admit that the years adolescents endure are difficult and tumultuous. If their own changing bodies and minds are not enough to render them insecure, the bombardment of information from our media and technology on drugs, sex, killings, clothing styles, etc. will probably succeed. Unfortunately, most of our youth will not view these years as confusing for quite some time. I don’t know about other parents, but I pray my own kids approach the “several years later” age with some semblance of a balanced, morally sound lifestyle.
I see our youth as having to form a sense of self in a time that I call the “me” years. They tune into their IPod, MySpace and YouTube and they tune “me” out. It is an era that values technology and technology usually produces some type of noise, either internally in our head, or externally in our environment. My own kids are glued to these gizmos, until the little witch, me, silences them.
In my home, silence equals pure torture, it’s worse than having to help me clean the house. Yet, I asked myself, how can we expect our youth to reflect and repent for wrongdoings, to spend 40 days in preparation for the rising of our Lord if they have trouble spending a few minutes in the silence of their own heart and soul? I asked myself, “Doesn’t the lack of silence also debilitate the psyche and darken our youth’s intelligence? Doesn’t it leave them prone to hover on the outside, if at all, of the ecclesial circuit?" To be honest, I didn’t like the answer I came up with; i.e., yes, it is my belief that the lack of silence in our youth’s lives may be detrimental to their religious thoughts and thoughts in general.
I believe our youth, and yes, I, must first be able to listen to our own thoughts before we can honestly verbalize them, repent and prepare for the arrival our Lord Jesus Christ. It is my belief that I have am committing a sin (albeit, not a “biggie” mortal one or a “formal” one - if there is such a thing) if I don’t expose my children and those I come into contact with to the value and art of silence, of being able to sit and listen to one’s heart and soul, regardless of what is heard. We Catholics are lucky in that we have a means to cleanse our soul of sounds we don’t like or shouldn’t hear. But, we first have to want to “hear” the silence in our heart and soul.
Hey Marianne,
I think about the topic of being quiet a lot. When I walk into our school office and see the, “Be still and know God,” I think- “I’ll try,” and other times, “Right- next lifetime!”. Being quiet is hard enough, but being still? Well, that almost seems impossible. If it’s like that for me, an adult who can see the importance of doing just that, how must it be for our kids? When they’re young, it’s getting homework finished, getting to the “big” game and rushing through chores so they can play with friends. As teens, it’s the pressure to stay up to date with this friend and that one with the TM’ing and IM’ing, thinking about the right thing to do or say so as to keep from looking like a complete dork (I still sometimes do that), and not missing ANYTHING! Helping them cultivate the maturity to make choices about their lives that are really important and for their true good can be overwhelming. So, we make rules- while wearing the witch hat or the halo, for though they’ll seldom admit it, kids do “like” rules. Boundaries provide comfort, not to mention a few timely excuses for NOT doing something they may feel pressured to do.
About turning down the noise in my home, again- seems almost impossible, but worth a shot. You can’t really ground yourself in anything in the middle of a tornado, can you?
And, truth be known, I too can be overly attached to my Ipod.
Mindy,
I hear your thoughts loud and clear. “Be still and know God,” yes, you are absolutely right; it is certainly a challenge to be still in today’s world, even when we know how important it is. I’m not sure Mrs. Kreitzer-Schultz would have defined “still” in terms of physical movement only. I believe her definition of “still” was broader and included the lack of physical and mental commotion, noise, agitation, movement, etc. Thought of in these terms, “still” or “sit” takes on a whole different meaning.
Silence is one more thing we have to add to our “hurry up” list, making life all the more challenging; however, being still or silent doesn’t have to involve a lot of time. A deep breath and just a few seconds of silence in a s-l-o-w moving check-out line can remind us that we are not in control of everything. Do I always remember this? Sure,….in my dreams! Is it always the appropriate response to a situation? No way. It would be silly to stand in the middle of a tornado, enjoying the silence of its “eye,” knowing there is the other side of destructive wind to come. I think God expects us to use our brain, to pack up and get out as quickly and safely as we can. God is pretty smart - He creates us with survival in mind. It is my belief that we are the ones that undo His creation, of which silence is a part.
You are absolutely right when you say, “If it’s like that for me, an adult who can see the importance of doing just that, how must it be for our kids?” Why do we as adults, find silence so daunting? Is it because it is a subjective concept and that makes it more difficult to achieve, explain, understand and share? Is it because we don’t spend enough time embracing it because of our own insecurity? What will the result be? I have no idea but I do know it is not a popular boundary as our society seems to pride itself on external productivity and things rather than internal silence, peace and simplicity.
Given a choice of soccer or silence, I can’t imagine many would choose silence. Yet, it may be the very thing that helps keep a child or us for that matter, moving in a positive direction during difficult times. But first, we have to give it a try.
On a side note, thanks for your honesty. I found it refreshing to know that I am not the only person that feels like a real dork from time to time. Life is humbling.
Post a Comment
<< Home