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Imagine a young priest who doesn't read blogs, is not on facebook or twitter, and is just focused upon his ministry, his parish and parishoners. He's also very prayerful and has a healthy social life. One day while speaking to another young man from the parish, the young man expressed concern over his internet use. The young man mentioned he recently got into an argument with someone online and was uncharitable toward the person.
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The young priest asked, "Do you know the person you got into the argument with?"
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The young man replied, "No, I have no idea who he is."
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"Well..." the priest thought for a moment. "Well why would you bother arguing with a stranger you do not even know?" Pause. "There has to be something more to this..." Pause. "Don't you see? Something is the matter with you."
Hey it's Fuzzy! How is the old bastard doing these days? I've been meaning to make my way down there to pay him a visit at his eatery. Been hearing all sorts of things about it. Damn. I can see that after all these years he still hasn't been laying off the moonpies. Shit, he just couldn't stop eating those moonpies, could he? I remember how he got addicted to them back in 'Nam.
ReplyDeleteBut what's all this stuff I've been hearing? Been hearing that people are lining up for four blocks just for his steak tar-tar; that his grits are to die for; that chef Gordon Ramsay has delcared a new era in the world of cooking and said that Fuzzy is its Prophet; that top cooking magazines the world over are looking to snatch him up as their new poster boy; that Father Z is looking to take him out with a 12 gauge pump-action shotgun. Been hearing these things you know, things in the pipeline.
I should have known things like this were brewing at the high school reunion. I still remember standing at the urinal in the bathroom when in walks Charlie and I could tell in my peripheral that he was angry as hell. He stands at the urinal beside mine, and both of us looking straight ahead: "So!" Charlie says, real pissed-off-like, "Fuzzy went and got a silver spoon stuck up his ass I see! He always had to stand out just a little more than the rest of us eh? Well, now he's gone too far!"
Don't know what it was that Fuzzy did to set Charlie off like that.
So Fuzzy went and did it, just like he said he was going to do. Can't believe I laughed behind his back all those years. Well I'll be damned. That old sly son of a bitch.
Nothing's the matter with me. Nothing at all.
Good points in this post. How easy it is to get embroiled in shitstorms with people who we don't even know, will never see, and will have no bearing on our lives. What a wonderful, dreadful, lovely, disgusting tool the internet is.
ReplyDeleteP.S. My spell-check is recommending "Shintoism" in place of shitstorm.
But it's FUN to argue with strangers...LOL!
ReplyDeleteMy "naughty side" just shines right through, I guess...
better take it to prayers...Terry, do you have the number of the priest?
Maybe he might straighten me out...
(maybe not!!):<)!
I'd like to argue with you over that last post you took down.
ReplyDelete;0)
I put it back up though Tom!
ReplyDeletePaul - did not realize you knew Fuzzy too.
And, on a sad sad...we saw onna these guys laying dead on the side of highway 29 on our way to our Oratory...
ReplyDeleteI'd not like to encounter one;
but I hate to see them killed.
Well, I guess you did! Serves me right for being wrong:0)
ReplyDeleteUm, Terry nazareth priest ... this is the wrong comment box, but I don't know if you're still looking at the other one (the pope piano one) ... but someone there just said that a man has to be a husband and father or be a priest or go to hell.
ReplyDeleteI feel dumb asking, but has that EVER been Catholic teaching? I just know lots of good, single, unmarried men who aren't priests or religious - even ones who were in seminary once and ended up leaving. How can someone even say something like that?
sorry to hijack this combox :(
That's news to me, mercury...
ReplyDeleteA spiritual father, yeah (and that is lived in all kinds of ways)...
I think this individual is misguided (to say the least)!
Thank you. Can lay people get a spiritual director? I suffer from scruples, anxiety, all the spiritual baggage that comes with it. Prayer for me is usually just saying words against a background of all the nonsense I worry about constantly.
ReplyDeleteThere's a Benedictine abbey nearby ... is it normal for a lay person to be able to get access to a spiritual guide regular confessor?
My silliness aside, I was struck by the priest's comment:
ReplyDelete"There has to be something more to this...Don't you see? Something is the matter with you."
*thinking about that..*
mercury: Yes, of course; but be careful...talk to the fathers there...maybe even a brother could help you; just make sure you are "at peace" with the one to whom you speak...if you are in west central WI or in the vicinity, contact me...
ReplyDeleteI'd be happy to help in any way.
God bless you!
Oh I know ... I want to find someone who's soundly orthodox, but not not a rigid soul-crusher (that's defeat the purpose).
ReplyDeleteHaha, I'm all the way down here in the archdiocese of New Orleans!
Paul - I'm thinking about it too.
ReplyDeleteHi Mercury--
ReplyDeleteI am a Secular Carmelite and we normally have spiritual directors--right now I'm kinda in between ones...you should be available to meet with the individual seriously about once a month. And their purpose is to say things that you do not want to hear, and for youto do things that you do not want to do :) :) But it is all growing in holiness :)
However--one thing to consider, especially since you mentioned scruples and anxiety--is that they are not, and should not be--considered to be your mental health therapists. Hire a good therapist instead.
And often just an individual one-on-one appointment session (s) with a priest (outside regular confession hours so neither feel rushed or worry about the line) may help resolve alot. If you are making regular confessions and find you just keep slipping back the individual session are may what be needed. But keep in mind that the poor dear priest isn't a mind reader, and if you cannot open up to them then little can be done to resolve your issue.
For example--in my case I tend to lose my temper--it's the Irish in me...I can get all the spiritual direction in the world, but ultimately it is up to me to find ways to control it.And getting my hand slapped by a priest in confession (penance) doesn't really do the trick, I'm come up with my own ways to help me be the better person.
God Bless and I hope it works out..
Sara
Sara: You're the best!!
ReplyDeleteMissed you around these parts...!
Love ya, dearest!
Thanks Sara. I know what you mean about scruples and counseling. I guess by scruples, I do not mean the "oh no I might have only said 9 hail marys" or the "God's going to punish me because I forgot it was Friday and ate meat" kind. I do have OCD, and have had it for years, but I was never the wash the hands type - mostly obsessive rumination and thinking "what if" all the time.
ReplyDeleteThat said, in religious terms I know it's a lack of trust. I also know that it makes praying difficult, unhelpful, scary, and desperate. I always run across the real "out there" beliefs, or the odd comment by a saint (such as Gregory the Great or Jerome condemning sexual pleasure even in marriage), or crazy-sounding stuff in private revelations (approved ones, of course) that will send me into despair.
I want to change my life to do more than simply avoid mortal sin and go to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days. I want to "go off the deep end" for Christ, but I'm afraid I'll go off the wrong deep end (which is why rad trad stuff terrifies me so much). I need help A) to learn how to truly pray and listen to God and not just the background noise of my head, which is full of crap, and B) to learn how to navigate life and make changes which will better conform me to God's will. I feel like Peter sinking in the waves sometimes. I want to go ahead, but I'm so afraid.
Thanks Fr N...had mini-retreat at Bryce Canyon this weekend..I so needed it!!
ReplyDeleteSara
mercury: Just love Jesus and Mary...forgettabout the "rad trad" stuff; if you're attracted to the traditional Mass, fine; but pray with "your heart" and ask Jesus to lead you...
ReplyDeleteyou're on the right path; just don't mistrust yourself; trust in the Holy Spirit...God will lead you and form you...and pray to our Lady, esp. in Her Rosary...you can't go wrong...
Mercury--
ReplyDeleteAlso know that Our Dear Lord knows and understands your interior struggles with OCD and loves you anyway--you have challenges that the rest of us do not. Do what you can with what you have, and know that it is all going toward the glory of God. the Devil may also taunt you with your failings...tell him to go get bent and leave you alone...God loves what you are doing..the Holy Spirit adds His groanings to all of our prayers..
God Bless and I shall pray for you!!
Sara
Thank you both.
ReplyDeleteI was in my office and looked out for a moment and I saw a young lady speaking with my secretary.
ReplyDeleteAn hour later, I was leaving to grab some lunch, and saw the woman was still waiting for another executive that had not kept his lunch date with her.
We both went to lunch, and having exchanged pleasantries, I inquired as to the condition of her soul.
She spoke of things that were happening to her and remarked that through it all she felt alone.
I spoke to her of Christ’s love for us, and His plan for our salvation. We spoke about the two eternities.
I answered her questions to the best of my catechism memory.
On the way back to my office, she confided that during the past month, she was visiting her friends, having lunch with them.
R.T., the executive that had stood her up, was the final one. She had planned to have lunch with him, then go home and place her 357 Magnum in her mouth, and pull the trigger.
No one had ever spoken to her about Christ’s love and His plan of salvation for her. Everybody mentioned Jesus, but never really spoke of Him.
She decided to ask for Christ’s mercy and love.
She is still in my prayer intentions.
As Roman Catholics, no one on this planet should be a stranger to us.
When we ask “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace” we should not addendum it with “But at my convenience”
My mommy would always remind me when I was a young boy “Make sure you entertain strangers; it could be an angel.”
God bless mommies.
*
Just look at the sheer number of comments here.... And we are laughing at the poor man who argues with a stranger? LOLOLOLOLOL!
ReplyDeleteI KNOW!
The difference is we argue charitably? Or we don't argue? This is just a glee club of ... oh, you know what....
Wonderful Pablo, just wonderful, that the Holy Spirit nudged you and you responded..so many folks might have thought "She is waiting for someone else," and went about their business.
ReplyDeleteYou took a few moments out of your busy day and literally saved someone's life!!
God Bless you, and I'll pray for you and this young lady...she has a tough road ahead, but you put her on the right step.
It's like in a earlier comment box where we were montioning about giving dollars to beggars...we reflect God's love in the tiniest things we do.
Sara