-St. Ignatius of Loyola
The news and the condition of the world have me truly worried. We collectively appear to be lost. We have lost our moral compass and keep our heads firmly planted in the sand.
The story about the well with poisoned water that turned everyone mad except the King and his family keeps going through my head. The people because they have drank from the well all go mad. The King and his family do not as they have a private well. However, the people want to get rid of the King because they no longer trust him. In the end the King and his family drink from the poisoned well and the people love him again. But now the King is as mad as his people.
Social media allows us to judge others... and judge we do. From the parents whose child fell into the gorilla enclosure which resulted in a beast, magnificent tho he was, to be killed for the child's safety. I wish that I could tell you that I never took my eyes off any of my children or that I never feared that one drowned because I lost track of them at the lake. They were fine. Just taking a nap. I didn't know that. I am sure if this was posted on Facebook there would be outrage and a police investigation as to my criminal responsibility for losing track of my child. It happens in an instant.
Politically we are slinging mud at each other and the vitriol is some of the most vile I have seen. We as a country complain, but we don't seem to want to do anything to change the situation. We have the power, but that would mean taking responsibility and we are not very good at that most days.
We listen and take advice from people who have no qualifications other than they have a podcast and they seem to speak to the hole in us that desperately wants to be filled.
If only we could turn around we would see that the answer has been there all along. God, yes, God is the answer. If we could focus on Him and His teachings and truly trust Him and be obedient to Him, and do His will and not our own we would not have any problems.
Let us look to our commonalities and truly love each other. It is difficult to sling mud at someone you love. We must act according to our conscience and be willing to accept the consequences of our choices. We must stand up not for ourselves, but for those that can not stand up for themselves. We must exercise mercy. Yes, mercy even for those that we think are not worthy.
I shudder when I think how we pray by rote the words of the Our Father...forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us...
Lord, I stand before you
in need of your mercy.
I stand before you
in need of moral courage.
Help me see that my judging will
only lead to my own judgement.
~Cindy
