Words from St. Francis de Sales, to a lady:
"My dearest daughter,
You will often be amongst the children of this world who, according to their custom, will laugh at all they see, or think they see in you, contrary to their miserable inclinations. Do not busy yourself disputing with them, show no sort of sadness under their attacks; but joyously laugh at their laughter, despise their contempt, smile at their remonstrances, gracefully mock at their mockeries; and not giving attention to all this, walk always gaily in the service of God; and in the time of prayer, commend these poor souls to the Divine Mercy. They are worthy of compassion in having no desire for honourable company, except to laugh and mock at subjects worthy of respect and reverence."
Timeless words, in a world that has come to call evil good, and good, evil!
Many shake their heads at Judas for selling Christ to His enemies for a little silver. But how many more betray Christ simply because other people laugh at or mock them for trying to follow Him? Do we desire honorable company? Do we admire instead of mock those who are more virtuous than ourselves, or who are seriously trying to be, in spite of their falls? Do we turn off our morality in the company of atheists, and try to appear less good to please them, and spare ourselves?
And how do those who claim to follow Christ treat those who are mocking them? As hypocrites, with hatred and anger? Or with charity, forgiveness and prayer?
And how many there are that do the mocking, today! While the world is full of heinous crimes, there are those who still find time to berate and condemn those who believe in God and His law! Not only don't they desire honorable company, but they condemn it! As the saint remarks, they are truly worthy of compassion! They've embraced badness or error to the point of hating goodness and truth, anywhere they see the least glimpse of it!
A great quote. I am a Catholic artist--a messy one, but one convinced we need to revive the arts in order to revive the world to want goodness again. Beauty and storytelling is a crucial path.
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Yes... There's a wonderful motto: "Restoring all things in Christ."
What does it mean when a Catholic gets confirmed? What are we told when we are confirmed?
All right... so if we're out there doing intellectually, morally, spiritually toxic work, whose side are we fighting on, really?
So you're right. But I think even fewer people really understand that... it's got to be us first! We're the first thing that needs reforming! And we need to talk about that. And encourage one another. (So the above post is aimed at myself as much as I meant to share it with anyone else, because I need it just like everyone else does!)
The command all souls have received from Christ was: be ye perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect. Make the tree holy, that the fruit may be holy. First make the inside of the dish clean, that the outside may become clean.
That's the first step. Because without that, we're just trying to pour clean water out of a filthy pitcher. And it's simply not going to work. We will give according to what we are, even in ways we are not even aware of.
Saw your more recent post (about poetry and good art), but you can count this as the response to that, too. It really is the heart of it.
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Thanks for the comment. My focus on here is to do really good art and let the heart of it be for people what it needs to be for people. We underestimate how important culture is for giving people hope and healing, and drawing them closer to the truly good and beautiful things.
Hope you're feeling a bit better today :). xx
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I definitely agree with you. Mainstream entertainment has become pretty much one big faucet of negative, sinful, toxic images, ideas and emotions. And it's having very real effects on people. But that's what happens when the message is "good is evil, and evil is good."
Yet that is the message we now have, all over the place. Anything good is ridiculed and mocked and torn down and (in fiction at least) defeated, and portrayed as stupid, and silly, and humiliating, and unrealistic, and disgraceful, and what is bad is glorified and praised and portrayed as entertaining/exciting/fun, and smarter, and stronger, and it wins, and the whole state of affairs in the entertainment world is just totally sick, and totally toxic.
There's enough toxic, immoral, erroneous rubbish out there. And it's hurting people in a very real way. They're imbibing it, and they're living with what they imbibe. It's adding to the depression and the anxiety that so many people are living with. It's helping to keep them sick and make them sicker.
Really, this is why I am absolutely opposed to creating as the mainstream media has created. If I ever have anything to give to the world, creatively, I want it to be something GOOD, not something toxic. Something that is giving truth, that has hope in it, and that is uplifting, not depressing. No, not whitewashed where nothing bad ever happens... but not toxic to mind and soul (sinful), either. And I think most people don't realize just how much that constant additional stress and anxiety is hurting people. Life is tough enough without us taking what amounts to an "anxiety supplement!"
It's nice to meet people who are with me on that! ^_^
As for feeling better... I failed. Miserably. I've not been taking my own advice (that we need positive things in our lives). I've been letting myself get all wound up about my circumstances, and not trusting the Divine Gardner, enough, to look after this poor little lily of the field. So now I really, really need to do that. Never mind the roof or the moon. I think my stress levels have been discovering whole new solar systems, here! -laugh- So I think it's time to put a stop to that, and go find some of those nurturing things I'm blessed to have in my life, and to let go and let God, as they say.
Hobbies are a blessing, but you really, really do have to actually DO them in order for them to be beneficial!
So I think I'd better go get into some of those goodies, now. Maybe starting with my yarn... ^_^
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I really hope you find it to take care of yourself! It's sooo important. I know it's hard, but just do whatever you can.
One thing I need to mention, too, is on the other side.. a lot of religious-backed cultural items are so bad, and very few religious people support my work because they are so short-sighted. That's why I had to come here--I couldn't get most of my circle of friends to even remotely support me financially. Steem people are generous and seem to recognize good content, at least at a better rate than the rest of the world!
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