Liberty and Charity

[seabird3579]

From Galatians 5:13-15

“My brothers, you were called, as you know, to liberty; but be careful, or this liberty will provide an opening for self-indulgence. Serve one another, rather, in works of love, since the whole of the Law is summarised in a single command: Love your neighbour as yourself. If you go snapping at each other and tearing each other to pieces, you had better watch or you will destroy the whole community.”

Dear friends, the Lord showed me* this scripture * this morning as I was praying about the way christians speak to each other on this forum. He has convicted me of my own speech, and caused me to reconsider how much thought goes into any posting I might put on this forum, even if I feel I am “defending the Faith.”

I believe it grieves the Lord’s Sacred Heart when we fail to pray first before we post, or when we post as a reaction instead of giving a thoughtful response. I want to apologize and ask for forgiveness right now, if I have ever hurt or offended anyone because of a rash response, a “reactive” response instead of a thougtful response. Please forgive my self-centered way of putting me out there instead of Jesus, the One I love, and, never want to hurt.

Scripture says we will be held accountable for every word that leaves our mouths. And, it also says that we are to love our neighbours as ourselves. This will require all of us to be patient, before we respond, to be kind, before we respond, maybe to be longsuffering (wait), *before we respond * — and sometimes, if we Pray First, we are *Not to respond * at all.

My friends, the Lord is correcting me, and all of us on the Catholic Forum, let us get busy with pleasing Him and not ourselves.

Peace.

 

[setter]

It always good to be reminded to speak the truth in love. I might add that those captivated by sin, lost or confused in darkened understanding, or even simply resistent to informing their Catholic conscience, or being confronted with their own uncharitable or judgemental behavior, are susceptible to perceiving charitable feedback as being judgmental, harsh, condemning. However, this does not mean that one should shrink from giving honest and charitable feedback.

I take St. Paul as my model in evangelization and apologetics by realizing that you may have to take a few on the chin when expalining the fullness of the faith. In addition to our being negatively perceived and mislabelled, St. Paul anticipated and endured imprisonment and torture for proclaiming the full gospel in love – “for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.”:

“And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, bound in the Spirit, not knowing what shall befall me there; except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that all you among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom will see my face no more. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” Acts 20:22-27

“…preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. As for you, always be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry. “ 2Timothy 4:2-5

 

[AndyF]

seabird3579:

Thanks for the reminder.

But you know it is not always possible to keep the peace especially when at times the truth may hurt, and especially when the Catholic must voice his truth from a podium much higher than one would expect.

By this I mean we have become conditioned to being National Catholics, where we confront moral issues from a national podium, when we should be Global Catholics, where we confront moral issues from a global perspective. In order to do this we need to be current on history and what goes in other countries. We need to know why their laws are enacted for them, and what the pros and cons of their society is. It is my opinion we cannot rely on the host nation for this information, as the danger of conflict of interest must always be present. This conflict may become apparent when we approach political issues. We advance ideas that favor our nation firstly, before we seek out the global morality.

The Catholic is by nature a Global Catholic, the Holy See’s representative around the globe. If we try the opposite, we open ourselves to the fallibility of Society and the errors it can make. He applies doctrine on the whole spectrum of societies in an unbiased and non-conflicted interest.

This is bound to bring on problems as we have Catholics who swear allegiance to nation before they do the Church, and Catholics who take the opposite stance. It is difficult to stand one’s ground in such a situation, but one never stands alone.

Andy

 

[Black_Jaque]

He has convicted me of my own speech, and caused me to reconsider how much thought goes into any posting I might put on this forum

How did you feel when you were “convicted”? Not good huh? Bet maybe it kinda stung a little. Perhaps a bitter pill to swallow.

There is harm and there is hurt, it is important to know the difference. As in the practice of medicine, sometimes the sensation of being hurt is a result of healing. And sometimes harm feels mighty good as it’s being done.

So, we must do things in charity always. But when people think that doing things charitably will always look pleasant I think that’s where we make a big mistake. That’s part of that “if it feels good then it is good” philosophy that must be rooted out of our brains.