Spiritual Exercises in Standing Out From the Crowd

[blessedstar]

I struggled with what to call this thread. It’s more complex I think, than first meets the eye, but the basics of it are simple. I named it as I did **‘Spiritual Exercises in Standing Out From the Crowd’ **because I think that this is what every Christian today is having to practise.

When I read Sacred Scripture I notice that Jesus always went away from the cities and towns to preach His greatest sermons in some remote place and the ones who wanted to believe and hear Him followed Him into the country and away from the streets and seperated themselves from the crowds to be with Him and hear Him. They found that they ended up again within a crowd, given it was a much smaller crowd but still it was a crowd. Still within this crowd who went out to hear Jesus were the mockers and the deriders, the skeptics and the doubters as well as the faithful believers.

If Jesus stayed in the crowds of the cities, towns and market places, He always worked a miracle and those who believed followed Him when He left those crowded places, they did not remain in the ‘crowd’ and on some occassions He ordered them to go back to the crowds and witness to them what He had done on others He charged them not to say a word, but still they witnessed.

I think this is as true today as it was over 2000 years ago. Jesus calls us apart from the ‘crowd’, He requires we witness to the crowd sometimes by words and always by actions. But Jesus doesn’t wish us to be part of the ‘crowd’ but to stand out from it as a disciple of His for the benefit of the crowd.

Even within the ‘Christian crowd’ Jesus seeks that we grow in love and here we too must stand out in this crowd for the good of all of Christianity.

In these times we see that increasingly Christianity is standing out from the secularist drive in society that condones all manners of evil.

I believe that to stand out from the crowd is to go out to be near Jesus and clearly hear Him and become a living prayer.

Well after that long explanation of my train of thought, my apologies. I’d like people to describe how they have had to stand out from the crowd to follow Jesus. How they have been unafraid in standing alone to stand up for the Gospel, their faith and for Jesus. Can you suggest any spiritual exercises you utilise to equip you to stand out from the ‘crowd’? I hope by sharing we may all be strengthened in faith and courage to stand out from the ‘crowd’.

God Bless all of you who stand out from the ‘crowd’

I look forward to reading your replies.

 

[Eileen_T]

Can you suggest any spiritual exercises you utilise to equip you to stand out from the ‘crowd’?

Pray the Rosary, and the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

I work in a Rest Home/Geriatric Hospital. I often find myself having to speak out against euthanasia & assisted suicide to people who think it would be ‘kinder’ to put people down. “Why would God, if He exists, let innocent people suffer?”

These same people see nothing wrong with pumping someone who develops pneumonia full of antibiotics when they have been lying immobile for years after a stroke and have no chance of recovery.

I also rely on God’s Providence totally and talk about it, only to have someone tell me how ‘lucky’ I am when things fall into place.

 

[blessedstar]

Pray the Rosary, and the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

I work in a Rest Home/Geriatric Hospital. I often find myself having to speak out against euthanasia & assisted suicide to people who think it would be ‘kinder’ to put people down. “Why would God, if He exists, let innocent people suffer?”

These same people see nothing wrong with pumping someone who develops pneumonia full of antibiotics when they have been lying immobile for years after a stroke and have no chance of recovery.

I also rely on God’s Providence totally and talk about it, only to have someone tell me how ‘lucky’ I am when things fall into place.

Thank you for your reply.

You are in a full blown battle with the culture of death.
That is a mighty battle to fight and you have my prayers.

There are smaller battles, but they still are battles. Here I’m thinking about saying the good word about someone who people find nothing good to say about.

Your daily struggle is nothing short of ‘horrific’; you are daily faced with evil beyond description. The fact that you remain in your occupation and do the good you do is holy. Your life is a beautiful prayer to God.

I thank God for you and one day God Himself will reward you for ‘standing out from the crowd’ in an extraordinary manner and Jesus stands with you.

In my prayers always.

 

[Eileen_T]

Thank you for your reply.

You are in a full blown battle with the culture of death.
That is a mighty battle to fight and you have my prayers.

There are smaller battles, but they still are battles. Here I’m thinking about saying the good word about someone who people find nothing good to say about.

Your daily struggle is nothing short of ‘horrific’; you are daily faced with evil beyond description. The fact that you remain in your occupation and do the good you do is holy. Your life is a beautiful prayer to God.

I thank God for you and one day God Himself will reward you for ‘standing out from the crowd’ in an extraordinary manner and Jesus stands with you.

In my prayers always.

Just last week we had a new RN (Catholic) who stated it was kinder to give stroke victims and the elderly “an air-bubble”!!!

She asked me why I was against euthanasia, what good did it do anyone to remain alive in such a condition. I replied “Redemptive suffering.”

We have an elderly woman in full grip of her faculties who is disruptive and just plain nasty (possibly a catholic because she sometimes makes the sign of the Cross as she asks God to make someone who has annoyed her die.)

I was thinking about her and how unpleasant she is (a perfect candidate for assisted suicide in a non-Christian society!) when God revealed that I should pray for her because probably no-one else does.

I am also to pray that I see nasty, irritating people as God sees them, and that will help me love them.

Today I had a phonecall from the mother of my daughter’s unborn baby. She couldn’t understand why my daughter and her son were going ahead with the pregnancy (both only 20). I told her that her son was always aware that if a pregnancy occurred, abortion was not an option, because of our religious beliefs.

The culture of death is all around us.

 

[blessedstar]

Last night before I fell asleep I was thinking about our Pope, Benedict 16th. I thought about how ceaselessly he proclaims the Gospel of Christ not only by the life he lives in Christ but also by the words he speaks to the entire world and how increasingly he is derided more and more viciously by secular society for proclaiming the Gospel. I thought of his predecessor Pope John Paul II who suffered terribly for the Gospel and was even shot for fearlessly preaching Christ Jesus to the world.

It gave me great courage to know these great men ‘stand out from the crowd in Christ’. I recalled the last words Pope John Paul II said to the now Pope Benedict 16th, ‘Be not afraid’.

Those words echoed in my heart, ‘Be not afraid’.

I then thought of Elijah, alone on that mountain top with the ‘Baal crowd’. Elijah was so unafraid he even made fun of the claims of the ‘Baal crowd’. They could have killed him there and then, but they we so anxious and proud they would rather enter into the struggle with him to prove their ideas. This suited Elijah down to the ground! Elijah knew that the Truth would stand firm and he was joyous to have this ‘holy battle’ with them. He happily doused the Altar with water, he was unafraid.

The two Popes I recall in my lifetime remind me of Elijah, they must at times feel very alone on their own ‘mountain top’. But no-one can ascend and remain on the mountain top unless they have first climbed it and lived it and by faith are assured of the summit, Christ Jesus.

Well today I give these words to you all…

’Be not afraid’

Proclaim Christ fearlessly to the world even if you are killed, persecuted, thought to be mad or insane, ridiculed, hated, schemed against or ignored. None of that matters. Great men and women before you and in your own time have endured all this and more and the faith lives on no matter what opposes it, no matter what evil the world does, no matter what madness takes hold of men, no matter what ‘crowd’ rises against you, no matter…proclaim Christ Jesus and stand out from ‘the crowd’.

There will always be the remnant. The Pope , the clergy and the faithful must take courage in this, that there will always be the remnant of Christ Jesus and so by standing out from the crowd alone in our little patch of the world we stand together in Jesus throughout the world.

A victorious Easter to you all in your labours and in the carrying of the cross to proclaim Christ Jesus and in my prayers.

 

[ncjohn]

I personally identify “the crowd” as anyone who feels a need to tear down rather than to build up. Unfortunately that far too often even includes people as this site.

Yes, there is evil to be fought, and yes, we need to lovingly correct at times. But I see far too much of picking at the splinter in someone else’s eye while ignoring the plank of self-righteousness in one’s own. And even worse, the need to condemn people for their legitimate preferences in the way they worship because they don’t happen to agree with our preferences.

As Christians we are called to be leaven to the dough of the world. Yet in many places Christians are hated, not because they are Christians, but because so many Christians do not live a Christian message of the Prince of Peace. Jesus never atempted to force faith on anyone, and the gospels contain many examples of his finding outsiders to be far more in tune with the Kingdom than the “faithful” of his time. Yet we see far too much of a “crusader” mentality within much of Christianity–and even our own Church toward other members of our own Church–of thinking we can beat people into submission.

I try to “stand out from the crowd” by living St Paul’s message in 1 Corinthians that if we don’t don’t speak the Truth with true loving concern, we are just a noisy gong and a clanging cymbal. By doing my best to have my life and actions reflect the message of peace I try to speak, for I am convinced that it was Jesus’s sense of total peace that drew people to him.

As to preparation, to me it is simply a matter of making continual time in silence to listen closely for what God is trying to tell me. Consciously setting aside time to listen, and then ponder what I’m being asked. I think we spend too much time trying to adapt to the noise of the world rather than to find ways to find quiet–and there is a big difference. You can’t hear the still small voice when you’re standing in a hurricane.

Or as a wise man once said, “when you’re up to your elbows in alligators, it’s hard to remember your objective was to drain the swamp.”

Thanks for another thought-provoking question blessedstar.

 

[DL82]

The biggest way of standing out from the crowd, without being a hypocrite or practicing your piety in public…

Step 1 - go to shops, buy a big cardboard box, an Icon of Our Lady, one of Christ, and a prayer book of some kind.

Step 2 - go home, go into your living room, unplug TV and any associated bits (satellite decoders, DVD players, etc.), pick up TV and place in cardboard box. Place cardboard box in loft, garage or cellar, or give it away if you’re really determined.

Step 3 - on table/cabinet where TV used to sit, set up Icons and prayer book, add a Bible and maybe a candle or two.

Amen.

 

[blessedstar]

I personally identify “the crowd” as anyone who feels a need to tear down rather than to build up. Unfortunately that far too often even includes people as this site.

I can see what you mean by this and there are different ways to cause disunity. I think that whoever knows the love of God desires that for all people but foremost desires to show the love of God in themselves towards others.

I see far too much of picking at the splinter in someone else’s eye while ignoring the plank of self-righteousness in one’s own. And even worse, the need to condemn people for their legitimate preferences in the way they worship because they don’t happen to agree with our preferences.

I agree with you. The Holy Spirit does not move all souls the same way though the path we all tread is the same path via different routes and each soul being unique says that we do not even love in the same way but are united in the Holy Spirit and worship in Spirit and in Truth.Thank God for the variety that make up all the parts of the Body of Christ.

We see far too much of a “crusader” mentality within much of Christianity–and even our own Church toward other members of our own Church–of thinking we can beat people into submission.

That’s rather Pharisiacal! It is always right to speak the truth, but I believe there are ways of speaking the truth that lovingly brings people together and not only this but helps each other to grow in love.

As to preparation, to me it is simply a matter of making continual time in silence to listen closely for what God is trying to tell me. Consciously setting aside time to listen, and then ponder what I’m being asked. I think we spend too much time trying to adapt to the noise of the world rather than to find ways to find quiet–and there is a big difference.

The fruit of practising silence in prayer and being able to hear God’s will and ‘being’ with God is that when we are in the hurricane you speak of we can speak a thousand words by our silence; silence of spirit holds a peace and conviction that is difficult to argue with.It does no good to try and shout over the noise of the ‘crowd’; the voice gets lost amongst the miriad of noise and the truth drowned out by untruth. Plus frequent reading of the Gospel allows the Living Word to penetrate us and it grows easier to discern and be prudent in word and deed.

Or as a wise man once said, “when you’re up to your elbows in alligators, it’s hard to remember your objective was to drain the swamp.”

Pride can get take our eye off the prize.

Another thing I believe is that once we make something our mission, perhaps it might be peace or unity, community, or justice then the first thing we will find is that we are not up to the mark. By that I mean that our desire for say unity becomes all encompassing and we place so much importance on it that we cause more harm than good and can personally end up being a source of disunity by trying to bring about unity. Therefore our only desire should be Jesus and all other desires left to Him. We must keep our desires in check even if they are holy desires because these can be the source of many sins and diservices to our brothers and sisters.We must take care that we do not place ideals above love of God and love of brother and sister

Thank you NcJohn for your beautiful reply.