These are Disney shows but they’re nothing in moral content like those from the Wonderful World of Disney decades ago. So, I’m cutting out cable TV. And I’ll give a good-night talk in the way St. John Bosco did to his homeless youth. The good-night talk is done after night prayers and contains a moral lesson from something that happened during the day. That is how St. John Bosco made faith part of life. And psychologically, it is a most effective time to instill good thoughts. The talk is followed by the great silence – in the monastic tradition where no one talks unless it is an emergency. That silence ushers in sleep but also combats dissipation and distractions. The serenity and stillness brings recollection and a sense of God’s awesome and mysterious presence.
The classical spiritual writers call the culprit the predominant passion; behavioral scientists call them pre-neurotic tendencies. Bishop Eugene James Cuskelly in his book “A Heart to Know Thee” lists them below. What we can do is pick out the one that suits us and check ourselves. It’s like a car that’s veering to the side that needs to be pulled back constantly.
I try to instill the same spirit at home by asking my kids to help each other with their chores. While they have their assignments, they’re not allowed to say, “That’s not my job.” I set the example by helping my wife. When I come home and the house is filthy, I don’t complain. When I see my wife reading a magazine, I don’t resent that dinner is not ready. Instead, I sauté some meatballs then mix it with tomato sauce while boiling the water for the noodles – still in my work clothes. I know how it feels to stay home with 4 kids because I do it every Saturday when she works. And it helps. My wife feels loved and she continues to pass that to the kids.
St. John Bosco (1888) may have scandalized others in his efforts to attract and educate boys. Rather than detaching himself from the world and limiting himself to priestly work, he got involved in contract negotiations with the employers of the exploited boys who flocked into the city from the countryside. Rather than wait for them to knock at the Rectory, he went out to find them in the alleys near liquor stores. Rather than keep himself so prim and proper with well starched vestments, he pulled his cossack up as he raced in the town square with the boys.
His attitude of change has been immortalized in the Rules of the Salesians. This has been why his order has thrived and grown to be the third largest in the world today.
To adapt to the needs of times requires the ability to read the “signs of the times“. Being stuck in age old ways is not fidelity; it can be blindness. If one is wearing shades, then everything is seen in that hue. When something fails, it is blamed on everything other than oneself.
I remember meeting two Salesians back in the 80s. The younger talked about the modem setup in the school while the older talked about the book binding shop. It is not good when people get stuck in a rut; because, if all they have is a hammer, then everything else looks like a nail.
To innovate is risky. It is safer to be reactionary, to sit back and wait for the innovator to fail. But as St. Theresa of the Avila wrote, “One who makes no mistakes, makes nothing.” People nowadays are severely criticizing the experiments and abuses
But who is the real champion of the poor and who uses them for his advantage? It is not he who kills the goose the lays the golden eggs by over-regulating the financial industry to the point that capital investment dries up and wilts the source of a dignified livelihood. It is not he who oppresses the rich in the name of justice for justice is not brought about by injustice.
For as the Lord Jesus states, “The poor will always be around.” And people like Judas will continue to feign concern to help themselves instead. The test on whether a person is truly concerned to help the poor is through the integrity of his character. It he has lied to the people before, then the chances of him lying now is quite likely.
Did Ben Benanke’s tactics avert the recurrence of a debilitating depression or did he simply delay it’s onslaught? This video suggests imply that the economic stimulus had the same effect as a shot of morphine that numbed the pain without healing the cause. Worse, it has turned us into a junkie needing fixes until we OD or hit rock bottom.
Perhaps there is a quick rehab and will get us back on our feet sooner – like a new mix of fiscal and monetary policies or a new global approach that makes markets more efficient than ever. Until that’s found, the only way out is the old fashioned cold-turkey and pick-ourselves-up-by-the-boot-straps approach.
It starts with the humbling acceptance of the truth that we messed up followed by embracing those old school values and boring life styles that values temperance over excess, patience over instant gratification, thrift over living large, saving over borrowing and discipline over letting go.
To go beyond the mundane, this renewed way of living is the classic spirituality of sacrifice, the way of the cross. The virtue of humility disposes us to be patient and put up with doing without or with less. It makes us temperate in living within or even beneath our means. Discipline is fortitude or the strength to say no or go, without fear of hardship and deprivation. This is the old school of asceticism; this is why people voluntarily take the vow of poverty. And after being mortified and purified, one enters into mysticism where sacrifice is no longer an uncomfortable state. Rather, it becomes transforming as a seed dies to sprout into a plant that will produce fruit. Or we join the Lord Jesus in His “kenosis” where He suffered and died to bring us eternal life.
Chatting with a former pupil, I learned that he was living a life of quiet desperation. He lost his family and is feeling like a robot who mechanically does nothing of consequence day after day.
To help, I searched the web and tried to recall what I’ve learned about work but all those were about how things should be. But most workers have little or no control over that. So I thought of my own reasons and ways.
First I think of why I work. A picture of my 4 little kids and wife can make anything bearable.
Finally and most importantly, I make my work a prayer, an act of worship and adoration by offering it to God. I pray a morning offering to start my day and short prayers during breaks like, “Lord I offer this to you.” And I know that I am like a monk who is constantly praying and in the process, doing the greatest thing that a man can do.
Last Sunday, my kids and I built a leaf pile that they tore into by jumping in it, burrowing under it, throwing the leaves at each other, putting it inside their clothes and chasing each other around it. While this was going on, I taped the event then sat on the swing to rest.
My 6 year old daughter walked up, looked me in the eye and asked, “Are you happy Dad? I said I am. Unconvinced she continued, “What will make you happy Dad?” I answered spontaneously, “If you and your brothers get along and are happy, then I’ll be happy.” “What if you played with us?” she persisted. “I’m a little tired right now” I said. So, she talked to her siblings and soon they all came bearing leaves to shower on me.” I just smiled.
Later that night, I asked my wife if she put her up to it. “No”, my wife answered. “But I always tell them that they will make us happy if they are obedient and don’t fight each other.” So it truly came from my daughter.
She’s the one whom I’ve blogged about from time to time because of her temper. But now she’s growing fast, becoming perceptive and truly loving. I confess that in my life that is what I consider as the purest act of love that has been bestowed upon me; I felt like kneeling to thank God for it. It was enough to make me dump all my baggage so
that I can focus on her instead and love her in return.
St. John Bosco’s preventive system is described as a pedagogy from heaven because it first came to him on a vision. John saw himself playing with a crowd of neighborhood boys; many of them were fighting and swearing. He told them to stop, then leapt in with both fists when they did not. Suddenly a stranger, a noble and radiant gentleman, appeared. He told John that he needed to use kindness, not blows, to win over these children. John did not understand. The man said he would give him a teacher, and a majestic Lady showed up. She instructed John to watch, and the boys turned into wild animals—bears, goats, dogs, cats, etc. “This,” she told him, “is your field of work. Make yourself humble, strong, and energetic, so that you’ll be able to do for my children what you’ll see now.” And the beasts turned into gentle lambs. In his confusion, John began to cry. The Lady assured him that in due time he would understand. And he woke up. (http://www.bosconet.aust.com/DBD.html#d0e17 )
Both preventive and repressive systems involve making expectations and consequences known. In the preventive system, educator to assists the kids to succeed like a friend keeping his buddies away from trouble. In the repressive system, the educator enforces the rules and administers punishments on violations just like a cop. The preventive system takes time, effort and self-sacrifice. One needs to hang out with the kids and have something fun for them. The repressive system is easy ; one comes in only as needed usually to assert authority over the little people. In return, the preventive system works; it makes the kids better by changing them from the inside. The repressive system can give compliance just like those of prisoners but it does not educate. How
Source http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16PaWJvngBE or click here
Video description: 3 of the old parents were proud of their children’s careers. However, these children did not have time for their parents. “They were very busy” each said. The last woman did not talk much of her son. Her son was not a high flyer like the others. But her son has time for his mother. The other 3 women were in awe. They would prefer that their children spend time with them.
Recent Coments