BEADS OF JOY 03-27-19
“Lent – Day 19”
©2019 James Dacey, Jr. OFS
“The Habit of Sin Blinds Us”
Lenten Season – Day 19
My Friends,
It is indeed so difficult for us to conquer such a habit. Of all
the habits mankind has encountered, (habits: smoking, eating, nail biting,
chocolate…) but "sin" in and of itself because it covers
so many parts of who we are, it is impossible to completely avoid this habit.
We are unfortunately infected by something called concupiscence. I have spoken
of this before in other blogs. Concupiscence is kind of like that person you
stop and ask directions from, you listen, think all is good and you proceed
forward, and before you know you are going completely in the wrong direction.
Life is like that, we are always looking for the "right"
direction to be moving, and unfortunately because the father of sin (satan);
he is deceitful and misleading and never rests or sleeps; he presents the wrong
direction in a nice friendly way. That misrepresentation along with the
blindness we attain from our sin, we find ourselves falling back into sin time
and time again.
We all experience those one or two sins we just seem to never be
able to get away from. You know what I am talking about, that one sin that if
you can only stop it, you would never do it again and you'd be even more
faithful in all things. I think we have all been there. We find ourselves just
like this, "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual,
sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I
do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree
that the law is good." Romans 7:14-16, Ah see, we are not the only
ones struggling with trying to defeat that which we hate to do. We must not
give up in this struggle of defeating the habit, the stakes are too high. We
must try to break that bond our enemy (satan) has entangled into our
lives and do our best to rid our lives of such vices. St. Bernardine of Sienna
once said, "Entangled by a habit, they are bound by the enemy; and
though flying, they are cast down into the same vices."
These undesirable habits become a part of our nature to some
degree at times. We really need to keep watch over the very habits we have
developed. Sometimes anger pushes into a certain sin, or certain kinds of
movies or the way we see others dressed. Not everyone is strong is there
testimony and focus on Jesus. And our lack of attentiveness of these bad habits
only hinder us and drag us back into them, most of the time unknowingly, but
unfortunately often times willingly. I hear many talks about this through the
years. And it's been pointed out that everyone to some degree deals with this.
Our weakness could be anger, or judging others, or pride, or lust, or
selfishness. That's a mere speck of what many of us deal with. And we do know
that just because we don't advertise our sin on cable, or the internet God is
well aware of our heart. "He said to them, "You are the ones who
justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is
highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight." Luke 16:15, now
that's a thought.
Let's not wallow in our sin and think oh pity on me. Instead let's
do all we can to conquer these habits. I agree that sometimes even that is
impossible, but how about looking at it this way; let's do all we can to lessen
them and stop them dead in their tracks as much as we possibly can. That can be
the new habit of defeating the one habit of sin that has venom that goes
directly to our soul. Our best defense is going to be a good offense, and that
offense is frequent confession. I will continue to speak frequently of this
throughout Lent. This is the perfect time to get our hearts and soul clean
before God. God knows we want to, let's use this time to show our sincerity and
go to confession as often as time will allow. Think of it as a car wash for
your soul.
Today's Challenge: Keep a log, of your habits. Every time you feel
yourself going down that road of sin, write down what happened, just before
that. Was it an argument, was it anger, or was it something or someone that seemed
to happen before? You'll be creative, then you will know when and how to stop
or avoid certain sins. I'm praying for all of you.
“Merciful Ears:
Training our ears to
hear the voice of God”
Evenings with the Merciful Jesus
Training our ears to
hear the voice of God”
Evenings with the Merciful Jesus
LOVE YOU GUYS !!!!
Your brother in Christ Jesus
And His Most Blessed Mother,
Jim (The Rosary Man) Dacey Jr OFS
Today is Wednesday: We pray the Glorious Mysteries:
The Glorious Mysteries
1. The Resurrection (Faith) –Mark 16:1-8
2. The Ascension (Hope) –Luke 24:50-53
3. The Descent of the Holy Spirit (Love) –Acts 2:1-4
4. Assumption of Mary.1 (A Happy Death) –Rev 12:1-6
5. Coronation of Mary (Mary’s intercession) –Judith 15:9-10
Glory and Honor and Praise to You Lord Jesus Christ!
Your brother in Christ Jesus
And His Most Blessed Mother,
Jim (The Rosary Man) Dacey Jr OFS
Today is Wednesday: We pray the Glorious Mysteries:
The Glorious Mysteries
1. The Resurrection (Faith) –Mark 16:1-8
2. The Ascension (Hope) –Luke 24:50-53
3. The Descent of the Holy Spirit (Love) –Acts 2:1-4
4. Assumption of Mary.1 (A Happy Death) –Rev 12:1-6
5. Coronation of Mary (Mary’s intercession) –Judith 15:9-10
Glory and Honor and Praise to You Lord Jesus Christ!
Rosary Man Jim's Glorious Reflections: http://beads-of-joy-blog.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-glorious-mysteries.html
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