"Guilt is not just the breaking of a love; it is the wounding of someone who is loved."
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
For Reflection:
What love does guilt break? Who is the loved one that experiences wounding? How does morbid guilt break a love and wound the loved one?
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A new report by the Parents Television Council (PTC) has found that the top four reality shows on
MTV -
Jersey Shore, Real World, Teen Mom 2 and
16 and Pregnant are teaching young girls that it's hip to be self-denigrating, mean-spirited and promiscuous.
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"The forgiveness of God is one thing, but the proof that we want that forgiveness is the energy we expend to make amends for the wrong."
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
For Reflection:
To what extent do I expend energy to make amends for a wrong to God, to others, to myself? How does this help me reconcile guilt and demonstrate remorse?Â
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Warren Jeffs, the imprisoned leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), is using his time in prison to terrorize his flock by demanding that they promulgate a bizarre series of doomsday prophecies and ordering them to cease having sex and to turn over all assets to the community or face instant excommunication.
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Today's woman is smart, sophisticated, and adept at multi-tasking, but when she steps into a wedding dress for the first time, most become aware for the first time of the beauty of being woman.
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"I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him."
C. S. Lewis
For Reflection:
Guilt is a good response to sin. Morbid guilt is not. What is the difference between healthy remorse fueled by good guilt and despair fueled by morbid guilt?
( See tomorrow's Grace Line for one way to measure good guilt and healthy remorse.)
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Families facing hard times this Christmas are getting some unexpected relief in the form of "Secret Santas" who have been popping up all over the U.S., mostly at Kmart stores, where they secretly pay off the layaway accounts for cash-strapped families.
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"Our will -freely choosing to hold on to anger, bitterness, resentment, and hostility - becomes an impenetrable fortress preventing God's life from entering our heart, which, through the privation of grace, becomes stony, hard, and cold. This interior reality eventually affects all aspects of our being."
Johnnette Benkovic
For Reflection:
How is our free will an integral part of the forgiveness process? What am I choosing in relation to those who have disappointed, hurt, offended, or injured me? Is my heart stony, hard, and cold toward them? How is this affecting me in other ways?
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Regarding the boy who stabbed her to death when she would not cooperate with his desire to rape her:
"I forgive Alessandro. I forgive him with all my heart; and I want him to be with me in heaven."
St. Maria Goretti
For Reflection:
If this precious young woman can forgive her murderer, who am I to hold on to the offenses committed against me?
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"The saints had no hatred, no bitterness. They forgave everything."
For Reflection:
Do I truly want to be a saint?
(See tomorrow's Grace Line for a young girl who did and proved it.)
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