tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post5190778936835413398..comments2023-09-26T03:53:17.142-04:00Comments on Pentimento: Bags of MoneyPentimentohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17161146891505294679noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-77794232082355967422012-07-04T17:45:53.186-04:002012-07-04T17:45:53.186-04:00Amen. I find that many people who call themselves...Amen. I find that many people who call themselves Christians harbor the conceit that they themselves are incapable of committing the sins they find most despicable. How wrong! There are plenty of sins I have not committed, but that is grace. In different circumstances, I might have committed almost any sin ever confessed. TQAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-15244439208217530702012-06-20T12:54:50.186-04:002012-06-20T12:54:50.186-04:00"And the beauty of the internet is that it pr..."And the beauty of the internet is that it provides a way for what might otherwise have been privately uncharitable thoughts to become public proclamations."<br /><br />I'm afraid this is me veering off on a tangent again, but this reminds me of how I've always cringed to read press reports of the families of murder victims (especially abducted children) express the desire for the killers to rot in Hell and so forth. Can anyone not understand that as an emotional reaction? A priest I really respected once addressed in a homily how we can take comfort in knowing there IS justice with God, that no one is going to "get away with" anything, but of course we are not to hope that means others are eternally damned. But I don't think immortalizing those quotes from victims' families (mostly for the sake of selling papers/ratings/getting ad impressions on a news website) helps anyone. Probably silly imagining the press would look to a Christian standard in what they choose to report and highlight, though. At least we can still try to hold fellow Catholics in the blog world to that, though...e-nynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-15108162881950875032012-06-20T08:05:23.514-04:002012-06-20T08:05:23.514-04:00e-ny, that's a very fair insight. I do think i...e-ny, that's a very fair insight. I do think it's possible to grow up with a very stunted concept of grace and forgiveness: a lot of families operate on a model wherein the universe has none, and even when the head (and even the heart) learns of the existence of mercy, all the old instincts keep kicking in. <br /><br />That's true of all of us and any kind of sin, of course, especially deep-seated tendencies which spring from our experiences in our own families, but certainly for many people (myself not necessarily excluded) this is a particular manifestation. And the beauty of the internet is that it provides a way for what might otherwise have been privately uncharitable thoughts to become public proclamations.Sally Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05014351173194941624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-70779235248969959832012-06-20T05:13:09.670-04:002012-06-20T05:13:09.670-04:00As someone said, grace is getting what you don'...As someone said, grace is getting what you don't deserve; mercy is not getting what you do deserve.Pentimentohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17161146891505294679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-24236367108573779112012-06-19T23:41:55.869-04:002012-06-19T23:41:55.869-04:00At the heart of such attitudes is the deep seated ...At the heart of such attitudes is the deep seated belief that we are not on the same level as an abortionist. We are better than that. I understand that feeling. It was an argument that crossed my mind every single time that I would pray the Lord's Prayer and ask God to hold me to the same standard of forgiveness that I doled out to the child molester. I would get really pissed off, initially, like "how is THAT fair." I think overtime, though, the Lord opened my eyes to see the perp through his eyes AND to myself as God sees me. We are all in need of Grace and God help us if we do not learn to have Mercy on others. We only call down judgment upon ourselves when we say "no" to Love and Mercy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-51591650552224784832012-06-19T20:59:53.143-04:002012-06-19T20:59:53.143-04:00I deleted an email draft (rejoice!) trying to make...I deleted an email draft (rejoice!) trying to make the same point with more personal anecdotes, but I guess it's possible that some of those who are not trolling by saying such things also have things in their backgrounds that make this kind of attitude toward other sinners *their* particular temptation. (Telling myself I can make a point in less than 1,000 words and it might only have been less clear with all the illustrative anecdotes and their nuances...)e-nynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-34900772884615060882012-06-19T19:52:43.910-04:002012-06-19T19:52:43.910-04:00Your bitchy blog comment is safe with bitchy me.
...Your bitchy blog comment is safe with bitchy me.<br /><br />And yes. To everything you wrote. <br /><br />If these naysayers knew anything about their faith, they'd know that here is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over a hundred righteous men, and also that, as I'm not sure who said, the Catholic Church is a hospital for sinners, not a hotel for saints. And they also might have the humility to admit that, if they had to take on the lives, backgrounds, and circumstances of those they condemn, they might not have done any differently.Pentimentohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17161146891505294679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-68295565834744017562012-06-19T18:24:36.188-04:002012-06-19T18:24:36.188-04:00That makes me happy -- and depressed and angry. I ...That makes me happy -- and depressed and angry. I really can't get my head around these responses. That's like criticizing the Coming Home Network for making it easy for a Protestant clergyman to become Catholic. Shouldn't he demonstrate the strength of his convictions by losing his house? I mean, if he really had a change of heart, shouldn't he PROVE he's not going to go on being a crypto-Baptist? By starving? His entire family? Because Jesus says that once you've been wrong about something, nobody will ever, ever, ever love you again? <br /><br />By these standards, we really ought to go around in flagellants' parades -- I mean, if we're *truly* sorry we left the bitchy blog comment . . .Sally Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05014351173194941624noreply@blogger.com