Well make sure you don't miss Sunday Night Live with Father Benedict Groeschel. This Sunday's topic on March 9th is
How to Deal with Scruples & Guilt.
If you can, try calling in. Father Groeschel gently reprimanded us for not calling in when his guest a couple of weeks ago, an elderly priest talked about his work and vocation as a priest.
Scrupulosity can be a very real problem among Catholics (and persons of other denominations too. I think it was the Puritans who started it, but it found its Catholic supporters too. I can't remember the name of the bishop whose name is attached to the Catholic form of Puritanism). Some believe it is a religious manifestation of an obsessive compulsive disorder. I believe it is the consequence of people being too focussed on the letter of the law rather than on the spirit of the Truth.
ReplyDeleteWe sin both by commission and by omission, however, both require intent. I can easily flip through the TV stations and come across something that could be an offence against chastity, however, the offence is not in seeing it or coming across it, but in purposeful intent to derive vicarious enjoyment from it.
Of course, I often find people are extremely legalistic, boasting of their faithfulness on the clever interpretation of a word, rather than on the spirit of the meaning. For example, Jesus taught us to "Love your neighbour as yourself." A clever interpreter might say, "But he is not my neighbour, he is a stranger, therefore I do not need to love him."
I think St. Thomas A. Kempis in his The Imitation of Christ sums it up nicely: Oftentimes, too great an attentiveness for devotion and anxiety about confession hinder a person. Do as wise men do. Cast off anxiety and scruple, for it impedes the grace of God and destroys devotion of the mind. (from his essay on the need for frequent receipt of Holy Communion)
Sigh, one of the only things I miss about TV is EWTN. I have to listen to it over my computer.
ReplyDeleteWhy thank you for sharing your thoughts on scrupulosity Richard! I would be very interested in knowing the name of the bishop you refer to.
ReplyDeleteThat's too bad Amy. I know that feeling quite well.
The movement was called Jansenism and after the Bishop of Ypres, Cornelius Jansen.
ReplyDeleteThough I couldn't remember it last night.
Oh yes! Thanks Richard!
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