{"id":21291,"date":"2022-07-15T07:51:09","date_gmt":"2022-07-15T12:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/?p=21291"},"modified":"2022-07-15T07:51:09","modified_gmt":"2022-07-15T12:51:09","slug":"we-are-our-habits-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/we-are-our-habits-3\/","title":{"rendered":"We Are Our Habits."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u0001\u0002Do you remember some of the things you used to do over and over as a kid? Little, personal and sometimes quirky activities that you\u2019d do when things got boring or you started getting nervous?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some children would suck their thumb. Some might bite their finger nails. Maybe you had a special blanket you would take everywhere. (Later in life my father and I battled cigarettes (I still struggle!). We call repeated actions habits; we do them without thinking. They relieve tension or anxiety and bring a mild pleasure or calming effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some habits are healthy and benefit people whenever they do them. \u201cThat\u2019s a good habit to get into,\u201d we say. (Brush your teeth\/eat your vegetables.) Other repeated actions can hurt us or others. These are bad habits. Some are bad (e.g. Lying) because the act itself is bad. We call these \u201csinful habits\u201d. Others are bad because they go too far (\u201cToo much\u201d of anything is a bad habit) or not far enough (sloth, or carelessness) in doing the right thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So . . . what\u2019s the point? It\u2019s simple. Get in the habit of doing good things. How? All habits begin with Repetition. Doing something again and again will bring a certain ease of performance. A good thing, once rather hard to perform (choosing not to gossip) can, with repetition, become easier. Parents, I can\u2019t stress this enough for your children. \u201cRepetition\u201d of good actions is essential to finding a path to true happiness in life.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our bodies themselves bear witness to this. Sit-ups\/push-ups (yuk!) become easier with repetition. It\u2019s really no different for our spiritual lives. Repetition makes for habit. Habit makes for virtue (an abiding strength). Virtue leads to happiness. Want to be happy? Keep on doing good. Simple eh?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take matters of sexuality. I don\u2019t think anyone of us is immune to the \u201csinful habit\u201d that can develop in our thoughts or actions as we confront lustful images or impulses that exist within us and around us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a \u201cgood habit\u201d that can defeat this lustful impulse. It\u2019s called \u201ccustody of the eyes\u201d. It refers to a mental readiness to turn away from seeing things that we know go beyond \u201cjust seeing\u201d to become \u201clusting\u201d. It\u2019s kind of like being nosy . . . with our eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s how it goes. Our eyes want to see everything. Some things are not ours to see (or show). We need to have a mental readiness to turn away from things we \u201cought not see\u201d. (Be ready to change the channel, look away, find something else to focus on.) We do this because it carries a respect for that person. Repeated ways of acting in this way we call \u201cmodesty\u201d and become a habit leading to the virtue of \u201cpurity\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Purity has gotten a bad wrap in our culture. It\u2019s seen as prudishness or a \u201cholier-than-thou\u201d attitude, or even a certain fearfulness of sex. Not so! Purity is a veneration of the person as a vessel of the Holy Spirit. God dwells in each of us and therefore we are each worthy of love . . . not lust.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The point here is to make clear these virtuous states don\u2019t \u201cjust happen\u201d. In fact, when left to nature, the opposite happens. Lust grows, not purity. Rumor, not truth. Selfishness, not generosity. It\u2019s part of our fallen human nature that this tendency exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s develop \u201chabits of love\u201d, actions of reverence for others and ourselves motivated by the knowledge of who we are . . . God\u2019s beloved children. This friends is the way to JOY<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone of us, God\u2019s Children – no exceptions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bless your heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fr. Tim<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PS. A great habit? Morning prayer.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u0001\u0002Do you remember some of the things you used to do over and over as a kid? Little, personal and sometimes quirky activities that you\u2019d do when things got boring or you started getting nervous? Some children would suck their thumb. Some might bite their finger nails. Maybe you had a special blanket you would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21292,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21291\/revisions\/21292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}