{"id":6123,"date":"2020-01-18T07:19:47","date_gmt":"2020-01-18T12:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/?p=6123"},"modified":"2020-01-18T07:57:16","modified_gmt":"2020-01-18T12:57:16","slug":"feelings-they-need-a-guide-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/feelings-they-need-a-guide-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Feelings . . . they need a guide."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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We humans are such a complicated, changing, rational\nand irrational mix of thoughts and feelings. And yet\nthese are the tools we use to guide our way through life.\nWhich is stronger? Which is right?\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As children our feelings are our only guide. Some things\nmake us feel good – some things make us feel bad. So the\nchild keeps doing the \u201cfeel good\u201d till it doesn\u2019t feel good\nany longer. (We all remember eating the whole bag of\ncookies\/popcorn\/candy till we got sick.)\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later on life has shown us that not everything that feels good is \u201cgood for us\u201d. We learn the word \u201cno\u201d from parents who love us and want the best for us. We learn that sometimes it\u2019s best to not follow our feelings. \u201cNo running by the pool.\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t jump on the bed.\u201d \u201cNo cigarette sales to minors.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of these thoughts come from generations of trial\nand error. It\u2019s a low form of what we call \u201cwisdom\u201d.\nHow many of us have lamented that wisdom came too\nlate? \u201cI wish I knew then what I know now. Things\nwould be different.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why do we have these feelings if sooner or later they trick us into some really bad choices? (Any tattoos you\u2019d like to get rid of?) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s because at their beginning they propose to us a very good thing. Physical pleasure, emotional uplift, affection given and received . . . all these are fine, God given human desires. Feelings are what point us to them and secure them for us. Feelings are wonderful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is our feelings need a governor (or a cop).\nBy themselves feelings are energy, desire, appetite. They\nare indiscriminate about what they are attracted to.\nThey\u2019ll chase whatever brings the desired feeling regard-\nless of the results. Feelings need to be taught their proper\npurpose.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what is that? – – – – What\u2019s true. This affection you\nfeel . . . is it true love? The fun gathering of friends . . . is\nit true? The desire to have some new possession . . . does\nit serve a truth.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, joined as a twin to the truth is . . . the Good.\nIf something is true, it\u2019s good. If it\u2019s good, it\u2019s true. And\nwhat is the source of Good and True? God of course.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

So goodness and truth are the guides for our feelings, for what we should want, what we should do. This will at times require us to say \u201cno\u201d to certain feelings. Not out of fear or repression but simply because they don\u2019t serve what is True or Good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember when Jesus was fasting in the desert for 40\ndays and nights? Matthew, Chapter 4 tells us \u201cJesus was\nhungry.\u201d Bread looked pretty good to him at that point.\nYum! \u201cOrder these stones to turn into bread\u201d, the devil\nsaid to him. Jesus of course replied, \u201cNot on bread alone\ndoes man live, but on every word that comes from God.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So feelings. They\u2019re God\u2019s way of leading us to what is true and good, but they need the eyes of Faith to see clearly their proper end. Let us teach these things to our children and show them in the way we live our lives as adults. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God Bless You,
Fr. Tim <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This bulletin article was written on January 24, 2016. <\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We humans are such a complicated, changing, rational and irrational mix of thoughts and feelings. And yet these are the tools we use to guide our way through life. Which is stronger? Which is right? As children our feelings are our only guide. Some things make us feel good – some things make us feel […]<\/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":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-column"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6123","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=6123"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6126,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6123\/revisions\/6126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}