{"id":7318,"date":"2020-07-15T19:46:35","date_gmt":"2020-07-16T00:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/?p=7318"},"modified":"2020-07-15T19:50:43","modified_gmt":"2020-07-16T00:50:43","slug":"out-of-alignment-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/out-of-alignment-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Out of Alignment."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pictures, as the saying goes, are worth a thousand words. Whether it\u2019s about \u201ca feeling\u201d or \u201can idea\u201d or \u201csomething we believe in\u201d, it helps to get a picture in our mind that captures the essence of what we\u2019re thinking about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I was thinking the other day of what the faith teaches about \u201cthe effects of Original Sin\u201d. You remember Original Sin, right? In the mythic story, Adam and Eve disobeyed God\u2019s command to refrain from eating the fruit of that tree. It\u2019s the God inspired picture of an event no one was there to record. It is a great mystery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The catechism tells us that one of the effects of Original Sin has been the wounding of our human nature. That means the creature, man, made in God\u2019s image, has forfeited his original holiness and justice and \u201cis wounded in the natural powers proper to it.\u201d (reason and will) (Catholic Catechesis #405). In short, we suffer ignorance about who we are, and in this ignorance we are inclined to sin. This leaning toward sin is called \u201cconcupiscence\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, here\u2019s my picture. See if this makes any sense. . . . I\nhad an old VW \u201cbug\u201d way back in college. Great little\nvehicle – started up every time. One problem, it was out\nof alignment. Driving down the road, if you let go of the\nwheel, before long it would pull left and take you into\nthe oncoming lane. It wouldn\u2019t happen all at once, but\nyou could feel a leaning. Like the car had a mind of its\nown, it pulled you into the other lane. To counteract this\nyou had to drive with the wheel pegged to the right.\nThis would keep the car in the proper lane heading\nstraight.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is the same with us humans. If we let go of the wheel,\nif we don\u2019t take control over the direction of our lives,\nwe eventually \u201cpull into the wrong lane\u201d.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of us experience this pull in our own way. (The classic \u201cpulls\u201d are called the Capital Sins \u2013 pride, envy, anger, gluttony, lust, jealousy and sloth). What\u2019s yours?!! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The church\u2019s teaching about the effects of Original Sin\nmakes great sense. It\u2019s a pull, an inclination. Going our\nown way, without God\u2019s will to guide us, sooner or later\nwe fall. Everyone sins.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t be shocked that you have this tendency to sin – – – everybody has it (except Jesus and Mary \u2013 but that\u2019s another story!) We\u2019re in a battle. Be ready to fight. Some battles we win; some we lose. But, we don\u2019t give up the fight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is that we\u2019ve got the power to overcome\nthis misalignment. God comes to our help here with the\ngrace of the Holy Spirit empowering us to chose God\u2019s\nway. But we have to do our part too. We need to be\naware of the pull \u201cand keep our hands on the wheel\u201d!!\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pray and recognize your tendency. Ask God to help correct your alignment and the strength to avoid the places and things that approach you with their familiar enticements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t be discouraged if it takes a while to keep in the proper lane. A priest might be able to help you here. Certainly the Sacrament of Penance\/Reconciliation (Confession) is a great source of strength and realignment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, do really fun things. The devil hates it when people can laugh at themselves and share friendship with others who are keeping their hands on the wheel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please enjoy this summer. God will be pleased if we celebrate this wonderful gift. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

(This article was previously posted on August 20, 2017) <\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pictures, as the saying goes, are worth a thousand words. Whether it\u2019s about \u201ca feeling\u201d or \u201can idea\u201d or \u201csomething we believe in\u201d, it helps to get a picture in our mind that captures the essence of what we\u2019re thinking about. So, I was thinking the other day of what the faith teaches about \u201cthe […]<\/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-7318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-column"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7318","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=7318"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7323,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7318\/revisions\/7323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}