Here’s what we covered:
- What’s the cause of all unhappiness?
- What’s the antidote to unhappiness?
- How do we build habits of forgiveness and mercy in the family?
- What Commandment do we break the most?
- What’s a good examination of conscience to use?
November 21, 2024 Radio Interview & Podcast:
What is the cause of all unhappiness?
- This is the crucial question! Get it wrong and you waste your life on the wrong things.
- SIN is the cause of all unhappiness, either original sin or personal sin.
- Through sin, man was cast out of the happiness of the Garden of Eden.
- Sin darkens the intellect and weakens the will.
- Studies show that the sin of lying strains your brain, increases rates of depression, and decreases mental health.
What is the antidote to unhappiness?
- Grace! Grace is God’s gift of healing, strength, life and love. You’ve got to get some!
- The grace of forgiveness, especially through the Sacrament of Confession is powerful!
- One study found that forgiving yourself, forgiving others, and feeling forgiven by God strongly correlated to better mental health, physical health, life satisfaction, and happiness.
- Nelson Mandela said it best, ‘Not to forgive is like drinking poison and waiting for your enemies to die from it.’
- Through sin, we lost the original happiness we enjoyed being in face to face relationship with God.
- Through Confession to Christ in the person of the priest, we enter back into that relationship!
- Heaven will be the beatific vision, beholding God face to face, which will enrapture us for eternity.
- St Thomas Aquinas said that we need purity of heart to grasp the truth of things and to be able to see God. So, confession of our sins purifies us so we can see God who alone satisfies our deepest longings!
- St Irenaeus underscored this same truth: “The life of man is the vision of God.”
How do we build habits of forgiveness and mercy in the family?
- First, we must apologize to our kids when we are wrong, rude or harsh. Nothing teaches better than example.
Kids learn that we are accountable to someone! We are accountable to God! That teaches them to be accountable to Him also. - Secondly, go to confession at least monthly!
“Monthly confession will be a remedy for the Church in the West.”- Our Lady of Medjugorje - Thirdly, in the home, train our children to imitate confession!
Make full apologies and make amends, just like in confession:
“I am sorry (insert name here) for hitting you, will you forgive me?”
“I will do such and such to make amends, will that be acceptable?”
Then, train our children to forgive, just as Jesus does in the person of the priest, every time.
Remember! Forgiveness is an act of the will, not a movement of emotion!
What Commandment do we break the most?
- The first! We worship, adore, and sacrifice ourselves for something other than God. (ie. Power, Possessions, and Pleasure)
- All sins start with breaking the first commandment by putting something other than God first.
What is a good examination of conscience to use?
- Many options online.
- Or, consider reviewing the major points of the Our Father:
1– Our Father: am I obedient to God my Father or to myself? Do I obey His voice spoken through His Church? “Whoever hears you (His apostles), hears Me, whoever rejects you, rejects Me.” -Luke 10:16
2– Your Kingdom come: am I seeking the riches of the world for my satisfaction or the riches of the Kingdom first- Faith, Hope and Love?
3– Your Will be done: is my own selfish will truly motivating my actions? Do I have purity of intention, doing everything for the love of God and neighbor? - Priests, brothers and nuns take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to be a sign to the world that true happiness for all of us comes from:
1– being poor in spirit, detached from worldly riches and thereby free to use them to build God’s Kingdom
2– having pure intentions- really seeking the highest good for others and for ourself by following God’s ways
3– being obedient to God’s voice in our parents or superiors and to the teachings of Christ through His Church
Comment below:
Did your parents ever apologize to you? How’d that go?
Have you apologized to your child? How’d it go?
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