Saturday after Ash Wednesday - March 5, 2022

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 Isaiah 58:9b-14           Luke 5:27-32

“If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech….Then light shall rise for you in the darkness….”

This passage from Isaiah immediately takes me back to when I was a boy. I would be grousing about this or that – and my father would gently advise, “never criticize, condemn, or complain.” His handing down of that old Marine Corps adage was simple, but good guidance. It was also darn difficult to follow for a guy with a penchant for all three.

To focus on conducting my behavior in accordance with this reading is a goal worthy of striving for and surely makes me a better contributor to my family and community - even if my failings in the effort are a daily event.

For me the wisdom of the scriptures, the Church’s teachings,  good parents’ advice and example guide the way to living a life of some civility. Without this guidance things would be even more of a random happening than they often are.

Isaiah’s words and other wisdoms of the Bible reinforce my belief that this faith of ours has been such an important influence in making our society a gentler, kinder, more livable world, than it otherwise would have been. Notwithstanding how very, very hard it is to – never criticize, condemn, or complain.

michael o’neill: parishioner of Visitation Parish for 40 plus years; Husband of Mary Etta O'Neill – another force to be reckoned with.

 

Q:  Choose one of these to work on each week during Lent - never criticize; never condemn; never complain. Which one will I begin with?

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