Tag: Catholic

Guide to Goodness

Winning the Spiritual Battle of Greed with Generosity

Smitten With Goodness
Art by Melanie Boutiette Just Beloved

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself.  There are no greater commandments than these.  As the Gospel of Mark 12:28 reminds us, when Jesus was asked about the first commandment, he answered by linking these two commandments together.  We learn to love God by loving our neighbor.  The sin we dive into today destroys our ability to love in this way.  If we are driven by the culture which tells us to always acquire more, we lose sight of how to love our neighbor.  The Church, comprised of people, has historically provided for our neighbors in need in living out these commandments.  But the tides are turning in our culture as we turn from God, and replace it with the expectation that government should provide the solution.

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Guide to Goodness

Winning All Souls for God’s Glory. Winning the Spiritual Battle of Sloth with Diligence.

Smitten With Goodness
Sloth ad from Harper Magazine Seven Deadly Sin Series (1986)

This is a big week with our first Anniversary on All Saint’s Day yesterday and today’s celebration of All Soul’s Day. All Saints is a celebration of the communion of saints, those people we believe are in heaven. All Souls’ Day is a day where we pray for all souls. This includes those in purgatory, waiting to get into heaven. I love the Christian concept of the importance of the individual soul that underlies All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. God’s goodness has shined a light on this importance for me over the years.

Continue reading “Winning All Souls for God’s Glory. Winning the Spiritual Battle of Sloth with Diligence.” →
Inspiring Goodness

Celebrating A Year of Being Smitten with Goodness

Smitten With Goodness
Happy Anniversary Smitten With Goodness

It was important to me that Smitten with Goodness launched last year on All Saints Day.  Because saints love God and they love what is good, I felt putting this stake in the ground would be a guiding force for the journey.  When we show up and say “Yes” to God, He uses us to touch lives, bring His love to the world, and walk the path of holiness and sainthood. 

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.

1 John 4:7-8

The definition of Smitten with Goodness is being struck by strong feelings of attraction in the direction of being good, holy, and pure.  We fall in love with the good.  We are smitten, deeply affected, or infatuated with goodness or godliness.  A state of being free from guilt and sin, it is being in the presence and flow of pure love. 

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Guide to Goodness

Winning the Spiritual Battle of Envy and Anger with Kindness and Forgiveness

Smitten With Goodness

Last Sunday, we looked at the role pride plays in keeping us from living the good life and how humility is the cure for this dis-ease.   Today we look at the next two deadly sins, envy and anger and their cure, kindness, and forgiveness.  Envy and anger have a symbiotic relationship, as they create conflict within us and with others.  Where one is present, usually the other is there if we peel back the layers of our emotions.

Emotions can be tricky, but it is helpful to remind ourselves that they can be a good thing if we have awareness and use them as a tool to question what is really going on.  When we are in conflict, we often get stuck in thoughts of how difficult a person or situation is making us feel.  This is counterproductive because if we focus on the other person, we are not getting closer to resolving the issue.  By looking at our part in the situation, we can create a shift and work through our reactions and emotions towards a positive outcome. 

Continue reading “Winning the Spiritual Battle of Envy and Anger with Kindness and Forgiveness” →