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Saturday 4 p.m.
Sunday 8 & 10 a.m. Mon.-Thurs., 8 a.m. Confessions
Saturday 3:15 p.m.
and by request Office Hours
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"We Gather in Faith" |
Teaching and commentary by our pastor, the Most Rev. Francis J. Christian
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REFLECTIONS
We see this in ourselves, our families, our schools, our workplaces and even in our church. Ours is a society that delights in revealing everything about everybody. And oftentimes the information that is revealed is demeaning and damaging and something we don’t really need to know. For example do we need to know whether the “health problem” of a particular movie star is only anorexia nervosa or whether it also included addiction to cocaine? And are all the details of a politician’s messy divorce truly relevant to his fitness to serve in the Senate? And is the next door neighbor’s problem with her children something I should share with the rest of my friends? When to speak and when not to speak can be a difficult decision. We know that silence can be used to conceal injustice, and that truth telling can sometimes be a necessary liberation. But what’s the difference between fraternal correction and the sinful reviling of another person? When does speaking result in a building up – even when it involves painful truths – and when does it lead primarily or only to a tearing down of something or someone with no other good being accomplished? One thing is for sure. We need to have careful control of our tongues. The good we can do and the damage we can do from a simple word is immense. |