Help
With Your Rule
How to Change Bad Habits... Part One
"I have a bad temper," or... "I am lazy" are familiar complaints from those who still believe that nobility of character is an important goal. They would not make such admissions if they did not have a strong desire to break the chain of evil habits. They can realize this desire - any bad habit can be broken. But getting free of it requires 4 things:
1. Introspection - is necessary in order that we shall isolate the habit and see it clearly as sin...
2. Avoiding the Occasions of sin - keeping out of the situations that lead up to trouble
3. An Act of Will - we have acquired bad habits only... by a consent of the will, until they became automatic and perhaps even unconscious. To master them, we must reverse the process and use the will to break their automatic functioning
Quoted and paraphrased: Fulton J Sheen, in "Way to Happiness" , Greenwich Conn., Crest Book, 1961, p164-165
posted by Holly at 8:10 AM
1 Comments:
We can't rest content with a statement like "I'd like to have a mother's rule but I'm too lazy..."
What struck me about what Fulton Sheen wrote was that first, we need to realize our bad habits are usually sinful - my reluctance to clean my house is more sloth than anything;
Just like John the Baptist came before Jesus, our repentance has to come before holiness can be sought. Recognizing sin is the first step and I figure this applies to my housework too.
Then comes avoiding the occasions of sin... hmmmm.... avoiding turning on that tv if it prevents me from doing my duty; not picking up that phone until there really is free time to talk; signing off the computer when it's time to homeschool;
And here, a mother's rule actually helps us - as we've gone through our lives and reasonably assessed what needs to be done, and we know when we are going to do it. That can help us avoid those situations which enhance our slackness...
And then, choosing! We all have been given free will by God. There is no such thing as 'having no choice' about something. To give in to excuses is just that - an excuse.
We CAN pull our lives together. Not only do we have free will, but we have the grace of the sacraments to strengthen our will. So we need to begin to make conscious choices to do that which God asks of us, as foreign as it may feel.
And there is a fourth way, a very important way to break a habit... in addition to the above... see Part Two coming soon...
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