What I’ve noticed is that two decades ago, people who spoke about the imminence of a world war were seen as paranoid Christian fundamentalists. However, today, the possibility of such a conflict is widely reported by mainstream media. In a way, this reminds us of Our Lord’s prophetic words that we would hear of wars and rumors of wars.
War and further escalation is possibly a reality and we can't help but watch its unfolding with some trepidation. Some read up a lot to keep themselves informed and to me, that is always good. However, you make a salient point - too many are being bound to a cycle of keeping up with the news, analysing details, getting stressed/stressing others out and even panicking. That's not the Holy Spirit's doing for sure. Whenever I feel that I'm getting to the point where prayer and real trust and charity are being eroded in favour of other things, it's always a sign to step away and to detox until I'm on firm ground again.
I agree. I wasn't at all meaning to accuse anyone here of stressing and panicking...I was observing that the world leaders and media seem to be feeding us a constant diet of fear, and most likely there's an agenda behind that. I do miss the days when the news came on TV for a brief time in the evening and there wasn't this constant 24/7 stream of bad news from multiple media sources. I don't think that's much good for any of us. I allowed myself to get back on Facebook after being away from it for 4 years, and I've had to pull the plug again...because I realized that I was being conditioned to fear everything, from political drama to the local weather. It's all fed to us in the most alarming way, to catch our attention and keep our cortisol levels high. It's amazing how much calmer I am already since walking away from it a couple weeks ago. It's ok to be like a child and put everything into God's hands. "...Neither do I exercise myself in great matters or in things too high for me. Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself like a little weaned child with its mother..."
Very wise, I think. The problem has even gotten its own name - doomscrolling I think it's called. I agree, it's best to stay away from news and social media as much as possible. We are in the the time of the minor chastisement now, in terms of prophecy timeline, I think (refer the book Trial, Tribulation & Triumph by Desmond Birch). The best thing now is to pray the family Rosary daily and to obey God's commandments. Things will work out well in the end. These are the birth pangs of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart. God bless all here!
No worries, PF. I know your comments were a general observation. But all true, nevertheless - including the fact that our cortisol levels shoot up when we are "force fed" with that diet. It is sad when some parties are just bent on fear mongering or even whipping up hate for certain individuals. I'm sure many don't even realise what they're doing! I'm not on FB but in the past I've had to disassociate from certain bloggers due to the endless stream about one thing or another. At home, my husband keeps himself very much in the loop on the weekly, if not daily happenings on all that's wrong in the Middle East and even in the country. Drives me nuts I tell you to be constantly brought to boiling point
You are describing my home. I avoid the news but my husband winds up with the daily reports. I tell him its not healthy...
So. I am not a scientist, I am an artist. But just learned something from our son. One of the reasons for the recent astronauts to go to the moon is to set the stage for bases on the moon. Next trip with a moon landing is planned for 2028. There is a resource on the moon, helium 3 we don’t have on earth. It is deposited on the moon by solar storms. It can be used for nuclear fusion and a source for energy. Of course lots of loopholes mining it, like a copper mine, and getting it to earth. It is clean and not harmful to the environment. There are already companies who want to work on the project. It could greatly reduce the need for fossil fuels. Sounds exciting.
This past weekend Geralyn and I were downstate with our younger priestly son, at a gala and fundraiser with a couple hundred present. Today, just a private Holy Mass with Fr. Patrick- no internet and very peaceful. Guess which one we preferred? I remember years ago, buying John Michael Talbot's first album: Come to the Quiet. Best thing to do is retreat from the noise and hype!
The inner child in me who loves and marvels over the moon, which always makes me think of and pray to Mary, wishes they'd leave the moon alone.
Sometimes when I walk or drive through the little village to and from Mass it reminds me of one of those old Italian spaghetti Westerns of a Mexican village, so timeless and peaceful. Like they had been there for a 1000 years exactly the same and will be there exactly the same another 1000 years. The women doing their laundry outside in their little communal pools and even washing dishes in the springs. Walking their tiny little flocks of sheep to and from the fields. Empty streets. Church bells tolling distantly. A passing deer or falcon . A wandering cat or dog. No hurry about a single thing. Endless time to talk and do stuff. Everything, 'Manana', tomorrow. Hard to imagine anything rushed or urgent here.
We always talk or most often talk about the negative sides of the internet and that certainly stands. However we often forget the valuable positive ones. In the end some of you here have mentioned that we Catholic forum members from different countries can nurture and exchange our views on faith politics and social life. We can pray for people we have never seen and probably never will yet we can still be friends and eagerly await each other’s company and wise words. However I wanted to say something more. Namely I have seen in many conversion stories even that American show 60 Minutes reported on a record number of people converting to Catholicism and I came across one comment. It described how someone was brought to Catholicism through posts by priests indeed several of them who explain the mysteries of the Catholic faith its history sacraments dogmas and so on. We all already know the most famous priests on YouTube often American but I can personally say that here in our country our local priests are getting hundreds of thousands of views in a country of only a few million people. Very few of us actually realize what a privilege we have. At any moment we can go online and find what the Church Fathers said in the first few centuries what Saint Augustine taught. We can find all Marian apparitions read the writings of so many saints and blesseds various sermons seek additional explanations or watch clarifications from experienced priests on things we do not understand. When you think about it a large number of people were Protestants atheists or searching in other religions because they did not have someone to explain things more deeply. Not to mention that throughout the entire 2000 years of Christian history people did not have the privilege of accessing so much knowledge about faith or seeking help in such a way that someone could explain things to them face to face, and yet now you can find hundreds of videos to make things clearer, listen again, analyze and break things down, and in that way arrive at the full truth. In the end even this conflict between the USA and Iran has brought so many misconceptions about just war about who is chosen and what justice is that even the Pope himself has been attacked. So you can imagine what it is like to grow up in an environment without access knowledge or someone to explain things to you. In the end thanks be to God that in this way we have access and so many opportunities to learn about our Catholic faith. An incredible harvest has been achieved through this path and now I understand why in recent years exorcists have appeared on YouTube and started sharing testimonies and truths about that aspect of the faith. The Church has recognized the moment to come closer to people and to further explain its mysteries but also its dangers. Considering everything that has come out about trafficking sacrifice and pedophilia even among elite circles and ultimately the erratic behavior of political elites I think they truly chose the right moment.
I joined an art class in the past 2 years. It's the best thing ever for ignoring all the bad news. My husband is also a news junkie but it all goes over my head as I work away on my landscape painting. I used to have difficulty getting to sleep but now I fall asleep within half an hour or less after going to bed. I highly recommend it as a distraction from all the doom and gloom.
Paying some attention to all that is happening is fine and true. Getting too much caught up in it is bad. It is a bit like climbing into a washing machine, closing the door and switching it on. Then all that at happens is we go spinning and spinning round and round. Politics and politics and World events are World events. But the main thing is the Spiritual Life. The Holy. We need to be careful we do not find ourselves spinning and spinning round in a washing machine.
