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Straight from the Heart
-
 IT
ALL DEPENDS ON "US"
- By Carolle Bautista
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Today’s mass media
have become so influential in our lives that so many a time I hear people
complaining, including about the effects on viewers and listeners.
Specifically, the media bombard the viewers with sexual images, which lead
to nothing but impure thoughts, short of decency and morality. Audio
materials are filled with explicit language that you just get surprised to
hear these played in your very homes and in your cars as you travel, and
you wonder “Did I really hear THAT from that ‘music’?
I believe all would
agree that everyone would like to promote chastity among family members,
which is “simply” being loyal to the spouse you have married, and not
having illicit relationships with other women, or men outside of marriage.
For the singles, it is a sense of purity and decency in their lives where
they strive to be chaste for their future spouses.
To the husband and
wife, the relationship should be preserved so that either spouse does not
commit adultery. We all know that adultery, just like any sin, need not
be limited to the act, since sin takes the form of “words, thoughts, and
deeds.” And amidst the films being promoted, and the permissiveness of the
society, it would not be easy for many people to always maintain pure
thoughts and not fall into the trap of temptation and sin. It all takes a
lot of discipline in determining the kind of media, environment and people
we want to get exposed to. The key for many is ensuring harmony in the
home by being supportive partners, to stop blaming each other for whatever
happens but instead, support one another and pray together, asking the
Holy Spirit to keep the marriage out of trouble. In Zechariah 4:6, it
says, “…Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord
Almighty.”
For the teenagers of
today, it is hard to control them if we do not establish a communication
channel whereby we praise more than we criticize, and where we set good
examples. It is tough for parents though to ensure that their teenagers
are being chaste and decent because pornographic materials are easily
accessible through the Internet and the environment to which they are
exposed to could be permissive. Amidst this kind of challenge, we could
always entrust our sons and daughters to the Lord, so that they are
watched over and guided all the time.
We have a very good
model of chastity in the Holy Family. In the prayer of consecration of
the family to the Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, we even specifically
call upon Saint Joseph, as the chaste spouse of the Immaculate Mother
Mary. The bottom line is - it all depends on us. Do we want to strive to
be chaste like the Holy Family, or be worldly and free to the calling of
indecency and impurity? People call the latter the easier and the wider
path while the former is the harder and narrower path to traverse, just
like the road to Heaven.
In 1 Thessalonians
4:3-5 and 7-8, Paul tells us that, “It is God’s will that you should be
sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you
should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable,
not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God. For God did
not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who
rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you the
Holy Spirit.”
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wonderful and unique happened in your life lately? Did God answer your
prayer in a very unexpected way? Did you, like Isaiah, meet God’s
whisper?
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powerful hand working in your life recently?
- Everyday, people are
experiencing God’s mighty Word in their lives and it is a pity that very
few know about it. Do you have a story to tell? Some Good News to
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- E-mail us (genesis@catholic.org) or fax us
(021-6627384), and tell us about it. That’s right! You don’t have to be
a great writer to do this. We can help you write it – just tell us like
it is!
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the subject: “Let Me Tell You A
Story”
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