Lent, the Internet and Father Corapi--an Instructional Moment

I haven't been blogging much this Lent, on purpose.  I have been following the news, but avoiding wallowing in it.  Right now, a hot topic in the Catholic Internet Ghetto is the situation with Father Corapi.  I'm not going to get into it.  Rather, I'm going to get into something I realize about the Internet.

The Internet enables us all to succumb to the fault of Gossip.  And the sin of Calumny.  Just reading around to learn about this situation, I have seen a good deal of things that would best be left unwritten, mostly in Comm Boxes.  That leads me to reflect on the role that the Internet plays in my interior life.

As well as providing a wonderful source of news and current events, the 'Net provides an endless source of gossip and speculation, and in fact encourages such things.  Speculation and unfounded opinion are presented as fact, without any attempt to qualify them.  This is something I need to consider more closely.  In fact, if I wish to continue to be present on the 'Net, I need to consider it very closely.

When I type something into the 'puter, am I writing opinion, fact or speculation, and am I presenting them clearly?  And what has this question have to do with Lent?

Well, we are not bear false witness, or needlessly expose the faults or sins of another.  And so often, we find ourselves either doing just that, or wallowing around in the enjoyment of others doing that.  It's sinful.  Seriously.  We Catholic Curmudgeons often talk about dissent, heresy, disobedience, homosexuality, adultery etc--but when we are part of the vast and amorphous Internet Gossip Generator, we are in fact committing a sin.  We need to watch our verbiage, our topics,our conclusions and our tone. 

The 'Net can be a great blessing and gift, allowing us to communicate in way and with people we would never have imagined without it.  And like all blessings and gifts, the Opposition will seek to make us misuse it, to our detriment.  Not blogging news and current events this Lent has lead me to realize that I often think too much about content generation, and not enough about the ethical implications of content.   I think it's something I need to repent of, and improve.

Geee...I am not having a wonderful Lent.

This Lent is showing me some gaping holes in my Christianity.  I hate it when that happens, especially when it seems that the holes are of a fundamental nature, deeply structural in my faith.

I do pretty well, at learning about the Faith, and observing things like the precepts of the Church.  But I am coming to realize that a Catholicism based on rules and doctrines is bare.  Not to say that we shouldn't "follow the rules"--they are important, and part and parcel of the faith!  No, I'm not advocating some sort of cafeteria approach to the the Faith.  But there is something that I have read, over and over and over, that is constantly reiterated in the writings of the saints, in the books of Benedict XVI, and in the Catechism:  The core of the faith, and the focal point of human history is the person of Jesus Christ.

The faith isn't just about rules and law, custom and practices--it is first and essentially about Jesus Christ.  I have come to realize that although I accept Christ, the Son of the Father, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, as my Lord, and I acknowledge him as savior, I haven't really done a lot to cultivate a relationship with him as a person--a Divine Person who came to Earth for us.  And since I haven't worked on that, instead concentrating on rules and customs, my relationship with God the Father is weak as well, because no one comes to the Father except through Jesus. 

I need to keep my commitment to the Church, to the Magisterial Teachings, to the Sacraments etc, but I also need to spend more time trying to get to know Christ, and being quiet to learn about him.

If it's not one thing, it's another.

My 'puter got a major virus problem, so I will have minimal presence until I get it fixed.  Until then, if you're looking for something to read, might I suggest  Tom Kratman's fine novels, thought provoking and entertaining, or perhaps SM Sterlings "alternative reality" writings that make one look at the world around them in a new light.

Or possibly comic books.

In any event, when I'mn back up regular posting wil resume.  Until then, God bless you!