When you get sick with a cold, do you spend time thinking about being sick? Most of us do, even if we do not want to. It is hard not to do so. I know when I am sick I will often try to do things to distract myself from the sickness, like reading a good book or watching a movie that holds my attention. I do this (and I assume others do as well) because thinking about being sick is fairly depressing. Being miserable is not exactly high on anyone's list of preferred daydreams.
So then, what do we do when we are not sick, but we are experiencing something that causes emotional or spiritual depression? Sad to say, but we usually dwell on the bad stuff (don't we?). I have caught people, who are experiencing depression, dwelling on the very thing that is causing their depression with such intensity that they tune out everything around them. We do this, even though we all know that it causes us to deepen the very depression we want to get rid of. Therefore, let me ask a question: what are you dwelling on lately?
Give it some serious thought; because if you are like most, with all the "yuck" going on lately you probably spend a good deal of time talking and thinking about it. Now let me try an even more difficult question. Which do you spend more time thinking about, Pope Francis and those who are in cahoots with him, or our wonderful Lord Jesus and His Blessed Mother? Have your thoughts been captured by all the "mud" that we have to wade through almost every day (after all, the Pope seems to come up with new things to confuse us with on a regular basis)?
Have you been dwelling on the "bad" more than on the good? It will take its toll on you if this is the case. I am not saying that we cannot think through some of these things, nor that we should stick our heads in the sand and ignore what is happening. In times like this we need to think through these things and give serious consideration to how we are to respond. What I am saying is that we cannot surrender our hope; we must maintain a diligent commitment to our Lord, and pessimism (which the devil would love to instill in you) will only drag you down and prevent you from serving our Lord in the way we are called to do. The real question is, who do you spend more time with: Jesus, or those who are disobeying Him?
I will not deny that my heart aches when I think about the extent of the sexual abuse that has been committed by my own brethren in the priesthood (upon children and adults--male and female both). To think that there are still some clergymen who have not (yet) gotten caught and are still committing these crimes gives me the creeps; it feels like I need to do a Mass of reparation every single day. Does this hover in my thoughts at times? Yes, and I hurt inside whenever it does. Where, however, do we go when we feel that hurt? We should not "circle the wagons" of our hearts and continue to dwell on it. I will usually go and spend some time in the presence of Jesus in the Sacrament.
Being in the presence of our Lord is always a helpful remedy to whatever is going on in our lives and the world around (see Ps 73:12-28). It helps to reorient (pun intended) our thinking and point us in the right direction. If you can go to an actual time of adoration of the exposed Sacrament, even better. Either way, Christ should be our focus in life, and He should be first in our thoughts. If the devil has succeeded in depressing you and causing you to dwell on that which is ugly, false and unholy (even if you are repulsed by those things) then return to the wonders of the beauty of the Lord. Give Him the glory, and give Him all of your mind.
