#62

To be "free and whole" as some popular religious songs go, is something to be hoped for. If people strongly desire to be "free and whole," we, as Catholics, know that it won’t come without sacrifice (effort, hard work and, yes, with pain) and daily conversion.

Daily conversion is necessary to counter the tendencies all humans have, because original sin, to weaken and fall. If Catholics begin to see dangerous trends in their daily lives it is time to counteract those trends through that process known as daily conversion. It is really a continual striving to improve day by day.

This has all sorts of implications and applies to many situations. Some people have weaknesses in the area of the senses, you know, sight, smell, taste, what one hears and then possibly reacts to, etc. There are people who see something and they are going to have it. Period. Then there are those who smell food and they can’t stop either with the result of obesity and other health problems. In today’s mundane world one hears lots of unnecessary talk. Also the endless, ad nausiam, repetition of the day’s news… we don't have to hear the news 15 times a day! No way. For me, once is already to much. (For monks, listening to "the news" is strongly discouraged for obvious reasons. If you bring too much of the world in, our prayer life becomes threatened) I could go on about negative trends or the misuse of the senses, but from what I’ve written, further examples are unnecessary I think.

For West and Southwest Florida residents, there is a wonderful Catholic Radio Station broadcasting good stuff, prayers, light music, and the Word of God. The station is owned and operated by the Diocese of St. Petersburg and is found on the radio dial at 99.5 on the FM band. Perhaps there is a Catholic station where you live. EWTN also has a radio show and some of this can be heard on short-wave frequencies. In any case, it is better to listen to Catholic stations than to secular radio stations. One possible exception, if you like classical music is "NPR" (public radio).

But getting back on the subject of daily conversion, there is plenty of distraction in our lives. By that I mean, there’s all sorts of interference that may lead one to questionable trends. Too much computer is definitely not healthy. Why? Well, what happens when dinner is over… everyone runs to their room to their computer to surf (not aimlessly, I hope), to e-mail (It’s not necessary to copy in all our friends in all of the e-mails we send out) and what little family spirit that exists is again torn asunder because the folks in our household (our family) communicates through e-mail but they do not communicate to other family members, parents, siblings, brothers and sisters. They are all in a rush. Mother asks Johnny "Come finish dessert?" He responds, can’t Mom, gotta go. The door closes and he’s gone. Sound familiar? So in this area, too, there is room for improvement hence daily conversion. Think of conversion before it’s too late.