Letters to the Editor

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No letters were printed this week; here are the letters from two weeks ago:

Pursue God in an effective way

This I know to be true. Egocentric desires are illusory. They are lies. They are a lying use of reality.

We live in a culture disinclined to self-discipline or radical self-denial and detachment from things that don’t bring us closer to God.

Inordinate attachments deprive a person of spiritual joy and calm. Delight in God cannot co-exist with the seeking of pleasure not in God.

I believe that much of the dire aspects of our economy are due to greed, and the resistance to grace is the reason for the absence of growth in the spiritual life.

We market self-centeredness and pleasure-seeking like they are little gods.

We idolize the wealthy, and celebrate the rich and famous for what they have, not who they are.

We tend to use our wealth as a means of entrenching the importance of self-image. We generally invest little energy in matters that have no impact on self-image.

In our daily activities, we need to examine how much prayer, personal enrichment and will to the good of another have been canceled out in favor of endless hours of television, Internet, empty amusements and idle chatter. Our attachments drain the strength we need to pursue God in an effective way.

We have to change our way of thinking, and adopt an attitude of stewardship and not necessarily ownership. We must learn to live a life of willingness and not willfulness, and not blur the line between the two.

Willingness implies surrender. Willfulness connotes control. The former is the surrendering of one’s self-separateness, and the latter is an attempt to set oneself apart from the primary essence of life.

The world offers the sensual body, the lustful eye and pride of possession. Because we have in large part bought into these things, we cannot unring the bell.

- Kirth N. Roach | Order of Carmelite Discalced Secular Indianapolis

Thank you for wonderful story on Providence Sister Susan Dinnin

It was wonderful to see Providence Sister Susan Dinnin on the front page of the July 13 issue of The Criterion.

I have not seen her face since I was a first-grade student at St. Paul School in Sellersburg. Her kind eyes and wonderful smile have not changed.

She was such a great teacher, and really loved all the kids. How many teachers jump right in and play kickball in a skirt?

She is one of a kind! Best wishes, Sister, on your next adventure!

- Amy Meyer Drury | Floyds Knobs