Sunday, March 27, 2011

Erasing a bad habit with a good habit



The following is an excerpt from a homily for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 13, 2011, by Fr. Gabriel Burke.


“...In the fight against sin we need to employ the virtues. We are aware of the 7 deadly sins, pride, covetousness, lust, anger,gluttony, envy and sloth but we must also make ourselves aware of the opposite virtues, humility, liberality,chastity,patience,abstinence,love and diligence. We take our most habitual vice and implement its opposing virtue. A bad habit will only be erased by a good habit. We must struggle everyday and have a battle plan in implementing a new regime.Take the life of the Venerable Matt Talbot, a chronic alcoholic by 21 yet he gave up drink one day and never looked back. It was a struggle in the beginning. In order to overcome drink he substituted the time he spent at the pub with long walks. This led him to going to churches. He spent less time walking and more time praying. When one day he entered a pub, he was not served and on leaving the pub went to a church and made the resolution not to carry money with him. In this way if he did have a craving for drink he would have no money to pay for it. This is exactly the type of thing Christ wants us to do. He does not mean that we are to literally pluck out our eye or chop off our hand. He wants us to really fight against vice and turn to virtue. We are to radically turn around our lives...”