Mercy and Absolutism and Getting T.V.

Very oddly and beautifully, a person with absolute faith in Mother Church -- her reasonable precepts, teachings and sanctioned devotions -- is also a person of mercy. Mercy and deep and loving absolutism are like the two strands of the DNA molecule, with actual graces being the rungs of the ladder. People who have no notion of first and last principles tend to be rigorous and, in general, lacking in forgiveness. While my sanguine temperament protected me, during my many days as a secular liberal, from petty judgementalism, I'd swing in the direction of "go along to get along," a permissiveness that has little to do with true and abiding mercy.

I got to thinking about all of this because I am getting ready to make the call to our local cable television distributor to install cable t.v. in our family room and basement living/family room. I absolutely believe that exposure to inappropriate media tears at the soul in the same way that any inappropriate/sinful experience does. Even wholesome t.v. can be a temptation when it distracts and diverts from what we really ought to be doing.

With that in mind, because we cannot , at the outset, refuse to pay our provider for stations/networks we object to, we will, then, with the new technology (It is new to me.), block the stations/networks that we would never pay for, if we had the choice. I know our good Lord is calling me to advocate more as a consumer of media. I see this as an opportunity to exercise Christian discipline and virtue. The virtues are not acquired if they are not exercised.

So, here we go. Domine, quo vadis? Dear Lord Jesus, I hope we are with You, as we make this choice for our family. Amen.