Get Up, Stand Up

There is nothing worse you can do for the world than stand complacent while people speak lies and misconceptions around you. You must allow your voice to be heard in your words and in your actions.

This has been more apparent to me than ever this year. Since graduating college, I have been thrust into the working world of being an adult. Here, everyone comes from a different background. We are different ages, different religions, we make different lifestyle choices. But these are the people that I spend 40 hours a week with; more time than I spend with my family or loved ones (well, I suppose on some weekends my family or Scott could rival that, but it would only be breaking even). Let me back track a little...

During the previous eight years I was generally in places where I was nurtured in my faith and surrounded by people who were able to build me up to be a woman of God. This is not to say that I have been angelic in that time or that I never made a wrong choice, but for the most part, I have been in places and with people who took Catholicism and the teachings of the Church seriously. This was a wonderful place for me to be, and I truly miss my days as a student, whether it was at Holy Family Catholic High School or Saint Mary's College.

I recall a time as a freshman in high school that many of the people I was in class with really did agree with my moral and political leanings. The support for Bush in the 2000 election far out-weighed the Gore backers in my high school hallways. There is something special about realizing that you can trust someone to deeply understand your point of view and will agree on it.

But this time is over, and I am now endlessly faced with people who feel differently about so many different things. So how do we deal with it? We MUST be strong. And we must not be afraid of speaking up when someone is promoting something contrary to the truth.

I found this excerpt from St. Josemaria Escriva's book Furrow and it resonated with me last night:

"Be on guard against the propagators of scandal and innuendo, which some take in through lack of reflection while others do so through bad faith. They destroy a calm atmosphere and poison public opinion. Sometimes, true charity demands that such abuses and their promoters should be denounced. Otherwise, with their devious or badly-formed consciences, they or those who listen to them could think: 'They keep quiet, so they must agree.'"

Who knew that a Spanish priest who died some 60 years ago would say something so relevant to the dichotomy of our own secular culture against the culture of faith. Don't allow them to think that you agree. Be ready to stand up for your beliefs and know that though they may reject you, your greatest reward will be in Heaven.