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Forgiveness: "An insult is either sustained or destroyed...
"An insult is either sustained or destroyed, not by the disposition of those who insult, but in the disposition of those who bear it."
St. John Chrysostom
For Reflection: St. John Chrysostom gives good advice on how to short-circuit the need to forgive. What is my disposition when I am insulted? Does it "sustain" the insult or "destroy" it? What disposition would destroy it? (See tomorrow's Grace Line for one saint's suggestion.)
Pope Enters Culture War by Supporting Suspended Teacher
An Italian primary school teacher who was suspended after her lesson good and evil left a class in tears has won the support of Pope Benedict XVI.
Number of Homeless Children On the Rise
According to a new report, children are suffering the most from this poor economy with one out of every 45 children in the U.S. now living either on the streets or in shelters.
Global Information Network: The Master Schemer Strikes Again!
HM writes: "I have a question about the organization by Kevin Trudeau called the Global Information Network. I have friends that have been trying to get us involved for a while, and I always just thought of it as a scam. But now, all signs are telling me to stay far away.
Forgiveness: "You rehearse your brother's trespasses...
"You rehearse your brother's trespasses, and forget about you own."
St. Barsanuphius
For Reflection: What two insights does this saint give us about sabotaging our forgiveness efforts? Do I do these? Today, I will make a conscious effort to stop the thought processes leading to these ends whenever my offender comes to mind. (Tomorrow's Grace Line gives more help as well.)
Tim Tebow Has Even Non-Believers Scratching Their Heads
After leading his team from another come-from-behind win over the Chicago Bears, the faith-filled Denver Broncos' quarterback Tim Tebow is starting to make believers out of even the most skeptical people in the sports industry.
It's Habit Forming!
Yesterday morning while I was making my bed, a question entered my mind. "Why is it," I 
queried, "that it is so easy to develop a bad habit and so difficult to acquire a good one?" The answer came as I tucked the sheet and fluffed my pillow.
A bad habit rises out of our passions. In most cases, our disordered passions. Even if the pleasure is licit, lack of self-discipline and restraint makes it negative (shopping? food? gossip? -- you get the idea). It is rooted in concupiscence, our natural inclination to sin. And we naturally lean toward it.
A good habit, on the other hand, requires order, constraint, mastery, dying to self. It requires taming unbridled desires and wants through mortification and sacrifice. Taking custody of our senses. Asceticsim. Doing this goes against the grain of our natural desire and so it doesn't bring us pleasure -- at least initially. Therefore, we don't like it. While we may desire it in theory, we lean back from it in practice.
What, then, do we do? Do we give up and give in? No. That clearly is not the appropriate response.
In addition to praying for all of the supernatural help and grace we need and making good use of the sacraments, we employ the will and begin to reorder ourselves toward the good, the holy, the truly beautiful.
As we do so, we begin to seek a different kind of pleasure -- one rooted in the things of God rather than the things of the world. One that seeks the eternal rather than the temporal. One that leads us to truth rather than illusion. One that lifts us up to a new level of knowledge and understanding about God, man, ourselves.
Doing so yields not only good habits with their accompanying virtues, but that which good habits and their virtues bring -- happiness. True and abiding happiness. Philippians 4:8.
As we make our way through this Advent season, let us continue to root out that which is disordered and replace it with the virtue opposite to it. By Christmas day we may be well aloong the way to replacing a most pernicious bad habit with a good one. What a gift that would make for our King!
"Grim Reapers on Wheels": Dutch Propose Mobile Euthanasia Units
The Dutch government is considering plans to use mobile medical teams in order to administer euthanasia to people in their homes.
If Bills Pass, Say Goodbye to Free Speech on the Internet
If a proposed internet piracy bill is passed in Congress, the government will be able to shut down any website accused of copyright infringement, even without any finding of fact.
