Danielle Bean asks:
Say What? What do you say if someone repeatedly takes the Lord’s name in vain in your presence?
Do What? How do you stimulate an active and sports-obsessed kid to read & pray?
Say What?
I was taught to quietly or aloud (depends on situation) to say Jesus, Mary, and Joseph I love you save souls!!! Pending if I have children around I can use it as an opportunity to explain to them the seriousness of breaking this commandment and if necessary I explain this to the person who said it...
Do What?
I have had very active kids who hate to slow down to read...so I have them read for a special amount of time before they can go and play. I also get or buy them sport related books. My best trick is early bedtime...they are not tired but after a while they pick up the trick to read the pile of books next to them...
THY WILL BE DONE!!!+JMJ+
We have some great friends who taught their children to say "Bless His Holy Name, forever!" after someone used the Lord's Name in vain.
ReplyDeleteThankfully we are surrounded by mindful folk who do not use that kind of language around us or our kids so we haven't had to address that issue, yet.
Before I became a Christian I used to do this all the time and thought nothing of it. It was just the way my parents had talked. I spoke like that around Christian friends and it never occurred to me that it would bother them. I knew they didn't, but I figured it was a "different strokes for different folks" issue.
ReplyDeleteI was embarrassed when I entered the churchy part of my life and realized how much it grates on people's ears (and on my own now, needless to say). But when other people do it I feel a measure of humility for how I used to talk and I feel like it's a matter of "forgive them Lord for they know not what they do."
I think our instincts are probably to not react in order to save the person from embarrassment, but people don't like to make others uncomfortable, so it's probably better to use subtle body language-- a small wince, a rapid blink-- to visualize our internal reaction to the language. Those types of social cues might be more effective on a non-Catholic who simply doesn't realize it's grating to you.
In my opinion the WORST is when I hear kids doing it in obvious imitation of their parents.... I was helping some kindergarteners get into their Halloween costumes at school last year, and one kid just kept on and on with that kind of talk. At first I said, "Oh my goodness, we don't talk that way, do we?" But of course, he had no idea what I was talking about. How would he?