(Pixabay)

Are you feeling at all overwhelmed by darkness — evil, violence, death, anger, anxiety, despair, t name a few — in the news? Free yourself to live entirely in the light.

That’s been the message, anyway, I’ve been getting reading some of the reflections in the last few days in the Roman Breviary. On Sunday morning, as we were all hearing about the Dayton murders, part of a letter attributed to Barnabas, the “Son of Encouragement” from the Acts of the Apostles, was one of the prescribed readings. It’s relevance was uncanny. You might just say Providential?

When evil days are upon us and the worker of malice gains power, we must attend to our own souls and seek to know the ways of the Lord. In those times reverential fear and perseverance will sustain our faith, and we will find need of forbearance and self-restraint as well. Provided that we hold fast to these virtues and look to the Lord, then wisdom, understanding, knowledge and insight will make joyous company with them.

Barnabas appeared again on Monday seeming to be lecturing Twitter:

We must flee from all vanity and show an utter hatred for the deeds of the evil way. Do not turn inward and live only for yourselves as though already assured of salvation; join together rather and seek the common good.

And now this morning, we’re back to him:

Consider now the way of light; any man who is bent on reaching his appointed goal must be very careful in all he does. Now these are the directions that have been given to us for this journey: love your Creator; reverence your Maker; give glory to him who redeemed you when you were dead; be single-minded but rich in spiritual treasure; avoid those who travel down death’s highway; hate whatever is displeasing to God; detest all hypocritical pretense; do not abandon God’s commandments. Do not put on airs, but be modest whatever you do; claim no credit for yourself. Plot no evil against your neighbor, and do not give pride an entrance into your heart.

And how about this:

Love your neighbor more than your own life. Do not kill an unborn child through abortion, nor destroy it after birth. Do not refrain from chastising son or daughter, but bring them up from childhood in the fear of the Lord. Do not set your heart on what belongs to your neighbor and do not give in to greed. Do not associate with the arrogant but cultivate those who are humble and virtuous.

There’s also this, which could cause a social media revolution, among other things:

Do not be hasty in speech; the mouth is a deadly snare. For your soul’s good, make every effort to live chastely. Do not hold out your hand for what you can get, only to withdraw it when it comes to giving. Cherish as the apple of your eye anyone who speaks to you of the word of the Lord.

And this reminds me of the value of the hashtag #MementoMori, if it works to influence our humility:

Night and day you will bear in mind the hour of judgment; every day you will seek out the company of God’s faithful, either by preaching the word, earnestly exhorting them, ever considering how you can save souls by your eloquence, or else by working with your hands to make reparation for your past sins.

It ends with this:

Never hesitate to give, and when you do give, never grumble; then you will know the one who will repay you. Preserve the traditions you have received, adding nothing and taking nothing away. The evildoer will ever be hateful to you. Be fair in your judgments. Never stir dissension, but act as peacemaker and reconcile the quarrelsome. Confess your sins, and do not begin to pray with a guilty conscience. Such then is the way of light.

These readings repeat themselves every year, but I was still floored by the abortion and after comment, among other things. It’s like St. Barnabas is reading Alexandra DeSanctis and trying to keep us from giving into the temptations in the back and forths on Twitter and places where speed seems to be the rule and wisdom sometimes the exception. Abortion is a root poison in our culture and law, but there’s so much more that plagues the human heart and our political rhetoric isn’t helping with. These overly politicized times just remind me more and more every day of the power of prayer and the Beatitudes (which are things Bill Buckley was into, which is why I feel free to mention them here now and again). If Christians contributed to society in this way in a serious, dedicated way, we might make some progress on some of the political impasses. And we’d probably be way more humane, too.

By the way, praying the Liturgy of the Hours seems to be catching on; it has a hashtag, too, and all. A little more about that here, if you’re interested.