Mark Shea is known for his comment, "Sin makes you stupid."
This morning as I was pondering the suffering and shame that Representative Weiner has brought upon himself and his family, I was reminded of Shea's adage.
Many people will dismiss what he did with a roll of the eyes and blame it on the perpetual Peter Pans men have become. "Boys will be boys." Some people are merely calling him stupid. I think it is a lot worse than stupidity. I not only think it is imbecility, but I also believe that our culture has brought on a mass mental illness because of sin.
Most of us are raised severed from our historical past as Americans and Christians, disconnected from our family's history and worse yet we are unable to have a cognitive connection to our future. As scientific as we claim to be, we do not personalize the idea of cause and effect. It is not as if we cannot see the consequences for our actions, we just look at them as in some forever future that will not arrive. We are so inebriated with the present moment that we live in an oblivion that is willing to take deranged risks that imperil our own future and that of those who claim to love.
In fact, our behavior is evidence that we do not believe anything matters, that we have lost the meaning to our lives and the lives of others. And those who fit the profile are the ones making decisions about our nation's future. It is scary.
We need to reconnect with our souls. We need to discover that we, in fact, DO matter and what WE DO matters! There is a heaven, there is a hell and at some point in our lives we need to be sober enough to care the tiniest bit about this life we were given as a precious gift.
I pray that Representative Weiner will take a LOT of time off, go into seclusion and do some contemplation about his soul. His soul is priceless as is the soul of his wife. What he does matters. He matters....
