Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105
“It is one of the evils of rapid diffusion of news that the sorrows of all the world come to us every morning. I think each village was meant to feel pity for its own sick and poor whom it can help and I doubt if it is the duty of any private person to fix his mind on ills which he cannot help. (This may even become an escape from the works of charity we really can do to those we know.)
A great many people (not you) do now seem to think that the mere state of being worried is in itself meritorious. I don’t think it is. We must, if it so happens, give our lives for others: but even while we’re doing it, I think we’re meant to enjoy Our Lord and, in Him, our friends, our food, our sleep, our jokes, and the birds’ song, and the frosty sunrise.
About the distant, so about the future. It is very dark: but there’s usually light enough for the next step or so. Pray for me always.”
C.S. Lewis in “Letter to Bede Griffiths” dated 20 December 1946 in Yours, Jack: Spiritual Direction from C.S. Lewis (New York: Harper One, 2008) 119.
It is not a secret. Anyone who knows me knows that we do not have the news pumped into our home. We have no satellite or cable TV either. With Lewis, I think each of us should serve the needs of those we know and those with whom we work.
Imagine if everyone did this? What if every Christ follower felt pity for the needy around them?
I think Lewis is spot on with his comment about how the news becomes “an escape from the works of charity we really can do to those we know.” The ‘what ifs’ scenarios of life tempt us to hoard instead of help. What if that horrible story I saw on the news happened to me? It leads us to save what we have instead of sharing it. All from watching the news.
Are their threats of civil war? Might another riot break own? Who will win the election?
When we focus on these questions from the news, it causes us to miss the opportunity to laugh and love with those around us, to extend works of charity with generosity. So, here’s an assignment. Take it or leave it. It might be hard for some of you. Turn off the news this week. It’s an escape from service. Instead, give your life in service to others in some way.
And meditate on the Psalms in the process. Read them at the divine hours if necessary to detox from news (6am, 9am, 12noon, 3pm, 6pm, 9pm and either after 9pm or before 6am). It just might change the rest of your life. For sure, it will give you just enough light to take the next few steps.