Bear Aware

While I was on vacation, we saw a number of signs about different animal crossing, from dear, to elk, to cows, to a few others. This reminded me about another time, while my friend and I were on vacation in some other national parks we kept seeing some signs that stated to be “Bear Aware.” In other words, to be aware of the dangers of the bear population, to make sure that food was sealed and secured so that the bears would not be able to get into it or to be attracted to it. To make sure that there was no food left in cars so that the bears would not tear into them to get to the food. Bears are magnificent and beautiful creatures, but they are also very powerful and therefore, can also be dangerous.

Most of the time when we hear of a danger that is around us, we have the ability to minimize the chance that we will be harmed, like being “bear aware,” but we do need to be aware that there is a danger around us in the first place. It is when we are lax, complacent, or in a hurry around a potentially dangerous situation that something bad can really happen. When we prepare ourselves for potential problems it minimizes the dangers that are there. When we are aware that there are dangers around us, we can be prepared for them, like bringing a flashlight or bear spray.

The same thing happens in our spiritual life. There are dangers around us all the time and they can lead us to sin, sometimes they are small and other times they are pretty big. In our world, we constantly have different occasions of sin around us. Sometimes they are very simple things that can lead us to something greater. A danger for someone who has a habit or an addiction to pornography (which is a very high addiction rate, especially among young people) could be an ad on Facebook or another website that leads them to wanting to search out the pornographic images or movies. It can be someone that we find attractive that we can let our minds wander to the occasion of sin. For someone who has a habit of gossip, being around certain people who also are in the habit of talking about others could easily lead us to sin.

Our world allows for many of these different occasions, some we actively walk into, others we kind of stumble into, and we need to be aware that we are doing it. The thing is to be aware of those situations and find a good way to get out of them when it comes to bears, have a defense and back away. When it comes to porn, back away from the computer or turn off the television. When it comes to gossip, we can limit the amount of time that we spend with the people who encourage that behavior. There are many ways in which we can try and avoid the occasions of sin in our lives, but when we make sure that we are aware of those times, then we can do better to stop them… So be Sin Aware

God bless,
Fr. Ken