Good to have spiritually savvy friends, even better to follow their savvy spiritual directions. The latest counsel comes from a dear friend and colleague who listened with expansive compassion to my most recent Tourette's Syndrome-like outburst about...stuff.This "stuff" would be news detritus delivered several times a day to my Google Reader from blogs like Whispers in the Loggia, The Deacon's Bench, Pontifications, John L. Allen, Jr. for the NCR. I also read whatever horrifying news Pew has collected about religion.
My friend gently suggested I fast from reading any and all news about the Church for at least three days. Three days? Interesting choice of time frame. I'm having difficulty doing this for more than three hours. Odd. I fasted from all secular news from 1989 to circa 1994. Okay, so I was shocked to learn that Sammy Davis, Jr. had died. Wars, famine, bad human behavior, bad movies, drug discoveries, food scares, drug recalls? I knew they'd cycle around again. They have.
Why-Oh-Why am I having such a tough time fasting from news about religion? It's not like my church ever decides anything in fewer than 400 years. Still, I should heed her advice because there's not enough Zantac to counteract the effects of my morbid fascination with current events in the domain of religion. God knows I'm already taking handfuls of that as I write about the first century church.
