Hominly originally presented December 30, 2018
Beware of the great disser!
During the years that I taught at John Carroll Catholic High School, 2002 – 2004,
I heard the word “dissed” for the first time When students wanted to make fun of someone who had just embarrassed themselves they’d say, “You’ve been ‘dissed’!”
It was a way of poking fun. To those kids, it was a slang way of saying, “You’ve been disrespected or shamed or embarrassed or corrected or humbled or somehow put in your place.” They’d say to one another, “You’ve been ‘dissed’!”
After hearing this several times it got me to thinking of how many words there are that begin with the prefix “dis”. So, one day, I began to write down some words and in no time at all, I filled up a whole page with words that began with the letters ‘dis’.
And as I studied the words it was apparent that virtually all of them had a negative connotation. Words like disagree, dislike, disbelieve, disable, disassemble, disaster, disband, discard, discomfort, disconnect, discourage and discrepancy.
I looked up the prefix “dis” and by definition it means to undo, to deprive of or to do the opposite of. Reading this, I immediately thought of ... the Devil!
He’s one guy who finds great delight in undoing, depriving and doing the opposite of
... whatever is good!
We can feel his hand at work just hearing words like distain, disfigure, disfunction, disgrace, dishonest, disown, disregard, displease, disrespect, and disrupt.
And the more I thought about it, I came to see that the devil is the great ‘disser’! He’s the guy behind all the dis-harmony in the world today. He’s the guy who’s working so hard to undo, to deprive of and to do the opposite of … God.
From the very beginning, God created order out of dis-order.
In the story of Creation in Genesis, we hear: God created Cosmos out of Chaos!
Yes, God had a plan and design for everything ... including us.
And when we live in accord with God’s plan and design ... we flourish.
When we live in opposition to God’s plan and design ... we revert back to chaos.
Now an essential part of God’s plan … is the human family!
God designed the human family to have a Father, a Mother and their Children.
And He commissioned them to live in harmony with one another.
The 4th Commandment given to Moses emphasized this.
It calls everyone to “Honor their Father and Mother.” God’s expectation is that there be respect and reverence, peace and harmony in the home.
Throughout Scripture, God constantly calls men to have families built on love and respect for one another.
In our First Reading today from the Prophet Sirach, God uses the words “honor, revere and obey” to guide us in the way we treat our parents. We heard, “He sets a father in honor over his children; a mother’s authority he confirms over her sons.”
In our Second Reading, St. Paul addresses Husbands, Wives, and Children individually and calls each of them to strive for harmony in the family.
We heard, “Wives, be submissive to your husbands … husbands, love your wives …
children obey your parents in everything.”
In our Gospel, we see the model of obedience as we hear how 12 yr. old Jesus ... who is God ... honored His parents. Scripture says,
“He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them.”
Sadly this is not the case in all families.
This world of ours is hurting today. There is dis-content and division all around. This is not the will of God. Division was not part of the original plan … unity was!.
Paul says today in his letter to the Colossians, “Let the peace of Christ
control your hearts, the peace into which you were called into one body.”
But the Devil, the great Deceiver, is working in direct opposition to God’s plan. He’s doing his best to undo, to deprive of and to do the opposite of … God’s plan.
And the main way that he’s accomplishing this is through his attacks on the family.
He’s working to tear families apart. The Devil … the great “disser” is doing his darndest to disrupt harmony in the home, disassemble the original family design,
to dissolve marriages, to disunite spouses and children, to disturb peace, to distract attention from God …in short to dis-struct the family unit, which is the building block of both the Church and all of society.
How is he doing this? In many subtle and sinister ways.
- Through adultery: sex outside the marriage bond. Presidents, Governors, Senators, Actors and Athletes committing adultery!
So destructive is it to the family, God made it the 6th Commandment.
- Through fornication: young adults, teens and even children are being sexually active and bringing children into the world without a stable home.
1/3 of babies born in America; close to ½ the babies born in Alabama are born
to unwed mothers! That was not God’s design for raising children. Tripled 1960
- Through divorce: it’s epidemic ... the number of marriages that are coming apart is huge ... between 50 and 75%.
- Through drugs & alcohol. And most recently the legalization of recreational marijuana and the vaping of marijuana.
- Through gay behavior and redefining God’s design for marriage ...
which is the lifelong union of one man and one woman.
- Through violent games and impure movies and television.
- Through Internet, so good and in an instant … so bad w/ rampant pornography
Through these and countless other sins, the Devil is targeting family life.
If he can get enough families to fall then we will have Chaos and dis-array ...
for the family is the building block of society and more importantly, the Church.
How many families there are today that are termed ... “dys-functional”.
We know who’s behind that … the great ‘disser’ … the Devil.
God’s expectation is that there would be reverence & respect, peace & harmony in the home. Then each family would be a solid building block of society.
Our previous Pope, Pope Benedict XVI, put it this way, “The family is the privileged setting where every person learns to give and receive love … the family is an intermediate institution between individuals and society, and nothing can completely take its place … The family is a necessary good for peoples, an indispensable foundation for society and a great and lifelong treasure for couples. It is a unique good for children, who are meant to be the fruit of the love, of the total and generous self-giving of their parents. The family is also the school which enables men and women to grow to the full measure of their humanity.”
Wow! How beautiful! How clear! This is God’s Plan.
This is the design that will insure both individual happiness and a working society.
But sadly, harmony is lacking in many homes.
In order to turn this situation around, we have to first recognize we’re in a battle.
Yes, there are two forces tugging on your family …
- one is God, who is good, and who promises order and harmony and peace.
- one is the Devil who is evil and his promises are empty lies that bring chaos.
More than ever before, we need to pray for our families to draw together …
to one another and to God …
to protect themselves from the attacks of the devil.
Picture a triangle .. with God at the top and husband and wife at the bottom.
The closer spouses get to each other the closer they get to God ...
And ... the closer they get to God, the closer they get to each another!
We need to put up our guard and turn away from every temptation that risks ...
dis-connecting us from God’s love.
You see, each of us have a role to play in building families that are communities of life and love. Husbands, wives and children.
Today, as we honor the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
let’s recommit ourselves to overcoming the assaults of the Devil
and preserving our families in accord with God’s plan.
Years ago, it was customary to say the invocation Jesus, Mary and Joseph often throughout the day … even writing the initials JMJ on the top of your schoolwork.
To this day I invoke the Holy Family as I put on my Scapular each morning.
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph ... surround me with your love and protection.”
You can do it too!
Call upon The Holy Family for help ... for you ... and for your family!
Don’t let the Devil dis-rupt or dis-turb you!
Yes, he is the Disser ... but he’s no match for the awesome power of God.
We’re at war … a war we can win …
if we call upon and strive to model our lives on ...
the Love, the Unity and the Goodness … of the Holy Family of God!
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