A few words from the late Dietrich Von Hildebrand comes to mind too..
“… mindful of the words of Our Lord, “I came not to send peace, but the sword” (Matt. 10:34), we should be warriors of Christ. The holy Church on earth is called ecclesia militaris (“the Church militant”). We cannot at the same time hunger and thirst after justice—an inherent basic attitude of the true Christian—and be at universal peace with the doers of evil and the unjust. The meek St. John the Evangelist goes so far as to advise the faithful against greeting heretics (2 John 10-11).”-Dietrich Von Hildebrand -Transformation in Christ, 349-350.
Ok, first of all I need to make a very important point:
Earlier this year I bought 12 pairs of socks, 6 of those pairs are matching socks. I threw out every other pair of socks I owned. Now I was just in the bedroom going through my sock drawer and there are thirteen socks in there and no two of them match. I believe, mathematically that’s impossible! On top of that, WHERE are the other 11 socks?!
It is in this state of mind that I respond, so be advised.
What, my dear brethren, would you have me do? Channel Cato and end every post with “Furthermore I believe the vile heretic Quix should be put down like a Carthaginian elephant”? How’s that working out for everyone else anyhow? Making lots of progress on that front are you?
Look, if I spent my time pinning down everyone who said or wrote something that confused, offended, angered or saddened me I’d never get anything else done. We pick our battles and this is NOT the hill I want to die on.
I know there are wiser minds than my own on this forum and everyone approaches each situation according to their own understanding. I understand this much about myself, if I wrap myself in the Vatican flag and charge into battle with a statue of the Sacred Heart on my right and a statue of Our Lady on my left and just let it all hang out I’ll get zotted so hard and fast I’ll leave a mark across the entire series of tubes. I have a great deal of difficulty finding a happy medium, I can either be “Humorous, Helpful and Odd” or I can be mean, nasty and self-righteous.
And I STILL won’t have all my socks!