Theo Tigno

Prayer and Fasting ...

Ash Wednesday is coming February 22nd 2012. As Lent approaches, we have an opportunity to be unified against something that is evil.

Two things: [1] daily petition through the Rosary and [2] daily fasting from the entertainment industry.

Reasoning:

First of all and foremost, at the root of our act of service should be the prayer that won the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. It is important that every Catholic pray a Rosary at least once for this, even if they do not understand what they are praying for. If they are Catholics that are for the United States government taking away the rights of Catholics to practice their faith with an informed conscience, then they should pray anyway for if they trust that what they believe is truth, then wouldn't it show in their act of faith?

The one thing is that we shouldn't just limit this to the soil of my beloved country. As a country, we have historically responded to the needs of many nations and right now, we are a nation in need. We are a nation who is about to have our rights taken away. We need the support of all nations at this time.

This brings me to the second point: fasting from the entertainment industry. There needs to be a result that our nation will feel. So much of the music and movies that are out there today encourage sexual promiscuity. So much of the movies and television shows have gone against the dignity of marriage. Along with this, when it came to Obama's campaign, there was a lot of support from the entertainment industry.

I have not clearly identified how extensive this fast should be, but the one thing I know is clear: we need to affect them financially. We need to say that anyone who advertises during television shows will be boycotted. We need to stop supporting movies and download music that does not encourage a culture of life. It is no longer enough to just be lukewarm on life issues. We need to only support entertainment that encourages and fosters a culture of life. We must be as disgusted as God is with not only the evil, but also the lukewarm.

It makes me think that we need to fast from the entertainment industry as a whole. We should still support faith-based organizations. Why not replace family time with watching the Catholicism Series from Fr. Robert Barron or the Bible Timeline or other things that will foster a culture of life. Why do we know how to whistle the intro to "Moves Like Jagger" but can't even sing the songs that we hear in Mass?

I am not sure what totality we should have this fast go. I am sure that we need to find a way to make this work here on American soil and throughout the world.

Along with this is the opportunity. We talk about building a culture of life. If we are asking for all Catholics to unite in this, why not offer them support by giving them entertainment that they can have in its place? Why not given them a free episode of the Catholicism series or send them a CD sampler of music that supports a culture of life? I'm not talking only things that talk current life issues such as abortion and same-sex unions, but also songs that they can listen to on a day-to-day basis or movies that offer the same entertainment value as the movies we watch today? Wouldn't this, then, encourage more people to invest time in making movies that affirm the dignity of life? Wouldn't this, then, encourage more musicians to start writing music that is no longer lukewarm?

When I was driving back from New Mexico with my fiance to visit her father who was in a bad car accident, this was the one thing that seemed like a strong call from God as we talked. We need to make the entertainment industry feel it, because they help drive politics as well as the economy. Why are we distributing our money to the evil and the lukewarm? We need to begin distributing our money to those who are actively supporting life.

I don't know how this will look, but it would be good if we could come up with a unified response ... a unified plan ... a unified attack against evil. It's hard to win a war when everyone is doing their own thing.

Is this possible that we can come up with something before Lent starts?