By Michael H. Brown

It's often up to you whether your life will be filled with negativity or full of wonders. The question: Do you want to get bogged in the mires of life or soar with the eagles? Only with Jesus do we transcend traps of this world.

Let's say right at the outset that suffering is part of life -- and when it is the Will of God, should be accepted with joy. Offer it up. Treat it as an opportunity to draw closer to Him. Too often, we fight against what God is trying to do (perhaps mysteriously) in and for us.

But also too often, the afflictions we suffer have been caused or aggravated by our attitudes. We form the environment for sickness (or wellness) by what we create around us.

How do we create a negative atmosphere? By impurity. By thinking the worst will happen. By gossiping. By using terms like, "I'm sick to death." By looking for the faults in others. By listening to negative radio. By watching too much TV. By exposing ourselves to any form of evil on the internet.

Negativity soaks in (goes to our inner selves) even when we don't realize it. If you keep the radio or TV on as background "noise," it may be having more of an effect than you realize. I saw this happen with relatives.

Little wisps of darkness build into clouds that can then transmit to the spirit.

The other night a preacher was talking about a time when his mother had "incurable" cancer. She handled it in a way that was unique. Instead of accepting death as her fate, instead of marching through the labyrinth of medical treatment, with a fatalistic outlook, feeling her fate was beyond her own control -- instead of falling into despair -- she decorated her home with photographs of herself when she was young and healthy.

All around her were images of health.

She concentrated on that. This was the image she wanted on her mind. She had the pictures on walls, on the back of doors, probably on the mirrors. It was the way she made herself see herself. She also typed out passages from the Bible that assured her of God's healing power.

These too she put in prominent places -- scriptures on how God heals when we believe and when we rise from the negative. She trained her mind on a positive image of herself, called on Jesus constantly, and the "incurable" cancer disappeared. She is alive decades later.

Never give up hope. With faith, and with Christ, envision the most positive outcome. That's our main message this Christmas: We are spiritual beings and when we are negative or allow ourselves to be surrounded by negativity -- from others, from TV, from the radio -- it rubs off.

Negativity invites actual dark spirits. Be careful what you let into your soul.

Did you ever notice how a negative person saps the energy out of you? Pay attention to this. When there is negativity, it can open the door to spirits that then cause despair. Evil can rub off and darkness leads to a spiral downward.

If we want to be healthy -- if we want to be healed -- we have to start with what we feed the inner self and we have to put Light where there was darkness.

I mentioned eagles. As the preacher also said, in the wild, those majestic birds only eat what is alive. They spot salmon and eat live salmon. They spot small animals and take them while they are still wriggling. They catch live mammals in broad daylight.

It is a buzzard, the vulture, the crow, that eats what is dead.

We must also feed ourselves what is living, and that means the Word of God. That means the Eucharist, which is the Bread of Life. When we hear folks on the radio attacking each other or when we allow ourselves to watch violence in a movie or view sexual content on the internet -- when we're involved in any impure or unloving mentality -- that's something that is dead in Christ and is not good for the spirit. Watch your thoughts!

Anger, unfriendliness, and jealousy are dead things that cause problems.

What comes in goes out. Do you realize that many negative emotions manifest in physical maladies?

God is health and we are in touch with Him when we are pure, tend to things like Confession, and soar with the eagles. View the positive. See the best outcome.

Forget the movies. Turn off all hard-edged songs. Play spiritual music. Read about the saints. Surround yourself with positive images. And study the Bible. That is "live" food for sure. Take Communion. Let Jesus in you. Let Him permeate every cell in your body. Feel His purity. Invoke Him as the wondrous Infant in that manger.

That's the purity that transmits healthiness and allows the body to be what it is supposed to be: a temple of the Holy Spirit, with Whom nothing and no cure is impossible.

12/22/05

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