Behind every attempt to "get away with it" is the belief that one will never be found out. If there is only one check on the books, one can be reasonably secure that there will be no discovery of the theft but if there is a second check by a master bookkeeper, one is less inclined to commit the crime. Nothing so much conduces to evil as the belief that this world is all and that beyond there is not a further judgment on the way we have lived and thought. If this world is all, then why not get all you can out of it and at any cost, providing you can "get away with it"?

Contrary to this philosophy is that Our Lord Who said: "Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be made known" - Luke 12:2 - Every thing tends to emerge from the darkness into the light where it may stand in its true judgment. Seeds that are buried seek to pierce their grave; trees in a thick forest bend in order to more readily absorb the light; shells deep in the sea grope their way to the shore. So the lives of men, however deeply they bury their crimes, will one day push themselves to the Light of judgment where " each man will be judged according to his works".

Modern psychology is based on the assumption that even in this world man really "gets away" with nothing. His secret hates, his hidden sins, his flippant treading upon the laws of morality - all of these leave their traces in his mind, his heart and his unconsciousness. Like the boy in the ancient fable who concealed in his blouse a fox which he had stolen. While denying his guilt, the fox ate away his entrails. The thousand of people stretched out on psychoanalytical couches may deny morality and guilt but even while making their denial a real psychologist can see their mind being eaten away. There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed.

Inside of every heart are passions and wishes, hopes and fears, hatreds and lusts, evil intents and hidden guilt; one day all of these shadowy dwellers of the mental underworld will work their way up either to a confession of guilt or else to mental and physical signs of the denial of that guilt. Anyone is free to deny morality but he is not free to escape the effects of its violation. Sin is written on faces, in the brain. It is seen in the shifting eyes and the hidden fears of night.

If a man knows that his thefts will one day be discovered, he will take every possible means to make recompense before discovery. If a man knows that one day everything he did will not only be revealed to God but also to his fellowmen, he will purge himself of them that what was before a debit may now be credit. To such soul there is nothing more foolish than trying to "get away with it".

Psychiatry is not as much a modern discovery as it is a modern need. Its method has been known for centuries but there was never the occasion to apply it because in other ages men knew they could not "get away with it". Their reparations and amendments were settled on their knees in prayer rather than on their back on a couch. But at that moment when the Divine and morality were denied, society came face to face with handling the mental effects which that very denial entailed. The crimes were not new, for people could snap their fingers just as much against the moral law in the days of faith as now.

In those days when they did wrong, they knew it was wrong. They lost the road but they never threw away the map. But today when men do wrong they call it right. This creates in addition to the moral problem which is denied, a mental problem. And that is where much psychiatry comes in. There is nothing new about the discovery that the reality we refuse to face we bury in our unconscious mind. What is new is the need to treat those who break the law and deny the law; who live by freedom and refuse to accept its consequences.

Every soul that violates a law of God sooner or later turns states - evidence against himself. The long tongue of wrong-doing will not be quiet. Deny though he may the Divine Judge, his anxieties and fears reveal that there is already a judge seated in his own conscience condemning even when society approves and reproving when he himself would deny. There is no secrecy for wickedness. The fear of God may have vanished from modern civilization but the fear of man has taken its place and therefore made us unhappy. To fear God is to dread hurting one we love, like a child before a devoted father. To fear man is to shrink from threats and cruelty. On day a Great Book will be opened and there even every idle word we uttered will be recorded. Whatever is spoken in darkness will be brought to light, for in the final analysis no man "gets away" with anything.

BY ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN (1895 to 1979)

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -