Monsignor McGough, Pastor’s Corner....OUR CONTINUING JOURNEY...I said that for myself I would build my LENT on a tripod. The first leg I said is to deepen trust in God. This is what holiness is. It is what made Jesus the "font of all holiness". The second leg is the awareness of our CALL to Joy. The goodness of creation in all its parts means something. Our attitude and disposition needs to be tested by joy. Third leg is "health of mind and body". This is a recurrent phrase in our communal prayers. Health of Mind is my focus in this piece for the second week in Lent. Dr. Albert Ellis the founder of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) was an agnostic Jew. Yet for all his refusal to participate in organized religion, his life and work were witnesses to a care and love for humanity.

I want to list what he has identified as the core irrational beliefs that spin out so much of the evil that we experience. These IB's have personal and communal consequences that are deadly. They are the root of so much sin. Think about these ideas, beliefs, assumptions and you will conclude that when we eliminate them we have a healthier mind. But be forewarned, it will not be easy. "The idea that it is a dire necessity for an adult human being to be loved or approved by virtually every significant other person in his community." "The idea that one should be thoroughly competent, adequate, and achieving in all possible respects if one is to consider oneself worthwhile."

"The idea that it is awful and catastrophic when things are not the way one would very much like then to be." "The idea that human unhappiness is externally caused and that people have little or no ability to control their sorrows and disturbances." "The idea that you can give people (including yourself) a global rating as a human and that their general worth depends upon the goodness of their
performances."