More Practice with Detraction

Another hate letter came to Agnus Dei; this time it was in the mail. It is from another neighborhood family, anonymously written and more harsh but not without the inferred threat to bodily harm as the other had.

This time I thought through the situation again, and re-read the newspaper clipping since it was attached to the letter which was quite nasty. Considering the allegations to begin with are lies, I decided that the newspaper was complicit in leading people astray by printing something they had not substantiated. And these people who were writing the letters, were entering into character defamation, and the one with the veiled threat was stepping close to a legal offense.

So I recalled what my confessor had said that if someone is leading others astray, it must be corrected. I called the newspaper and spoke with the woman who had printed the neighbor's defammatory letter. I asked if it had crossed her mind to check the truth of what the woman had written--and then explained what is happening to me as a result, and the further and possibly criminal wrongs that others were committing as a result of reading what the newspaper had printed?

She felt terrible and apologized. She said she had a funny feeling about it and tried to get her editor and "the others" to not print it, but they wanted to. I told her that the nudge was her Guardian Angel, and that in future she should follow through with her angel's nudge, very firmly. I also suggested that they check any future letters for that column, and make sure they are valid. She said her editior is not in until tomorrow, etc. Then she said the letter originally was to the Editor and had more details. She said, "But we took out your name--!" I pointed out that this mattered little since they printed the neighbor's name, and it was a simple matter for people to find out who was the one who had supposedly done this horrible deed.

Yes, I said that if I did not know me, I would read that and think how terrible and cruel! We have come to trust our newspapers, have we not? We trust that they do not publish lies about commoners just living in their little houses, doing their gardening and staying to themselves! I said no retraction would help at this stage, for it would only incite the neighbor woman all the more. It is obvious she is working hard at trying to run me out of the neighborhood, as she had screamed this during her tirade in my front yard three months ago, which precipated among her other shoutings, my calling the sheriff.

The newspaper woman said I needed to notify the sheriff of these letters. Yes, I realized I did. If someone decides to do property damage, it will be on record. If someone comes along and shouts at me or throws a rock when I am in the yard gardening, then it will be on record.

So I had to go to the sheriff's, for I did not want a marked car coming to Agnus Dei, in full view, and riling the woman next door all the more. Best to not let on that any of it is known or noticed. The deputy took it all quite seriously and lectured to save all letters from now on, to keep the car in the garage, and to make sure the doors are always locked. He questioned if I had any suspicions of the identities of the letter writers, and took notes on the content of the one that I'd placed back outside, the one with the implied threat of bodily harm. No, I do not know the neighbors. I did not tell him I am a hermit, obviously, but said that I an a writer and an editor, which are true enough, and that I live alone and garden in season, go to Mass daily, and otherwise do not know people in the neighborhood. So we wait now, and we pray all the more for the neighbors, the first letter writers, the second letter writers, for the newspaper woman and her section editor and "the others" who jumped on quite a thrilling story that grabbed lots of people's imaginations and attention of a cat a woman hanged from her door in the sight of a little boy--and fabricated in every line!

My cousin called, and when told of having to spend some hours today dealing with this, dealing with "the world", said, "This must be happening because you are praying so much for them, and maybe the devil doesn't like it." Well, already God is being glorified, for my cousin is growing spiritually and beginning to see the power of prayer and the back-slapping of the evil one.

How further to glorify God in all this? Offered it for a college boy who has chronic sinus infections. Offered it for the people who write in their consumer complaints who are so maligned monetarily and sometimes emotionally, too, often without recourse and many already in financial hardship. Offered it for those who are psychologically instable. Offered it for the Holy Name of Jesus, since this is His day to reverence His Holy Name.

And the prayers go on. Yes, even some who read this have offered prayers, for it is the prayers offered since some blog friends have offered, that constitutes the only change which occurred. So, I know the prayers of these others are having glorifying-to-God effect! Gloria in exclesis Deo!

"Take heed, brethren, lest perhaps there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, to depart from the living God."--Hebrews 3:12

We are of faith and possess life. The suffering of meanness and detraction are ploys of the devil fighting over souls out there--souls of those with unbelief. That is all it is. We do not depart from God in this.