2 Chronicles, Chapter 19, Verse 5-7
5 He appointed judges in the land,
in all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city, 6 and he said to them: “Take care
what you do, for the judgment you give is not human but divine; for when it
comes to judgment God will be with you.7
and now, let the FEAR of the Lord be upon you. Act
carefully, for with the Lord, our God, there is no injustice, no partiality, no
bribe-taking.”
This was what Jehoshaphat said to the judges that he was appointing. Reform always includes justice. The Holy Spirit calls us to be just and merciful to human needs. Today pray for those who are in need and may not ask for help. Today, look for and act to address the real needs of all humans.
Hierarchy of Needs[1]
A team of researchers at
Arizona State University, led by evolutionary psychologist Douglas
Kenrick, has noticed that most people really like being parents.
Despite the challenges of child-rearing, Kenrick reported that the warmth, the
love, the creativity, the sense of purpose and belonging—all of these factors
and more make parenting the most enjoyable of all activities. Kenrick’s team
reported this breaking news, which is just a ho-hum factoid to loving parents,
in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science. Kenrick and
his group proposed a revision to Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
which takes into account our deepest biological drives. In the new Need Hierarchy, Maslow’s fifth tier need Self-Actualization
has been supplanted at the top by a motivation which Maslow hadn’t even
mentioned: Parenting.
What Is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs….and Do I
Need It?
In my undergraduate days at the
University of Michigan, the darling of the Psych Department was Abraham
Maslow. A psychologist and motivational researcher, Maslow believed that
humans’ most basic needs are inborn; and he developed his acclaimed Hierarchy
of Needs in the 1950s to explain how these needs motivate us
all. According to Maslow, our most basic needs for survival (food, water
and shelter) must be satisfied before we can turn our attention to higher-level
needs such as influence and personal development. If there is a threat to
our lower-level needs (a house fire, for example, or job loss or nationwide
famine), we will no longer be concerned about higher-level needs but will
instead focus on rebuilding the base of security that we require.
·
Biological and Physiological needs – air,
food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.
·
Safety needs – protection from elements,
security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.
·
Belongingness and Love needs – work
group, family, affection, relationships, etc.
·
Esteem needs – self-esteem, achievement,
mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility,
etc.
·
Self-Actualization needs – realizing
personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak
experiences.
In the 1970s, behavioral scientists
slipped in two additional categories after Esteem needs:
·
Cognitive
needs (knowledge and meaning), and
·
Aesthetic
needs (appreciation and search for beauty, form).
And in the 1990s, scientists took one
more step toward a benevolent view of Need Hierarchy by topping Self-Actualization with an even higher
need, the need for Transcendence. Once an individual achieved
personal potential (Self-Actualization), scientists claimed, he or she would
then seek Transcendence by helping another to achieve Self-Actualization—for
example, through volunteer work in a disadvantaged community. What has emerged
now, though—based on research studies conducted in 2010—is a new understanding
that devoted parents find the deepest satisfaction in shaping the hearts and
souls of the children who have been entrusted to their care. While
non-parenting adults may expect the rigors of child-rearing to be an impediment
to happiness, the opposite is true: Those who have actually experienced
the joy of giving selflessly to a helpless infant achieve a level of wellbeing
that is unmatched in human experience. Those who patiently teach a
toddler to tie her shoes, or help a middle schooler to make friends in the
classroom, report greater satisfaction than do those whose focus is personal
fulfillment through career, marriage or other adult relationship. Next in the
pyramid, according to Kenrick and team, is Mate Retention– a marriage which
lasts– and before that comes Mate Attraction (finding that special
person). It would appear that all of our deepest longings derive from the
complex biological urge to reproduce.
St. William of Monte Virgine, Abbot[2]
William was born in Vercelli, Italy, in
1085. His parents died when he was a baby. Relatives raised him. When William
grew up, he became a hermit. He worked a miracle, curing a blind man, and found
himself famous. William was too humble to be happy with the people’s
admiration. He really wanted to remain a hermit so that he could concentrate on
God. He went away to live alone on a high, wild mountain. No one would bother
him now. But even there he was not to remain alone. Men gathered around the saint,
and they built a monastery dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. Because of
William’s monastery, people gave the mountain a new name. They called it the
Mountain of the Virgin.
Things
to Do:
·
William's pilgrimage to the tomb of St.
James the Apostle in Spain was the turning point of his life. Is it not easily
possible for you to make a pilgrimage to some holy place in your neighborhood
now during the summertime? First of all, however, are you familiar with the
relics in your own parish church? Remember that any visit to a church is a
pilgrimage to the grave of a saint!
·
Read more about the life of St. William here
and the monastery he founded, Monte Vergine.
Today
is my Stepson Ryan Patrick’s birthday. He was a US Paratrooper who suffered
knee problems as a result of his service and now serves as a critical care
nurse continuing to serve. It is my hope someday to be able to make a
pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James, like St. William, with Ryan. I ask your
prayers.
Daily Devotions
·
I will not delude you with
prospects of peace and consolations; on the contrary, prepare for great
battles. Be
vigilant.
·
Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
No comments:
Post a Comment