Remember the long posts on free will...we all have it and we can all use it.
One thing which I recall from a movie a long time ago was a scene where a man decided to stop being a "victim" and own up to his sins.
Victimhood has made our men, even men in the Catholic Church, weak.
To play the victim for sins is too, too easy. One can recognize the victim when one hears these phrases even from "grown" men.
- It is my parents' fault the way I am. I was abandoned, (or abused, or spoiled...)
- It is this illness I had since childhood which left me isolated...and so on
- I lost my parents when young and therefore ....
- I lost my job, my girlfriend, my wife,,,,and so on...
- I am weak (so, we all are...)
- I am too strong willed (so, take pride in your sins)
- My priest is awful
- The parish community is full of hypocrites
- I am too rich, too poor, too busy
- I cannot do hard things
Victimhood was put to death on the Cross. Christ won the victory over every hurt, sin, sin against us.
Most people have been sinned against, and Christ, Who is all Innocence, died to set us free not only from our own sins but from those of others.
I hear too many lines from men which show me that in their world they are victims and want to be. I have heard men state from a certain generation that because they were in Nam, they cannot and will not get on with their lives. Some have real damage, but God can heal anything, but many do not want to change, refusing to change, living a life of indecision and boyhood.
Christ ended all types of bondage. The false trust in psychology has ruined the concept of free will and the making of decisions.
Charismatic renewal talks a lot about demonic influence and very little about the hard, daily slog of repentance. The truth is that most demonic influence is willed into one's life. Very few people are true victims.
To break away from sin, one must make a daily firm purpose of amendment and change one's habits accordingly. Like the drug addict who states he wants to be free but does nothing to change his addiction, so too, one can say one wants to be free of sin but never work on the sin, the tendencies, including avoiding the places of temptation.
Too many Catholic men play the victim game. Even some traddies I have met play this game of "poor me, if only I did not have this parent, or this wife, or this job..." and so on.
Adam blamed Eve for sin. He tried to play the victim, but God utterly rejected this stance.
Victimhood is also used as excuse to abuse others. No...we have free will not to fall into the sins of others against us...
God will not let anyone into heaven who decides to keep playing the victim as He IS the Real Victim.
He freed us.
Here is the ancient hymn sung in some parishes today.
Latin
Victimae paschali laudes
immolent Christiani. Agnus redemit oves: Christus innocens Patri reconciliavit peccatores. Mors et vita duello conflixere mirando: dux vitae mortuus, regnat vivus. Dic nobis Maria, quid vidisti in via? Sepulcrum Christi viventis, et gloriam vidi resurgentis: Angelicos testes, sudarium, et vestes. Surrexit Christus spes mea: praecedet suos [vos] in Galilaeam. [Credendum est magis soli Mariae veraci Quam Judaeorum Turbae fallaci.] Scimus Christum surrexisse a mortuis vere: tu nobis, victor Rex, miserere. [Amen.] [Alleluia.] English
Let Christians offer sacrificial
praises to the passover victim. The lamb has redeemed the sheep: The Innocent Christ has reconciled the sinners to the Father. Death and life contended in a spectacular battle: the Prince of life, who died, reigns alive. Tell us, Mary, what did you see on the road? "I saw the tomb of the living Christ and the glory of his rising, The angelic witnesses, the clothes and the shroud." "Christ my hope is arisen; into Galilee, he will go before his own." [Happy they who bear the witness Mary's word believing above the tales of Jewry deceiving.] We know Christ is truly risen from the dead! To us, victorious King, have mercy! Amen. [Alleluia.]
Christ is the Pascal Victim. No one else can claim this. Even if we have been abused, abandoned, hated, unloved,,,Christ has taken all this pain onto Himself. We need only forgive and look to Him.
God accepts only one Victim.
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I do as well, totally reject victimhood, in both men and women.
If we sin long and hard enough, our wills have been given over to Satan. But, one can always beg God for the grace of repentance. Always.
He waits for people to stop playing the victim.
They like to play the passive-aggressive game, and God waits for a sign of real metanoia.
He waits, and tries to show us the Cross, the only way out of victimhood.