Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Pursued by Truth

Home
Catholic
God’s Mercy, Trolls, and a Bag of Dog Poo

God’s Mercy, Trolls, and a Bag of Dog Poo

Last updated on: May 8, 2015 at 7:38 am by Sr. Theresa Aletheia Noble

God’s Mercy, Trolls, and a Bag of Dog Poo 2015-05-08T07:38:41-04:00 Sr. Theresa Aletheia Noble

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Most of the comments I receive on my blog posts are benign.

I would say the vast majority enhance my thoughts about what I write whether they are kind, encouraging, thoughtful, critical or even hopelessly pedantic.

What is not so run of the mill is to get startlingly nasty comments like the one I recently received from a reader with the inappropriately innocuous, cutesy name of “niknak.”

niknak wrote:

Some priests and nuns are special. You desperately want to be. It’s not the same thing at all. It’s not even a path towards it.

After reading this delightful jab I thought, “Wow, no wonder some of my fellow bloggers have banned the combox.”

But then, like a prickly thorn in my thoughts, I began to be prodded by this ugly comment. I thought, “Is this person right, do I desperately want to be special? If I am honest with myself I do want to be considered special…and sometimes I do desperately want to be special, depending on what is going on in my life at that moment….”

Here lies the art of trolling.

There is always a seed of truth in the most vicious of comments, a seed that is sewn in the same way a false psychic predicts the future, a seed that burrows into the writer’s mind far after they hit the “delete” button. A seed the troll hopes will bloom into a bitter poisonous flower in the other person’s soul, a twin to the dark blossom in his or her own.

At first the question rolled around in my head as I beat myself up for the ways in which the troll’s observation was true. But then I brought my question to prayer knowing that God would not treat me as badly as I treat myself.

And I received a pretty quick answer:

“You do want to be special Theresa, just like every other human being the world. And guess what? You are special.

And so is niknak.”

And so is niknak.

I repeated that sentence in my head with the mocking anger of a two-year old.

So is niknak.

How incredibly annoying.

I suppose this can be one of the most frustrating aspects of the spiritual life. When I bring my problems to God, he always has this offensively empathetic and generous perspective of the person I find to be quite intolerable.

Of course, when I have really been seriously wronged by another person, I do feel that God “takes my side” in the sense of what is just. But then, I still know that no matter what that other person has done he or she still has the opportunity to repent and receive God’s forgiving and compassionate love.

God’s merciful attitude can be annoying, or in the case of persons who have seriously wronged us, downright maddening.

But I suppose in truth we have to be grateful knowing that there is a little niknak in all of us.

Or at least most of us.

When one of my superiors in the convent did not have a working hearing aid, she would vocalize her thoughts aloud to the chagrin of everyone around her. She would even go through her examination of conscience out loud. To my surprise however, even when the sister was totally unaware that she was thinking out loud, her thoughts were always incredibly kind and generous. She would whisper things like, “Oh sister is snoring in chapel. She must be so tired, poor thing.”

I remember commenting to my sisters that if I had the unfortunate habit of thinking my thoughts out loud I would lose all my friends in less than a day.

I may not leave my most icy, bitter and merciless thoughts to burn like a bag of dog poo on the internet porch of my unsuspecting enemies, but I do think thoughts like this—everyday.

So in the end, I am glad that God thinks that both niknak and I are special.

—

If you are still in need of some encouragement to consider trolls with more empathy, I highly recommend listening to this episode of This American Life. Changed. my. life. Warning, there is language. If you prefer the bleeped version, it’s here.

Previous Post

May 1, 2015

5 Things I've Learned About Holiness In the Convent

Next Post

May 9, 2015 Review: Arriving at Amen by Leah Libresco

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Art Atheism Book Reviews Christmas Church Issues Discernment Easter Ecumenism Entertainment Environment Eucharist Evangelization Family Freebies Guest Post Holy Spirit Inspire Me Interreligious Dialogue Jesus Lectio Divina Lent Life Issues Liturgical Season Mary Media MISC Movie Reviews Pauline Pope Francis Prayer Prayer Intention Religious Life Saints Sanctity Scripture Social Justice Social Teaching St. Paul Theology of the Body Uncategorized US News Vocations World News Writing Year of Mercy

Select a Month September 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: John's Gospel does not record any parables.

Select your answer to see how you score.

TRUE FALSE