Episode Transcript  

One

Getting Up on the Wrong Side of the Bed

We’ve all had days where we just seem to get up on the wrong side of the bed, and we just go through the whole day in a totally foul mood. All the unpleasant stuff we have to deal with looms large, and even all the good stuff in our life feels totally lame. Sometimes we say things like, “I’m just in that mood where I want to burn it all down.”

Fortunately, we usually snap out of it eventually. But we have to be careful. Because indulging in a bad mood can make it take a lot longer to get out of it. And getting stuck in a bad mood forever is basically what Hell is.

Two

Hell as a Bad Mood

Hell is just a permanent state of nothing seeming to be right. Everything feels wrong, and things that are objectively good are the most repulsive of all. When we’re in a funk, we might say we feel like “burning it all down,” and that’s exactly what’s happened in hell. The twisted attitudes of the souls and demons have torched everything, reduced everything to barrenness, dryness, ash and sulfur. For eternity, the people there indulge in their nasty, resentful, embittered mindset. Even if anything good could survive in hell, no one would appreciate it.

Just like when we’re in a foul mood, we despise happy wholesome things most of all, so do the souls in Hell despise most of all that which is best. So do you see why it’s really important not to indulge in a bad mood? Because that foul mood could be your eternal destiny, if you make a habit out of it.

Three

Ways We Indulge Our Bad Moods

By definition being in bad mood feels bad. And yet, astonishingly, many of us deliberately indulge and encourage that mood when it hits. We intentionally brood on things going wrong. We brood by watching or reading news that makes us angry, fearful or depressed. We brood by going online and looking at all the bad decisions being made, all the errors being spread, all the things that wicked people do and that stupid people say. Most especially, we brood on all the ways we personally have been wronged, and we brood on all the hopes and plans we once had that didn’t turn out the way we wanted.

This kind of indulgence will not only prolong and deepen your bad mood. It’ll take away your resistance to sin. You’ll lash out at the people around you. You’ll overindulge in lust or food or entertainment (because you figure life is hard anyway, so what does it matter?) And you’ll definitely be in no state to want to offer prayers of praise or thanksgiving to God. So do you see that indulging in a bad mood is not only a foretaste of Hell, but is one of the most expedient ways to get you there?

Four

Fighting a Bad Mood

Far from indulging a bad mood, Christians are called to fight it. St. Paul repeatedly commands us, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” So, what can we do to get out of a bad mood as quickly as possible?

First, stop feeding it. Do not turn to news that you already know will make you angry, frightened, or depressed. I know what you are thinking, “I have to be responsible. I have to stay informed about what is happening in the world.” No, you do not need to know everything happening in the world. You need to know what is necessary to fulfill the responsibilities God has actually given you: the state of your soul, your marriage and family, your work, your community, and whatever particular mission He has entrusted to you.

Yes, you should be a responsible citizen: vote prudently, pray for your leaders, and act when you can genuinely serve the common good. But endlessly consuming news about events you cannot influence is not responsibility. It is often the vice St. Thomas Aquinas calls curiositas, an undisciplined hunger to know things that are not ours to know or that do not help us fulfill our duties.

Be honest: most news consumption does not make you more responsible. It makes you more agitated, more judgmental, more distracted, and less present to the people God has actually placed in front of you. You tell yourself that you are carrying the problems of the world, while neglecting the small part of the world God has actually given you to love.

If the news does not help you pray, decide, or act, turn it off. Stop confusing the consumption of information with the fulfillment of responsibility.

That’s step one: don’t look at or listen to anything that’s going to make your bad mood worse.

Five

Getting into a Good Mood

Step two is more positive. First of all, pray, ask Jesus and Mary for help by name. Only the Lord’s grace can fill us with the joy and peace that can break a twisted, perverse attitude. So ask for it. Souls in Hell can’t pray for Christ’s peace and Christ’s joy, but you can. So pray for it.

Secondly, meditate on all the gifts and blessings you have that you very might well not have. Make a list of twenty things, twenty friends or family members or comforts or aspects of your health, or actual accomplishments the Lord has granted you. Lots of people don’t have those gifts. But you have them. And it’s pretty extraordinary. Souls in Hell can’t contemplate their blessings. But you can. So do it.

Thirdly, meditate on all the stupid decisions you’ve made, and all the bad things you’ve done, where God has just given you another chance. He’s let you get away with it, no thunderbolts from the sky, no health crisis, no financial disaster, no big public scandal, just another chance to keep going and encouragement to try and do better.

In each of those cases, things could have turned out so much worse than they did. But God was merciful to you. Souls in Hell can’t contemplate God’s mercy. But you can. So do it. Do these practices. They’ll get you out of a bad mood. And they’ll keep you out of hell.

If you enjoyed this meditation, subscribe below.