What Are the Circumstances

Let's begin in the name of the Father in the Son in the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Let's call to mind all those we've promised to pray for. I believe in God the Father Almighty,”

creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ is only Son our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again.

He ascended into heaven and he seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen. Our Father who art in heaven, hollowed be your name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us a stay, our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who

“trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil amen.”

They are Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed are Thal among women. Blessed is a fruit of thy womb. Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pre-first and earns now in the hour of our death. Amen. They are Mary full of grace. The Lord is with

thee. Blessed are Thal among women. Blessed is a fruit of thy womb. Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pre-first and earns now in the hour of our death. Amen. They are Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed are Thal among women. Blessed is a fruit of thy womb. Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pre-first and earns now in the hour of our death. Amen. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the meeting, as now in our shall be world without end amen.

Our first mystery. Did you ever see the Superman movie, Manestyle? I actually don't recommend it.

And the worst part of the movie is the way Superman's adoptive father dies.

The whole family is in the car in Kansas because of course Superman is from Kansas, like all true superheroes. The whole family is in the car in traffic. And by the way, there's no traffic like that in the middle of the country. But suddenly our tornado comes because remember they're in Kansas and it threatens everybody. Superman's whole family gets out of the car and they make it to safety and then suddenly they

realize they forgot the dog in the car. So the dad, not Superman, by the way, but the regular human dad runs back into the tornado to save the dog. And he does save the dog and he dies in the effort. Now the movie makes it seem like that was some kind of heroic move. But he wasn't. He was actually sinful. On the surface the act and intention seemed good. He wants to save the dog. But when you look closer, the circumstances change what he's actually

choosing because he made the choice to risk his life. The life of a husband and father for the

“sake of an animal. And that's not rightly ordered. Human life is greater than animal life.”

So this is not truly a good act. It's a disorder choice disguised as heroism which shows that in moral decision making. It's not enough to just examine what we're doing or even why we're doing it. We have to look at all the factors in the situation because they affect what we're really doing. And the technical term for that is the circumstances. Our father, who art in heaven, hollowed be your name, that kingdom come, that will be done.

And earth as it is in heaven. Give us a stay or a daily bread and forgive us at our trespasses. As we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. Hail Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women blessed. These are fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us in earth. Now in the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee blessed art thou among

women blessed. These are fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us in earth. Now in the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women blessed.

Now in the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women blessed.

“These are fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us in earth.”

Now in the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women blessed. These are fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us in earth. Now in the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women blessed. These are fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us in earth. Now in the hour of our death. Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women blessed. These are fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us in earth. Now in the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women blessed. These are fruit of thy womb Jesus.

“Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us in earth. Now in the hour of our death. Amen.”

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women blessed. These are fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us in earth. Now in the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women blessed. These are fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us in earth. Now in the hour of our death. Amen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, as now in the first shall be,

world without end. Amen. All my Jesus. Forgive us, our sins. Save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to have an especially those most in need of thy mercy.

“Our second mystery. So we've been walking you through the fact that to make a good decision,”

what we choose to do must be good. Why we're doing it must be good. We also have to realize that the circumstances surrounding it will affect what we're doing and that also has to be good. So let me give you an example of something that actually happened to me. I wanted to help a family that was struggling financially. I asked him, "What can I do?" And they said, "If you could help us pay the tuition for our children's Catholic school,

that would be really helpful." So I gave them the money. Giving to the poor is a good action. And my intention was good. I really wanted to help their kids.

But later I discovered the tuition had never been paid and the money had been spent on alcohol

and other unnecessary things. That's when I realized what I thought was helping had actually contributed to harm. Now the act in general, giving money was good, my intention was good, but I failed to consider the concrete circumstances how the money would actually be used. And because I ignored those circumstances, I didn't see my action in its full reality. I wasn't really helping the children. I was enabling something bad.

And that's the danger. If we don't consider the circumstances, we can think we're doing good when in reality or not and we might be causing greater harm. So I changed my approach instead of giving the money to the family. I paid the tuition directly to the school. Then the intention stayed the same and the good I wanted was brought about. And this time I was taking the circumstances into account and the action actually accomplished

the good I wanted. So a bad circumstance or a wrong circumstance does not change a good action into an intrinsically evil act, but it can make it the wrong choice in that situation. Our father, who art in heaven, Hollywood be your name, thy kingdom come by will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us a stare daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and they just not in too temptation until the rest from evil I'm in.

The Omery full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earth is now at the hour of our death I'm in. The Omery full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earth is now at the hour of our death I'm in. The Omery full of grace, the Lord is

pray for us and earth is now at the hour of our death I'm in. The Omery full of grace, the Lord is

“with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God,”

pray for us and earth is now at the hour of our death I'm in. The Omery full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earth is now at the hour of our death I'm in. The Omery full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earth is now at the hour of our death I'm in. The Omery full of grace, the Lord is

with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God,

pray for us and earth is now at the hour of our death I'm in. The Omery full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God,

“pray for us and earth is now at the hour of our death I'm in. The Omery full of grace, the Lord is with”

thee blessed, art thou among women blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earth is now at the hour of our death I'm in. The Omery full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earth is now at the hour of our death I'm in. Glory be to the Father and to the Son into the Holy Spirit. As it was in the evening as now and ever shall be, world without end amen. Oh,

my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to have an especially

those most in need of thy mercy. Our third mystery, when we consider any decision we have to look

at three things. What we're choosing to do, why we're doing it and any other relevant factors at play in the given situation. So it's not enough just to look at the action we're choosing or our motives because our decisions happen in the concrete, complicated world and we want those actions to make the world a better place, not a worse one. So we have to examine not just the action or intention but the situation we find ourselves in and we have to ask, is this decision likely to do

“more harm than good? Am I risking or neglecting a greater good for the sake of a lesser one?”

Am I pursuing a good that's not my job to pursue and then failing to fulfill the responsibilities God has already given me? If so, then we have to abandon that course of action because there's something we need to focus on instead. Some way we have been called to make the world a better place. Our father who art in heaven, hollowed be your name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us a stay our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who

trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art all man, women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earn us now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art all man, women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy, Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earn us now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of

grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art all man, women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy, Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earn us now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art all man, women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy, Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earn us now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art all man, women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb Jesus.

Holy, Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earn us now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art all man, women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy, Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earn us now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art all man, women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy, Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earn us now in the hour of our death, amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art all man, women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy, Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earn us now in the hour of our death, amen.

thy womb Jesus. Holy, Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earn us now in the hour of our death, amen.

“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art all man, women, blessed is a fruit of”

thy womb Jesus. Holy, Mary, mother of God, pray for us and earn us now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, as now in the first shall be, rolled without end, amen.

Oh, my Jesus. Forgive us, our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to have an especially those most in need of that mercy. Our fourth mystery. There are many times when we want to do something good and our motives are good, but we still should not do it because the circumstances are not right. For example, you may feel moved to help others. You're tempted to say yes to everything. Now the act, generosity is good. The intention, charity is good, but the

circumstances, your primary responsibilities begin to suffer. Your spouse feels neglected, your children are not getting your time. Your work and other duties suffer. And in that case, your generosity becomes disordered. Not because generosity is bad, but because you're neglecting

the duties God is already entrusted to you. The better choice is to fulfill your primary duties first,

“that's why they're primary, and then give from what is rightly yours to give.”

Or let's take voting. You may support a candidate because you want to reform immigration policy, or address poverty. Those are good concerns, and your intention may be good. But if that same candidate is also firmly committed to protecting abortion and policies that actually undermine marriage and the family, then the full circumstances must be taken into account. The direct attack on innocent life and the destruction of the family are more fundamental evils and cause for

far greater harm. Therefore, even if your motive is good, the circumstances are not right to support

that candidate. So again, it's not enough that what you're doing is not evil in itself or that

“you don't detect any bad motives in your heart. You have to consider the circumstances carefully,”

so that your decision truly serves the good rather than actually causing greater harm. Our father worked in heaven, hollowed beer name, that kingdom come, that will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us a stay or a day, the bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in at the hour of our death, amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in at the hour of our death, amen.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in at the hour of our death, amen.

“Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in at the hour of our death, amen. Most need of thy mercy. Our fifth mystery, human beings are fundamentally good. We generally want to do good things and we want to do them for good reasons, but we get in a hurry or we're lazy,

and we don't think it through, and we don't end up making a good decision because we didn't

consider the circumstances fully. nowhere is this temptation more common than in the temptation

to neglect prayer. Why do we neglect prayer? Is it because we're doing evil things or that we have wicked motives? No, it's hugely because we get so focused on so many good things, with so many good motives, and we forget the one thing necessary. A deep friendship with Jesus in prayer. So when you start to examine your actions and you consider the circumstances, remember this, any good thing that makes you neglect daily prayer is probably a temptation.

What you're doing may be good. Why you're doing it may be good, but if it's causing you to neglect

“prayer, then the circumstances are wrong. And you should let that good thing go and spend a little”

time with the Lord. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, that kingdom come,

thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us a stay, our daily bread and forgive us, our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, amen. You know Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the blessed, our Thalman, women bless it is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death, amen. You know Mary, full of grace, the Lord is

with the blessed, our Thalman, women bless it is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death, amen. You know Mary, full of grace, the Lord is

“with the blessed, our Thalman, women bless it is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,”

pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death, amen. You know Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the blessed, our Thalman, women bless it is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death, amen. You know Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the blessed, our Thalman, women bless it is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death, amen. You know Mary, full of grace, the Lord is

with the blessed, our Thalman, women bless it is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death, amen. You know Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the blessed, our Thalman, women bless it is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death, amen. You know Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the blessed, our Thalman, women bless it is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death, amen. You know Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the blessed, our Thalman, women bless it is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death, amen. You know Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with the blessed, our Thalman, women bless it is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now in at the hour of our death, amen. Glory be to the Father and to the Son,

and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, as now in our shallot be, world without end, amen. Oh, my Jesus. Forgive us, our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to have an especially those most in need of thy mercy. Same Michael, the Archangel, defense of Him, battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God review, can we humbly pray, and do thou old prince of the heavenly host

by the power of God, cast into hell, Satan, and all the evil spirits who prowl throughout the world seeking the root of souls. In the name of the Father and the Son

personal story you told, because I think it connected back well to the conversation we had

“in, I think, the last meditation, where I talked about an argument that I'd had in the past”

about sort of morality paralysis, where you think if you can't perfect your intentions, you might choose not to. It might be your excuse not to do a lot of good actions. But then flipping it into this meditation, you might say, well, the circumstances bad. So the good action, the good intention, you can just throw it all out. But I liked that in that story. It's you didn't use it as an excuse to, it's easy to just claim up and think, I shouldn't give

money to the poor because they're all just going to abuse it. But to find new ways to help people and that they're still a way to give the tuition directly, because it's just too easy to argue ourselves out of all good actions and ignore the good circumstances that are there that

if you just keep searching, there's still a way to help people. Even if that means it's never

bad to give someone on the street a water bottle or just something. And I know people then make the argument a lot of people reject food or bottle, they might be wary about what people might put in them, things like that. In my experience, a lot of people will absolutely accept an unopened water bottle or some kind of gatorate or anything, but looking for different circumstances is also

“okay. Yeah. And so I really, really liked that part of the meditation. Well, I think the point is”

we're learning. I mean, this is a whole point of meditation. We're coming to the Lord in meditation because we want to learn, we want to do better and it's going to be trial and error. And we're not perfect. So let's just, I mean, here it is. We're going to reach holiness by going forward in a stumbling, bumbling way. Yeah. And it's okay. And every step, we're learning. So we just keep going forward. Sure. We make mistakes. We learn from our stakes. Yeah, I was in your fault in the

first place that you had tried to help that family with tuition. And then they misuse the funds. But once you learned and once you knew, then moving forward, you're only decision was to find a different way to support the children. Well, I'll be honest. The first mistake I made was I was in

too big a hurry. Mmm. That's always a great. If I would have just assessment of our fault,

if I would have assessed it, just take it a little time, assess it a little, got some information on the ground, I could have made a better decision upfront. But again, that's part of the learning. It's one of my bad habits. One of my bad habits is that I'm rash. I jump. I act too quickly. And it's another, it's just one more way for us to learn about ourselves, learn how to make corrections in ourselves. Yeah. That's the whole point of all of this. Because it's not to say that

you'll listen to these meditations and then immediately be like, well, I get how it all be perfect from here on out. I'll just understand every circumstance I go into because even though we are saying there is like a black and white, there is a simple way to understand these things. It's just going

“to take learning on the ground, like you said. And a lot of, I think even what you said about”

sometimes we just need to do good actions with more consideration more slowly. Yeah. Let's rush. But at the same time, I appreciate what you're saying that, hey, let's not use where people have abused things. Let's not use that as an excuse for us to opt out of. Or it's even just the Catholic habit of discerning to a fault. Yeah. Where, uh, no, I'm just going to keep thinking on it. I'm just going to keep thinking on it. I'm going to bring it to prayer.

Half the time, I don't even bring it to prayer. And really, I'm just saying, I'm kicking the can down the road. You know what's really awesome is right, you're setting the stage. We're going to finish up this mini series on wall principles. And then we're going to go into the virtues.

And the first virtue, the first human virtues, prudence and what you're just blocking through

the steps of prudence to help us avoid three three pitfalls being rash or indecisive

virtue because it's so practical. Well, this is all very beautiful and very, very helpful.

“It's okay. You can take a compliment. I was actually thinking. I was thinking about a good”

way to segue out of this conversation. Oh, that's okay. Thank you. And let's be apostles of friendship,

good conversation, and the rosary. Share this with others.