Pope Francis, "Keep watch over your emotions!"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In his homily for his installation, Pope Francis reflected on the "vocation of protector"\u00a0 so ably modelled by St. Joseph, who's feast we celebrate\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthecouch\/2013\/03\/pope-francis-keep-watch-over-your-emotions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope Francis, "Keep watch over your emotions!"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In his homily for his installation, Pope Francis reflected on the "vocation of protector"\u00a0 so ably modelled by St. Joseph, who's feast we celebrate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthecouch\/2013\/03\/pope-francis-keep-watch-over-your-emotions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith on the Couch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-03-19T18:14:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-03-19T18:15:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/faithonthecouch\/files\/2013\/03\/imagesCASDEKT3-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rachael Popcak and Dr. Gregory Popcak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rachael Popcak and Dr. Gregory Popcak\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthecouch\/2013\/03\/pope-francis-keep-watch-over-your-emotions\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthecouch\/2013\/03\/pope-francis-keep-watch-over-your-emotions\/\",\"name\":\"Pope Francis, \\\"Keep watch over your emotions!\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthecouch\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-03-19T18:14:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-03-19T18:15:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthecouch\/#\/schema\/person\/036d273c0c34123fe8376389dbd3178d\"},\"description\":\"In his homily for his installation, Pope Francis reflected on the \\\"vocation of protector\\\"\u00a0 so ably modelled by St. Joseph, who's feast we celebrate\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthecouch\/2013\/03\/pope-francis-keep-watch-over-your-emotions\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthecouch\/2013\/03\/pope-francis-keep-watch-over-your-emotions\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthecouch\/2013\/03\/pope-francis-keep-watch-over-your-emotions\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthecouch\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pope Francis, “Keep watch over your emotions!”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthecouch\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthecouch\/\",\"name\":\"Faith on the Couch\",\"description\":\"with Dr. Greg Popcak\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthecouch\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthecouch\/#\/schema\/person\/036d273c0c34123fe8376389dbd3178d\",\"name\":\"Rachael Popcak and Dr. Gregory Popcak\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthecouch\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/46ea41a745d9d34daa699031274efd37?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/46ea41a745d9d34daa699031274efd37?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Rachael Popcak and Dr. Gregory Popcak\"},\"description\":\"Dr. Gregory Popcak directs the Pastoral Solutions Institute, an organization dedicated to helping Catholics find faith-filled solutions to marriage, family, and personal problems. 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{"id":588,"date":"2013-03-19T13:14:36","date_gmt":"2013-03-19T18:14:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthecouch\/?p=588"},"modified":"2013-03-19T13:15:59","modified_gmt":"2013-03-19T18:15:59","slug":"pope-francis-keep-watch-over-your-emotions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithonthecouch\/2013\/03\/pope-francis-keep-watch-over-your-emotions\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis, “Keep watch over your emotions!”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>In his homily<\/a> for his installation, Pope Francis reflected on the \u201cvocation of protector\u201d\u00a0 so ably modelled by St. Joseph, who\u2019s feast<\/a> we celebrate today.\u00a0 In his comments, Pope Francis made some surprising and important comments on the importance of developing emotional control and how our ability to be good stewards of our emotions directly affects our ability to be the protectors of one another God calls us to be.<\/p>\n

But to be \u201cprotectors\u201d, we also have to keep watch over ourselves! Let us not forget that hatred, envy and pride defile our lives! Being protectors, then, also means keeping watch over our emotions, over our hearts, because they are the seat of good and evil intentions: intentions that build up and tear down!<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0 (Read more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Pope Francis makes a powerful point about the obligation for Christians to master their emotions.\u00a0 But what does that mean?\u00a0 As we discussed on the show today, \u201cemotional control\u201d doesn\u2019t mean stuffing your feelings, denying your feelings, or refusing to recognize your feelings.\u00a0 It means being aware<\/em> of your feelings\u00a0and<\/em> being able to choose<\/em> to make the healthiest response in the presence of those feelings.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On More2Life Radio<\/a>\u00a0today\u2013which was all about heeding Pope Francis\u2019 call to emotional control\u2013Lisa used a great analogy.\u00a0 She said that emotions are like a grade school fire alarm and that learning emotional control is like a fire drill.\u00a0 In the presence of that fire alarm, some kids want to naturally run around like chickens with their heads cut off (the \u201ceffusers\u201d in our metaphor).\u00a0 Other kids just sit there and stare at the wall (i.e., the emotional \u201cstuffers\u201d).\u00a0 But both groups of kids need to learn to line up behind the teacher\u00a0promptly, and proceed calmly to the nearest exit.\u00a0 That\u2019s really true.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Whether our initial emotional reaction is to effuse or stuff, the path to emotional control is learning to recognize\u00a0<\/em>your emotions and still be able to choose<\/em> the healthiest response to the circumstance in the presence of your emotions.\u00a0 When the emotional fire alarm rings, we need to line up behind our master, Jesus Christ, and follow him wherever he leads.<\/p>\n

\u2014When you need faithful, Catholic\u00a0marriage, family, or personal counseling, the Pastoral Solutions Institute Tele-Counseling Practice can help.\u00a0 Visit our website<\/a> or call 740-266-6461 to make an appointment to speak with a professional Catholic counselor.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"