INTENTIONAL
The word ‘intentional’ keeps popping up on the Christian radio programs I catch from time to time, and I sort of wonder if it is something new or, has it been around for years and I just didn’t notice it. Maybe someone wrote a widely read book that gives it currency. It seems to refer to a quality of mind that a person can turn up and down, along the line of “This matter is something we should be more intentional about.” I think my way of expressing the same thought would be something along the line of “This matter deserves greater emphasis” or “We need to make greater effort toward dealing with this matter.”
We Catholics use the term ‘intention’ frequently, as in “Pray for the Holy Father’s intention.” I don’t see a whole lot of commonality between the two usages, and no one would say “We need to be more intentional about the Holy Father’s intentions.” At least not intentionally.
