Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 325

Stick 'em Up - Day 7

We're going in to the second week of the annual Stick 'em Up Campaign. For just two weeks in November of each year I bang the drum and pass the hat for donations.



The blog takes up a good bit of my time--time which I could use for paid writing.



I don't have ads. I don't have pop ups. I don't promote my books too much. I don't ask for donations except this once a year.



Why do I keep blogging? Because people say stuff like this: "Father, thanks for your blog--it brought be back to my Catholic faith."



"Your blog is funny and clear and easy to understand. It's the only thing Catholic my kids will read."



"I'm an Anglican priest and your blog is one of the factors which helped me come home to Rome. Pray for me as I prepare to be ordained as a Catholic priest."



"Your blog cheers me up Father. I'm in an area where every Catholic parish is liberal beyond words. I get my Catholic teaching from blogs like yours and I'm encouraged that there are priests like you who are holding to the historic faith."



"Keep blogging Father! I check your blog first thing every morning to be educated, challenged, entertained and inspired."



So. Will you pitch in? I'm suggesting a donation of $25.00 per reader. That comes to less than seven cents a day over the whole year. Just hit the 'Donate' button and contribute by PayPal. If you want something for your money--go ahead and buy some books.



Many thanks!

Talent Show

What about the talents we are given? There are two levels of the gifts God gives us. He gives us natural talents and abilities, for which we are responsible. We're supposed to use them wisely. But God also wishes to inspire and fill the natural talents with his supernatural grace. St Thomas Aquinas says that 'Grace perfects nature.' In other words, grace flows in and through the natural gifts taking them on to a higher and more powerful dimension.



This grace is available to all. It falls like the rain. But the paradox is that the rain will make both flowers and thorns grown. In other words, the raw material that the grace has to work on must first be changed from ego centered to God centered. There has to be the first conversion which takes place through faith and baptism--this conversion prepares the heart to receive the further graces which will transform the natural gifts into supernatural gifts in the world.



This infusion of grace into our lives has a purpose. It is to bring us to perfection. It is to gradually erode and wash away and, if need be, burn away all the imperfection and transform us from the inside out. We are to become fully alive, and such a transformation is glorious. Indeed, St Irenaeus teaches, "The glory of God is a human being fully alive."



So the natural gifts are infused with grace, and the product is a fully alive, abundant human life. The problem with so many Christians is that they are still operating only on the level of the natural gifts. They want to serve God. They want to be a good Christian. They want to make progress, but they are still doing so under their own steam--only using their natural gifts, and not realizing that those gifts are to be infused with grace and transformed into something greater.



So we end up with a religion of good works. Everybody running about trying to be God's good little boys and girls, and no doubt, accomplishing some good things, but it's all a bit like amateur hour--the worthy talent show where people stood up and did the best they could--but it all lacked inspiration and genius and the brilliant glory of something supernatural taking place. No doubt the good works make things better, but so what?



Anybody can be good and make the world a better place, if that's all you're doing why bring religion into it, and if you thought that was going to be good enough you're going to be surprised, for the natural talents on their own won't get you to heaven.



They might help you make the world a better place, but they won't get you to that world which is the best place.

On Stability

Old Monk-- Stability: God is not elsewhere.

On Silence

How can you expect to hear God speaking unless you stop speaking first?

Stick 'em Up - Day 5

$25.00 per year is less than seven cents a day for this blog.



Please pitch in. This is the only time in the year when I pass the hat.



Thanks to all who have helped out thus far.



If you would like some return for your donation, why not buy some books? Click on the sidebar on the right and do some Christmas shopping.

For Veterans Day

Mass in Wartime - for a gallery of pics go to NLM

Mrs Brady on the New Translation

Why hello dear, what a nice surprise! I'm glad you could come.



I've just this minute come in from the Piggly Wiggly and I couldn't resist one of their pumpkin pies. You'll have a slice won't you? Let me get my gloves and hat off. You know how to put on the kettle don't you? That's nice.



What's that? What do I think of the new translation?Well I don't really know. I haven't given it much thought dear.



Did you say that Father Bob doesn't like the new translation of the Mass? I can understand that. Change is difficult at the best of times isn't it?  I can see that some priests will find it a nuisance, but think what it must have been like back in the 1960s when suddenly they changed from the Latin to English! Good heavens, what a fuss there was! But we all survived it didn't we? I'm going to have a little bit of whipped cream on my pie dear. Would you like some? Good. Oh there's the kettle whistling! What a cheerful sound!



Come to think of it, I don't think the new translation will make much of a difference at all. Take dear Fr Bob at your church. What a good man he is, and such a caring pastor. He's always at the ball game after school, and always one to be there at parish dinners with a good story and a drink in his hand, but to tell you the truth dear, he's not really a liturgical expert now is he? Why I went to St John the Baptist one Sunday and he began Mass by asking us if anyone had seen the Red Sox game. Then he said, "In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit", and I didn't know if I was coming or going. Then, dear man, he felt he always had to make little jokes the whole time. He reminded me of a game show host. Now doesn't that sound terrible? I don't mean it as ugly as it came out, but you see, he's only trying to be nice to the people and I suppose he wants the Mass to be enjoyable.



So the new translation's not going to make much of a difference for Fr Bob now is it? I think all it will do is make his life rather difficult. He's getting older now and has trouble with all the words sometimes anyway, because I think he has problems with his teeth, and all those extra long words and long sentences... I don't suppose that will make him celebrate the Mass much differently. He'll just be trying to find his way around the book. Besides, I expect he'll continue making up the words as it suits him just like he's always done.



Do I sound cynical dear? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel despondent. In fact I'm feeling quite chipper to tell you the truth. I'm happy for the new translation to be with us, and I suppose it will make a difference in the long run, but for now I'm just glad I go to St Aloysius where it's all very simple and Father just says the words and does the actions and doesn't make much fuss. He lets it all speak for itself. That's the beauty of it isn't it dear? Just to let the Mass speak for itself? After all, the Mass has been around far longer than we have. I heard someone say the Mass should change us, we shouldn't change the Mass.



Oh goodness, what do I know about it? Not much I'm afraid, but it's the Mass and it's bigger than all of us my dear, and I suppose all I really want to do is be there and sort of let it wash over me. Do you know what I mean? No?



Oh. I'm sorry. I get so befuddled over theological matters. Let's change the subject. I really asked you to come around to see if you might help us out with the annual Thanksgiving Dinner for the homeless. You would? Oh how wonderful!

A Good Examination of Conscience

Many Catholics only trot off to confession when they feel bad about what they've done. But how we feel about our sins is not necessarily an accurate indicator of the severity of the sin.



We usually feel bad about our sin with three different emotions: fear, shame and guilt. Fear is simply the fear of getting caught. "Geesh! What if somebody found out about that!!" This is a very powerful emotion, but not really the best motivation for going to confession. It might be a doozy of a feeling, but it's self interested. You don't mind the sin that much. You just quiver at the thought of being found out or being punished.



The second emotion is shame. This is a bit better than fear of being caught, but not much. Shame is the emotion we feel when we face what we've done, and that sin contradicts our nice self image. "I can't believe I've done such a thing!! That's just not me!!" Yes it is. It's just not the 'you' you thought you were. Shame is also not a great motivation for confession, but it's better than nothing. The emotion of shame is strong, but it's really just a knock in your pride.



We often mistake fear of getting caught and shame with guilt. The three emotions can certainly be tumbled all together when we've done wrong and we classify that jumbled mess of emotions as 'guilt'. But real guilt is when we acknowledge that we've done wrong and feel bad simply because we have done evil.



This is why a good examination of conscience is vital--because we step around all the emotions and simply ask ourselves what we've done objectively. This is important because, while we may feel very frightened, ashamed and guilty about some sins--they may not actually be the most serious sins. Likewise, there are other sins that we may not feel frightened, ashamed and guilty about at all which are, in fact, more serious because they are direct actions of disobedience towards God or a form of violence towards others which we do with full knowledge and full consent.



This is where the criteria for mortal sin come in. With a good examination of conscience we can see what we've done and ask ourselves if it is grave matter, whether we had full knowledge that it was grave matter, and if we did it anyway with full consent. If so--mortal sin--even if we don't feel terribly guilty about it. Or, on the other hand, if not--then not a mortal sin --even if we do feel terribly guilty about it.



The other thing a priest can help us do in the confessional is discover the level of our culpability. A sin is a sin is a sin. No difficult circumstances or good intention can make a sin something other than a sin. However--it is true that circumstance and intention can lessen or increase one's culpability for sin.



So, for example, if a teenage girl has an abortion and she really believes the doctor that it is 'just a collection of cells' and she really is in a terribly tight situation health wise and financially and socially, and she is desperate and ignorant--she has committed a terrible sin, but her culpability would be much less than that of the abortionist who knows exactly what he is doing and is killing for money. The circumstances and intention should never be used as an excuse or a justification for sin. However, they may lessen (or increase) the culpability and this is what one can discuss with a priest.



Finally, the good examination of conscience has some excellent benefits. It helps you to be not so nervous before confession. The more objective you are about your sins the less you will feel nervous and ashamed. You will also be able to deal with the ones you feel are the 'biggies' by the fact that the good examination of conscience will have revealed other sins to you which perhaps are more profound and deeper in your soul even if they are not as passionate and emotion laden as the 'biggies' you are so ashamed of.



Remember too that confession gives us the grace to overcome our sins. God's help is planted down deep at the root level of our lives. His grace is planted there through confession, and as we live in grace that seed of glory grows and becomes a great tree in which all the bird-like angels of the air can come and roost.

Stick 'em Up - Day 5

C'mon now. You can do it. Grit your teeth and hit that 'Donate' button. Just twenty five bucks is what the good Padre is askin' you to put in the kitty.



He only asks once a year, and this is it. Twenty five bucks! Why that's nuthin'. It's less than seven cents a day! Course, I'm not saying you can't do more than that. Some folks have been real generous and thrown in more cash than just twenty five. Some less, but do what you can!



Remember, if you want something for your money buy some of the good Padre's books. They're real good for curing insomnia, and I've used mine to impress people I'm traveling with. I get the book out of my pack and put it on the table and the folks I'm with think I'm a real smart feller.



Remember--you don't pitch in and I'm gonna get Padre to post that Jesus is My Friend video every day for a month. That's teach ya, ya hard hearted old skinflint![image error]

Stumble and Rise

Here begins a series that will be published here and shared through Twitter and Facebook. You'll eventually be able to read the collected posts using the label facility.It's called Old Monk. The picture of the old monk will accompany every post. The posts will be quotations, observations and insights on spirituality that are pithy and brief. Some of the ideas will be mine. Most of the ideas I will shamelessly steal from others... I hope you like it.





What do you do in the monastery?

Old Monk: We fall and get up again. We fall and get up again.