Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 328

Herman and Sarah

I have to admit I like Herman Cain the way I liked Sarah Palin--not because either would necessarily have made a good prez (although the might've) but because they're both outsiders who are cheerful, hard working and don't mind turning over the tables in the temple.



I like the way Sarah Palin stood feminism on it's head. Here was gun totin' gal from Alaska who winked and smiled and said, 'You betcha!'--who had a redneck husband and a teenaged daughter who got pregnant and still she marched on with her Christian values and showed all the feminists that a strong woman could also be good looking, a loyal wife and mother and hold down a career. That's what I liked about Sarah Palin--should she ever be president? Probbly not, but that hasn't stopped Obama...



Same with Herman Cain. He stands on it's head all the prejudiced ideas about what a black man in this country should be, and those prejudices are just as prevalent on the left as the left like to think they are on the right. People on the right sometimes think that all black men are shiftless, lazy, dishonest welfare leeches who ought to get a job. People on the left think all black men are shiftless, lazy, dishonest welfare leeches who are entitled to be that way.



Herman Cain steps us and tells all of us to forget about the race issue. It's not about the color of a person's skin. It's about intelligence, faith, patriotism, experience, skill and a dash of charisma and humility and good humor. Sarah Palin seemed to say, "Feminism? I'll show you feminism!" Herman Cain says, "Black man? I'll show you black man."



That these people who break the mould and shake the mold are from the right are even more refreshing.



Should Herman Cain be president? Dunno. I'm not really interested in politics. But I'm interested in people.[image error]

Share This

If you like a post, use the 'Share This' link at the bottom of the post to share it on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks.



Have you ever thought that you can have a significant impact in the New Evangelization simply by using the 'Share This' facility? Every media communication action needs not just content but an effective distribution system. You can write a column for a newspaper. It can get printed, but somebody still has to buy the subscription and somebody has to deliver it to the door.



The new media doesn't work that way. It is free of charge, but it is also free of cumbersome and expensive printing and distribution networks. The stuff I write on this blog goes out instantly and globally. However, I can only boost readership myself to a certain extent. It also needs promotion activity. This is where you can help.



I am moving into a new phase of blogging and media work. I will soon be posting my homilies here again, and in the new year I will start doing some video and radio work. I would like to boost readership.



Your sharing through social networks actually helps to spread the Word of God. I can pump out the content. You can help to get it distributed more widely by sharing. Share and encourage others to share.[image error]

In My Father's House

To understand today's gospel fully you have to understand Jewish wedding customs in the first century. When a girl and boy decided to get married (or their parents decided they would get married) the boy's father paid a visit to the girl's father to decide a dowry price. Then the boy would pay a formal visit to the girls' home to propose. At that point he would give the girl a gift representing the dowry price. Maybe a bag of gold coins or a ring.



Then the boy would go home to his father's house and the girl remained in her parent's home for about a year. There would be a formal betrothal time, but once the betrothal price was paid the deal was done. The two were as good as married, and a breakup of the betrothal was the equivalent to a divorce.



During the betrothal year the boy would build a place for him and his bride to live--this was usually a room which was an addition to his father's house. Then after about a year he would come with his groomsmen at night in a torchlight process to the bride's house. She would be waiting there with her bridesmaids, not knowing when exactly he was to come. Then the cry would go up, "The bridegroom is coming!" and the bride and her maids would go out to meet him and process back to his house with her family and the whole village in order for the wedding to take place. After the wedding the marriage was consummated in the new home he had built for his bride and the wedding supper lasted for a whole week.



This puts into context the whole nuptial imagery in the Sacred Scriptures. From Adam and Eve on through the divinely appointed marriages of the patriarchs to God saying that he would come and be the faithful husband of his people Israel--there is a motif running through the sacred stories in which God is the bridegroom and we are the bride.



This continues in the New Testament where Jesus refers to himself as the bridegroom time and again. He does so explicitly--"Why should they fast when the bridegroom is with them?" and he does so through his actions and other oblique references: For example at the wedding feast at Cana in Galilee he provides wine. That was the job of the bridegroom, so when he does this he steps into that eschatological role. Also, when he says, "In my father's house are many rooms, I am going to prepare a place for you so that when I come again I will take you to be with me." This is a reference back to his role as the bridegroom.



His first coming to earth is therefore like the betrothal visit. He comes and pays the bride price for his bride--the church--who will be presented to him as a glorious bride without spot or wrinkle. The bride price is his own life. He then goes away--back to his father's house to prepare a place for us. We are therefore in the waiting year--the time when the deal has been done. We have been bought with a price. We are redeemed. The eternal covenant has been fixed. We only await the coming of the bridegroom and the consummation.



This consummation in heaven awaits us, but in the meantime, the Holy Mass is a glimpse of that final wedding meal. This is why it is good that the priest, in the new translation, says, "Behold the Lamb of God...Blessed are those who are called to the supper of the Lamb." More specifically--the 'marriage supper of the Lamb'--which is pictured in the Book of Revelation as the consummation of love and the final union between Christ the Bridegroom and the Church his bride.[image error]

Altar Boys Make a Difference

Visitor from New Jersey at Our Lady of the Rosary says today, "Father, I just want to day that this is the first time in many, many years that I have actually enjoyed going to Mass. The parishes I go to up North, they put as many people as possible into the procession. They don't have altar boys. The music is all kind of happy stuff all the time like the priest wants to entertain us. Your mass was beautiful. The altar boys so well trained and beautiful to watch. The homily was really interesting and it was, well, just reverent and for the first time in I don't know how long it was like, well, like I was at church!"[image error]

Boomer Cars

I am sure I am not the only boomer male pleased and nostalgic to see the new Chargers, Camaros and Mustangs.



Which gets your vote?[image error]

Corpus Christi Watershed

Keyboard Accompaniment New Translation Roman Missal ICEL from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.

If you haven't found it yet, Corpus Christi Watershed has lots of simple videos to learn the music settings for the new Mass. Go here.[image error]

The SSPX

I have read recently in a news article on the 'internet' that the leaders of the Society of St Pius X have determined that they will not be able to establish reunion with Pope Ratzinger any time soon.



Whenever I read news like this I am saddened, but not surprised. The Society of St Pius X, which in many ways, is an admirable group of people, criticize the Roman Catholic Church for being wedded to 'modernism'. What my friends at SSPX don't see is how much their own position is poisoned by modernism.



Our own position at the Sacred Society of St Philibustre has been made clear time and again by our spokesman in the United Kingdom, Fr. Damson Thomas PGCE --noted journalist and Philibustrian Father. Fr Thomas writes brilliantly about the 'magic circle' that dominates the Society of St Pius X and frequently exposes their modernism in his columns.



I encourage you to attend Mass at Fr Thomas' church located at 197a Edgeware Road, London. (second floor flat marked Mrs. Edith Thomas) I also refer you to his writings which speak of how the SSPX continues its stubborn adherence not only to the Tridentine Rite of celebrating the Divine Mysteries, (which was only devised in 1570) but also their shameless refusal to adopt the more ancient practice of wearing the be-ribboned maniple rather than that modernist innovation--the buttoned maniple.



Cynics and those who only view things in a shallow way will say that these issues are not important. However, allow me once again to gently explain our position at the Sacred Society of St Philibustre. We reverently celebrate our masses according to the ancient Ambrosianic Rite (non collegian). This exquisite liturgy dates to the early centuries of the Syro-Chaldean Church founded by St Euthanasia the Anchorite. The canon of the Mass is said in secret soto voce in the now archaic, but beautiful Syro-Chaldean language. The altar is behind the sacred ikonostasis and locked within the underground chamber so as not to be violated by the profane laity.



Among the other sacred vestments, our priests wear the most venerable be-ribboned maniple. Despite many ecumenical meetings to dialogue with our brothers at the Society of St Pius X we have not made significant progress. Despite sound documentary evidence that the be-ribboned maniple is indeed the more ancient tradition, they cling to their buttons.



We can never agree with them. They are modernist heretics all. They will never be reconciled to our church, and our Most Holy Father Pope Sylvester will, no doubt, soon excommunicate them. At that point, free of all encumbrances, I expect they will very soon 'reconcile' with the apostate 'pope' Joseph Ratzinger--and all his fetid crew.



I speak these words in sadness and with dismay, but I would be remiss in my duties as editor of this journal if I did not speak the truth.[image error]

The Pope in Africa

John Allen writes here on the complicated, but fascinating situation of the Church in Africa.[image error]

Gadget for Sale

I have a Jabra Cruiser bluetooth gadget for sale. This is a cool doodad which clips on your car visor and connects with your iPhone--allowing you to take calls hands free. It also links in with your car radio, allowing you to play tunes from your iPhone through your radio wirelessly. When you are hooked up to the car radio you can also pipe your phone calls through the car speakers. If you have GPS on your iPhone it pipes the GPS voice through the built in speaker or the car speakers too.



It works real well, but I won't need it after next week because I'm getting some new hearing aids that have bluetooth capability and connect straight into my iPhone. The gadget cost $100.00 new, and comes with lead for charging the battery, and the instruction booklet. If you want this gadget, you can pay for it by making a PayPal donation on the blog, and I'll send it to you.



Cost: $75.00 plus $5.00 post and packing.[image error]

St Charles Borromeo

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