Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 332

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Mea Culpa

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"My fault, my fault, my most grievous fault" is what we will soon say in the Confiteo. I know, I know. We will be blamed for dishing out the guilt and making people feel bad, but I think it is going to be refreshing--and here's why:



Our whole culture is awash with the pop psychology counseling mentality which encourages us to blame somebody else for our problems. "I have anger problems because my mother didn't breast feed me" or "I am not self assertive enough because my mother didn't breast feed me." Every problem we have, every fault in our character, every weakness or sin we blame on somebody else. I heard a girl once excuse her promiscuity with the claim, "I sleep with lots of men because my father didn't love me and I'm looking for a father's love." Or what about the guy who was unfaithful to his wife because, "I'm still looking for the perfect woman because my mother walked out on us when I was a kid."



One of the side effects of this victim culture is that, because we blame other people for our problems and weaknesses, we also think that somebody else should solve our problems for us. There's a logic to it: My problems were caused by somebody else. Somebody else should solve them for me. They're not my responsibility. Thus the entitlement culture goes with the victim mentality. Somebody owes me a living. Somebody owes me solutions to my problems. Somebody else will bail me out.



The new Confiteo is a refreshing antidote to the victim-entitlement poison. I beat my breast and say, "My fault, my fault, my most grievous fault" and as I do I take responsibility for myself in a most solemn threefold vow of acknowledgement. I take the blame. I take the responsibility. I take the problem as my own. This is one of the most mature things anybody can do in life--to take responsibility. To decide to do something about the problem, and if nothing can be done about it, then to bear the suffering with dignity and silence. This is not only mature, but it is a little touch of the God image in each of us. When I pick up the responsibility I am engaging my will and deciding that I am going to be involved. Me and nobody else but me.



Furthermore--let's be even more radical and pick up other people's trash. In other words, instead of being the poor little spoiled brat victim. Why don't we be adult and clean up somebody else's room? What I mean to say is that instead of blaming other people for our problems why don't we not only take responsibility for our own sins and weaknesses and problems and failures, but why don't we take responsibility for other's as well?



OK, so maybe your father beat you up and your mother burned you with cigarettes and your teacher hit you with a paddle and your big brother abused you. What if you were to take responsibility for their sins as well as your own? What if we were to see the people who hurt us with hearts of compassion and be the agent of forgiveness towards them? What if we were to say, "Here I'll take all that crap for you. I'll take responsibility for the mess of your life as well as the mess of my life." What if our first 'mea culpa' was for us, and the second was for other people who have messed us up? By taking responsibility in this way we will actually find forgiveness, healing and peace.



If we use the second 'my fault' to take responsibility for other people's sins in our lives what if we were to use the third 'my most grievous fault' and claim responsibility for the sins of the whole world. That sounds pretty ambitious. Megalomaniacal even, but what I mean is this: don't I, in my own sin and selfishness, contribute to the sins of the whole world? What if I were to step out of my own little shell, my own little universe and see the connections? I'm involved. I am not an island. I am a part of the continent, a part of the main. I am a man, but I am also humanity in microcosm.



Have I not shared in the greed that has ruined our country? Have I not shared in the lust that has ruined families? Have I not shared in the pride, the envy, the gluttony, the sloth and the wrath that has soiled the world?  Yes, I have, and when I cry, "My most grievous fault" in the new Confiteo, perhaps I may, in my own small way, identify with Christ the Lord who really did take the sins of the whole world to himself, and perhaps in my own small way, I may come to understand more deeply the mystery of the cross of Christ.



Those who are into the sentimental promotion of 'self esteem' and 'personal fulfillment' and 'individual liberation' may be shocked at such a seeming debasement of the person. They may be dismayed by what seems to be yet more groveling and self abnegation. What they do not understand is the immense freedom and power that comes from genuine repentance. In this action I take responsibility (by God's grace) and I rise above the faults. I am forgiven and I forgive. In this there is not only true freedom, but true self esteem, true fulfillment, and ultimately a supernatural joy.

Liturgical Battle

The Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy teaches that "the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the font from which all her power flows." (SC, 10) and necessary for catechizing the faithful that Christ Jesus may fully work in them in transforming them. If this is so, and it is, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger got it right when he noted that the "disintegration of the liturgy" is behind the crisis of faith that confronts the Church at present, for when man falls from worshipping God in the way the He want to be worshipped "In favor of the powers and values of this world" he loses his freedom and returns to captivity through loss of the moral law which governs true humanity." (Spirit of the Liturgy) -- from a book ms. I have been sent--The Smoke of Satan in the Temple of God-- by Timothy Wallace



This has been for me, a chicken or egg question. Did modernism in the Church make the liturgy disintegrate or did the disintegration of the liturgy produce modernism in the church? I think modernism produced the disintegration of the liturgy, but the disintegration of the liturgy helped promulgate and distribute the modernism.



In a similar way, the new liturgical movement on its own cannot reverse the modernism in the church. Modernistic assumptions, for many Catholics, have become the air they breathe, and a restoration of liturgy alone will not correct their assumptions. However--it will help. Whenever the modernist assumptions clash with the a restored liturgy there is chance for correction. The liturgy then becomes the battleground, and the new liturgical movement the means of waging a war which, at it's heart, is theological and philosophical.



We are talking about basics here: is worship about us or God? Do we worship the community or Almighty God? Are we focussed only on ourselves or first on God. It is fine to love our neighbor, but this is the second commandment not the first. The first it to love God. How we celebrate the liturgy, therefore, really does matter. It is not simply a matter of taste--it is a matter of orientation. Are our hearts and lives oriented toward God or toward ourselves?

Mary in October

The Blessed Virgin gets the two sweetest months: May and October

From the Monastery

St Benedict's little rule of life was written in the fifth century, and is a classic in Western spirituality. However, when you read it you will probably be disappointed. There is nothing there about the stages of mystical prayer. There is nothing on the heights of heaven or the bliss of devotion or fifteen stages to perfection.



Instead you find a practical rule for monks living together in community in the fifth century in Italy. Benedict gives them dietary instructions, rules on how to sleep (don't sleep with your knife on your belt lest you cut yourself when you roll over) what to drink, and how to pray.



But locked into the ordinary rule of life is the heart of the gospel. Benedict understands human psychology and his gentle rule helps us to live together in any kind of community through the simple dynamic of obedience, stability and conversion of life.



Obedience is rooted in the word 'to listen'. So obedience to the superior means really listening not only to what he wants, but why he wants it. Likewise, the superior is 'obedient' to those below him because he also seeks to serve them, and he listens to their real needs and  responds by never demanding anything from them that is not for their greater good. Think how our businesses and schools and communities would be transformed if we were to live together in such a way!



Stability is the deep conviction that "we will not find God elsewhere." A new house, a new job, a new spouse, a new location, a new diet, a new hair do, a new outfit...none of these things will, on their own, bring contentment and peace. God, and God's peace is to be found here and now. It is in this trial, this difficulty, this health crisis, this family, this community, this parish, that I will find the path to God. When we are rooted in stability we radiate peace and confidence. God is in charge. Therefore I will trust him. Right here and right now in the sacrament of this present moment.



Conversion of Life is the third Benedictine vow. It does not just mean having a religious 'conversion experience'. It means that I am committed to the quest for the whole of my life to be converted. Every last bit of me must be changed by God's grace and the radiant power of Christ within me. Conversion of my whole life is the aim, and from there the conversion of the whole of life around me. What if this were our goal, rather than power games, living for money or seeking to control others?



The Benedictine tradition will give you roots. Why not make a good book on the Benedictine way your next spiritual read? There are lots out there. A classic is Esther DeWaal's Seeking God.  My own St Benedict and St Therese--The Little Rule and the Little Way  blends the way of Benedict with the Little Way of St Therese while my book Listen My Son--St Benedict for Fathers gives readers the full text of the Rule of St Benedict in daily readings along with commentary applying the Rule to family life.

Church and the New Media

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I have finally got around to reading Brandon Vogt's book The Church and the New Media, and I can really and honestly, truly highly recommend it... and not just because I've got a chapter in it.




Brandon has put together a terrific book for every Catholic who has any inkling at all that they want to communicate the gospel. The case is made that we are in the midst of a social, technological and communications revolution equivalent to the invention of the printing press. Not being involved in the new media is like arguing with Gutenberg that scrolls on velum copied out with goose quill pens using ink made from soot really was better than the printing press...and all that moveable type stuff--it will never catch on....Fuhgeddaboudit.




People are communicating with gadgets and we better get used to it. Brandon covers the whole territory: blogs, flocknotes, twitter, facebook, websites, podcasts, videocasts, radio, TV--what it is, how to use it, and where to get resources--it's all in this book.




Pastors need this book to learn how to use new media to communicate with their people--not just talking but listening. Youth workers need this book to brush up on how to communicate with their teens. Educators need this book to realize where the learning is going on. Bishops need this book to learn how to feed their flock. Parents need this book to figure out why their kids are looking at screens all the time.




I already knew how important the new media was, but didn't realize how much impact it already has. Brandon stacks up the statistics and you can't leave this book and not want to do something more.




Furthermore, the book is compiled in such a way that the message and medium match up. It provides a juicy read while packing in side bar notes, embedded information and links--almost as if it is a printed website.




Go here to learn more about it.

Back to Benedict

It was probably Lent of 1980 when I first visited a Benedictine Abbey. My friend in South Carolina, June Reynolds, was an oblate of St Anselm's Abbey in Washington DC, and I was studying at Oxford. She stayed in touch with me and suggested in a letter that I might like to visit a Benedictine Abbey and that Douai Abbey in Berkshire seemed to be the closest to Oxford.



She didn't know that for those of us brought up as fundamentalists monks and nuns were one of the deep dark secrets of the Catholic Church! We were told that they were (shock horror!!) celibate, and that their monasteries and convents were connected by secret underground tunnels where the monks and nuns met--and not for prayer meetings-- The bodies of the babies born to the nuns were buried there, for the Mother Superior would first baptize them and then strangle them so they would go straight to heaven...



I'm not kidding. That's the sort of stuff we were told. Anyway, I didn't believe it, but I still had a pretty big dose of skepticism and curiosity as I made my way by train to the little station at Woolhampton, climbed off the train and hiked the couple of miles up the hill to Douai. I was given the usual warm Benedictine welcome and made friends with an American who had just entered the novitiate there. Dom Elias Polomski is still a friend after all these years. He ended as an Anglican priest before returning to the Catholic Church. I became an Anglican priest and almost a monk before marrying and ending up as a Catholic priest.



I made a short retreat there during Lent, and was hooked. The monks seemed to take their faith seriously, but did not take themselves seriously, and that seemed to suit me. Over the years I would come to visit many different abbeys in many different countries, and always found the same consistent, stable and peaceful life.



The Way of St Benedict has been a solid and sure path first into, and then through the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is vast, and it's not a bad idea to have a smaller sub set within the Church to belong to. In the Benedictine world I found kindred spirits--other men who liked books, being quiet and trying to love God. Someone asked me why I didn't end up as a monk myself, and I said that for me it would have been too easy.



"What, you mean I get a room all to myself. I can worship in a great big beautiful church five times a day, have access to a big library where I am actually supposed to sit and read? You mean I can live simply and there will be other people who actually also consider small talk to be boring, and who will either discuss interesting topics or keep quiet? You mean I can live in a big rambling old place in the country with large rooms with high ceilings and worn out leather armchairs--and that I will share this space with other men who will wish me well, but mind their own business?" Sounds like bliss.



Of course, the monastic path would not have been any easier or harder than any path to holiness. God wants to knock the rough edges off us no matter which life we choose, and he will fashion us into saints through whatever path we take if we will only co operate with him.



So, once again I'm back with Benedict. For three days I will stay here with the monks my brothers, and wish in a way that I had chosen the simple and beautiful monastic path, and then I will know that it was not my way--even though I will always find it elusive and alluring, and I will stop and realize that the drawing I feel is not just the beauty of the Benedictine life, but that this life reveals a greater beauty and reflects a deeper Truth, and it is this beauty, this truth, this Life that is the greater drawing.

Manly Rosary

I'm delighted with the new rosary I've got. Fed up with brightly colored, rose scented little lightweight girly rosaries that break, my friend Judy Bruce offered to make me a 'manly rosary'.



It is hand made with large, sensible black beads, a strong wire chain, and a strong and beautiful St Benedict crucifix. It feels heavy in the hand, and is a pleasure to use.



If you would like one of these hand made manly crucifixes for yourself or a man in your life I can get you one for just $50.00. It comes in it's own simple black pouch.



Send me an email: frlongenecker@att.net and I'll get Judy to make one for you.

Vice and Violence

All vice ends in violence. Think about it in terms of the seven deadly sins. In one way or another, if the vice is continued it ends in violence, and if in violence then in death.



Take lust, for example. Oh, it seems so harmless--a little fun in the bedroom. A bit of slap and tickle, a bit of a giggle and gasp. Where would the violence be in lust? Look into the Marquis de Sade and see where unbridled lust takes you. Into the whipping chamber, the torture and rape and the sick scenes of sado masochism. Ordinary sex grows dull so the need for excitement and thrill and physical sensation demands...violence.



Pride is only pride because one is better than another. Pride does not just make us want to win. It makes us want to beat the other guy. Pride puts us not just up, but over--over others who are inferior to us. There is not pride unless there is someone to show off to, and the only ones to show off to are those we deem our inferiors, and it only takes a small push for the pride to turn into violence. Just allow the person on top to have his superior position threatened and he will turn and snarl like a cornered animal--even if he does so with a sweet superior smile and a stab in the back.



Envy leads to violence. Easy to see. When I am envious of another I will murder their reputation, tear them down so they cannot be greater than me, destroy them for being superior, and does it end in real, physical violence? Hell hath no fury like a woman--or man--scorned. Let someone get what was ours or what we think is ours and we may plot to destroy them.



Wrath is violence suppressed. Take off the lid and the wrathful will murder.



Greed is economic violence and a kind of theft. The greedy take from the poor and think nothing of it, and it only takes a small step for the greedy to turn violent. Allow the greedy to think that their wealth and status is threatened and they will kill to defend it.



Is the glutton violent? What, a fat and jovial over eater violent? He is violent towards himself. His god is his stomach and should he be deprived of his addiction he will become violent.



Even the slothful is violent, for he is violent against life itself. The slothful kills joy; kills creativity; sloth is a kind of despair which kills the fullness of life. Kills life. Kills.

Catholic Evangelism in the Bible Belt

I've had this new idea for Catholics to evangelize. We are getting these holy cards with a Catholic image on the front, and we're printing Bible verses on the back. Then we get the folks in the parish to purchase them and hand them out like Evangelicals hand out gospel tracts.



You keep a few of these in the glove compartment or your wallet or purse, then when you're at a restaurant you leave it along with the tip (better leave a generous tip though!). At the drive through you hand one to the gal at the cash register. At the supermarket you ask if they would like a holy card.



An example would be: Jesus picture with the chalice and host, and on the back it says, "Jesus said, 'This is my body. Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man you do not have life within you." Another one would be a holy card of the Blessed Mother with the texts on the back: Jesus said, "Behold your Mother...Honor Your Father and your Mother." Mary said, "All generations shall call me blessed."



I think it is a good idea. Now all we have to do is get Catholics up off their lazy backsides to do something about it!