Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 349

More Bald Priests

[image error] In a week where one bald priest with a beard turns bad this bald priest with a beard meets another bald priest with a beard who is dynamite.



Fr. Carlos Martins is a priest with the order Companions of the Cross. He visited Our Lady of the Rosary parish for two days this week and spoke powerfully about the relics he carries with him around the country on exposition.



When Deacon Ballard asked if he could arrange for a priest to visit with the relics I have to admit that I anticipated one of those dear old elderly priests who trundle about visiting parishes, doing good and spreading the word about this apostolate or that missionary group. Good steady soldiers, but perhaps not too exciting?



Not so Fr Carlos. A young priest who converted to the Catholic faith through an experience of Eucharistic adoration, he follows Christ without compromise, has a deliverance ministry, is totally faithful to the magisterium and yet is down to earth, funny, wise and humble. "Would you like a drink Father?" and he says, "Oh thank you! The only thing better than a drink is the second drink." He knows relics upside down and backward and can tell you most anything about their history and authenticity (or not). He knows the sharks and conmen who are out there selling chicken bones in thecas on eBay. He knows the crooks and swindlers and also knows the postulators, the miracle workers, the holy men and women who live the true life of the faith.



I can highly recommend him to you. Visit his website and invite him to your parish, your school, your community. You won't regret it. If you're in Charlotte NC he'll be at St Ann's church tomorrow (Saturday) and at St Patrick's Cathedral on Sunday.

The Jesus Prayer

Years ago, when I was still an Anglican theological student I remember reading The Way of the Pilgrim which is a Russian Orthodox book about the hesychast--the Jesus Prayer--or the way of praying without ceasing. I had come across it first in J.D.Salinger's story Franny and Zooey and then the charming story in the Way of the Pilgrim encouraged me to start using the Jesus Prayer.



It was my first introduction to repetitious prayer, and it's been with me every since. The idea is simple, that we repeat the Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God have mercy on me a sinner" over and over again. Eventually we link it with our breathing. Breathe in real long and deep and recite, "Lord Jesus Son of God." Breathe out real long and deep and recite, "Have mercy on me a sinner." Other people suggest other simple phrases like "O God Come to My Assistance--O Lord Make Haste to Help me"



The monks of Mt Athos had used the prayer linked with physical behaviors as a sort of mantra to help them enter into a spirit and mindset of transcendent prayer. OK. The problem is that we can induce an altered state of consciousness through lots of different techniques or by taking certain chemicals. The altered state of consciousness--a feeling of peace, calm and unity with the cosmos--does not necessarily mean that we are in touch with God or that we are really experiencing Christ's holy spirit. All it means is that we have achieved (sometimes through simple physiological techniques) a mellow sort of mood.



The Jesus Prayer can be a wonderful way of moving more deeply into communion with the Lord, but only if it is accompanied by a daily obedience to the teachings of the Church, the guidance of the Holy Spirit, a love of Sacred Scripture, service to the poor and a life lived in dynamic communion with the saints and in the fullness of Christ's sacramental economy. These are the objective criteria which validate and enhance and amplify the Jesus Prayer and any other personal and subjective spiritualities.



In my growing experience this is what the church needs most desperately at this time. We need humble Catholics who will simply live day by day in the great torrent of grace which is flowing in and through Christ's Church, her teaching, her saints and her sacraments.



I find this difficult to articulate fully, except to say that it is a unity and a whole experience which draws together the Sacred Scriptures, the sacraments, the church and the lives of the saints in an experience which is at once full and magnificent and awesome, and yet at the same time as humble and simple and down to earth and seemingly insignificant as saying your Divine Office, going to Mass, biting your tongue when you want to say something bitter, being aware and in touch with a favorite saint, reading the Bible or being kind to an enemy.



All this can be infused with the daily presence of God, and special prayer techniques can be a great complement and aid to this process, but they cannot replace it.

Healing Relics

At the end of June, just before heading out on vacation we had a weekend healing retreat at Our Lady of the Rosary parish. The title of this post is 'healing relics, and I suppose that might refer to the three relics pictured here-- myself, Dr Richard Ballard (one of our parish deacons) and Dr Ronda Chervin, who was in the parish to help lead the retreat.



Richard and Ronda are old friends and together with Richard's wife Ruth have just authored a wonderful anthology on what the saints say about heaven. Ronda spoke about healing our masculinity and femininity, Richard spoke on healing and forgiveness and I gave a talk on praying the rosary for inner healing. There was a chance for confession, anointing and healing prayer. Good attendance from around the parish and a real hunger for the practical expression of God's healing and forgiveness in the church.



The real reference to relics was another wonderful event held at OLR this week. Fr. Carlos Martins--a priest in the new religious order Companions of the Cross--was here for two days with his amazing collection of holy relics. Over 150 first class relics of the saints on display including relics of the True Cross, the Holy Thorn, the Veil of the Blessed Virgin and the cloak of St Joseph. Wow! Wonderful stories of God's healing through the holy relics, stories of the saints and the power of God transforming their lives.



We also got to know Fr Carlos--a wonderful priest with a powerful deliverance ministry. I wish I could share all the great love of Christ he has--a very down to earth person, but with a true love of the supernatural, a strong intellect and humble devotion to Christ. We hear so many awful things about priests these days, so it was terrific to meet a priest who is a good model.



At the relics exposition there was a palpable sense of wonder, joy and devotion amongst all the faithful. What a shame that so many Catholics dismiss relics and know nothing about them. So many blessings as we focus on the lives and mystery of the saints! So many mysterious and wonderful things take place if we will only open our lives to the wonder of God's love!



A couple of nice comments from the relics exposition: There were crowds there from parishes all across the upstate and one woman said with great joy, "Father this is real  Catholicism! None of this Protestant entertainment stuff!" Another guy--a big truck driver convert from Baptist Church came being skeptical and disbelieving in relics. He had developed a devotion to St Padre Pio. He's standing looking at a first class relic of St Pio and he smells this sweet fragrance of roses. Thinking that the woman standing next to him has got on some good perfume he turns to ask her if she is wearing perfume and at that instant she turns to him and says, "Can you smell that wonderful fragrance?"



Nice.

Wal Mart Weirdness

Mark Shea has a great article here about some beer bandits at Wal Mart and the fearless citizen who stopped them.

Gimme that Ole Time Religion

I heard a comment about the celebration of the liturgy in America that "every priest seems to be making up his own version." The way they celebrate Mass (the complainer went on) is infused with their own personality and what they think the faith ought to be.



So Father Friendly, who thinks the faith is all about fellowship and family and friends, says, "The Lord be with you, and isn't it a grand day today? How wonderful it is for all of us to be gathered here in the Lord's presence realizing his love for us and our love for one another...." Meanwhile Monsignor Maniple intones, "The Lord be with You" in his  stained glass voice showing that his version of the Mass is all about solemnity and worship of the transcendent God in the beauty of holiness. Father Peaceanluv says seriously, "The Lord be with you, and as we gather let us remember all those who are excluded from our church this day..."



It takes other forms as well. There is a tendency amongst some Catholics to turn their religion into an intellectual quest for 'true orthodoxy' or 'solid theology' or 'a message that is relevant for people today.' Others turn it into a search for 'a spirituality that really suits them'. I heard another priest going on the other day about "modern man's search for meaning and how each person must search the depth of their heart to find their heart's true desire and then at that point they will have the Christ encounter." Whaat? Sound like Jean Paul Sartre meets Dorothy Gale from Kansas.



I'm exaggerating, but you get my point.



What I'm realizing more and more is how very far the twenty first century church is from the simple preaching of the gospel and the core of the Catholic faith. What we don't hear is the old time religion. What has gone right over our heads is how influenced we are by modernism and the thought of Rudolph Bultmann who insisted that Christianity was old fashioned and needed to be 'de-mythologized'. He said modern man couldn't deal with the old, out dated cosmology of heaven and hell and sin and repentance and all that stuff.



After him the psychologists swept in and told us how 'sin' was all a mental construct of an ancient age and how we were all really victims because our mother didn't breast feed us enough (or breast fed us too much) or because our father didn't pay us enough attention (or paid us too much attention) and furthermore didn't we know that preaching about sin only made people feel guilty and was counter productive?



Fuhgeddaboudit.



The gospel message is simple: You don't have to turn it into a quest for the perfect liturgy or a campaign for justice or peace or the creation of the perfect self help group. You don't have to turn it into an intellectual or existential quest to discover your true self or the source of your heart's desire.



You are unhappy and searching for something because you are imperfect. You have fallen short of the glory of God. This condition is called sin. You are a sinner. You are selfish, ego centric, lustful, unforgiving, angry, manipulative, self seeking and proud. You love pleasure rather than God and you will believe any lie as long as it allows you to continue in your sin. If you continue in this condition you will end up  becoming more and more unhappy and eventually you will be separated from God, light, love, goodness, truth and beauty forever because that is what you chose.



The New Testament, and the message of the church down the ages is straightforward: "Repent and believe the gospel and be baptized". In other words, "Admit you are a sinner, turn to God for forgiveness. Accept the strange, but compelling truth that Christ died on the cross to forgive your sins. Receive his gift of new life with an open heart with nothing held back. Change your ways. Begin to live the Catholic faith in simplicity and honesty. Empowered by God's grace, live in the church, learn to pray, live with the sacraments, love others. This is the way you follow Christ."



People will say that preaching against sin is counter productive. It makes people mad. They stomp off to another parish and take their money with them. They reject what you are saying. But this is part of the deal. It's there in the New Testament. Preach the faith. To some it will be a stumbling block. To some it will be a stepping stone. So be it.



Now the marvelous thing is that if everyone did this--if everyone really went back to the core gospel message and took it seriously and tried to follow the old path of sin, repentance, faith and sacraments, then all the other problems would be solved too. You would have a wonderful Christian fellowship. You would have the right kind of liturgy, you would have justice and peace. You would have the answer to your intellectual questions and you would find your heart's desire.



Try to seek those things first though--and without sin, repentance and faith--and all you end up with is piffle. You may find the treasure chest, but it will be empty. Worse, you may find some sort of religion, but it won't be the Christian faith.



It will be something you made up yourself.

Weigel on American Totalitarianism

George Weigel comments on the state re-definition of marriage in New York and compares it brilliantly to the Soviet system. Read it here.

Comments on Cohabitation

Every pastor will agree that marriage prep in our day present some impossible moments. The fact is, the majority of couples who present themselves for marriage in the Catholic Church are co-habiting. Furthermore, they don't see any problem with it, and seem rather surprised when the priest challenges them on their living situation. I have recently come across some good priestly comments when presented with cohabiting couples who want to be married in church.



See what you think:



1. I'm so glad you want to get married. That's certainly the right thing to do as you are already living together. The church is free next Saturday at 2:00. The two of you turn up with a couple of witnesses and we'll tie the knot.  Of course, since you're already living together it would be artificial and pretty tacky for you to have a big, fancy wedding, so there's no need to have all those bridesmaids and groomsmen and limousines and so forth. You'll also save yourselves a lot of money. So is that settled then?



2.  So let me get this straight. The two of your are living together and having sex right? To the girl: Are you sure you really want to get married to a man who is has sex outside of marriage? If he treats marriage so lightly what reason have you to think that he would change after marriage? To the guy: Ditto.



Usually the couple offer the excuse that it is cheaper for them to live together.



3. So you're living (and sleeping) together because of economic reasons? In other words, living together is cheaper than living separately and sex is part of the deal? This means money is more important to you than sexual morality. Look at it another way, you're being financially rewarded for having sex outside marriage. Many people would have another name for this. To the guy: is this the sort of girl you want?



4. To the girl: Help me understand: you decided to move in with this guy so that you would help pay the rent and utilities. He gets sex whenever he wants it, (because of course you are using contraception) and I wonder who ends up doing most of the housework and washing and cooking and shopping? You get all the responsibility of marriage, but no security, no legal status and he could drop you whenever he wants--maybe with a baby on the way? And you call this women's liberation?



5. I see. You are living together because you are hard up and can't afford to live apart. May I ask what your budget is for this wedding? $30,000.00? Why not ask your parents to pay your rent for the remaining time before your big wedding and then cut back on what you spend on the wedding? Cut the limo, the big honeymoon, the expensive rehearsal dinner and so forth, and you'll have all the money you need to live separately.



6. So money's the issue? You can't afford any place for the girl to live on her own chastely until she gets married? Hang on a minute, I'll call Mother Veronica over at the convent and see if we can arrange a room for her there for a year or so until the wedding. That's no good? How would it be then, if the parish pays her rent for six months. You cut right back on the wedding expenses and then we'll cover the rent. Sound good?



Couples argue that it isn't anyone else's business...



7. But marriage is a public sacrament. You're either helping us uphold marriage by living chastely, or you are not. You want to come to church to have a public wedding, and yet whenever the neighbors and your family and friends see you sharing the same front door without being married they hear you saying that marriage doesn't matter to you. Christians are often blamed for being hypocrites. Don't you think your behavior is hypocritical?

Church of England to Go Out of Business

Poor old Rowan Atkinson. This article in the Daily Telegraph says the C of E will eventually disappear entirely. It says over the last forty years the number of worshipers has declined by half and the number of children attending worship has declined by a whopping 80%. That means the ones who are in church are older and aren't being replaced. Of course the yard sale won't be during his time. It will probably hit the skids just when the Right Rev. Lavinia Winkett takes the throne of Canterbury.





I blogged just the other day about the Catholic Diocese of Orange buying up the Crystal Cathedral from the bankrupt Schuler positive thinking pastor. Could we start buying real cathedrals and churches back from the Anglicans do you think? Think what we could do with them! Get rid of the tasteful artwork and all that stuff the Anglicans like and bring in racks of those electric votive candles where you put in a nickel and they light up. In the crypts we could have grottos of the Fatima children made out of papier mache and priests in da glo vestments with a comb over saying, "The Lord be with you welcome to Mass today. The children will now sing the Barney Song." So maybe not.



Seriously, will the Church of England go bust? Not anytime soon. Religious institutions are very tough. They can survive hard times for a lot longer than you think. I know one Methodist chapel in England which faced closure and soldiered on with three old ladies for years. There's nothing like the threat to close a church which makes the ordinary Englishman rally to the cause. He's adamant that the village church should stay open so he has some place not to go to on a Sunday morning.



Maybe the decline in the Church of England is just the Holy Spirit's usual way of working. Let the numbers become fewer, but the quality will be better, then the few, the faithful few will spark a revival and everyone will tootle back to church again.

Mantilla cuts the Bull

Go here for Mantilla the Hon's comments on the Running of the Bulls at Pamplona. Go here for a picture gallery of this year's run.

Sponge Words Square Facts

Has anyone else noticed what I call the 'sponge words' we use increasingly? These are words that are amorphous, vague and spongy. They soak up huge amounts of sub-text, innuendo and connotation, but they can mean virtually anything.



Take the word 'inappropriate'. What on earth does that mean? I hear it in the confessional all the time, "I did something inappropriate with my girlfriend." Huh? So I say, "Son, you'll have to be a little bit more precise. I don't want the juicy details, but nobody really knows what 'inappropriate' means. Did you cheat at miniature golf? Rob a bank like Bonnie and Clyde? Use the wrong fork when you went out to dinner? Gossip about a friend? Hold her hand at the movies or have sexual intercourse?" Honestly, people have different standards, and the word 'inappropriate' can mean anything or nothing at all.



When it comes to sexual behaviors in our society today what is 'inappropriate'? College kids who are 'hooking up' every weekend might think it 'inappropriate' to hook up with more than two people on one weekend. A couple who are dating might think it perfectly 'appropriate' to spend the night together or go on vacation together. Things are not what they once were. Standards in our society have shifted. I've known priests, for example, who think it totally 'appropriate' to have a sexual partner because, they argue, their vow of celibacy just means they can't get married.



The word 'appropriate' or 'inappropriate' is used to excuse sin and let ourselves off the hook, but it can also be used to condemn people unjustly because nobody really defines what the word means. Instead they throw it around at their own convenience. So Nancy Smith says in a shocked tone about a Catholic school teacher, "He had an inappropriate relationship with my daughter!" Turns out the poor had the girl's cell phone number on his cell phone contacts list because he had to contact the girl when they were on a school field trip and now, due to the gossip everyone thinks he was sleeping with the girl.



Another sponge word is 'affair'. "My husband is having an affair!" or "My wife was having an affair with another man for five years!" It turns out that it was "an emotional affair" which consisted of flirting and texting and meeting up for a meal. OK, such behavior doesn't help a marriage. It's a form of betrayal. It breeds jealousy and is dumb, and it can even be sinful. It destroys trust and can wreck a relationship, but it's not an affair. An affair means adultery. Adultery is when you have sexual intercourse with someone who is married to somebody else, or with someone who is not your spouse. I know one woman who told everyone her husband was having an affair. His reputation is wrecked and all the other woman look down on him as a dirty beast when all he did was chat with an old girlfriend on Facebook.



The third sponge word is 'abuse'. How do I hear, "My father was abusive!" or "My wife is abusive to the kids." or "My boss is abusive." This used to mean that a guy came home drunk three times a week, gave his wife a black eye, kicked his kids down the stairs, and locked his mother in law in the closet. Now, when you check the facts you find out that the 'abusive father' loses it and shouts at the kids sometimes, or the 'abusive mother' gets stroppy once a month and swears at the kids and maybe spanks them once in a while. Then there is 'emotional abuse' and even 'spiritual abuse'. Yes, I suppose all these things happen, but too often these spongy words contribute to a whiny, victim culture.



Meanwhile the 'abusive institution' may well be a Catholic school that has high standards of discipline and expects kids to behave themselves. I had a guy complain of 'an abusive priest' once and I thought he'd been molested by some pervert priest. It turns out that the man, when he was a kid, turned up to be an altar server wearing sneakers and the priest told him that he couldn't serve wearing sneakers.



Instead of sponge words we need square facts. In general conversation, keep to the facts and avoid gossip and detraction and sponge words that are loaded with innuendo. In confession tell the priest what happened clearly and objectively without going into gory details. Use circumlocution and discreet language by all means to soften the shock and shame, if shocking and shameful it is, but be honest and transparent and don't use weasly, cowardly spongy words like 'inappropriate', 'affair' and 'abuse'.