(Posted by Glaucon Jr)
(FYI: not my child)
All of us here at in the JungleWatch Nation seek the renewal of the Church on Guam, and we all have to re-learn that at its
heart is the need for genuine humility. Yet, with decades of bad catechesis
that substitutes self-loathing in the place of humility as the proper response
to shame, a lot of poor souls have actually been spiritually poisoned (whether
their catechists know it or not).
That's
why we have these short pieces on JungleWatch about renewal--to complement the fight we must all fight. We must get back to what we know is of Christ, not just our opinion or assumption. It's not enough to fight without knowing the Faith we fight for, and if we proclaim the Faith without that kind of moral virility that the other JW writers have (all apologies to LaPaz) would make me just plain slothful. So read if you have a few minutes to reflect, or don't if
you're not of the mind. Better yet, comment and tell them what excites you, what you want to know, what the Faith needs. Tell your friends. Whatever it takes.
Either
way, our subject: shame is what we feel--what we know--when
we sin. It can go two ways from there. Our fallen nature drives us to
self-hatred. Humility drives us to love, of God and our neighbor and ourselves.
So now
that we’ve looked in part one at how and why self-loathing is such an evil, we
turn to the antidote: genuine humility and its companion magnanimity.
For the
sake of clarity and brevity, I’ll dispense with all the pious pronouncements
and spiritualized definitions. I don't want to be clinical, but we need to cut
to it, so if you’d like to read more about it, look up what St Thomas Aquinas
says about it (if you need references from him or others, just ask). For those
who doubt Aquinas, that’s too bad: Pope Leo XIII declared him “the Common Doctor” because he is pretty much the most trusted of the non-Biblical sources
of theology (although no one is absolutely right all the time, including
him).
Humility
is at its heart the virtue that restrains us from exceeding what is too great
for us, as Aquinas would say. In our fallen human condition, we in our sinful
pride continually attempt to raise ourselves above what is suitable for us.
This was the first sin of Adam and Eve, and it remains our supreme temptation
even on the best of days.
Humility
then means we know ourselves with regard to God and our neighbor and respond
based on that knowledge. Knowing our place before our Creator, we bow before
the Lord and acknowledge His tremendous love in all things, from Creation to
Incarnation to Redemption to everything else, and accepting in love all of that
love. Knowing our place among men as creatures of this loving Lord means loving
our neighbor as ourselves.
We can go
on and on with many many books, but to grossly simplify it, humility is knowing
what we are—as we really are—and
proceeding accordingly.
But this
is clearly not self-loathing, self-hatred, or any of those other counterfeits
of virtue. Self-hatred combines hatred of sin with hatred of self and makes us
diseased creatures--not diseased by sin (especially when forgiven sacramentally) but
diseased by the lust for condemnation.
It doesn’t take long for human nature to go from being fallen to being viewed
as devoid of any goodness at all.
But of
course there’s still goodness there, and it’s a goodness beyond “Well, God
loves us anyway.” If He loves us (and He so does), then there must be something
lovable about us.
And
that’s where magnanimity comes in. If you Google magnanimity and click "images," people make it sound like it means being generous, or idealistic, or a
nice guy, or whatever else. Actually, magnanimity is part of the virtue of
fortitude. It is the virtue that causes us to pursue that which is greatest. In
that very qualified sense, it’s the greatest of human virtues. It’s what drives
us on to greater humility, greater love, greater faith.
So just
as humility restrains us from exceeding what is suitable for us, magnanimity
propels us to seek what is suitable, and in the spiritual life, that is love of
God and love of neighbor as manifested in the virtues. It’s the seeking to grow
in faith, hope, and love. It’s the seeking of justice, fortitude, temperance,
and especially prudence.
In short,
magnanimity is the pursuit of true greatness. The pursuit of being virtuous.
The pursuit of holiness. It is, quite simply, being "great-souled."
Self-loathing
seeks none of these. This self-hatred I see so often in NCW members I speak
with shines through, and it’s heartbreaking. Some readers may say, “Yes, but
they love the Lord.” Indeed, they may very well, but then you’re loving the
Lord for a very skewed reason.
Look if
your child tells you that they love you because without you they'd be miserable
and have no friends and be on the streets, you'd love them and give them a hug.
But if all the child ever said was that they love you because you do those
things, you'd be puzzled. If after years and years, all they ever said about
you was that they're worthless and you should have thrown them out into the
streets except that you love them, you'd be thinking to yourself, "Son, we
really need to have a talk."
Love like
that isn't love; it's self-loathing finding a way to delight in its own failure
and deformity. Love--even love of God--isn't seeking its own benefits, not
really. We seek Heaven for its Good, for God--not because it's a stop to the pain. Heaven is
perfect joy, perfect fascination, perfect...everything. Heaven is where God is, when and wherever, and God is love.
Real love seeks forgiveness because it accepts responsibility for what it's done that is contrary to love. It's not self-hatred because of its sins. It's the recognition that it is meant for what is greater, and love for God and all His creatures because of both His mercy and His justice.
Real love seeks forgiveness because it accepts responsibility for what it's done that is contrary to love. It's not self-hatred because of its sins. It's the recognition that it is meant for what is greater, and love for God and all His creatures because of both His mercy and His justice.
Love is
seeking to be made completely whole so that it can be wholly united to Him.
That is the meaning of the Incarnation. That's the meaning of the Church: to do
this and bring others to happiness in Christian freedom, not blessing God
because of our self-hate.
This is
why we give ourselves to God, and part of the spiritual life is growing in
knowledge and love of the Lord. It’s growing in the clear knowledge of who He
is and who we are.
Likewise,
if I really do believe that we humans are all complete crap (Martin Luther’s
language and theology, not mine), then how can we possibly love our neighbor as
ourselves when we don’t even love ourselves whom God loved first?
If we
really do believe that we are children of God, then like a child, we must trust
in Him (we and the NCW all agree on that). But children are expected to grow
into becoming more and more what they were born to be—a fully mature human
being just like their loving parents. Children who are raised in self-loathing only grow physically;
emotionally and spiritually, they are stunted, and that’s the abuse we must all
fight against, even at the risk of offending those who are already spiritually
abused—in a way, they cannot help themselves.
And at
its foundation, that [humility = self-loathing] formula is the the view of humility
on the part of virtually everyone I personally know in the NCW. That’s
not applicable to every soul; in the NCW, I'm sure. I’m not saying it is, and I certainly hope it’s
not so. These are men, women, and children who have been told by their
archbishop that this is the way
to be closer to Christ--not the Church, not the sacraments, not the Rosary, not
the Tradition, not the poor, not even love. For the NCW, these are gimmicks,
and even the Mass and Rosary and Tradition are idols because they separate us from Christ. Separate
us from Christ? Really?
The poor,
average person doesn't see this, however. They just want God. They have no
idea how much heresy is there, and heresy always--ALWAYS--leads to sin in some
way or other. And to them, love
is the only response, just as our Lord did. And for those who lead them
astray and declare themselves to know better than 2000 years of saints and
pope, we respond just as the Lord did: with zeal for the Lord against these
Pharisees.
But of
these humble souls among us: there is so much of this teaching on self-loathing
out there that the thought of how many will react once NCW power in the
chancery is gone gives me a chill. It really does. If it's not a defeatedness
that they feel, it will be a dig-in-our-heels approach to the very Roman
authority that attempt to defend themselves. It's a sown confusion. It's only a
matter of time. Pray for them.
Either
way--despair or presumptive reaction no matter how wrong--is the wrong course.
Growth in the Tradition is the only secure way back. When I drifted from the
Church for all those years of alcohol, drugs, and everything else I hate to
even mention, it was the Tradition--from St Paul to Augustine to Aquinas to de
Montfort to Pius X--that brought me back to the fullness of the Faith.And praise
God so many of you who prayed for me.
That,
dear friends, is why we absolutely MUST grow in holiness, grow in virtue, grow
in true humility. To be there to aid our NCW brothers and sisters when the time
comes will require our personal holiness and ardent prayer life, and both of
these flow from frequenting the sacraments.
If we
don’t do this, then we are no better than the NCW whose idea of evangelization
is doing missionary work in parishes and Catholic areas—no risk and no virtue,
only a continuing legacy of spiritual brokenness.
[to be continued in a brief 3rd blurb--ps. pray for our priest. He needs you right now.]
--ADDENDUM--
Out of
charity, I'm personally going to ignore whatever the Diana or those of her
leanings post on their blog and recommend you do the same. There is a
fundamental inability to engage in meaningful dialogue there, and for anyone
seeking the Truth, it becomes an exercise in preaching to a Chia pet: no matter
how hard you try, they simply can’t hear (and I'm sure they feel the same about
me). I don't care about their comments, and I don't care about their inability
to read for comprehension. We'll treat of the heresies and smaller errors as
they come up, but why bother with the rest?
And to be
honest, I have a sneaking suspicion s/he write his/her own comments. Same with
the trolling here on JungleWatch. Diana's at World Youth Day, and not a peep from ANYONE on her side?
Go there
and engage if you so desire, but remember the words of the Lord: "that
kind can only be cast out by prayer and fasting" (and no, they're not
possessed--I'm making a point, not an accusation--geez).
As it stands, we
on these pages and in the pews and streets and courthouse have far more
important work to do, like growing in our Faith according to the
Tradition, restoring our proclamation to the Church Roman faithfulness (a sort of renewed 'in bocca di Roma'), and ferreting
out that which demonically seeks to destroy Holy Church from the inside.
Thank you Jr. The twisted theology of Kiko was born out of Marxist leanings from his mentors. Mind control and subjugation.
ReplyDeleteKikos theology was born out of communism. Seriously.
ReplyDeleteDear Glaucon,
ReplyDeleteAs you point out "magnanimous" means "great-souled." The significance of being great- souled or large-hearted is brought to light when we contrast it with the small-souled person.
When you are small of soul, there is not much room in that soul for anyone other than yourself. A single-roomed soul, so to speak. And you occupy the whole room.
A great-souled person, on the other hand, has a soul large enough to include others in it, both human and divine. It is a multi-room complex where you "dwell" with others, being considerate of them, loving them, forgiving them, praying for them, and in the case of God, praying to Him. Their presence keeps your room full, and you have more to think about or deal with than just yourself (or just your self-loathing). In this respect, a small-souled person is selfish, really consisting solely of self, or nearly so.
Large-souledness and small-souledness may be considered statically, but in my own experience with myself, I find I oscillate between being large of soul and small of soul. There is a kind of earthly, non-heavenly gravity pulling us ever so slightly--when we are quite unaware--in the direction of being small-souled, so we become occupied with self in most if not all things. It takes God's grace to pull us back in the direction of being large-souled. (I am borrowing here a little from Simone Weil, a French 20th century philosopher and Christ-oriented mystic.)
A former Jesuit seminarian once shared a story with me of how seminarians are pulled away from just thinking about themselves, of being small of soul. On a weekly basis, the seminarians would gather, some 15 or so, in a room. One of the seminarians would sit on a chair encircled by the other 14 seminarians. Each one of the encircling seminarians would then criticize, from his own perspective, the seminarian sitting on a chair in the midst of the gathering. After each criticism, the seminarian on the hot seat was permitted one response and only one response: "I have nothing more to add." No defense, no self-justification, just allowing the Lord to open up that small soul, expanding it with the perspective of others, resulting in a de-construction of the small soul and re-construction to an other-oriented, larger soul.