I came across this quotation while reading a book this morning. It was attributed to St. Alphonsus Liguori.
It made me ponder. It seems quite profound to me. Fear is often a good motivation, as is a sense of duty. But does anything inspire us quite as much as the desire not to let a person down, to be worthy of them?
When I became a serious fan of G.K. Chesterton, I gave up some bad habits which I'd long struggled to give up before that. Somehow the idea that G.K.C. would be disappointed in me made it easy.
I've often mentioned Patrick Pearse, the Irish revolutionary and poet. He was also a headmaster and an educationalist. His school was noted for its light discipline-- apparently pupils developed such a respect for him, and he placed such trust in the pupils, that they didn't want to let him down.
There's a danger of being naive, I know. So many children raised without discipline become spolied brats. And having God's unconditional love for us dinned into our ears for decades and decades hasn't exactly borne an abundant harvest. But is that because it has been reduced to a mere platitude?
The second reading of today's Office of Readings, the ordinary form, by St Peter Chrysologus(d.450), if you have time to look it up , is an indication that the "Gentle Way"has always been there in the church also. It's probably healthy to consider both aspects, but I doubt whether talking of Divine punishment will realistically being people back nowadays. Still, all actions have consequences and people need to know that also.
ReplyDelete(other aspects of this longish piece by St Peter are worth reading also)
There's an element of shame involved, too.
DeleteDon't think people have much shame over here.
ReplyDeleteExcellent quote, Mal. It made me think of a scrap of a hymn I read somewhere (I don't think I've ever heard it sung). I went to dig it out of the Internet, only to find it was attributed to St. Francis Xavier, which was a rather pleasant surprise. The usual translation (or at least the one I remembered) and some history is here:
ReplyDeletehttp://cathythinks.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-god-i-love-thee.html
(I venture to suspect you might like the title of that blog, too. Or at least have some sympathy with it.)
Wonder follows wonder this morning. Not only is the original attributed to St. Francis Xavier, but that other fine Jesuit Fr. Hopkins did another (and in my opinion generally much better) translation:
http://kpshaw.blogspot.com/2014/05/o-deus-ego-amo-te.html
Thanks, Molly, and nice to hear from you. I knew about that hymn! (And yes, I like the theme of that blog!) I also like the GMH translation. I live not far from where he is buried.
DeleteThanks for so much by blog posts this May. I have tried to catch up and read all, and also enjoy to read these comments from others! Having no time today I will hopefully see the Conservative Forum tomorrow and maybe ask about some of the last days´ topics at that site instead. So many favourite things in just a few days make it almost impossible not to reply something ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Thomas. I'm glad you liked them. I hope mor people visit the Irish Conservatives Forum, and register and comment. There are only eight members so far. And there would only be seven if my office mate hadn't agreed to register!
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