Why I love Jesus

This one is a meme started by The Curt Jester who tagged, among others, Teresa Polk of Blog by the Sea, who in turn tagged me, among others.

I confess to some reluctance. For one thing, the theme reminds me that I am a sinner, which I am already reminded of rather more than I care to be. Thus, not only do I not love Jesus as much as he loves me, which is a given and inevitable; I don't even love myself as much as he loves me. In fact, I sometimes find myself questioning his judgment for loving me as much as he does; he's a fool for me, with a wisdom greater than I can fathom, let alone muster; and so the truth that I ought to love myself more—or at least more genuinely—than I do is an obligation I need him to help me meet. Then there's the all-too-evident fact that I don't love others as I ought, largely because I don't love him as I ought. It's all quite embarrassing, really. Adding to the embarrassment is a prejudice I acquired as a cradle Catholic old enough to remember the days before Vatican II. In those days, only women and clerics spoke sincerely of their love for Jesus and got away with it. Or so it looked to me: tacitly but unmistakably, I got the message that any lay male who talked that way was—well, in today's atmosphere, I don't even want to say it.

But I find myself unable to turn down such an invitation from Teresa Polk. She's a person of quality: a fine, noble, and smart Christian woman; and while I'm not made of stuff quite so fine, I am no cad. So she wins.

1. I love Jesus because he chose to save me from what I would surely end up being if he hadn't given his life for me.

2. I love Jesus because he is the friend I need day by day: supremely good and bound to stay that way. That makes him better than any other human being; just as delightfully, he doesn't rub it in; it's just so, and that's that. (Notice I did not say 'human person'; I don't want any distracting corrections from you Chalcedonians out there). And all that holds irrespective of how he views or feels about me in particular.

3. I love Jesus not only because he is God Incarnate, which you can't beat, but as such embodies God's sense of humor. How, after all, did God save us? The supremely good King of the Universe became a man among us, going about doing only good, and for his trouble got himself tortured and executed as a serious public nuisance. Beyond my gratitude for being saved, I love the huge, subtle, and ironic style of it. The style comes through even in the characteristically Jewish sense of humor: "Foxes have lairs, birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

4. I love Jesus because he makes sense of life. He is indeed The Point of Everything. One of my biggest problems with people, including myself sometimes, is that our priorities are often so distorted. We get all hung up on things that are either objectively unimportant or, when they are objectively important, rarely mean what we think they do. We carry on as though what matters to us matters period. But the two are not the same at all. There is often a connection, to be sure, but it's not guaranteed and it's often not what we think. And yet to the extent we conform ourselves to Jesus, by obeying his commandments, joining our sufferings to his, and thanking the Father for everything, we will make the connection secure and thus make the only sense out of life that matters. That also helps me appreciate the fact, which I feel keenly, that the sort of mentality which is habitually concerned with the ultimate meaning of things is generally ill-equipped for success in practical affairs.

5. I love Jesus because he willingly takes countless insults himself but won't let the demons say a word against his Mother. What a mensch.

I tag: Jonathan Prejean, the Crimson Catholic; Aimee Milburn at Historical Christian; Scott Carson at An Examined Life; Robert "Gagdad Bob" Godwin at One Cosmos; Paul Hamilton at Ascent to Mount Carmel.

Hurrah! I'm a "Thinking Blogger"

The latest interesting meme going around is the "Thinking Blogger Award." Ahistoricality
has really been the one to get it going, having named five recipients and inviting them to spread the compliment. One of the five he named is philosopher and belletrist Brandon Watson of Siris who, declining to use the delightfully ego-stroking graphic offered to us, has in turned memed me. Brandon's compliment for this blog reads: "Sober, balanced, and informed posts on issues in Catholic theology and philosophy."

Eh? "Sober?" "Balanced?" I've never thought of myself that way, but it now looks as though I'm certifiably middle-aged. Although that's not a feature of mine I incline to advertise, neither will I fail in gratitude for any compliment I can get: enough of them, and a suitable potential employer might be impressed. Thank you, Brandon!

Having accepted the compliment, I should now continue the meme. I hope my list is not entirely predictable; with many worthies out there to choose from, these are just the ones I happen to read regularly.

1. Siris, of course. What Ahistoricality said is true, but what most impresses me about Brandon's blog is how he manages to combine depth and clarity of argument with breadth of literary sensibility. That combination is rare even, perhaps especially, among philosophers. Just as important, he's a Christian who appears to be theologically orthodox—though I am unable to discover his ecclesial affiliation, or even his rationale for being quiet about it.

2. Pontifications. I would nominate Fr. Al Kimel's blog even if I had never contributed any articles to it, which I have occasionally done by his gracious invitation. I am by no means the only blogger who finds Pontifications, comboxes as well as posts, to be the most theologically absorbing of them all—even when I'm too tired to enter the jousting lists myself. And it did, after all, win the 2006 Catholic Blogs Award for Most Intellectual as well as Most Theological Blog.

3. One Cosmos. This blog was originally founded by its author, Dr. Robert "Gagdad Bob" Godwin, to flog his book of the same title. It's gone well beyond that, of course, and probably would have even if it hadn't helped sell the book. I don't always agree with Bob, but to me he seems to have the most sensitive spiritual antennae, and certainly the most reliable crap detector, in the blogosphere. He's enormously creative while being decidedly unPC—a combination you gotta love even if you're a liberal. And his writing, which makes liberal use of overstatement and downright tomfoolery, is unfailingly entertaining.

4. Maverick Philosopher. Authored and hosted by another honest-to-goodness philosopher, William Vallicella, in the broadly "analytical" tradition. What they say about MP at Fides Quaerens Intellectum is worth repeating: "I think it was Bill’s blog that showed me that it was possible to do serious philosophy on the blogosphere. His blog also has some of the best discussions in the threads of his evocative posts." (Full disclosure: he's complimented my stuff occasionally.)

5. Zippy Catholic. Fresh, provocative, sophisticated, orthodox, and uncompromising: to me, an irresistible combination. Of course he finds reason to disagree with me as often as not, but I am by no means his only or most important target. Indeed, Zippy used to advertise himself with a blog-title description that started as a half-serious insult offered by a commenter at another blog: "You can't really have a torture party until Zippy arrives."

Each of the above should consider themselves memed.

The five-bloggers-I'd-like-to-meet meme

Professor Scott Carson of An Examined Life has taken note of the fact that the web version of anything is not quite as real as the flesh-and-blood, incarnate version. He remarks:

Some folks spend a lot of time surfing the web. I know a few who spend more time surfing than interacting with their family. And living in a web-based world encourages us to think exclusively in our own way rather than in ways that are open to the interpretations of others.

Quite so. As a divorcé who does not live with his children, I do indeed spend more time, a lot more, surfing the Web than interacting with my family. And I am keenly aware of the peculiarly new form of autism that "living in a web-based world" can develop in people. Other than prayer, my primary connections with reality are two: my very ordinary job, in the course of which I interact with many people I wouldn't otherwise, and Communion and Liberation, where I have loving companions on the journey of faith. For me, blogging is just a way to utilize my gifts in God's service now that it's been long since I've been able to earn a living doing so. But even as part of the cybercommunity of Catholic blogdom, I feel the need for more a more "incarnate" community.

Like Scott, I've enjoyed my phone conversations with Fr. Al Kimel. But I'd love to meet him, and there are other Catholic bloggers I'd love to meet as well. Leaving out yours truly, whom he includes in his list, they are the same ones Scott lists. Substituting for me would be Owen of The Ochlophobist. He's a guy I'd love to have a beer with.