Could it Be?
It’s possible that I’ve found the book that will serve as one of the essential pillars of my D.Min. thesis (which I hope to be starting in less than a year.
It’s called Deep Conversion Deep Prayer by Fr. Thomas Dubay, S.M.
It’s a small, quickly read (slowly digested) book described as giving “practical advice for a deepening moral and spiritual conversion, and for a radical growth in holiness.” (back cover) His biblical work is exceptional, his theological work is well-above par, the only drawback is that his doctrinal approach is exceedingly Roman Catholic.
Let me be clear, I don’t necessarily consider that a problem - much of what he says about the RC liturgies is equally as true about the RCA’s, and the emphasis he places on confession and penance is true within a reformed context (albeit, obviously not sacramentally). It’s simply that his RC identity would be off-putting to much of my congregation taken as is.
Irrelevant though. I don’t expect to give this book to everyone in the congregation as much as I may use it myself (personally and academically).
Some great quotes for you to chew on:
“Your first duty as pastors is not projects and organizations, but to lead your people to a deep intimacy with the Trinity.” (ok, it’s a quote from John Paul II, Fr. Dubay gives it on one of his first pages)
“…we are not here concerned chiefly with changing from atheism to theism or from one religion to another -absolutely basic as these are. What we directly envision are moral and spiritual developments for the better: giving up mortal and venial sins, loving and serving God and our neighbors more and more perfectly , growing in a deepening prayer intimacy with the indwelling Trinity” (Pg. 16)
“Genuine love is never static; it grows steadily even if imperceptibly. So also with conversion from bad to good, good to better and better to best.” (Pg. 29)
“We speak of conversion not only as avoiding sins, mortal and venial, but also positively, as changes, improvements from evil to good: from lying to honesty … vanity to humility … gluttony to temperance … foolishness to prudence … timidity to courage … rage to patience … laziness to zeal … lust to love … cheating to justice … pettiness (small mindedness) to magnanimity (large mindedness) … egoism to altruism … mediocrity to totality … personal ugliness to personal beauty.” (pg. 36)
“Most of us would like to assume that when reasonable people hear about improving themselves notably in their personal lives they would more or less eagerly welcome the message and get to work applying. We would like to think that a husband and father who claims that he loves his wife and children will prove it in the minor details of daily life as well as the major ones. And we entertain a similar expectation of a wife and mother who makes the same claim…. But the rude fact is that such consistency in the human race is rather rare.” (pg. 47)
Well, the temptation is to give you even more….I’ll stop there.
Pick up the book. You will certainly not regret it. (I got mine at Barnes and Noble, ISBN: 1-58617-117-8)
Grace and peace,
`tim
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