Listen My Son. Dwight Longenecker

      FOREWORD

      In his writings, Pope John Paul II contrasts two things – the civilization of love and the culture of death. He highlights the basic struggle between good and evil, right and wrong. The Pope is saying, ‘Look at the contrast between destruction, violence, and death – all under the name of choice, but all about selfishness, all about rights, all about me putting myself first – look at the contrast between that and the civilization of love, which is based on the idea of community and love.’

      The most basic community is the family. Jacques Maritain, a great Catholic philosopher, taught that each person is made in the image of God. Each human being is unique and therefore to be intimately respected. He resisted the philosophy of individualism. For Maritain the human personality is at the heart of the equation. People are formed into communities and the most basic is the family. The family then becomes a neighbourhood, the workplace, school, institution, whatever it may be, and within those communities you may make things work by giving something of yourself. That to me is the civilization of love; it is giving something of yourself and not always expecting to have everything for your benefit.

      It is no wonder that Pope Paul VI named St Benedict the patron of Europe. He saw that in Benedict's Rule were the foundations of a civilization of love. In the Rule, Benedict calls his brother monks not only to obedience to the rightful authority, but also to mutual obedience, based on their love for one another. This is the love which Christ has for us since he was sent ‘not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many’. This same mutual self-giving love is at the heart of the Christian marriage, and the Christian home. When it begins to live there, it spreads outward to the whole of society.

      Historically we can see how this happened through the Rule of St Benedict. The Rule was written in the dark days of the sixth century, when the Roman Empire – rotten with decadence from within – was finally crumbling into chaos. Benedict's ‘little Rule’ became the foundation document for the monasteries which became the oases of love, learning and light for the next thousand years. The monasteries kept alive the ideas and learning of earlier civilizations but they also generated a new ideal: civilization based not on military might, but on worship, service and love. Theirs was an attempt to build Christ's Kingdom, which flourished for a thousand years and still thrives quietly today.

      The wisdom of Benedict is timeless. His words are completely incarnational, blending practical wisdom with profound spiritual insight. Neither are Benedict's words simply for monks and nuns. More and more laypeople around the world are finding guidance, inspiration and encouragement by following the way of Benedict.

      In his book, Dwight Longenecker has provided a daily commentary on the Rule of St Benedict for fathers. In the UK alone, where 800,000 children have no contact with their fathers, we need a parable to facilitate the return of the lost fathers. Perhaps this is it. But although his focus is on fathers, the commentary applies Benedict's practical wisdom to every family situation; indeed, Benedict's insights apply not only within the home or monastery, but wherever people struggle to live, work and pray together. Benedict wrote before the great divisions of the Reformation. His words are simple, Scriptural and universal. I recommend this book to Christian parents of all traditions as they seek to build strong Christian families which will, in turn, be the building blocks of a civilization of love.

      Lord David Alton