Piddingworth Greg Benton |
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| 'Piddingworth...where St. George's Cross is not yet banned.' --Mark Steyn |
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| Honour all men. Love the Brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the King. (1Peter 2) |
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| Trust in the Lord and He will give you the strength & courage to do your Duty... Rose West Leonard |
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| DUTY |
| At the very heart of the 'Piddingworth' message is the example of Rose and Ernest Leonard, shared by so many others in their generation, of living according to one's 'duty'. Indeed, 'Duty' is, with little doubt, the motivation that has permitted all the other parts of much of the family's identity to emerge as a 'whole'; where one's duty is lived for God, and our Neighbour; through love in the faith, the Church, the family, and service to Sovereign and country. At it's heart, 'duty', in the Christian sense of the word, is 'love-in-action'. It is, in it's myriad circumstances, a faithful response to God and obedience in conscience to God's will in nature, civil society and the fellowship of the 'brotherhood' (the Church). It is the 'active' ingredient towards a full and purposeful life. Duty is the daily act of 'friendship' that each gives to an 'other' where, through the sacrifice of self (personally or materially), one seeks to afford a disposition, benefit or grace for the sake of 'others'. Duty seeks to serve a cause greater than oneself even when by morally serving oneself one also serves the greater or common good. Duty has no 'rank', either in nature or society. It belongs as much to the 'master' as to the 'servant', the 'King' as to the 'Subject', the 'Mother and Father' as to the 'Children', the 'layman of the Church' as to the 'Bishops' and the 'Private soldier' as to the 'Generals'. Each 'owes', either by nature or Divine command, a duty of fidelity, service, respect to the other. The word and example of Christ penetrate the worldly obstacles to happiness by showing that caritas, the greatest of loves, animates humanity toward it's fulfilment in this life as well as in the next. 'No greater love has any man than this, but that a man lay down his life for his friends'. Of course, the object of all 'duty' must, in itself, also be worthy of that service. So it is that for us, God is, and ever shall remain, the ultimate source and end to all of our duties in this life. When we serve Him according to His commandments and enlivening Spirit, we are giving to Him only that which is 'owed' to Him because of Who and What He is: God, the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Even as the caroler sings, 'what can I give Him, poor as I am' as he approaches the manger of the Christ-Child, the answer clearly is in the question itself; for it is in the loving desire to 'give' and to 'serve' where our duty finds it's first utterance at heart. Similarly, the object of our duty within our families, our Church, our neighbourhood and our country, must equally be worthy of the love we extend in action. 'Duty' toward the members of our families, for example, is measured, not by the illusion of 'power' of this one over that but according to their kinship and their connecting, ever-elastic, relationship with us. What is 'due' to one may well differ from what is 'due' to another but the 'duty' to afford what is required of us remains constant. Duty is Loyal. Whether it is within our natural family or the family of our citizenship, the essence of duty towards both what each of those families is and ought to be is the same. We honour our mothers and fathers as God wills, not our of mere sentiment, but because in that honour, that loyalty to them through all their years, we help to sustain the institution of the family itself. We are loyal to our 'sovereign', the Queen, in the words of our oath with the intention of serving the good of all that she is and represents in authority. Even when a parent or Queen or King or Pope or Archbishop or General or others in legitimate authority become 'corrupt' or are deemed personally 'unworthy' of our fidelity, it is to their 'office' that we are bound to serve and not according to the ever-changing whims or even gifts of the occupant. Duty is the precise opposite of the so-called 'values' of the prevalent culture today; that have their root in materialism and self-interest; pleasure-seeking and mere emotion. While it is common to be told that our choices in life, our 'duty' as citizens and 'human beings', is to respond to others according to our feelings for this or that, true 'duty' transcends such shallow and essentially false pretense by demanding an offering of the self, in love, according to faith, reason, and God's will; all of which often requires much 'courage'. Where the refrain, 'I feel your pain' has become the mantra of the narcissistic set, those who understand 'duty' might respond more truthfully to others misfortune by actually doing something that might well be painful to the giver! Sacrifical love, the love of duty, hurts; from a little to a lot. The ultimate sacrifice, the giving of one's life, is fullest measure of that love and it is our duty to be prepared to offer that love according to what is required; even if our feelings about things don't necessarily accomodate our obligation. Even our Lord experienced real personal agony on the night before he was crucified, yet he submitted to the high purpose and loving will of his Father. Gregory Benton |
| 'Trust in the Lord and He will give you the strength and courage to do your Duty...' Rose (West) Leonard, to her son, Raymond, 1939 |
| DUTY TO GOD & NEIGHBOUR 'You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and and all your strength...you shall love your neighbour as yourself. |
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