Asshats on Parade - Humiliation Version or Beat Me, Daddy, Eight to the Bar

Narcissus by Caravaggio

Narcissus was the beautiful youth in Greek myth doomed to gaze enraptured at his own reflection forever.

Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance and a deep need for admiration. Those with narcissistic personality disorder believe that they're superior to others and have little regard for other people's feelings.

This, from his blog, is the Testimony of Cardinal Mahoney regarding his sin and crime of aiding and abetting the secret rape of hundreds of children in his diocese.

"Given all of the storms that have surrounded me and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles recently, God's grace finally helped me to understand:  I am not being called to serve Jesus in humility.  Rather, I am being called to something deeper--to be humiliated, disgraced, and rebuffed by many.

I was not ready for this challenge.  Ash Wednesday changed all of that, and I see Lent 2013 as a special time to reflect deeply upon this special call by Jesus.

To be honest with you, I have not reached the point where I can actually pray for more humiliation.  I'm only at the stage of asking for the grace to endure the level of humiliation at the moment.

In the past several days, I have experienced many examples of being humiliated.  In recent days, I have been confronted in various places by very unhappy people.  I could understand the depth of their anger and outrage--at me, at the Church, about injustices that swirl around us.

Thanks to God's special grace, I simply stood there, asking God to bless and forgive them."  

The rape of children in Mahoney's diocese is all about his suffering. The anger of their parents is Mahoney's apotheosis, a special sign from Jesus. 

Mahoney is the victim. But, like Christ, he will forgive us. I do not know whether to laugh, cry or vomit. God save us from the mad priest.