I Love My Volvo<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I drive a six year old Volvo. It's a nice car. The headline says I love it, but really I just like it a lot. I also like my ten year old motorcycle, my\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2013\/04\/i-love-my-volvo.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I Love My Volvo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I drive a six year old Volvo. It's a nice car. The headline says I love it, but really I just like it a lot. I also like my ten year old motorcycle, my\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2013\/04\/i-love-my-volvo.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-04-22T14:57:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/files\/2013\/04\/volvo-300x199.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2013\/04\/i-love-my-volvo.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2013\/04\/i-love-my-volvo.html\",\"name\":\"I Love My Volvo\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-22T14:57:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-04-22T14:57:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad\"},\"description\":\"I drive a six year old Volvo. It's a nice car. The headline says I love it, but really I just like it a lot. I also like my ten year old motorcycle, my\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2013\/04\/i-love-my-volvo.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2013\/04\/i-love-my-volvo.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2013\/04\/i-love-my-volvo.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"I Love My Volvo\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/\",\"name\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad\",\"name\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/dwightlongenecker.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/author\/frdwight\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"I Love My Volvo","description":"I drive a six year old Volvo. It's a nice car. The headline says I love it, but really I just like it a lot. I also like my ten year old motorcycle, my","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2013\/04\/i-love-my-volvo.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"I Love My Volvo","og_description":"I drive a six year old Volvo. It's a nice car. The headline says I love it, but really I just like it a lot. I also like my ten year old motorcycle, my","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2013\/04\/i-love-my-volvo.html","og_site_name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","article_published_time":"2013-04-22T14:57:35+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/files\/2013\/04\/volvo-300x199.jpg"}],"author":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2013\/04\/i-love-my-volvo.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2013\/04\/i-love-my-volvo.html","name":"I Love My Volvo","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-04-22T14:57:35+00:00","dateModified":"2013-04-22T14:57:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad"},"description":"I drive a six year old Volvo. It's a nice car. The headline says I love it, but really I just like it a lot. I also like my ten year old motorcycle, my","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2013\/04\/i-love-my-volvo.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2013\/04\/i-love-my-volvo.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2013\/04\/i-love-my-volvo.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"I Love My Volvo"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/","name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad","name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g","caption":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/dwightlongenecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/author\/frdwight"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/557"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8491\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":8491,"date":"2013-04-22T09:57:35","date_gmt":"2013-04-22T14:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?p=8491"},"modified":"2013-04-22T09:57:35","modified_gmt":"2013-04-22T14:57:35","slug":"i-love-my-volvo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2013\/04\/i-love-my-volvo.html","title":{"rendered":"I Love My Volvo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>I drive a six year old Volvo. It\u2019s a nice car. The headline says I love it, but really I just like it a lot. I also like my ten year old motorcycle, my house in the suburbs and the other stuff that fills the house.<\/p>\n

Is that okay?<\/p>\n

I mean, I\u2019m a Catholic priest. I\u2019m supposed to be living in poverty and all that?<\/p>\n

Yes and no. I\u2019m a Diocesan priest. I haven\u2019t taken a vow of poverty, but I am supposed to live in \u201capostolic simplicity.\u201d What does that mean?<\/p>\n

Simplicity means loving all things according to their worth and being detached from the inordinate love of them in order to love them properly and proportionately. What does that mean?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take my Volvo as an example. What is a car for? It\u2019s for getting you from A to B safely and in a moderate level of comfort. So that\u2019s what I love my Volvo for. It is a means of transport. I love it for that value. It\u2019s a machine to get me safely from here to there. Why else might I love it? I love it for its beautiful and efficient design. I love it for its reliability and history. This is the proper love of a car.<\/p>\n

An improper love of a car is when I love it because I get an ego surge because I\u2019m rich enough to own that kind of car. An improper love of the car is when it is a status symbol. An improper love of the car is for the testosterone boost when I speed down the highway and pass other cars on purpose. An improper love of the car is when I use it to show off and think myself better than another person. An improper love of the car is when I value it as a \u201cgood investment\u201d and plan to make money with it. An improper love of the car is using it as a sex symbol.<\/p>\n

The right love of a Volvo is not only proper\u2013it is proportionate. In other words, the love of the Volvo is relegated to its proper place in my other loves. I love God first, my family second, other people, my vocation\u2014lots of other things more than I love my Volvo. My love for the Volvo is therefore okay as long as it is loved the proper way and in the proper place amongst my other loves.<\/p>\n

This should be our attitude to all our wealth, all our property, all our \u201cstuff\u201d. The poet Thomas Traherne said, \u201cCan a man be just unless he loves all things according to their worth.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is what he meant: to be properly detached from material goods is to be properly attached to them for their true value.<\/p>\n

Everything else is a distortion which leads to covetousness, idolatry, greed and violence.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"