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Catholic Traditionalism and 200 Flocks of Sheep

5/20/24

Pray, this is going to be a serious essay. I’ll write after I return from prayer and feasting.

 

Bid me Jesus Christ,

Make me an instrument of your life.

Make me your worthy bride

Who does as you command

In every time, place, and land.

Word of God, be on my lip.

Body of Christ, be my salvation.

Blood of Christ which pinks Christ’s face,

Fill all my veins.

Pray, with Thee in your house we reign,

With all thy Saints we proclaim,

Thy Love, world without end,

All glories and mercies to your name, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

 

***

 

Turns out I’ll be writing after clearing my whole room of old clothes, eating, and a little bit of prayer. Okay, yea, I am writing alone in my room. Communications are here, before heaven’s eyes of witnesses.

Now, I am part of the laity. I don’t speak from any ecclesiastical authority. I’m no priest. Still, I wanted to write for myself a short little note on Traditional Catholics, as a warning on what I ought to avoid and a reminder on what I ought to seek because I find disunity within the Church concerning.

Forgive me if there’s no flavor to my words right now. I’ll start by mentioning the good. Catholic Traditionalism is marked by Catholic adherence to pre-Vatican II regulations. This means that whatever the Church has done since its conception, the Catholics of today will do as well. For example, Latin masses, no food or water before consumption of the Eucharist, observance of Lenten fasting (from food and water and whatever vice you ought to give up), observance of feast days, observance of saint feast days, and a whole slew of other regulations which become evident through a reading of the lives of saints. In essence though, traditional Catholicism, also read traditional Christianity, is marked by the counter-cultural appreciation of the Latin Mass. Where the mass today is said by Novus Ordo in the language of the people attending the mass, the traditional mass is said in Latin, the language which Christians before this time received mass in. This Latin mass, when performed rightly, is one of the most beautiful sights an eye fed by the ugliness of today can see. Perhaps I’ll fail to put it into words, but the Novus Ordo though God has ordained its place in this time compared to the Latin mass which Christians celebrated since the conversion of Rome; it’s like comparing a venue for stand-up to a holy site. I pray there will come a time when such a mass will be easier to access for myself and my children’s children. Though the parishioner may not understand the words spoken, the soul receives the prayers of the Church, and so understands what it receives through the Eucharist. All holiness, all veneration is expressed through this rite, and the Latin rite is 100% centered around making the body of Christ the focus. For one, the priest, rather than facing the people, has his back turned to them to face God on the tabernacle. Second, communion rails. Thou wilt not suffer a particle of the dust of God’s flesh to be stuck to thy hands to be unconsumed. Every piece of God will be consumed.

Forgive me, I haven’t been able to go enough to offer a proper description. If you, dear Reader, are to get anything out of this essay, then please attend a Latin Mass and see for yourself how the Church ought to worship. There are many abuses in the way many Catholics have been forced to celebrate mass, and though the Eucharist is sufficient still for the nutrition of saints many authorities within the Church struggle with disunity as a result of how the new mass has been implemented. See, rather than grow organically, mass not spoken in Latin was forced, and now the Latin mass is something one has to drive or walk rather far to experience. In my parish, for example, which is Novus Ordo in English, my eyes have been rather vexed to see all manner of strange invention. I won’t list what, since any who subscribe to Traditional Catholicism will have probably beat it over the head in a random comment section somewhere. However, I’ll just note that people in this country do try to remain reverent. It’s only authorities within the Church, whether out of fear or actual misguided teaching, leads them towards irreverence. Yea, we’re called the sheep of Christ for many reasons, but this is one of them. When the leading sheep thinks to run off the other sheep follow. Whether that’s off a cliff or on the path’s up to the sheep who leads, but it’ll always be the Shepherd with His stick who must strike the leading sheep on the right path. In part, this is why we’re always called to pray for leadership in the Church: the priests, deacons, bishops, archbishops, cardinals, and especially the Holy See of Rome. It is not the responsibility of the following sheep to usurp leadership and split the flock into many directions.

Going back to our sheep analogy, say God has one flock, and all His lovely sheep’s just in one lovely blob. Then one sheep, which He’s ordained to lead starts to run off in a wayward direction, let’s say right. So this leading sheep takes the flock right when the Shepherd wants the sheep to go straight, but then another sheep receives some other fancy decides to go left and woe this sheep going left takes many sheep with him. So now, God has two sheep He has to chase after. The Shepherd’s one lovely flock has split into two. But then another wonder. In the flock which the sheep running left has led, other sheep begin to lead, and then the left-running flock has split into more blobs, all with their own leading sheep, all running after their own will rather than the Shepherd’s.

The Church, made up of sheep, are like these sheep. We have a sheep who leads, a Pope, a Bishop, a Priest, and we have the following sheep, the laity. Because we are one flock, it is the laity’s job to always follow the leading sheep, no matter where this sheep runs, even if the sheep that leads may possibly run off a cliff. Here’s why, and here’s the meaning of our little sheep illustration.

For a shepherd, it’s much easier to go after one leading sheep than many. When one sheep leads others astray, the shepherd only has to deal with that one sheep. When there are many sheep leading others astray, they create separate flocks, and the sheep are scattered every which way. Then the shepherd will have to order his servants to chase this sheep and that sheep, these sheep leading groups of sheep away from the road the shepherd wishes his sheep to travel. If the shepherd’s fortunate, then he gets them all back into one group. If not, then the shepherd loses entire portions of his flock because he couldn’t corral the sheep which split his flock into multiple directions into one.

To tie this back to Christianity. This is always why there is one Pope, one head of Christianity. He is the sheep which leads, and if the chair of Peter leads the sheep astray, then it is more profitable for God to correct this one sheep so that the rest may properly follow. This is why the Shepherd is gravely stressed when there are divisions in the Church. One sheep’s easy to correct. Many sheep, not so much. When the Christians decide to scatter themselves because they dislike how they perceive the Pope as running astray from the Shepherd, then the Shepherd has to correct more than one sheep, and… why I am making this too complicated. Know this, when one defies the Pope, when one decides to split and make their own “Christian” denomination, the sheep are scattered. One sheep running off in the wrong direction, like a “bad” Pope in the Catholic Church, is just one sheep running off in the wrong direction. That’s just a split. When multiple sheep run off from the flock of the sheep running in the wrong direction, that’s when a flock may be scattered. It’s the difference between taking a scissors through a piece of paper vs a paper shredder. When the Pope runs off, God corrects the Holy Father in a way that saves most of His flock. When a priest runs off from the Pope, the priest does nothing more than split a flock that’s already split. How much more difficult shall it be for a shepherd to chase after scattered sheep!

A friend of mine, back when he was younger, herded sheep. Yes, he was a shepherd, the only one set to watch a flock at a certain time, and note, there was one sheep that kept trying to run the wrong way. This one sheep kept leading the flock astray. It’d go this way and that way, and because of its little antics my friend had to drag the disobedient sheep back to the flock, lest all the sheep following it get lost. However, no matter how many times my dear friend dragged it back by the collar to the flock, it kept running. This sheep kept tempting my friend the shepherd, and kept tempting his fellow sheep to leave said shepherd. Eventually, this was put to an end when my friend punched the sheep on the nose, which sent the sheep back into the flock, never to try running off when in the presence of my friend. But imagine! If more than one sheep ran off, if the disobedience of multiple sheep scattered the flock! All things are possible through God, but He calls us a flock to illustrate why we must never part! Yea, let there be one sheep, one Pope, to lead the flock. If the Pope runs astray, let us follow, let us obey, for the Church as one, should receive correction from God.

            Oh, forgive me. I forgot I was talking about traditional Catholics and the Latin Mass. Look, I’m not going to sugarcoat it. The Latin mass, when performed rightly, is one of the most beautiful sights an eye fed by the ugliness of today can see. Perhaps I’ll fail to put it into words, but the Novus Ordo though God has ordained its place in this time compared to the Latin mass which Christians celebrated since the conversion of Rome; it’s like comparing a venue for stand-up to a holy monastery. I pray there will come a time when such a mass will be easier to access for myself and my children’s children.

However, though I concede the Latin Mass should certainly be more accessible, I make this note to address how this mass and by extension everything tied to the banner of “Traditional Catholicism” has become laced with the smog of Protestantism.

I concur that Catholics should certainly act more traditional. Catholics should dress more reverently at mass; none of that business casual nonsense, and I may sound dumb to modern sensibilities for saying, but no pants on girls; that is a male garment. Did St. Joseph or our Mother Mary every wear slacks Bethlehem? Did or Lady of Akita show up in a hoodie and pants? No and no, and suppose at this point, the blood may be on the ecclesiasts than the laity since not one hardly says nowadays, but Catholics in all behaviors and dress should neither tempt nor seek to be tempted. The history of the Church is a call to fashion ourselves as God, and God neither tempts nor is tempted. So for women and men, this means clothes more like Mary’s and St. Joseph’s: clothes that are dignified, chaste, and modest. What you wear to appear before the KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS should be better than what you would wear to appear before an earthly king. And yes, women and girls should veil, for a woman whose glory is her hair, shouldn’t be displaying her glory before God. On matters of fashion, behaviors, thoughts, and worship the proponents of traditional Catholicism are in the right. Masses should also be sung more in Latin, Gregorian Chants should also be reintroduced into our churches so we may better differentiate ourselves from the world, and silence (oh especially silence!) ought to be emphasized more at mass.

However, the traditional Catholics, though pious and proper in appearances, are in error on two matters: idolatry, and disobedience to the Holy See. For the latter, dear Reader, you may reread the illustrations of the flock, but to re-illustrate, to split from the sheep which goes astray is only to make two flocks which walk astray. This is why there are now over 200 “Christian” denominations. It’s because one particular sheep, Martin Luther, decided to split from God’s anointed sheep, the Pope who may or may not have led his fellow sheep as well as he should of, and as a result of Martin Luther splitting, other sheep from Martin Luther’s flock began to split, and now we have the flock as we have it today; scattered in every direction. It’s only the Catholic Church which has any semblance of continuity on the straight path, but this is only because it carries most of God’s flock, and by this God has sent His sure and steady hand to beat His Popes back into submission.

So, as this may relate to traditional Catholics, especially those who speak of terms like “Anti-Pope.” Allow me to remind that disobedience to the Pope is not a traditional position. The Orthodox Church split because they disliked the actions of the Pope. Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism which so many traditional Catholics are especially vicious towards, split from the Church because he disliked the Pope’s infallibility and was willing to receive excommunication by persisting in heresy. Traditional Catholics, why, from what I’ve seen online, it is not right nor traditional to speak about a Pope’s errors in so flippantly. I concede, the actions of Pope Francis is worrisome, but Pope Francis is hardly the worst Pope we’ve ever had. Yes, under his leadership, the Church now sanctions blessings to homosexuals. In regard to fashions, behaviors, and manners at the mass the Church has become more irreverent. Germany, again, has committed heretical acts.

But the response isn’t to these errors isn’t to promote schismatic disobedience. It isn’t to found an order against the Pope’s permission. The response is what it’s always been, to pray for proper leadership, that the Pope may correct the sheep which walks astray, especially since it’s this sheep who has been ordained to lead. To run away from the Pope is to run from the church, and to disobey the Holy Father is to threaten scattering God’s flock. As our Shepherd, it is easiest for God to correct His flock when by the lead of the Pope, when we walk in unity, whether walking on the wrong path or right.

Now, to elaborate on the idolatry of traditional Catholics, they idolize the Latin Mass, and at times pay it more reverence than the Eucharist itself. one may consume God in a burning church. It’ll still be God. There have been thieves who have stolen the Holy Sacrament, thrown it in a bush, confessed to their thievery, and later when two shepherds find their sheep kneeling before said bush… why! No matter where the Eucharist is, there is God! Novus Ordo or Latin Mass, God is in the Eucharist, and it matters not how reverent or how holy the people receiving Him are, God enters into every one of them.

But yet, in spite of the Eucharist being present in every mass, Novus Ordo or Latin, unholy priest or holy, the general bend of Traditional Catholicism is that attending Latin masses shall make one more holy, reverent, and obedient to God. All this, is probably true. In today’s world, if one has marked within themselves a desire to attend the mass which fed the Saints of ages of past then I concur that attending masses in Latin shall make one more holy, reverent, and obedient to God. Within traditional is a flame, an earnest seeking for God in a godless world, so they seek, and find a medieval formula which has produced a wondrous number of holy men and holy women. Behold! Behold! This is the rite, the mass which has endured the ages! This is the rite fed to St. John Paul II, St. Padre Pio, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. John Henry Newman, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Joanne de Arc, St. Justin Martyr, St. Irenaeus, St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Peter, and all martyrs of the Church from America to Japan (pray for us)! If thou want to be holy as the Saints, then take the Latin Mass!

I’ve said that Novus Ordo’s like a place for stand-up. The way traditionals suggest Latin Mass borders on worship over the mass over God.

Allow me to illustrate what Latin Mass did not prevent: The Great Schism of 1054, The One-Hundred Years War, the Pope Wars, the sack of Constantinople by the Crusaders, devil-like Popes, ecclesiastical corruption, Protestantism, Anglicism, The Enlightenment, The French Revolution, World War I, World War II, and so on. These may sound like strawmen, but really consider, the Latin Mass though it may play a part is not everything there is to producing a holy Church before the eyes of God. On the other end, a Church with the Latin has produced a great deal of good. The early Crusades for one, the Reconquista, and to be frank, more good than bad. Still, to avoid idolatry, one has to consider though whether these effects were produced because mass was said in Latin or because Christians had the Eucharist and paid to God in mass every proper devotion they ought to give. Unto tradition, the mass plays its part, but it’s the Body and Blood which makes all holiness. Simply hearing Latin in the mass did not prevent many of our Saints from being terrible sinners, but it was reverence, devotion, prayer, and The Eucharist in the mass which did.

Ah, forgive me. This room is very hot. I don’t know what else to write. I just think it may be proper to be truly traditional. A Catholic traditionally obeys the Pope, and a Catholic traditionally seeks God in the Eucharist no matter the form.

In truth, I believe the Church would become stronger if more Latin Masses were available to the laity. I can only pray that our dear Pope Francis may realize the urgent need for the Church to make itself separate from the world, but to address current realities, I believe we live in a time of suboptimal Christianity.

The laity don’t have Latin Masses readily available to them. Christians are born then right away they are raised to be away from God and given to the world. Pope Francis leads a flock infiltrated by Masons.

Ah, I am growing drowsy with these accusations.  Oh Mother Mary, a message of hope. Suboptimal Christianity, why hope in this age? Well, excuse me, the world lives in an age of Optimization while the Church lives otherwise. The worldly wish to optimize everything. They want to have the most efficiency in their business, they want to have the fittest body, the fittest mind. They want to be the smartest, the richest, the most popular, and so on. It’s no longer good enough to be healthy. One must be rich, one must be fit, then one must be good with women. They say things like, “I must count calories to lose weight.”

“I must cut this much to get abs.”

“If I don’t get all As, I will kill myself.”

“I study because I need to go to Harvard.”

“I need organic/vegan/carnivore food to be healthy.”

“I won’t eat factory foods.”

Pray, it’s good to eat clean foods, it’s good to be healthy, it’s good to study, but when one’s purpose for seeking the best things is to satiate themselves for all the wrong reasons then it is a grave offense to God! What use is eating clean to extend a life of sin? What use is getting a strong body to waste it on one’s lusts? The worldly fashion themselves with the best nutrition, the best regimes, and best most classic books, but what use is intelligence, fitness, or health if the use of such things end in sin and Hell!

Should one enter in the flames with the body of Adonis? Should one enter into the pit with a brain like Einsteins? Should one enter after a life of a thousand years, or laboring tirelessly to procure money one will never spend?

Oh my God, it is said that every person is assigned one guardian angel and one persecuting demon. May that persecuting demon assigned to me be thrown before your cross by the power of thy name, Jesus Christ, and by the power of Thy Body and Thy Blood, may they be cast into Hell and tried. Amen.

The error of traditional Catholics is that they’re unwittingly worldly. They think they need the best form of mass, the best clothes, and the best form of devotions to be a holy man or woman of God. They can’t even fathom how God may be fasting His Church from the food He normally gives us. The Church doesn’t deserve to eat from a rite so glorious. The Church doesn’t need the perfect Mass. The Church needs to fast in hunger and march in spite of that. Don’t say you can’t worship God properly because you don’t have this or that. If all the priests in your local diocese were dead, then worship in spite of that. Clothe yourself, but clothe yourself for God. Offer your devotions, but offer them for God. Go to mass, but go for God, go for the Eucharist, not the plate which God is served.

Oh Father, perhaps this age will be an age of suboptimal Christianity, and age of suboptimal Saints fed and raised in suboptimal conditions. Can one still serve God with a starving body, with dim eyes, raised by worldly parents, or gifted from birth with horrible childhoods lit by the flames of Hell? May the sons of God, born during the descent to Hell, rise to light in spite of how the devils try to cut our legs? If there’s no met to eat we’ll eat the grass. No grass? The sands. No sand? Why, if there’s no food then we’ll eat the Soul of Christ. If we’re fortunate enough to be born with legs we’ll run. If legs are gone we’ll crawl. If arms are gone we’ll drag ourselves by the teeth. Suppose at that point, it may be more appropriate to pray for a lift.

Pray for us Father. Pray for me. Douse my soul, these fires may be ill-placed. We know how thou would have us run to thee. We should run in spite of the flames that lick, with Heaven before and Hell chasing behind to catch and drag us from your light. But you know our souls, that it is thy will for us to experience abundant life rather than to pridefully seek martyrdoms outside thy will. Yea, if we are to suffer, then may we suffer by thy will, Father, rather than our own. And if you will us to have life, then pray, gift us the grace so as to not impede thy will!

Mother Mary, what should I say? The Christians of today may be the worst fed in history? Good teachers are few, divorces abound, degeneracy’s on the rise, and by God, one may measure how religious one is by how full of dung the beginning of their life was. We were born lacking so many gifts than those who came before, and the gifts we did receive has turned into burdens of the world. Yet, despite our lack, by our Father’s will may we have, our God in the Eucharist with whom we stand. May it be a glory to God. Born from His Body and His Blood will be Saints even without the Latin Mass. There will be Saints, suboptimally fed, and unto God they will be wed.

If one doesn’t get, the gates of Heaven are open to those who persevere. Others shall have better starts, but what does it matter to the sheep that runs astray compared to the sheep that crawls diseased and crazed through Heaven’s gates guided by the iron rod of the Shepherd? The flesh of a fit sheep is nothing to the wolf’s teeth, but such fangs break against the Shepherd’s stick. So, no matter the suffering, do all things for God, and if you are fortunate enough to have access to a Latin Mass, then go to it, but don’t think yourself, dear Reader, better than anyone else for it. A Christian only does what God commands as necessary. A man should take no pride for it, lest they fall into error.

But one more thing. I… no matter, I won’t accuse. These will be notes for myself on how to be a better Christian, not on how other Christians aren’t doing good. Traditional Catholics I like, but they only err on a couple major points. I ought to talk about fasting next, but until then, Christ be with us. Amen.