Rebuilding
The argument continues – I will not say, to rage – but certainly to go back and forth over Pope Benedict XVI’s recent Motu Proprio, recognizing that the Tridentine rite of Mass was never abrogated, and granting to priests anywhere in the Church a certain measure of freedom to celebrate it. Serious heads condemn the document for its doubletalk, and see in it no better than a decoy to lure Traditional Catholics back into the quick-sands of the Conciliar church.
As to the doubletalk, now favouring Catholicism, now favoring Conciliarism, there is no doubt about it. Yet what else can one expect from what one might call a double-pope? Benedict XVI, like Paul VI and John-Paul II before him, surely cannot see that he is believing in two contradictory religions at once. So he goes on promoting both at once. Short of a miracle, Benedict XVI will follow this line to his grave. That is a mighty crooked line, but as far as the Motu Proprio is concerned, surely that is not the main point.
The point as it seems to me is that, in the words of the proverb, “God writes straight with crooked lines.” In many countries we hear of the Catholic laity and individual priests – not as a rule their bishops! – re-awakening to the true rite of the Mass, ordering Missals, ordering Mass-kits, vestments, etc . . . I hear a hard-liner protest! . . . I say, go easy, go easy, indeed not everything will be perfect all at once. There will be fumbling with the Latin, fumbling with the rubrics and so on, and so on, but let us give God’s grace a chance!
With God a little good will goes a long way –
A Catholic priest is not rebuilt in a day!
Let me give you a controversial scenario. You do not have to believe in it, but here it is. Mankind’s present desperate situation can be compared only to that of Noah’s time, just before the Flood. Our televidiot civilization, now worldwide, can only crash. God cannot allow it to go on sleep-walking millions of souls into Hell. When it crashes, Catholics are going to be running through the streets, screaming for a priest to confess their sins. There are not going to be enough liturgically perfect priests of the S**X to go round. Therefore God is preparing a number of priests – known only to himself – outside the S**X for those dramatic days. The Motu Proprio, enabling them to pick up the true rite of the Mass at least in private, is an important step in that preparation. Let us pray with all our hearts for all such priests, and for the Pope!
Kyrie eleison.
