Posted on 07/24/2024 9:46:41 AM PDT by ebb tide
“And why seest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye; and seest not the beam that is in thy own eye? Or how sayest thou to thy brother: Let me cast the mote out of thy eye; and behold a beam is in thy own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam in thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.” (Matthew 7:3-5)
As many people have observed, there is an interesting overlap between the populations of those who attend the Traditional Latin Mass and try to follow what the Church has always taught, and those who refused to take the experimental Covid shots. While there may be various reasons for this overlap, it seems fairly likely that one component involves the reality that those of us who adhere to the Catholic Church’s pre-Vatican II beliefs and practices have long faced the same type of pressure from the Church’s ostensible authority figures (and our fellow Catholics) that we saw at play with the Covid shots. As Catholics, we hear that we are schismatics, heretics, and enemies of the Church; as those who refuse to take experimental Covid shots, we hear that we are science-deniers and enemies of society. And, thanks be to God, none of that unhinged nonsense impels us to abandon what we know is right.
In thinking about the various ways in which this phenomenon could play out, it is obvious that the debates related to Catholic thinking are truly unique because we are dealing with a set of religious beliefs and practices that must be handed down faithfully throughout the centuries for them to be valid.
Those who have been conditioned by authority figures to denounce a certain class of people — whether it be Traditional Catholics, “science-deniers,” or even those who question Biden’s Ukraine narrative — tend to adopt a viewpoint that allows them to filter out any realities that would otherwise prompt them to reevaluate their animosity toward the “others” they denounce. Thus, it never mattered that the Covid shots were dangerous and ineffective — those who refused to take them were accused of prolonging the pandemic because, well, that is what Biden and the other experts told us. Tragically, the refusal to let facts influence their beliefs about a particular issue impairs not only their judgment on that issue but their ability to reason in general.
In thinking about the various ways in which this phenomenon could play out, it is obvious that the debates related to Catholic thinking are truly unique because we are dealing with a set of religious beliefs and practices that must be handed down faithfully throughout the centuries for them to be valid. St. Paul made this indisputably clear in his letter to the Galatians:
“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema. As we said before, so now I say again: If any one preach to you a gospel, besides that which you have received, let him be anathema. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:8-10)
Catholic truth is immutable — it does not change. Even if every other Catholic we know tells us that we must accept a “different truth,” we must resist. The moment we say the Catholic Faith can evolve to become something other than what it was, we go from having a religion given by God to having one of the dumbest imaginable superstitions.
Accordingly, Catholicism has this inherent “answer key” by which we can evaluate interpretations of our Faith. Vatican II tried to abolish this, and the Modernist ideas were the primary weapons of those who advanced the revolution. St. Pius X had named and denounced their weapons in his Oath Against Modernism, which required the clergy to swear the following:
“I sincerely hold that the doctrine of faith was handed down to us from the apostles through the orthodox Fathers in exactly the same meaning and always in the same purport. Therefore, I entirely reject the heretical misrepresentation that dogmas evolve and change from one meaning to another different from the one which the Church held previously. I also condemn every error according to which, in place of the divine deposit which has been given to the spouse of Christ to be carefully guarded by her, there is put a philosophical figment or product of a human conscience that has gradually been developed by human effort and will continue to develop indefinitely.”
No rational supporter of Francis, the Synodal Church, or the Vatican II revolution can sincerely believe that St. Pius X or St. Paul were correct in insisting that truth cannot change. If they are honest and rational, they must choose one or the other, either Francis or St. Paul.
This condemns the entirety of the Vatican II revolution. No rational supporter of Francis, the Synodal Church, or the Vatican II revolution can sincerely believe that St. Pius X or St. Paul were correct in insisting that truth cannot change. If they are honest and rational, they must choose one or the other, either Francis or St. Paul.
In addition to this “answer key” from St. Paul to evaluate interpretations of the Faith, Jesus Christ gave us a test to evaluate those who might try to lead us astray:
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.” (Matthew 7:15-20)
He gave us this test because He loves us and knew it would be difficult to detect and avoid false prophets. Notably, Jesus did not tell us that we are supposed to ask the apparent false prophet if his fruits are good — he would obviously insist that they are good. No, God wants us to make that judgment for ourselves, so He surely gives us the grace to do so.
So let us turn to the fruits both of the Vatican II revolution and, by extension, those who have defended it for sixty years. Many people after the Council saw that it had bad fruits, but the Council’s defenders insisted that we should not judge by the fruits. Even so, many of us are familiar with Paul VI’s honest assessment of the fruits, from June 29, 1972:
“Through some cracks the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God: there is doubt, uncertainty, dilemma, anxiety, confrontation. . . One thought that after the Council there would come a shiny day for the history of the Church. A cloudy day came instead, a day of tempest, gloom, quest, and uncertainty. We preach ecumenism and drift farther and farther away from others. We attempt to dig abysses instead of filling them.”
Given what we know about Paul VI, one might legitimately question whether this was a lament or a boastful progress report to the Church’s enemies, but in either case he was describing the fruits of the Council in unambiguously negative terms. Those who trusted him had absolutely no right to reject his assessment — they were bound to apply the test Our Lord gave us and thereby conclude that the Council was a bad tree.
But that did not happen. Instead, those in authority told the faithful they could not trust their lying eyes: no, you are not allowed to consider reality, they insisted. Not only that, but the faithful were taught to denounce those who refused to forfeit their abilities to perceive reality and apply sound reasoning. Thus, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre became the “worst enemy of the Church” by doing all he could to protect it from the false prophets.
The beams in the eyes of those who condemn Traditional Catholics, while simultaneously defending the unholy Vatican II revolution, have been sturdy enough to support Satan’s ongoing onslaught against the Church and world for decades.
Where has this led? After sixty years of this exercise, we can see the following ripe fruits produced by the Vatican II revolution and those who defend it:
None of this is meant, in the least, to suggest that Traditional Catholics have any merit other than being poor sinners (as we all are) who strive to hold to what the Church has always taught. To be clear, though, this is absolutely meant as a rebuke of those who spend far more time lambasting Traditional Catholics than they do trying to combat the unfathomable evils caused by the Vatican II revolution they have supported. The beams in the eyes of those who condemn Traditional Catholics, while simultaneously defending the unholy Vatican II revolution, have been sturdy enough to support Satan’s ongoing onslaught against the Church and world for decades.
That said, we are all sinners in great need of God’s mercy. If God, in His loving Providence, has allowed this situation to afflict the Mystical Body of Christ, surely it is to bring forth some good. All of us can do more to love and serve God more faithfully, and now is the time to stop following false prophets, return to what the Church has always taught, and become saints. Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
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Ping
Now that Biden quit, shouldn’t the current Pope do the decent thing and consider retirement?
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