Skip to main content

My Cred and An Audience of One

When I finally met a certain Trad who wields a particularly poisonous pen against Pope Francis I am sure my presence at a Traditional Latin liturgy took him aback.  I was veiled and modestly dressed, prayed from a 1962 Missal from Baronius Press, and knew the postures and responses without even having to look at the Ordinary of the Missal.  

He probably would have dropped his jaw on the floor had I told him I refrain from eating meat on any Friday that doesn't fall during an Octave, pray the Rosary nearly without fail, and confess as frequently as once a week. I prefer the Douay-Rheims Bible.  I'm not bragging. I'm just saying you can't judge a book by its cover, and in this case, the cover would be the fact that I support whoever the Pope is,  I attend the Ordinary Form and, perhaps most offensive of all, I refused to vote for Donald Trump and pulled the lever for Joe Biden.    

The cover is also the mask on my face, which few if any others wore at this particular Mass, and the vaccine card I proudly flash letting folks know I care enough my own health and theirs to have been fully vaccinated.  

I actually don't worry about my cred with this gang.  It doesn't matter anymore as it shamefully once did. I have an Audience of One, and what I do is for Him alone.  There is a lot of clanging of empty vessels.  There is doubt and uncertainty.  There is suspicion and a lack of trust.  There is noise and contradiction and confusion. But let it never extend to our reliance on the Lamb alone.  

Jesus Christ the Same: Yesterday, Today and Forever. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Not to Be

You never had a day that was all about you, until this one There would be no ring placed on your finger by a suitor No surprise planned by bridesmaids to shower you with gifts  No walk down the aisle in white lace, clinging to your beloved father's arm A cascade of flowers falling from your hand It was not to be Still you remained hopeful and never bitter I thought about this as I waited for your hearse to arrive at the cemetery The only time in your life when a hired black car would bring you to the place Where you would be the center of everyone's attention A public appearance planned to the last detail As you would have wanted Except for this You were never "fashionably late" for anything and I thought how you would not have liked this Keeping the guests waiting on a sunny but chilly November day I remembered the words of my favorite Emily Dickinson poem About how after death "a formal feeling comes" And this was the "hour of lead" It came like ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Uniformity is Not Unity

In the run up to the Synod, Pope Francis made the assertion that uniformity is not the same thing as unity.  Christian unity is one of the graces included in the morning offering to Jesus.  Uniformity is something quite different and it does not allow much room for those who are outside the mold of what some believe makes us a Catholic Christian. The insistence on uniformity is certainly something any of us who have belonged to a Traditional Latin Mass community are familiar with and for a few of us, probably had much to do with why we decided to walk away.  You can't wear that to Mass.  You can't use that posture at Mass.  You can't say those words at Mass.  You can't pray like that at Mass.  You can't have females in the sanctuary.  You can't face that direction.  You can't sing those hymns.  You can't, you can't you can't.  There is no appeal in religion that is based on the word "no" and perhaps that's just what the rigid have i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Christ is at the door, with a quart of Budweiser?

One of my favorite passages from the writings of Servant of God Catherine de Hueck Doherty relays the time her parents hosted a tea for Russian dignitaries.  Her father was a Russian diplomat and there were several hundred invited guests at their home.  Catherine recalled that she was nine at the time and was permitted to attend, the social dressed to the nines and serving cakes.   A butler interrupted a conversation between her father and one of his prestigious guests with the announcement: "Christ is at the door."  Everything came to a standstill while her parents rushed to serve the man she described as a hobo.  They set down the finest linen and china and although she recounted that they had 14 servants in the house, her mother and father personally did the serving.  She described this episode as an excellent lesson in Christianity, watching her parents put their faith in action.   I think of this from time because of a homeless man who h...
Post a Comment
Read more