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 in mind. If you don't like the word no, go elsewhere but no salvation for you!
When a group of young nuns was scheduled to join a dwindling contemplative community, an appeal was made for the purchase of some items that would be needed to accommodate this significant expansion. I was struck by the condition that everything purchased had to be identical, from the cutlery to the bed linens. I don't know the reason for this but I suppose, perhaps incorrectly, that it's to prevent any one nun from distinguishing herself from another.
God does not distribute His gifts uniformly, both interiorly and exteriorly. Some saints, including the Blessed Virgin Mary, were infused with graces that the rest of us were not. Some of us have physical advantages that some of us don't. Some of us are born with a different capacity for understanding and development. We may all be of equal worth in God's eyes, but we are not physically, mentally and spiritually the same, no matter how closely alike we appear. Why we must all approach God the same way? We are all equally loved, and equally invited to share in the salvation Jesus won for us, but there is no one size fits all approach. To insist otherwise is an attempt to put limits on the Omnipotent, and a pointless one at that.
What's wrong with meeting people where they are? Based on my experience in a TLM community, a lot. It's too much work. Much easier to stick to devotionals and leave the Beatitudes to the liberals and then sit back and criticize the way they carry them out. I've heard defenders of the cappa magna insist that the poor deserve beauty in their churches too. Never mind whether the poor are hungry, have no place to live and go without basic healthcare. There is no suffering that stained glass, marble and a few Italian-made statues can't ameliorate including hunger, sickness and homelessness, right? Attend the Extraordinary Form exclusively, pray the Rosary every day, have big families, homeschool, fast and tithe to your TLM parish, vote only for candidates who are anti-abortion, and God will take care of the rest. For me there's just one problem: there is no example of which I know where Christ modeled this kind of behavior.
When Jesus retreated in prayer, it was always right before or right after He had given of Himself to the crowds, preaching, healing and feeding them. Prayer was how He recharged for the business He was sent to do. There is no instance of Him telling His disciples that prayer alone is enough. He sent them out like lambs among wolves to preach and to heal. He didn't send them to a monastery or a desert and tell them to stay there and pray. Jesus set the example for us of doing the heavy lifting, reaching out to those on the fringes to bring them into the fold.
One of the most revolting things I witnessed after George Floyd's murder was the outcry over broken plaster but only condemnation of Floyd's soul by some supertrad influencers. There was no outrage over at EWTN about a man's neck being knelt on for 8 plus minutes while his life expired on a cell phone recording, but when they messed with St. Anthony and St. Junipero Serra, look out. The Big Guns came out and it wasn't to take the cult that follows the Altmans and Marshalls of the world to task. I don't condone vandalism, especially in a church. But I wonder what kind of relationship people have with Christ when pieces of plaster (an idol when you think about it) garner more concern than the snuffed out life of a child of God.
I love beautiful churches and liturgy as much as anyone. To paraphrase St. John Chrystosom, if we don't recognize Christ in the beggar, the migrant, the addict, nor will be able to recognize Him in the tabernacle. It's one thing to put limits on ourselves. It's quite another to insist that we do the same with God. He can handle those who march to the beat of a different drum. Why can't we?
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