When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, He wanted Peter, James and John to keep watch with him but they kept falling asleep. Frustrated at this, Jesus finally said, "It will have to do!"
I didn't realize how many Catholic whiners there are until I started reading blogs and comments on mine. Praytell is often referred to as Praywhine. Read their posts and comments and you know why.
It really strikes me as adolescent and I wonder what the Greatest Generation who got us through the Depression and World War II and held onto the Faith with a gracefilled tenacity would think of all this middle and uppermiddle class Catholic whinning, especially from the academics of the Church?
The fact of the matter is that most will not like some aspect of the Church in the present, whether that be the pope, his style, the liturgy and its style or the direction of things.
GUESS WHAT: Those who wine the most are CONTROL FREAKS and they freak out precisely because they can't controll life and others. Alcoholics are most prone to trying to control people and environment even when they are recovering alcoholics. But most people have some kind of compulsion, if not to alcohol, something else. They thus become control freaks.
Those who acknowlege that life is imperfect and try to make lemonaide out of lemons, are the healthiest in our Church. Like that great mega Church pastor, Joel Osteen always says, stop your little pity parties and get with the program, or something like that.
So you live in a parish or a diocese that has liturgies a la 1970's. So the old guard, that we thought was becoming extinct from the 1970's, is being emboldened by the ultra-traditionalists and the silly progressives both of whom are spinning Pope Francis as some kind of retro cool guy from the 1970's. Of course the traditionalists lament their evaluation, the progressives are having a Rocky Mountain High concnering it.
Of course the spin is wrong. The simplicity of Pope Francis is that of St. Francis in a Church culture that has become bloated with the pursuit of power and money and right at the top at the Vatican Bank that had become quite corrupt including some clerics who worked for it.
Now there is a rumor here in Rome that the Mafia wants to kill the pope for interfering in their affairs at the Vatican Bank as Pope Francis is trying to clean it up. I would not disregard these rumors. The Vatican Bank has been a shady operation for years and that the Mafia may have had a interest in it should not be discounted. READ THE WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE BY PRESSING HERE! If this article is true, it gives new meaning to the pope's words about the devil, the smoke of Satan and corruption of the inside, whited tombs. It gives new meaning to Pope John Paul's words as an obscure cardinal to the Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia about the end times and those who are "anti-Gospel, Anti-Church, and ultimately Anti-Christ." Are we in the end times? If so, stop whining and get to confession!
So if the Mass in your parish is valid, don't complain. If it is celebrated poorly, speak to the pastor, write to the bishop. If you get no satisfaction, offer up your suffering for the poor souls in purgatory and make sure you are attentive to the Sacrifice celebrated, although poorly and Holy Communion received worthily, the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.
Ultimately this life is but a drop in the bucket of "just being" which is eternity, where in heaven all that is imperfect is made perfect. Hell is where those who love imperfection, in whatever form, (sin) have it their way.
Remember, the theme song of hell is, "I Did It my Way."
18 comments:
I do not believe it is fair to call criticizing a pope who commits liturgical abuse, continually makes outrageously silly, uniformed, and down right wrong statements, whinnying. Day after day he makes ridiculous statements. The latest through the Vatican ambassador telling the American bishops not to follow an ideology. What does that mean? I believe Christ said enter through the narrow gate because wide is the gate that leads to perdition. He isn't teaching the Catholic Faith, he is promoting his liberal idea of what the Church should be. He acts as if the doctrines of the Church are roadblocks instead of stepping stones towards heaven. And once more I have to say we have a pope who refuses to wear a mozetta but has no problem putting on a clown NOSE!!! That is very telling and it is not whinnying. I'd call it righteous anger at a grown man, a priest, a bishop, a pope degrading the papacy and the entire Church with his recklessness. And if I hear someone bring up Alexander VI one more time.......he had personal sins like everyone ( and most of the stories are fabricated by his English MC at the time because of a personal vendetta anyway) but even he never compromised the Faith. So father please stop arguing like a liberal by trying to isolate and degrade anyone who disagrees with a pope who is wrong. And he is wrong. The papacy is not about HIM and he better realize it soon, the damage he is doing is incalculable.
So, basically you are telling us to shut up and get happy…at what point will you begin to worry…when gay Priests in a pink vestments celebrate an "inclusive" liturgy? When the first Priestess says Mass at St. Jo's? When you are required by your Bishop to join Sam and Bill in Holy Matrimony? When they put a rubber machine in the unisex Church bathroom? Help me out here...
BTW, "Follow Jesus and…..(insert choice of action)" is a mega protestant statement...
Gene, what I am saying is that you have been deluded by three things media and internet driven, the first is from the ultra-traditionalists, the seoond from the looney progressives and the third, which I haven't really included, although the photo on the post does, the media which want to divide and conquer the Catholic Church, just as President Obama has tried to do and somewhat sucessfully.
One may not like Pope Francis style, which in fact is similar to Pope John Paul II, who himself was a populist, one may not like off-the-cuff remarks, that the Pope himself has had clariified and has clarified in his daily homilies. But listen folks, he is the pope and if he fails in handing on the Deposit of Faith then he will and should be ciriticized in history.
But there is a learning curve in a new ministry and being on the intenational stage, something he did not seek, nor something he would have thought would have happened as he left for the conclave, takes time to work out. I think his advisors are also tallking to him about loose lips and that he is no longer an obscure cardinal from Argentina but every word he says implies historic meaning. Should it be that way? NO, NO, NO!
Papal teaching has different degrees, with encylicals the hightest. Off-the-cuff remarks in a newspaper or periodical are low on the totum poll. Every Cathollic needs to know this.
Fr, I hope you are correct. In this age, when any irresponsible or "off the cuff" talk will be seized by the enemies of the Church and used against her, the Pope's lack of judgement is disturbing. I guess at age seventy-whatever he still just doesn't know any better…
But, his "off the cuff" attitude is certainly in keeping with the Priest in another town to whom I confessed not long ago ( a reasonably long confession) and who absolved me saying, "Very well, then, now run say an Our Father and join us in the social hall for donuts and coffee." So, when can we have donuts and coffee for Penance…
I really love this Pope. My concerns for him are based on what I perceive as possible human limitations, of his understanding of the human mind. I agree with Gene that Pope Francis shows a little bit of naiveté in the way he has made statements (who am I to judge?) that are so easily twisted into weapons against him, the Church, and the faithful. What I miss from B-VI is the air tight completion of thought that minimized confusion.
"...the media which want to divide and conquer the Catholic Church, just as President Obama has tried to do and somewhat successfully (sic)."
I think this counts as a major "whine."
Father, I very much enjoy your blog and what you said about offering up our experience of the 1970's parish liturgies for the suffering souls in Purgatory.
However I seem to notice a trend among popular Catholic bloggers that everything the Pope does must be spun as a positive. Why does it seem that the sitting Pope can do no wrong in so many bloggers' eyes? Even when it means that the bloggers switch opinions every papal election?
Is there some sort of unwritten rule I'm not aware of?
Ignotus, It is better than some of your favorite whines, such as lifting the chasuble, wearing the maniple, and the EF generally. This is not to mention your frequent whines about Fr. MacDonald.
Pin/Gene - "I don't trust this pope and I don't trust the bishops with the deposit of Faith" is as Protestant as it gets.
You set yourself up as the arbiter of what is/is not part of the faith. You make yourself equal, if not superior, to the Magisterium, effectively negating the expressed will of God.
You "LOL" your way through your self-serving excuses for skipping mass, making light of one of the most serious obligations Catholics have.
Fr. McDonald was right to rebuke you in this. It took him a while, but he has come to a good judgment. You should listen to his admonition and try to become the Catholic that God wants you to be.
"What would the Greatest Generation think?" IMHO very little. As a young 30-year old I sometimes grow tired of the adoration of the Greatest Generation. Don't get me wrong, I am immensely grateful of the the sacrifices they made during WWII. But while everyone is quick to give their entire generation and whole lives praise, based on their war-time sacrifices, I have never heard any criticism of their generation for being responsible for raising the Baby Boomer generation.
Everyone is always quick to blame "kids these days" for society's problems. But instead of blaming kids, I look to the parents who raised them and hold them accountable as well. At some point in the future, historians will look back at the Baby Boomer revolutionary generation as the tipping point of many societal and political problems. And who was raised that generation? The so-called "Great ones."
Yes their war-time sacrafices were great and to me unimaginable. But looking back, I think we would be better off if they didn't raise a generation of reckless, self entitled brats. (Yes I know that is a stereotype but if you look at the Baby Boomer generation as a whole I believe it is appropriate).
And yes our societal problems snowballed when that generation started raising their own kids, which brings us to today. Morning rant over.
At the Church-approved apparitions of Akita Japan, part of the message reads:
"The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres...churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord."
Again, this is a Church-approved apparition. Now I know some people reading this will remind me that we are not obliged to accept private revelations and that is true. However, no less than Pope Benedict has said that the message of Akita is virtually the same message as the message of Fatima. And Fatima was hardly a mere "private revelation" since more than 70,000 people witnessed the most incredible miracle in human history at Fatima: The Miracle of the Sun.
I know, I know, I know. We're supposed to just ignore all this and keep smiling because the modernists who have taken charge of things (like the "highly credible" Annibale Burnigni who handed us the "resoundingly successful" New Mass) are giving us a New Springtime of falling vocations, closing Catholic schools and utter confusion. It is utterly naive of us stupid preconciliar types to long for an era when we could count on our priests all being on the same page (unlike what we witness here every day between Fr. McD and Pater Ig).
Yes, the only thing one can possibly conclude from reading the (again) APPROVED message of Akita is that Mary is a Protestant.
Hey, Ignotus, I skipped ONE Mass and went to Confession. I have pointed that out a number of times. People who cannot understand repeated information are either retarded or sociopaths. Which are you?
Anon - Fr McD and I, Pater Ig, are on the same page. The problem you have, though, is that you think there is only one story on the page, or one way of telling the story.
The Truth is set. The ways in which we present the truth are manifold. Mass is mass with or without incense or maniples, congregations are congregations with enforced silence before and after mass or with gentle conversation, whether Latin is widely used or not used at all.
The page to which you refer is very large with the stories of many peoples on it, all bound together not, as you think, by rigid uniformity, but by the grace and the compassion of Christ, the Head.
Pin/Gene - I understood the message the first time. Same as I understood your "jokes" about women, your racial slurs against African-Americans, your rejection of the authority of popes and bishops, etc etc etc.
I understood when I posted your quotes regarding these things and you stated categorically that you stand by them.
I understand that you consider yourself competent to judge popes and bishops, and to deride them at will.
I understand you quite well.
Ignotus, You and Fr. aren't even in the same book...
I think before posting a comment, one should ask, "Who will be most pleased with my comment--Jesus or Satan?"
Anonymous, What if they both like it for different reasons?
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