Highlight: "Traditional Catholic" Rant of the Day, Courtesy of Terry of Abbey Roads

Hello Everyone,

May the Lord bless you on this, boring old, sickly green, 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time in the "nervous disorder" ..... (High tradmaster stares angrily at me with his lawyer, and his counsel points to a legal paper .... gulp!) .... AHEM! Sorry, I meant the Septugesima Sunday of the year of 2016. For a minute there, the "Spirit" of Vatican II possessed me, Ha Ha Ha!

Anyways, moving on, it seems that we are all in a state of gloom and despair, my Traddie brethen. Many of you seemingly want to abandon Holy Mother Church because our most "fluffiest pope evuh" to quote Trad Hero Fr. Z, has decided that in his whole mercy thing, to make a change to Church Law. He gave that "nice" executive order to Cardinal Robert Sarah of the Congregation of Divine Worship, that the foot-washing para-liturgy (bull excrement, it's not part of the TRUE liturgy) in the Holy Triduum for the Nervous Disorder, be open to all believers, including, women.

GASP!!!! What diabolical-ness!!!! Women in the Sanctuary again!!! Blech!! As if female altar servers and those extra, unnecessary Communion defilers with soiled and unconsecrated hands were not enough!!!

But fear not, my "Neo-Pelagian" friends!!! For I bring you good cheer!!! A young man, by the name of Terry at the blog "Abbey Roads" has turned totally Trad today!!!! Turns out he is a police officer of the Catholic Church liturgical police force!!! Today he gives us his report while on his usual rounds among his confreres at the March For Life!!! And boy did he rake in those sin tickets!!!!

So many liturgical abuses were caught by our dutiful officer!!! Hurrah, finally someone is enforcing Church law and bringing those violators of Christ to justice!!! Now if only he could arrest Justin Trudeau for heresy and declare him excommunicated in a Church court of law, ha ha ha!!!

Anyways, my Traddie brethen, for your hope and joy, here is officer Nelson's report:
http://abbey-roads.blogspot.ca/2016/01/snowy-novus-ordo-mass-on-turnpike.html

So remember my friends, there is always hope. Keep up the good work, only attend the Latin Mass because of examples like above, and we will win in the end, since the rest of the Church embraces sterility and banal on the spot products that pass for "worship."

Pax Tibi Christi, fratres et sorores. Julius Alexandrius Barkinius. Ianuarius viginti quattuor, MMXVI.

Highlight: Terry at Abbey Roads Strikes Hard!!! The Latin Mass, Cardinal Burke, etc. Are Not THE Sole Solution to Getting Men to Mass

Hello Everyone,

I just caught a great post from awesome blogger Terry Nelson at Abbey Roads. Today, he reflects on his daily morning Novus Ordo Mass as well as his past, and tells the reader about what attracts men to Mass. I repost the following post below, with bolded highlights and my red colour commentary. Pax, Julian.

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Men at church ...

Seemed like old times.

The first parish I ever registered at was St. Olaf in Downtown Minneapolis - that was in the 1980's.  I was able to make it to morning Mass there today - the first Mass at 7 AM.  Fr. Kennedy celebrated the Mass - seemed like old times because he was newly ordained when I first started going there way back when, for adoration on Thursdays.  That was the olden days in the early 1970's - shortly after my conversion, when hardly any church still had exposition all day - which was usually on Fridays - as at Assumption in St. Paul.  Fr. Kennedy always had the reputation of a more 'liberal' priest but I always found him orthodox in homilies and confession.  This morning it could have been the Pope giving the homily ... it was excellent. [Get it you Pharisees? This supposed "liberal" priest may not be that cookie cutter Cardinal Burke priest you want, but when it comes to the essentials of the faith including MASS, he says the black, and does the red. While it's great to bring priests to further orthodoxy with kindness and encouragement, we should shut up if they are "doing their duty" and not scandalizing the faithful.]

Notably, the chapel was fairly full for such an early Mass, mostly businessmen in their 30's or 40's, a few older guys, and what seemed to be downtowners - people who live someplace downtown.  Like I said - there were mostly men.  Everyone knelt for the Eucharistic prayer and at the Agnus Dei.  After communion I don't know what happened.   I mention this because there is a lot of talk that men don't go to Mass.  Just because men were at Mass this morning - and most likely every morning noon and evening at St. Olaf, doesn't mean that observation is wrong of course - but it does indicate to me that men really do go to Mass.

Mass this morning was not effeminate.  Fr. Kennedy is a 'manly man' and a serious minded priest and Mass was celebrated according to the rubrics.  The men at early Mass seemed like manly men as well.  I wasn't on watch there, but I took in the crowd.  I prayed and participated in Mass - I simply noticed who was there, what was going on, aware of my surroundings - not looking for errors or lack of formality.

St. Olaf

Here's the deal.

I think.

Men go to Mass when they believe, when their faith is living, when Mass is straight forward - and straight plays a big part in that - like honesty.

It seemed like old times to me - the daily Mass goers downtown have a living faith - they are not there because of an obligation, nor does their faith depend on the person of the priest - downtown churches get a variety of substitutes during the week.  Downtown parishes host a huge diversity of persons.  It's a microcosm of the Church I think.  It's as different from my rich parish in South Minneapolis, as my parish is to the FSSP parish in North Minneapolis, or the traditionalist 'Remnant' parish in South St. Paul.

There is a distinct freedom of spirit in a living body. 

Love casts out all fear.

Years ago when I got caught up in the fear mongering which trails ultra conservative trad-minded Catholics, I ran into a priest at a store I worked at and he asked, "What the hell happened to you?"  He asked in passing because he was in a hurry to get out of the store we were in, and I laughed and said, "What?"  I just thought he meant I'd gotten a bit older or something.  But now I know what he meant.  He assumed I'd gone 'back' - that I was one of those people who wanted everything to go back to tradition.  I never had.  But I worked in a milieu he associated with the St. Agnes cult he had warned me years ago to avoid.  And there I was.

I haven't seen him since, but I'd like him to know nothing happened to me.  I'm just fine.  I never rejected Vatican II or the Ordinary Form of Mass.  This morning reminded me of all that.

I kind of think most men don't go to Mass because they don't like church-lady-talk, Mass chat, coffee and donuts gossip.  They're not into the Fellini ecclesiastical fashion show of vestments, and grand style.  Some may like it - some may not. [Get it guys and gals? We don't want stupid cutesy social hours or crap on the altar, that belittles the Holy Mass. Listen, a parish social every month or so is not bad for getting to know your parishioners and see old friends, and it's great to BOOST community, but that should not be a primary focus with a falsely misleading label of "evangelization" slapped on it. Other Christian churches have those too, and they attract more converts and ex-Catholics, so something is there beyond the socials. 

At the same time, those of you who love liturgy and the Latin Mass too much, you think that ALL people will go nuts over the smells and bells, and cappa magna worn by prelates like Cardinal Burke et al? No. You have missed the point, as described above. It's the NO NONESENSE, clear teaching of the faith as part of the Liturgy that attracts people to Mass, especially men, NOT SOLELY the things they see or the prelates wear. Most people don't give two cares about the cappa magnas and stuff. They are not liturgy freaks like some of you. Get thisin your mind: FEW PEOPLE CARE ABOUT VESTMENTS, SPECIFIC PATTERNS, CAPPA MAGNAs, ETC. 

Now, this doesn't mean that we should have those ugly spaceship/barn churches with vestments and banners that look like they were designed by middle school children, and were maybe fine in our school years. We should at least have proper gear and wares and such that respect the liturgy at its basest level.

The main point is this: BALANCE. Not too disgusting, and not too much femininely designed gear and events at Mass an in the Church, but not the other extreme of pompousness and everything dressed up like the Palace in Versailles. Neither extreme attracts people, especially men to the Church.]

In my neighborhood, a lot of guys stopped going to church because of the bishop scandal - which included gay priests and teen boys, adulterous priests and parish secretaries and or female penitents, as well as billions of dollars of payouts in legal funds.  That erodes trust - one guy down the street will probably never step in a Catholic church again.  I also don't think most guys are all that interested in talk show apologists, dressed up in safari outfits, or talking like post-game wrap-up commentators. [Now this is interesting. Part of what has gotten people back to a sense of the Church and Mass, that is, those who are "on fire" for their faith, IS professional apologists, such as Keating and his Catholic Answers, and these speakers such as Scott Hahn, Jimmy Akin, Matthew Kelly (who is Australian, and the one I am assuming Terry is pointing out,) Tim Staples, etc. I think that Terry is partially wrong in his assessment. He might be right in that it's not bringing in the Masses, but to me these speakers have contributed to helping establish the "New Evangelization" generation base that now is starting to do ministry in the Church. CONVERSION EN MASSE???? No, that's what I agree on with Terry. I do not agree with his statement flat out and it needs qualifiers or re-wording.] Going after men doesn't need to involve chest bumps and back slapping stereotypical imitations of successful mainstream media pop-culture marketing.  I don't think you have to try to sell men on masculinity with another spokesman in lace and red satin talking about how feminized men have become. [Here I think Terry is tackling the two extremes of Bishop Robert Barron and definitely Cardinal Raymond Burke, who in the blogosphere is famous (or notorious???) for that interview about the man crisis in the Church. With +Barron, the focus is on products, popular advertisments, videos, etc. He is in no way doing the bro-fist or the chest bumps or trying to speak like a teenager, but I get Terry's point. 

As for ++Burke, Terry is 200% correct. The way that the Radicals Misrepresenting Traditionalists worship the lace and cappa magna loving prelate who does Pontifical Masses, is sickening. Isn't there a passage in Scripture about NOT worshiping Princes in the Church or society??? Furthermore, it is clear in ++Burke's interviews and the sides he has taken not only on Church issues, but on other personal "Trad Issues," (e.g. Catholics suing Catholics, Men in the Church,) that they are the Radically Traditionalist side in favour of that, with no proper evaluation and balanced analysis of all sides and information on those matters. ++Burke sadly is doing no favour to Traditionalists, and clearly his reputation for what he is doing has earned him a ticket out of the Vatican's inner circle, and he will NEVER become Pope as long as he lives with the Post-Vatican II generation of current Cardinals (I am confident in that.) If anything, yes he ++Burke has been blunt on the issues at hand, but he has done so in a way that he will never gain the trust of the regular Catholic populace and his fellow clergymen, and even more so he is creating an atmosphere of distrust of the Papacy, one whereby those who are "orthodox" may be spiritually tempted in their admiration of the Cardinal (despite HIS blunt upholding of Catholic doctrine, which we can give HIM the benefit of the doubt) to rebel against Holy Mother Church and self-schism one's self to Hell lest they die. Also, like the issue of the fancy lace and clothes issue above .... people have been trained in Modern Catholic society to scoff at that stuff. Benedict got away with it being the Pope, but with Francis in charge, it's back to normal. Again ... most NORMAL people, NOT those in love with the Latin Mass, do NOT CARE about fancy vestments. The association of that with a "disappointed" , Francis-clashing prelate, gives a BAD reputation, and most Catholics will NOT be motivated by ++Burke to think positively of the Church, or of even the Novus Ordo Mass. Nevermind the Latin Mass, which he does frequently, so the TLM gets even more unfair knocks thrown its way.]

I might be wrong - but I don't think evangelization is the same thing as marketing. 

This anti-Pope thing is so not going to attract more men to Mass either.  Talking about the pope and the church in political terms doesn't work.  I think most ordinary guys think this pope is great.  I know non-religious people do.  I'm no expert - just speculating here. [Men are just plain sick of politics interfering with the Church, from the top above, even down to the local parish level. I currently have fully disassociated with one parish, and mostly with another, because of this garbage. However the RMTs also ruin things by lashing out against Francis, when he is clearly NOT committing heresy. If people cannot even respect their highest leader, the one who is supposed to be the Vicar of Christ on Earth with HIS divine authority in matters of faith and morals, then why bother even being a part of the Church? They can get all that in their own religion or local community Christian church of whatever denomination.]

I don't know.  Like I said, I'm probably wrong. [No Terry, You are quite right about all this. It's the sick RMTs that do not get it. You have gladly spoken on behalf of the normal, Catholic man. It was raw, true, and from the heart and proudly expressed the TRUTH of the matter.]

It was good to experience downtown again - I miss it in a way.  I realized something did happen to me - in some ways, I am different today.

BTW - I never resign St. Olaf's, just stopped going downtown, and they stopped sending me newsletters.  I was actually 'involved' with the parish - unusual for me because I don't usually get involved with church people.  The people I knew weren't there this morning, and so I expect everyone has moved on or away.  Nothing stays the same.  You can't go back.

I'm just a single Catholic man.

This may be the appropriate to replace a comment from an earlier post discussing Pope Francis.  Today I realized not everyone has a negative opinion of him - thanks be to God.

Yesterday I wrote: I must be an idiot - I just don't see Francis abandoning Catholic teaching. I see him as consistent with his predecessors - a lot more frank and talkative, to be sure, but I do not feel my faith is in the balance because of him. Actually when he calls out Pharisees and the hypocrites I've taken it to heart - I totally accuse myself. If it wasn't so indiscreet to do it, I would proclaim my sins online - just to prove it. Rather than feel put down by the Pope, I feel his call to repentance and reconciliation - to drink deeply at the font of Mercy. I'm not just saying that either.

"If a good man reproves me, it is kindness."

My first waking thought every day is prayer - it is hours later that I even check online - my spiritual life comes first.  Neither do I check what the pope has said every day.  It isn't my first priority. I avoid those who 'report' on what he said, or how he said it. I believe only what is confirmed by Vatican authority, and if I don't understand it, it isn't for me.

I understand that a priest or director may have need to know what he said, what he meant, to refute what gossip media reports, so I pray for priests.

Personally, I just keep thinking that finally I have a pope, a father who understands me - who understands the outsider - the freak. I don't have to try to fit in with any faction because he welcomes the stranger. [BAM!!!! Pope Francis' mission IS Working!!!! The Church is for everyone, you purist prudes! Christ's Church is Catholic, meaning universal, that includes the freaks! No we don't condone their sins, but we bring them in to give them a greater light in their lives!!! ] 

If I feel like that think, of all the people who feel excluded from the Church now feel. Think of all the ordinary people who don't identify with the liturgical class wars and politics. There is hope after all for all the prodigals - while our elder brothers grumble because they have always been good and never wasted their lives on prostitutes.

I can't make excuses for the pope or church people - so that is not my intention here.  

I've been steeped in sin since birth - so I dare not try to instruct anyone.  Pay no attention to me.

I've always taken my cues from the Church - especially the Pope - be it Francis, Benedict, JPI and II, Paul VI and so on.

It's none of my business who is or who is not in church, any more than it is my business or under my control, who goes to communion or who does not go to communion.

I only have to make sure I go to Mass and I'm able to receive.

Triple Highlight: Terry Nelson, Mark Shea, and Catholic Culture Hit It on the Head!!! Re +Daneels Conspiracy and Radicals Misrepresenting Traditionalism!!!

Hello Everyone.

So it looks like Pope Francis' visit to the USA, as well as some stupid documentary where a cardinal in the Church "plotted" with others to sway the conclaves of 2005 and 2013, has made the Radicals Misrepresenting Traditionalists froth at the mouth like crazy.

Thankfully, to protect the Catholic faithful from being swayed by detraction and slander of the Holy Father, as well as from acts of the Devil, a number of bloggers have risen to the Church's defense against, sadly, the slings and arrows from their own disgruntled members.

First up is one of my favourite bloggers, Terry Nelson, an outstanding young man who blogs at Abbey Roads. This young buck, like me, hates radical traditionalism and sees the damage it is causing the Catholic Church, especially in the wake of the Francis Pontificate. Adding to his credibility, is that he is a chaste man, who carries the cross of Same-Sex Attraction, yet he is faithful to Holy Mother Church, an important stance to take especially with the whole Synods of the Family occurring. He`s even not afraid to take to task other SSA individuals, whose approaches to being gay and Catholic, steer somewhat in a darker direction, despite appearances of being ``chaste.``

In the comment box of one of his posts, "Papal visit - it's not over till the fat lady sings ... and I'm sure she will," Mr. Nelson comments on how he is keeping his soul pure by avoiding certain blogs. He states his reasoning why:

"Terry Nelson4:24 PM
These are a few blogs I consider poisonous gossip-mongers:

Vox Cantoris
Pat Archbold
Carol McKinley
Ann Barnhardt
and a few others they link to.

Other blogs by people with admitted mental health issues or who give indications of it, I simply avoid.

This type of conspiracy chatter and traditionalist extremism has plagued me my entire adult life - since my return to the sacraments. This constant vitriol and suspicion and requirement to check the papers of all who profess to be Catholic. The constant repetition of false visionaries and reinterpretation of Fatima and pulling out ancient encyclicals to bang over people's heads. Today Medugorje is very near to be being discredited, The Locutions to the World lady is backtracking and saying the time of collapse has been put back. The fake prophets are falling - yet doomsayers are repeating their warnings. Even the politicians who promise an end to abortion if we elect them - and when we do - nothing happens - let it all fall to pieces.

Who cares if the economy collapses? Who cares about predicting the future? Why do we waste our time worrying about the Synod? Defaming people who went to see the pope or did the readings? Pray - yes - but working ourselves up over this stuff? To what end?

How can we keep doing this? Why? Just to taunt and drive OCD people nuts? To heap guilt upon the guilty? To shame the shameful? 

I don't get it.

LarryD once said my blog is littered with road kill - I laughed so hard because it's true. My entire life is too.

Nutcases have come and gone. Doomsayers predicting the Ball of Redemption - aged, infirm, some dead now - I hope they saw it before they died - just like Joey Lomangino and Padre Pio before they died, huh? Who taught people to believe this crap? To talk this crap? 

The Pope spoke about salvation. The Pope came preaching Jesus Christ. The Pope came to teach us about mercy. I need mercy. I need salvation. My fear and trembling is before God - not the Catholic blogosphere.

Sorry - I'm tired of it."

Well Said Terry. He's also not the only one, who is fed up with this nonsense which is damaging souls. Another commentator by the name of "Joshua" also comments, with this zinger in the comment:

".... One identity I do own is Catholic, which is why I can't read any of the blogs Terry mentioned. (Terry, I think you left off one. Starts with R, ends with orare Caeli :) ) They attack the Church. They attack her priests and bishops. They don't critique in charity--they attack. Just like a man can commit adultery in his heart without ever touching anyone other than his wife, you can do the same with schism (which is really just ecclesiastical adultery). They make me angry, so I don't read them. (Also, there is absolutely nothing to learn from them that can't be learned elsewhere, assuming it's worth learning.) .... "

Wow .... Joshua really has a great point about sinning via spiritual adultery and schism. Sins apply in more than just one specific context, and we don't need flesh acts to commit them. 

So in that post, Terry quotes from another fighter against RMTs and also, those "conservatives" who are falsely pro-life and anti-social justice, Mark Shea. The post of Shea's he quotes from concerns the release of a book chronicling the life of some cardinal named Danneels. So the short story is him, and a bunch of cardinals, including the oh so anti-doctrine front man of the 2014 synod, Cardinal Walter Kasper, were meeting together to try and influence the Synod to get Francis in, and therefore Pope Francis I`s election was invalid and Super Trad Hero, Pope Benedict XVI, is reigning pope and will come back and save the Church from the total ruin it is becoming!!!!

Well all I got to say ... is THEY ARE DARN TOOTING WRONG!!!

Mark has this to say on his blog, "Catholic and Enjoying it!" about the stupid Daneels conspiracy plot to overthrow the Papacy via rigging the conclaves, ironically involving Pope Benedict XVI himself as part of his reply to these conspiracy theorists: 

``... Here’s the thing: Benedict has already schooled the Conspiracy Theorists on this:

“There is absolutely no doubt regarding the validity of my resignation from the Petrine ministry,” Benedict, 86, who now has the title “pope emeritus,” said in a letter to the Italian website Vatican Insider published on Wednesday.

“The only condition for the validity of my resignation is the complete freedom of my decision. Speculation regarding its validity is simply absurd,” he wrote in answer to a request by the website for comment on recent Italian media reports.

What’s hilarious is that the Always Obviously Wrong Charism of Discernment of the Reactionaries manages to ignore the plainly truthful Benedict while somehow managing to make the person they themselves declare to be a Deceiver the fount of all truth–and all on the say-so of two guys hawking a book. The spectacular ability of Reactionaries to be wrong about everything, and to believe whatever their itching ears want to hear, is just breathtaking.

And it’s amazingly postmodern. What matters is not facts, but how it hits Francis Haters in the feels. Facts are unimportant. What matters is truthiness.

Sorry guys. Francis really is the Pope. Deal with it.``

Not to mention that he added an update to the post, which includes analysis from a canon lawyer with the chutzpah to put his name out there and blog, who is often sought by Trad blogs for his analysis on Canon Law, Ed. Peters.  

Finally, to truly cast the final nail on the coffin of the conspiracy theory of rigging the 2013 Conclave and Pope Francis being ``invalidly elected,`` Catholic Culture, a balanced orthodox blog with useful Catholic resources and balanced news and reporting, covered the whole issue of the supposedly rigged conclave thanks to that biography, and blew it out of the park with proper deductive reasoning and logic:

``On the other hand, there are compelling reasons to dismiss the claims of conspiracy:

• Even if the authors of the Danneels biography were quoted accurately, they had an obvious incentive to exaggerate the power of the St. Gallen group, to create publicity for their book. A story about a secret cabal is more likely to sell briskly than the life story of a retired cardinal.
• If the St. Gallen group did make an effort to control the conclave of 2005, they failed miserably. The conclave almost immediately turned to Cardinal Ratzinger: the man whose influence the group was allegedly fighting to curtail.
• Cardinal Martini was widely seen as the leader of the liberal group that might have sought for an alternative to Cardinal Ratzinger. But Vatican insiders know that Cardinal Martini was not at all favorably disposed toward his fellow Jesuit, Cardinal Bergoglio, and would never have supported his election.
• Since the St. Gallen group stopped meeting in 2006, it was not likely to be an important factor in the conclave of 2013, which elected Pope Francis. By that time Cardinal Martini was dead, and other members—Cardinals Silvestrini and Murphy-O’Connor—were too old to participate in the conclave.
• In the days leading up to the 2013 conclave, virtually no one expected the election of Cardinal Bergoglio. If a group of cardinals had been working for years to generate enthusiasm about his candidacy, they must have been singularly inept .``

And I`d say that between these wonderful bloggers and their defense, not much more needs to be said, other than that with each strike from these RMTs, credibility is diminished as to the value of their words, ramblings of internal discord being expressed publicly, and further damages the good name of the Pope, the Church, Catholicism, and good movements of the Reform of the Reform such as the revitalization of the Latin Mass. 

Finis.  

Highlight: Abbey Roads' Terry Nelson With Great Reflection on Radical Catholic Reactionary Blogosphere

Hello Everyone,

Don't have much to report on Latin Mass stuff right now. However, I will leave you with a little nugget for your reading pleasure.

A few days ago, I caught something from one of the blogs that I've now followed, Abbey Roads by Terry Nelson. He's a young Catholic male buck like myself on the right side of Catholic orthodoxy. I don't have anything yet to indicate he's a Latin Mass attendee or not, but what he writes is a breath of fresh air in a poisoned blogosphere with Trads Behaving Badly.

Recently, he commented quite excellently on the situation I had sunk into spiritual despair about a few weeks ago, in a general manner. You should take a good hard read at this, and even quotes from a favourite Redemptorist saint of mine, St. Alphonsus (the Redemptorist's founding father.). The whole text of the post is worth reading, and so will be displayed in full, in courier font which I use on S.U.D. for quotes and citations of text not my own:

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Abbey Roads contra blogdum ...

Go forth and proselytize the living hell out of them!

The spiritual desolation generated in blogdum does not come from the good spirit.

I almost got sucked down that vortex of negative speculation and gossip and the sky-is-falling.  I strongly urge readers to go to confession, talk to your spiritual director, or a good, solid, holy priest.  Don't go to strangers online.  Don't listen to me or any self-guided apologist/evangelist/mystical twit online.  A few days ago a good priest with a blog said to take the miraculous stories associated with a certain saint 'with a grain of salt'.  I say take his blog with a grain of salt.  Take my blog with a grain of salt.  Take those who cajole and condemn the bishops and even the pope with a grain of salt.  If you have a simple, ordinary pure faith and deep piety - avoid reading blogs written by the disgruntled and the rude rad-trad-gic alienated grumblers - be they ordained or un-ordained disorderly.

"Discernment of spirits is a challenging task. It requires maturity, inner quiet, and an ability to reflect on one’s interior life."

Spiritual desolation, in contrast, is an experience of the soul in heavy darkness or turmoil. We are assaulted by all sorts of doubts, bombarded by temptations, and mired in self-preoccupations. We are excessively restless and anxious and feel cut off from others. Such feelings, in Ignatius’s words, “move one toward lack of faith and leave one without hope and without love.”

The key question in interpreting consolation and desolation is: where is the movement coming from and where is it leading me? Spiritual consolation does not always mean happiness. Spiritual desolation does not always mean sadness. Sometimes an experience of sadness is a moment of conversion and intimacy with God. Times of human suffering can be moments of great grace. Similarly, peace or happiness can be illusory if these feelings are helping us avoid changes we need to make.

For people who are trying to live a life pleasing to God, the good spirit strengthens, encourages, consoles, removes obstacles, and gives peace. The evil spirit tries to derail them by stirring up anxiety, false sadness, needless confusion, frustration, and other obstacles. - Discernment of spirits.

Now about those bishops.

St. Alphonsus Liguori had some things to say that may be helpful to consider in our time.  There have always been problems in the Church, bishops and pastors have been exiled, founders of religious communities kicked out of their own orders, and so on.  Christ promised us everything - 'and persecutions besides'.  We need the perspective of God - we judge as humans judge and fail to see the divine purpose behind his providential designs.

As regards my opinions concerning the present state of the church with relation to the election of the new Pope, what opinion of any weight could a miserable, ignorant, and unspiritual person like myself possibly give? There is need for prayer and much prayer. All the human science and prudence that there is cannot extricate the church from the present state of relaxation and confusion in which every section finds itself; the all-powerful arm of God is necessary.

As regards the bishops, very few of them possess genuine zeal for souls. Almost all religious communities – and one could omit the “almost”– are relaxed. As a result of the present state of general confusion, observance has collapsed and obedience is a thing of the past. The state of the secular clergy is still worse: so, in a word, there is a need for a general reform of all clerics and ecclesiastics if there is to be any improvement in the present great corruption of morals among the laity.

I assure you, my friends, that I desire, like yourself, to see remedies for so many and such unfortunate situations. In all this matter a thousand ideas circulate in my head which I feel like telling everybody about.But, mindful of my own unworthiness, I have not the effrontery to publicize them lest I should appear to wish to reform the whole world. So I share these ideas with you not from any arrogance but for my own peace of mind. - St. Alphonsus

So knock it off.

Have a blessed and holy Sunday, whatever rite you choose. Pax, Julian.