If we are doing what we are called to do, evangelizing the world, we would not have time to look with microscopic eyes, on the faults of priests, bishops, cardinals.
Sadly, (my operative word this September), too many lay people think they are called to be clergy police, examining every thing a clergyman does or says. That is the job of other clergy, real theologians, and prophets.....Some Catholic media has become "yellow journalism" a la tradition.
OK, there is nothing wrong with the game of "heresy watch" which I played with my son after particularly dire sermons.
But, to live in the spirit of the Adversary, and we know who is called that, is not to be a holy lay person. There are a few prophets who are called to point out the sins of the fathers. Mr. Voris is one.
We do not need to take this job on ourselves.
Out of all the millennia of the Old Testament, the number of true prophets remained low.
Why?
Prophets must be holier than most laity, and called by God to be prophets, whose main job is to warn of sin and the consequences of sin.
But, too many lay people are wasting breath and print on the evils, (or, worse, incorrectly perceived evils), of the hierarchy.
Are we bringing people into the Catholic Church? Are we spreading the Good News? Are we getting ready spiritually for being a member of the remnant? Are we making our own immediate families holy? Are we creating Catholic communities so that those on the outside can say, "Look how they love one another!"
There are too many false prophets, some crying peace when there is no peace, and some crying evil where there is no evil.
If you are around people who are constantly negative, know that this is not the way of perfection.
Others posts on this point....
Saturday, 26 April 2014
The Adversarial Spirit in The Traditional Church
Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour 1 Peter 5:8 DR
Pointing out error is a good, but being caught up constantly in an adversarial spirit is not a good.
Who is called the Adversary? Satan.
More and more frequently in the Church, I am seeing traditional
Catholics who are laymen stepping out of their worlds, their own spheres
of influence and condemning things over which they have no authority.
Our lay world provides enough grist for the mill-we are supposed to be evangelizing our families, our friends, our workplace.
To try and pretend we have the right and duty to continually criticize
the clergy, including bishops, cardinals and popes reveals hubris and
the adversarial spirit.
If one is continually looking for faults and not giving real answers on
how to deal with these faults, in other words, giving remedies. one has
fallen into the spirit of the adversary.
The adversarial spirit is not kind, charitable nor fair. It judges and
does not bear with the burdens of others. There are few who are pure
enough in heart, mind and soul to be real critics.
The adversarial spirit causes hatred, dissension, and eventually, schisms and splits in the Church.
If you are finding that you argue too much and are always finding fault, look towards your own sins and failings first.
Those who want to change priests and bishops only have to raise holy
boys to become holy men to go out and change the Church as holy priests
and bishops.
It is not only naive but wrong to think the crusader spirit must be
aimed at the Church first. No. Our enemies are those of the devil and
the world, as well as the flesh. If such enemies have inflitrated the
Church, even at high levels, we can pray, but our words mean nothing.
Tearing down is not building up.
A person caught up in the adversarial spirit will not find peace in God,
but fall into rancor,anger and depression. If you are merely tearing
down, you have let satan use you. Eventually, the person with the
adversarial spirit becomes a heresiarch. Those people most likely will
find themselves judged as they have judged-severely and without mercy.
We are here for the building up of the Church.
In a grown man, the adversarial spirit could be connected to a male
being caught up in teen-age rebellion-a sign of the peter pan. The teen
thinks he knows better than the parent and rebels against imperfections,
not understanding that he himself is a sinner. It is too easy to point
out the evils of another, rather than looking at one's own sin.
Ask yourself if you are constantly arguing.
Ask yourself if you are playing into the hands of the great Adversary of the Church.
He has been defeated but is still looking maliciously for souls to bring down with him in defeat.
Ask yourself if you are constantly arguing.
Ask yourself if you are playing into the hands of the great Adversary of the Church.
He has been defeated but is still looking maliciously for souls to bring down with him in defeat.
29 Let
no evil speech proceed from your mouth; but that which is good, to the
edification of faith, that it may administer grace to the hearers.
30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God: whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and clamour, and blasphemy, be put away from you, with all malice.
32 And be ye kind one to another; merciful, forgiving one another, even as God hath forgiven you in Christ. Ephesians 4:17-32 DR
Wednesday, 26 March 2014
Are you fighting the wrong battles? Could be a sign of spiritual sloth.
Christ said this of us:
Matthew 5:13-16
Douay-Rheims
13 You
are the salt of the earth. But if the salt lose its savour, wherewith
shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out,
and to be trodden on by men.
14 You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid.
15 Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house.
16 So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
But, too many Catholics are not
being salt or light. The main reason for this is the lack of their own
holiness. The mediocre cannot be salt or light.
A second reason has been the clericalization of the laity, a theme on my
own blog in 2007 or so. Too many lay people want to be seen being
Eucharistic Ministers, or readers.
But, the third reason is more subtle.
The vast majority of the laity are picking up battles which are not
theirs to fight. We are not clergy, we do not work in the Vatican or
have influence in the chancery offices.
We are not privy to what goes on in the deanery meetings regarding priestly formation.
We are lay.
So what fights are the laity picking up which are not their "business" and what fights should we be fighting?
One, wherever we live or work, our first job is to evangelize or
re-evangelize our siblings and co-workers. We should be honest, and
defend the Church when we can. We should not be accepting evil. We
should be reaching out to the unbelievers.
When I had my own house, no unmarried couples stayed as guests in the same room. That is a decision of a real lay Catholic.
When I had my own house, and it was Friday, only fish or vegetarian
dinners were served. That was showing solidarity with the entire Church,
and under my watch as the cook.
As a teacher and a tutor, I only spoke the truth. I never inflated grades or compromised the Faith.
That is what we as lay people are called to do. Be salt in the world.
It is not our job to tell bishops or cardinals what to do. Can we pray? Yes.
Example. Too many lay people waste time working on the consecration of
Russia. Folks, this is not our business, but the Pope's and the
bishops'.
Example. Too many lay people waste time praying for changes in the
Church regarding apparitions. Folks, this is not our business, but the
bishops' and the Pope's.
They have their area of authority and we have ours.
The fact that the lay men and women in the Church are weak is the fault of the faithful laity.
I see this weekly.
Why are not Catholic men and women talking to others in the congregation
about the evils of Common Core and not having kids in the public
schools? Why are they not presenting the need for home schooling if
there are no independent Catholic schools in the area not using Common
Core? Your children's involvement in education is your business,
primarily.
Why are Catholic men and women accepting discussions about petitions to
Rome on topics the bishops and Pope need to decide, rather than talking
about things we can do daily to make the Church strong?
Why are Catholic men and women not supporting pro-life candidates
actively? Why are the laity not running for office when some can afford
this?
Why are Catholic men and women not steering their peers away from yoga
classes, Reiki, chiropractic procedures, certain occult books their
children are reading, and so on?
Why are Catholic men and women not telling Catholic home schoolers not
to use protestant books, which are slanted against the Church; parents
continuing to give money to those publishers which hate the Catholic
Church?
Why are men and women not speaking to those in the TLM who are calling Francis a fake Pope, which he is not, but our true Pope?
Why are men and women at the TLM saying that the NO is invalid, when it
is not? Why do some not receive Communion at the NO, giving bad example
and being holier than Rome?
Why are men and women pretending that members of their own families are
not exhibiting evil, those who are living in serious sin, and not just
sexual, instead of facing this and dealing with this?
Why are parents not teaching their children the Faith in the home, not disciplining, not forming the children in the virtues?Why are Catholics not boycotting stores like Starbucks or brand names like Pepsi, one of the biggest supporters of PP? Lay people buy things and need to lead in boycotts, not the clergy. One of my TLM priests relied on me to give him boycott details.
Why are so many of the laity not studying the Catechism of the Catholic Church, or not reading such documents as Jesus Christ, Bearer of the Water of Life?
Why are the laity wasting time with old forms of groups which do not speak to the times and not forming new groups?
To be a lay person is hard.
To not follow Rome is to be a protestant, either on the left or on the right.
To not follow Rome is to be a protestant, either on the left or on the right.
We are the Church Militant, not the Church Pansy.
It is easier to concentrate on things not under our authority than to deal with things that are. But, this is spiritual sloth.
Think about this. If you are not acting like a lay person, not living up
to your baptismal vows, even though you are attending the TLM, your own
soul may be in danger for not living out your vocation.
The Church is not a democracy, folks. It is a hierarchy. And the lay life is not that of the clerics.
Period.
