The Loneliness of Being a Traditional Catholic

[INPEFESS]

This was written by a long time listener to
WFTS when she came back to the
Catholic Faith


The Loneliness of Being a Traditional Catholic

“I cannot promise you happiness in this world; only in the next.” 
-Our Lady to St. Bernadette
 
The life we lead as Traditional Catholics is both wonderful and, at times, very
trying.  Our faith provides us the Holy Mass, the sacraments, and the graces
necessary for salvation; what more do we need than that?  Until we see the glorious
splendor that is our God in Heaven, we must lead a life here on earth that is
pleasing to Him.  As Traditional Catholics, we find that to be an often lonely road.

Our priests in the Traditional life have much to suffer.  Many are considered
outcasts, traitors, and rebels because they hold strong to the Tradition that is the
Church.  Holy and dedicated priests travel countless hours to bring the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass to as many as possible.  They make sick calls at all hours of
the day and night and hear confessions for hours on end.  They instruct our altar
boys, baptize the young and old, and prepare sermons that teach us how to be
better Catholics in a Novus Ordo world.  When they are confronted with harsh
words and judgments, they offer those enemies of the Church their prayers and
sacrifices, all in the name of saving more souls.  Only Our Lord knows how many
souls they have saved and will continue to save from an eternity in Hell.  They work
tirelessly for all of us, and yet, one hardly hears them utter a complaint.  How truly
blessed these men must be to be able to live a life of such self-denial, sacrifice,
and love of God.

Most of us have experienced, at one time or another, a strange look, harsh words,
hostility, or the loss of friendships and family because of our Traditional Catholic
beliefs.  Those who are quick to condemn or who shy away from us, perhaps, don’t
understand what the Catholic Church really is.  God has given us the way that we
must live our lives in order to reach eternal salvation, and He has done this through
Holy Mother Church.  There is no need to reinvent the Church, to have it adapt to
the world, or to fix what was never broken to begin with.  The Church is God, and
God does not change.  Satan, however, will not let that stop him in his quest to
conquer as many souls as he can.  In 1959, Sr. Lucia of Fatima said, “…the devil is
in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Virgin. And a decisive
battle is the final battle where one side will be victorious and the other side will
suffer defeat. Hence from now on we must choose sides. Either we are for God or
we are for the devil. There is no other possibility.”   We all know what has
happened in that “battle” over the last forty years.  The question that must be
asked, however, is which side are we on?  God’s or Satan’s?

In those times of loneliness and even despair because of our faith, we must never
cease in our prayers and sacrifices.  It is absolutely necessary for us to not only
say a daily rosary, but also to do what we can to spread that devotion to others. 
We must make the Five First Saturdays over and over again with the intention of
making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and for the conversion of poor
sinners.  We must not begrudge our cross to God, but instead, ask Him for the
grace necessary to carry the cross that He chooses to give us.


In the face of the enemy, we must stand up for the Truth, even if it means
rejection.  It is what God asks of each of us.  The catechism of St. Pius X tells us
that “they who suffer persecution for justice' sake are those who patiently bear
derision, reproof, and persecution for the sake of the faith and of the law of Jesus
Christ.”  Those are the things that surround each of us as Traditional Catholics, but
let us use that suffering and offer it up to Our Lord for our sins and for the sins of
the world.  “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven.” 

http://www.wftsradio.com/LolinlinessCatholic.html

[Texican]

Thanks, INPEFESS.

[INPEFESS]

Thanks, INPEFESS.

You're welcome. 

[mike6240]

Wow, what inspiring words.  Thank you so much for sharing them.

[INPEFESS]

Wow, what inspiring words.  Thank you so much for sharing them.

You're very welcome.

I stumbled upon them while I was browsing WFTS.

[BrevisVir55]

Thank you for posting.

[Bonifacius]

A powerful post, but this hyperbole could scandalize or otherwise come back to haunt:  "The Church is God."  I know what is meant, but the statement would be easy for someone to misconstrue. 

[INPEFESS]

A powerful post, but this hyperbole could scandalize or otherwise come back to haunt:  "The Church is God."  I know what is meant, but the statement would be easy for someone to misconstrue. 

So could those of Lumen Gentium. Let the Church clarify what it means and all good traditional Catholics will follow suit.

[Benno]

silly post been edited.

[Scipio_a]

deleted Benno's quote since he did...

Good post

[Benno]

Yeah sorry, felt bad posting that (and several other things I've posted lately) and wanted to delete it, but it's quoted now. Oh well. Please don't take offence. I've just been feeling that since the Pope offered an olive branch to the SSPX etc FE has become very us vs them-ish, and I'd rather see a little more hope. I'm giving FE a break for a while and just hoping that things work out well.

[Nic]

A powerful post, but this hyperbole could scandalize or otherwise come back to haunt:  "The Church is God."  I know what is meant, but the statement would be easy for someone to misconstrue. 

So could those of Lumen Gentium. Let the Church clarify what it means and all good traditional Catholics will follow suit.

Great post, INPEFESS.  Indeed I feel extremely lonely.  I live in a rather remote part of the country where Catholicism is a rare thing - and Traditoinal (True) Catholicism even more rare still.  Sometimes I feel that I am the only Trad for miles on end - and that is a lonely feeling indeed.  I have to travel 4.5 hours round trip to be able to assist at a TLM - and I can honestly tell you that it has been months since I have been.  The feeling of hopelessness has taken me as of late, and I have become a "home-aloner," something that I would rather not be.  I thank the Lord that I have people on this board that I can relate to - people like you, Scipio, DK, Jovan, Baskerville and many others that make me feel that I am not alone in this battle.  I ask for your prayers of encouragement concerning my recent absence from the Holy Mass - for it is not spiritually healthy during these times to be void of the Blessed Sacrament for such a time.

Concerning your comment about Lumen Gentium.  O how true that is.  I really do believe that if the Church would only restate its doctrines in a clear, unambiguous way then we would be very much on the road to full recovery.  Well, for us, that is - the modern world would skip beats if such a thing happened.  If the Dogma Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus is restated, I can see the world go up in flames.  You would see Protestants and Jews beating down the walls of Vatican City.  This only proves so well that this official Dogma is no longer taught in the post-conciliar Church (in effect, just the opposite is taught, only on a private level which still causes the massive loss of faith due to the fact that most Catholics today place way too much stock on the non-official words of bishops and popes).

[INPEFESS]

A powerful post, but this hyperbole could scandalize or otherwise come back to haunt:  "The Church is God."  I know what is meant, but the statement would be easy for someone to misconstrue. 

So could those of Lumen Gentium. Let the Church clarify what it means and all good traditional Catholics will follow suit.

Great post, INPEFESS.  Indeed I feel extremely lonely.  I live in a rather remote part of the country where Catholicism is a rare thing - and Traditoinal (True) Catholicism even more rare still.  Sometimes I feel that I am the only Trad for miles on end - and that is a lonely feeling indeed.  I have to travel 4.5 hours round trip to be able to assist at a TLM - and I can honestly tell you that it has been months since I have been.  The feeling of hopelessness has taken me as of late, and I have become a "home-aloner," something that I would rather not be.  I thank the Lord that I have people on this board that I can relate to - people like you, Scipio, DK, Jovan, Baskerville and many others that make me feel that I am not alone in this battle.  I ask for your prayers of encouragement concerning my recent absence from the Holy Mass - for it is not spiritually healthy during these times to be void of the Blessed Sacrament for such a time.

You're welcome. I, too, travel 4.5 hours round-trip to attend the TLM. You are most certainly not alone. It is wonderful to have a place to visit (even if it be online) which is home to other Catholics around the United States (or even the world) who love the same God, practice the same Faith, and maintain the same tradition. God be with us all.

Concerning your comment about Lumen Gentium.  O how true that is.  I really do believe that if the Church would only restate its doctrines in a clear, unambiguous way then we would be very much on the road to full recovery.  Well, for us, that is - the modern world would skip beats if such a thing happened.  If the Dogma Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus is restated, I can see the world go up in flames.  You would see Protestants and Jews beating down the walls of Vatican City.  This only proves so well that this official Dogma is no longer taught in the post-conciliar Church (in effect, just the opposite is taught, only on a private level which still causes the massive loss of faith due to the fact that most Catholics today place way too much stock on the non-official words of bishops and popes).

Yes, there are many ambiguous and obscure documents from the Second Vatican Council. So long as they are not clarified, amended, and/or abrogated, the Church will continue to lend credence to the prayers, beliefs, and worship of heretics as well as to a disunity of prayer, worship, and belief of Catholics.

The four marks by which the Church may be known are Unity, Sanctity, Catholicity, and Apostolicity.

[Nic]

Indeed, INPEFESS...indeed.

The Four Marks of the Church are hardly, if at all, visible these days concerning the official structure of the Church - only truly present in the modern catacombs - we "Traditionalists" who are labelled as rebels, dissenters and even schismatics.  This is one thing that always boggles my mind concerning Catholics who are proponents or even mildly defend the Novus Ordo Mass.  We are (supposed to be) a univeral Church.  We all know that the word "Catholic" means universal.  So, we should all worship in a universal way.  Considering that there are other smaller rites within unity, there has always been a universal rite - the Roman Rite, in which the majority of those who claim Catholicism adhere.  The Latin Mass is always the same.  It contains the universal, unchanging language of the Church.  The New Mass contains hundreds of veracular languages that allow multiple abuses - and strips the Church of her unity in worship.  In essence, each Novus Ordo Mass is actually its own mini-rite - so now we have the Mass in many languages, which is babel - instead of a universal form of worship in the universal rite - the Roman Rite. 

[INPEFESS]

Indeed, INPEFESS...indeed.

The Four Marks of the Church are hardly, if at all, visible these days concerning the official structure of the Church - only truly present in the modern catacombs - we "Traditionalists" who are labelled as rebels, dissenters and even schismatics.  This is one thing that always boggles my mind concerning Catholics who are proponents or even mildly defend the Novus Ordo Mass.  We are (supposed to be) a univeral Church. 

Yes, more specifically, these are the four marks by which the Church may be known. Any Church that does not contain these marks is not the Catholic Church. But I will say no more of this.

We all know that the word "Catholic" means universal.  So, we should all worship in a universal way. 

Yes, or at least pray in a universal way. "The law of prayer is the law of belief." In essence, we believe as we pray. It is an irreversible theological axiom has that widthstood the test of time. A lack of unity of prayer is indicative of a lack of unity of belief. There is no unity of prayer, and so there is little evidence of a lack of unity or belief.

Considering that there are other smaller rites within unity, there has always been a universal rite - the Roman Rite...  The Latin Mass is always the same.  It contains the universal, unchanging language of the Church.  The New Mass contains hundreds of veracular languages that allow multiple abuses - and strips the Church of her unity in worship.   

Not to mention the fact that the multiplicity of expressions of belief through opted Eucharistic Prayers further obscures the unity of prayer.