Sometimes I think death is God's way of exercising damage limitation. Maybe God took him home before he did too much. His early words were good, love covers a multitude of sins and in the end we shall be judged on love. I would never be so bold as to try to define what love actually is. I still think he is a saint. Of course Jesus has already defined love.
And when Traditionalists reject Tradition in favour of their own inspirations by disobeying directives and causing unholy division by fostering doubt in the Pontiff and his authority. True traditionalists adhere to Tradition without the ism. I am sure that saint Pius X was referring to the working of the Holy Spirit in Holy Mother the Church rather than the workings of a schismatic fraternity whose disobedience caused disunity and disharmony. Once again, this is only my opinion. And I do believe there are innovators and revolutionaries who are true friends of the people. The church has always consisted of such good people and in their number are saints and martyrs as well as unsung heroes of everyday struggles. There is a difference between these and modernists whom St Pius rightly condemned. Jesus himself was a revolutionary. And like many revolutionaries he was put to death.
"Modern times are dominated by Satan and will be more so in the future. The conflict with hell cannot be engaged by men, even the most clever. The Immaculata alone has from God the promise of victory over Satan. However, assumed into Heaven, the Mother of God now requires our cooperation. She seeks souls who will consecrate themselves entirely to her, who will become in her hands effective instruments for the defeat of Satan and the spreading of God's kingdom upon earth." - St. Maximillian Kolbe Written over 75 years ago, his words are ever more true today. We cannot defeat evil at all on our own. It is a spiritual battle that must be engaged only with and through Mary, the choir of angels invoking the power of Jesus.
I think Pope St. Pius X in referring to revolutionaries and innovators was talking about people who are revolutionary or innovative with what the Church has always taught. Always trying to come up with some new un-Catholic interpretation. It is true Jesus Christ was a revolutionary, but that was because he was expanding on what the Jews already new. Perhaps less a revolutionary than someone enlightening the Jews. In effect, he is in a category all His own. You could call the saints revolutionary because they went against the grain of society, but in reality they were traditionalists because they were not doing something new, but were imitating Jesus. Also, I made no mention or allusion to schismatic groups and was not endorsing any, I am not sure if you took my post that way for some reason.
"Life with Christ is a wonderful adventure" Saint John Paul 2 If we think of our spiritual journey as a adventure...what wonders we will see. It is really how we look at life...that is the magic. When everyday ordinary events become magical.
Of course St Pius is the patron of SSPX and members of that group have broken away from The Church of Rome. Thank you for confirming you do not endorse it. Jesus told us "If you love me keep my word" and as we know he entrusted the interpretation of His word and teaching to His Church under St Peter and his successors, not to any breakaway church. I am sure St Pius does not appreciate having been kidnapped by that rebel group. He is a great saint and thank you for your quote. I was trying to say there is a world of difference between Traditional Catholics and Traditionalist Catholics who I see as a continuing threat to the unity of the Church. Tradition is the action of the Holy Spirit in governing the Church. Traditionalisn as practised by SSPX is the action of man in revolt against the directions of the Church. In my opinion they should have stayed within the fold and worked from there to preserve those aspects of faith and worship that we all hold sacred. Their actions and attitudes cause division. Faith means reliance not defiance. I make no apology for my comment. Now, more than ever, is the time to chose sides. I believe there is always room for new ideas under the giudance of the Holy Spirit and we are told not to suppress the Spirit. Good debate sometimes takes a long and winding road to reach a good end. Unexpected turns bring unexpected views and these can spur us on to greater things. Thank you for your explanation which sounds spot on to me and may God bless you.
You have to tell us what it means to you Mac... Is that you with the hat - he looks like a rigorist with that cane. Or maybe he's just steadfast. I am prob not like you, do you call me mad?
T Thanks Mac, I did not see that bit. I have pulled off the main road to Auckland because I started to doze off and am parked off the road. I was quite frightened because the last time that happened to me I had a horrendous crash and lucky I wasnt killed or killed anyone else. I had been praying like mad for a place to pull off and have shut my eyes for 10 minutes. So that I won't get distracted I have booked into a hotel so I can get on with my paper work in which I am so far behind. I always seemvto be busy busy overworked and exhausted with the mind racing and jumping from one thing to another. The saints saying is telling me to stop trying to work it all out and just sit in awe of creation and the creator. As the song goes "everything is gonna be alright." Everything is alright. What two marvellous saints, Anthony the Great and Gregory the Great. It was Saint Gregory's feast yesterday. It's my middle name. Your girls are simply the best. I only met them once. Devoted to Jesus and Mary and totally delightful. So modest yet so much going for them, not least a great dad and mum. It was such a pleasure to meet you all. Yes they must find it hard in the face of modernism and heathen culture. As you say, they feel it. Thank God they are not like those girls who have turned their back on grace and virtue. You must be so proud of them and them of you. We are close to those days but God is close to us. The saint is saying that we think we are so clever in our thoughts but true wisdom comes from simply being with God in awe at His being.
Thank you Praetorian for your comment. Rather than go into debate on this issue I would refer readers to the EWTN article on SSPX and FSSP (in full communion). Pope Francis would not have had to give SSPX clergy special permission to absolve sins if their status was in good order. I love the old rites which as the FSSP have demonstrated are very much still part of our Faith but SSPX was and is still apart from, if not outside of the Church. The church bent over backwards to accommodate them and they did at one stage come to an agreement but SSPX broke its word again. I still have and regularly use my 1962 missal. I have never used it to promote separation. A schism is a separation and division. A schismatic is one who promotes separation and division. This meaning still applies to SSPX.
I just deleted my last post Joe, I am not sure of all the facts myself and I don't want to mislead anyone. It is a sticky wicket and I have no vested interest, as I mentioned I don't even go to the SSPX, I only know what I have read. The more I read the more convoluted the whole thing gets. Better let sleeping dogs lie.
“You cannot be half a saint; you must be a whole saint or no saint at all.” -St. Therese of Lisieux there is no in-between...we are all saints. And if we are not then we belong to the other guy.
'The history of saints is mainly the history of insane people.' Benito Mussolini Maybe I am in a minority of one but I quite enjoy being different. One of the accusations very often made aboout Jesus was that He was quite mad, in fact His relatives one time turned up enmass to ake Him into care. For young people it is so different . They are always trying to prove they are apart from the herd , while becoming clones of one another because they are so uncertain and sensitive. But I find , now that I am older I don't give a fig and rather like it when people roll their eyes when I pontificate. I think the truly mad people are the ones who flee from God Like Benito Mussolini.
I believe Mussolini's party trick was breaking bricks on his head. He got expelled at 10 for stabbing a boy in the butt. He was not quite right.
