History Repeats?
August 12 2013
It has been said before that "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Though this quote comes from a man who described himself as an 'Atheistic Catholic', the message still rings true. Throughout the Old Testament we see the chosen people going around in circles and repeating past mistakes. To those who have studied human nature, warts and all, this circular 'holding pattern' shall continue till the end of time.
Sitting in the pews, TradCat knows that with God's grace we can do all things. Learning from past mistakes we can also slow down those awful re-runs. But what happens if grace seems somewhat lacking? Well, a look at the Jews of old shows us that their infidelity and wandering amongst the Gentiles, was soon followed by God's hand.
The punishment we have seen cast upon us, since my days in 'the litter of kittens', comes most surely from this same 'wandering' amongst the Gentile world with the desire to please. We know that God did not completely desert us, as He did not desert those of old. God chose faithful souls to overcome the infidelity of the masses. To the world their actions seemed a scandal, to the angels and saints, great joy. To those faithful souls we owe our thanks.
Now what for the future? Shall the great Harvest continue? Surely the devil, whose hour has come, shall not sit idle. He knows how short our memory span is and how a few years of good harvests makes one forget the famine. Pondering this always from the pews, with eyes to the Star of the Sea, we must be careful. Surely this downed angel will be working again but more subtly than before. After all he has been studying his prey for thousands of years, like a cat waits on a bird, mimicking its sound. Fellow TradCats do not succumb to shell shock. We have been in the trenches long, the coast is not clear, resist the temptation. The devil may be going about like a roaring lion, it is up to us to resit him "strong in the Faith", the Faith of over 2000 years.
A wise old 'dinosaur' once said, "Never worry about something offered from the men of Rome that is 95% good, for most can see the 5% tail, but woe to us when they offer something that is 99% good.." Fr Malachi Martin used to say "The way to see if a vision of Our Lady is genuine, look at the feet, for he can not hide the hooves".
Here we have the difficulty, for when we have 1% that we need to discern, with our historically bad score cards, then grace must abound the more, or the words of Scripture make ring very true, "When the Son of man come shall he find faith on the earth."
Veni Domine
August 12 2013
It has been said before that "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Though this quote comes from a man who described himself as an 'Atheistic Catholic', the message still rings true. Throughout the Old Testament we see the chosen people going around in circles and repeating past mistakes. To those who have studied human nature, warts and all, this circular 'holding pattern' shall continue till the end of time.
Sitting in the pews, TradCat knows that with God's grace we can do all things. Learning from past mistakes we can also slow down those awful re-runs. But what happens if grace seems somewhat lacking? Well, a look at the Jews of old shows us that their infidelity and wandering amongst the Gentiles, was soon followed by God's hand.
The punishment we have seen cast upon us, since my days in 'the litter of kittens', comes most surely from this same 'wandering' amongst the Gentile world with the desire to please. We know that God did not completely desert us, as He did not desert those of old. God chose faithful souls to overcome the infidelity of the masses. To the world their actions seemed a scandal, to the angels and saints, great joy. To those faithful souls we owe our thanks.
Now what for the future? Shall the great Harvest continue? Surely the devil, whose hour has come, shall not sit idle. He knows how short our memory span is and how a few years of good harvests makes one forget the famine. Pondering this always from the pews, with eyes to the Star of the Sea, we must be careful. Surely this downed angel will be working again but more subtly than before. After all he has been studying his prey for thousands of years, like a cat waits on a bird, mimicking its sound. Fellow TradCats do not succumb to shell shock. We have been in the trenches long, the coast is not clear, resist the temptation. The devil may be going about like a roaring lion, it is up to us to resit him "strong in the Faith", the Faith of over 2000 years.
A wise old 'dinosaur' once said, "Never worry about something offered from the men of Rome that is 95% good, for most can see the 5% tail, but woe to us when they offer something that is 99% good.." Fr Malachi Martin used to say "The way to see if a vision of Our Lady is genuine, look at the feet, for he can not hide the hooves".
Here we have the difficulty, for when we have 1% that we need to discern, with our historically bad score cards, then grace must abound the more, or the words of Scripture make ring very true, "When the Son of man come shall he find faith on the earth."
Veni Domine
