Sunday, March 9, 2014

Reason #368 I Wish I Had Never Listened to Trad Commentary About Anything

So, I know some people think it's not too classy to talk about what you gave up for Lent. The whole don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing and praying in the streets to be noticed thing and all that. But stick with me here.

I'm not big on giving up things for Lent. Never have been, and as long-time followers of my blog know, I have mega issues with the no meat on Fridays restriction. I follow it mostly; although this year I probably won't be overly-strict about it because I gave up sugar and all carbs for Lent and if that isn't suffering, I don't know what is. I admit it was mostly a health decision that I hope becomes more spiritual as Lent progresses. Anyway, when you make such a huge change to how you eat, believe me, it's all about what you can have. Meat and vegetables are what power a low/no carb diet. Sorry Church.

What I normally do for Lent is add on things. Like an extra mass a week, or Stations of the Cross, etc. This year I decided that I will read St. Faustina's Diary by the end of the Lent, given that two people who love me very much have endeavored to give me gift copies AND my Catholic therapist has been after me to read it.

This afternoon I sat down in my beautiful new living room with a cup of coffee and started to read the introduction and immediately became seized with the exact same thoughts as when I tried to read this book once before, many years ago. These thoughts are:

Damn Trads. Damn Trads and SSPXers with all their casting aspersions on any saint canonized after Vatican II. Damn uber-uber-uber Catholics openly ranting on the internet about how suspicious it was that Pope John Paul II, a Polish man, got a Polish nun canonized, and hey, shouldn't we be questioning that a little bit more? Isn't that, shall we say, a very pro-Polish agenda? Besides, it says right there in the diary that Faustina's writings used to be subject to various censures and restrictions. Then add in assorted commentary about all the fast-tracking of canonizations since Vatican II, which of course makes them invalid?

I wish wish wish that I had never heard these arguments, no matter how extreme (or well-intentioned) they might be. Or how much of a minority voice they might represent. Yes, I know it's not all Trads - please don't remind me it's not all of them; I get that.

Here's the thing: Words matter. (The irony of me saying that isn't lost on me.) But still, there are some kinds of words that one can't forget - that, at minimum, are meant to plant doubt. Traditional Catholicism excels at this kind of thing. All it takes is one little grain of doubt to get you questioning your mass, the consecration at your mass, your parish, your priest, your devotions, your Catholic school, etc.

I hate it.

OK, I still firmly intend to read Sister Faustina's Diary this Lent, but with the caveat that part of it has been ruined for me by the things I've seen and read out there.

My husband says: Maybe we should perhaps consider that the Holy Spirit, in its infinite wisdom, has allowed certain saints to be fast-tracked because of the intense need and help we sinners here on earth have of them? And he also reiterated to me that the problem with certain Traditional Catholics is that they want to be the judge and arbitrator, instead of allowing the Church to do her own job.

Well I'm gonna try real hard to remember these points, but it's gonna be difficult.

Trad commentary on many subjects (but not all) is like the car wreck scene I can't get out of my mind's eye. Sometimes I wonder if that's exactly what they want? Like the scene they've made of Fatima.The Trads have totally ruined that for me. I will likely never have a devotion to anything Fatima-related or read anything about it.

So, anyway, welcome Lent. Say a short prayer that I might have some mercy on the Traditional Catholics that get under my skin.

16 comments:

  1. In Canada we only have to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday - pretend your Canadian this Lent ;)
    Angela M.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Angela, I'm genetically French-Canadian. Does that count? Ha!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Char - absolutely! :)
    Angela M.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just a guess that Italian saints outnumber any other nationality by a very wide margin, fast-tracked or not. (Not going to go looking up all the stats, but I am pretty sure of it.) And since the majority of popes have come from that country, no contest, it seems to me that no one is pointing a finger at Italians fast-tracking their own. ( And I'm half Italian(-American), so I am not bad-mouthing Italians. Just sayin'.)
    The other problem being that it does take a LOT of money to get someone canonized. Again, don't have facts and figures in front of me, but it does take some doing, and I find that as suspect as any other part of who gets chosen to be put forth for canonization and what does the process demand, besides the miracles part....
    And, last but not least, Char, welcome back! I had to pick my jaw up off the floor after reading your fire story. I'd have stroked out over something like that, right on top of your mom's death. Horrible. Plus all the other stuff- none of it small potatoes. Glad you have a therapist and sounds like you are working towards balance. Good Lent to you!
    I am thankful that God has given you the grace and faith to get you through these tough times. And blessed with a husband who sounds like he really loves you a lot. It really doesn't get much better than that....

    ReplyDelete
  5. Char, I'm kinda on the same page about almost everything you said, but not as badly off, because I haven't followed their arguments/rants/posts as closely as you have. In fact, hardly at all. But it's enough. All the best Lent to you. I would like to say I have given up sugar (& carbs) for my health and hope the sacrifice becomes more spiritual. I haven't been able to though. But you're inspiring me. Maybe I could!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Char, I am praying a Rosary every day for Lent. I could never give up carbs, at least not at this time in my life. Maybe I will try it later. For now, I guess I will pick up St. Faustina's diary, too, and have a read.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have an IRL trad acquaintance now. Before I only knew them from the internet. Wow. Totally paranoid. And the anger, emanating. No joy. I feel sorry for him. After listening to him go off on the whole Fatima conspiracy thing for an hour, I realized he is so lost. I feel sorry for him.

    Anyway! For Lent I am going to pray, really pray, the Our Father every day. Once. ~Catlady

    ReplyDelete
  8. Those trads wreck everything. I already broke my fast this lent. That way I can't be holier than thou.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Charlotte writes : I Wish I Had Never Listened to Trad Commentary About Anything"

    Anything?

    Not even this? http://catholiccultureandsociety.blogspot.com/2012/03/noel-noel-noel-noel-may-all-those-who.html

    ReplyDelete
  10. That part about making you doubt the validity of the Mass and consecration. That really hits home for me. People nit-picking and deriding anything non-trad and automatically equating it with "clown" Masses has jaded me in some ways. I'm fighting it and trying to root it out but it still flares. An example happened just this weekend. The Mass was being said by a priest who I had heard speak in another setting and he was rather "touchy-feely" in that setting. Well, at the Mass, he had unique vestments and stopped at times to explain aspects of the Mass to non-catholics in attendance. I found myself thinking hippie priest and starting to be critical of how he offered Mass. I think my guardian angel must have kicked me and said "get over yourself and get with the Mass" as I had an urge to shut my eyes and simply listen and pray the Mass along with the priest.I had to shut out all the visual cues and markers that I had heard over the years as indicating a "less than" priest or Mass. Dumb shit that I am, I could only hear that the words of the Mass were the same if I shut my eyes.
    -Maureen

    ReplyDelete
  11. Maureen - told ya! ; )
    I hope your experience this past weekend was overall a good one, despite the weird factor I predicted.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was very beneficial. Our shared,oh no way, you'd laugh me out of the room, response to some aspects actually made some of the 70'a flavor a good thing.

      Delete
  12. I hear you. I was born on Our Lady of Fatima and I can't even bear to read most articles on this devotion. Don't lose heart; it really is an attack of the devil! -Faith

    ReplyDelete
  13. Char, I wanted to post on this earlier but it's been that kind of week. :) I love praying the Divine Mercy chaplet, and frankly the Trads who attack St. Faustina are the spiritual children of their ancestors who attacked devotion to the Sacred Heart because it was "gross" to think of an actual part of Our Lord's body. Not kidding--they really thought that.

    On the abstinence from meat thing: I really encourage you to get an official dispensation from your pastor if possible. People who are on a strict diet for their health can ask for that dispensation (and weight loss is health, definitely!). I had to ask for a dispensation from the Good Friday fast last year b/c I was taking an antibiotic and couldn't go so long without eating--the reason I asked for an official dispensation was to keep myself from climbing on the "scrupulosity" treadmill, so to speak.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Red, why would I bother with getting a dispensation? That seems awfully legalistic. I'm asking sincerely. The Church doesn't consider not following the Lenten prescriptions a matter of sin. I am making an effort to "mortify" myself in some other way.

    I do sometimes wonder about seeing someone I know who is Catholic and there I am eating a big ole steak at some restaurant. The Catholic police, I suppose, would call that "scandal." I don't know a decent response to that.

    I do know that even today, finding the right fish fry for the right time, or perhaps price, or perhaps location, etc., doesn't necessarily mean I can find baked fish, which I am fine with eating. Or tuna salad. There's just too many factors this year to deal with, especially since our kitchen has been ripped up and under construction since the first week of January. We're living out of a microwave in the basement. Makes low-carb Lent pretty difficult.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey, just now saw this. Actually, observing prescribed fasting and abstinence days is the fourth precept of the Church. Since the US Bishops have permitted people to substitute a different penance on the Fridays *outside* of Lent, anyone can choose a different penance instead of abstaining from meat when it's not Lent. However, during Lent it's still the practice of the Church for all Catholics over 14 to abstain from meat on Fridays, so it actually is considered sinful to "skip" this penance unless excused for a serious reason. Serious reasons given include such things as physical labor, pregnancy, or sickness.

      If you're on a low-carb diet under a doctor's direction and orders, I'm pretty sure you'd fall under the "sickness" dispensation; also, if for mental health reasons you have to eat meat (some medications require too high of a protein level for a person to skip meat for a day, for instance) that would be fine.

      Honestly, I'm not trying to add in any way to your spiritual burden here. But I know a lot of people are confused about whether we *have* to fast and abstain during Lent, or not. The answer is: yes, on the prescribed days, unless excused for a serious reason--so kind of like the obligation to attend Sunday Mass. However, those people who try to argue that you should *really* fast every day or *really* go meatless all of Lent are going too far, and demanding what the Church does not.

      Delete