Tradition is about to be totally cleared ‘cleared through customs’

I read this at Messa in Latino in Italian which I share in my translation:

“… I went to the parish to go to confession.

The confessor, in his sixties, asked me, “I’ve been here for almost five years but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you”.

I replied, “It is true, Father, you haven’t seen me because I go to the Shrine of … where every Sunday Mass is celebrated in ancient rite ….”

“I expected the usual rebuke, as happened when I spoke with the Rector of a very famous Marian Shrine.  The confessor told me with great gentleness: “Keep going just like that, my son: that is the true future of the Church! The liturgy of our fathers will save the Church! Keep going and do not give up!”

“Father,I replied, why don’t you celebrate the old Mass as well, since you think so highly of it?”
The confessor: “After my first public celebration, I would be marginalized by my order … but above all I worry that they would will send in a Protestant pastor….  Have patience a little while longer: Tradition is about to be totally ‘cleared through customs’ (sdoganata – legitimized) and the pestiferous confusion that reigns uncontested now will be annihilated. Have faith: Our Lady will help us!”

 

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in GO TO CONFESSION, Liturgy Science Theatre 3000, Mail from priests, Our Solitary Boast, Priests and Priesthood, Semper Paratus, Si vis pacem para bellum!, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices, Turn Towards The Lord. Bookmark the permalink.

12 Comments

  1. Il Ratzingeriano says:

    Beautiful. Let us all give thanks to God for the traditional Latin Mass. It is a lifeline.

  2. colospgs says:

    My response to the confessor: “Then be marginalized. Have faith. Our Lady will help you.”

  3. “…send in a Protestant pastor”? ??????

  4. Kathleen10 says:

    I hope it’s true, and that he is a prophet.
    The TLM is worth driving for. I would like to encourage any discouraged Catholics to find the Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form and go to it. You will find an oasis, and that hour will keep you going the rest of the week. Don’t worry about the drive, consider it a pilgrimage, even if you can only do it every other week or so, go.

  5. Geoffrey says:

    There is nothing wrong with the Ordinary Form… when done properly and in a traditional way.

  6. The Egyptian says:

    Geoffrey
    the second half of your sentence states the entire problem with the first half.

    example and I know it is minor, our elder Priest uses the 3rd prayer and cannot or will not say oblation, It’s the little things that say a lot, he doen’t realize it but he showboats, turn the mass around and use the silent prayers and it becomes a non issue

  7. An old friend, ordained a few years, living and working in Rome these days, confided that he is learning the Extraordinary Form. He has always been a reverent NO man but this is the next appropriate step for him. Brick by brick, as someone once said…

  8. Chris in Maryland 2 says:

    This old priest is doing the great thing…sacrificing himself in the guerilla war…and yet encouraging others to fight on other fronts.

    Prayers of thanksgiving for such priests!

  9. Rob83 says:

    There is nothing invalid or illicit with the NO properly celebrated, but there is definitely something wrong with it. It’s hard to describe exactly what I mean, but it is something akin to having a mechanical engineer paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

    The engineer can know everything there is to know about the technique of painting, the form, the proportions, the style, and can probably design a reasonable looking imitation using the correct paints, but it will lack the power and essence of the original, because at the end of the day the engineer is not an artist. The engineer can get all the technical stuff right, but his work will still be missing that special artistic touch that makes truly great art.

    The NO often feels like that. Its composers clearly had a lot of knowledge, but they do not seem to have truly known or loved the object of their work.

  10. Geoffrey says:

    @The Egyptian:

    My point is liturgical abuse, which just happens to be rare at EF Masses. I do personally know of one place that once employed a female altar server. One could also consider the third Confiteor and refusing to use Benedict XVI’s Good Friday prayer for the Jews as liturgical abuses in the EF.

    Just food for thought.

  11. anthtan says:

    New word learned: “pestiferous”. Could come in handy soon…

  12. jaykay says:

    Anita Moore, O.P.(lay): ““…send in a Protestant pastor”? ??????”

    Yes, he does actually say that in the original Italian: “…manderanno un parroco protestante.” However, given that there aren’t very many Protestants in Italy I think the sense may have been “Protestant” in the sense of a Priest who although Catholic might as well be Prot.

    Quite a few of those around, as we know ;-/

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