Sunday, July 1, 2007

Chesterton idea

I was at the Chesterton Conference in St Paul, Minnesota in the middle of June. I enjoyed the speakers. I enjoyed riding a bike in from my cousin's house along the Mississippi to St Thomas Aquinas University. I enjoyed the book sales and the participants, but I felt funny when there was the call for a scheduled Mass.
I had just found a Tridentine Mass and I had begun going to it at the beginning of Lent. I did not receive Holy Communion because I hadn't been to confession and I needed time to get my thoughts in order for confession, but on a Sunday after Easter, the 15th I believe, I went to confession and the following Sunday I received Holy Communion for the first time in a long time. It had been at least 15 years. I had lived by praying the Rosary, saying other prayers and reading Holy books, though I had not read the Bible as much as I could have or should have.
Anyway, here I was with people talking seriously about Catholic things and about one of my favorite Catholic writers prior to my entrance into the Catholic Church in 1976 and just after my entrance, though I hadn't read him in awhile. And in this gathering I was not able to go to Mass with them because I do not believe that the 'Novus Ordo' is a Mass. Am I wrong?
The Novus Ordo is not a translation of the Tridentine Mass which St Pius V said must be said until the End of Time or the wrath of Sts. Peter and Paul will rain down. No, it is a 'new mass' and, I believe, no Mass.
This grand Chesterton Conference was not the place to make a scene or an issue out of this most important topic, so I listened and I watched. One speaker, a Norweigan, who has not converted yet, but has been at the entrance of the Church for many years and has become an expert on Chesterton, made a comment that appeared to have the wish that Vatican II had never happened. There was a noise in the crowd that seemed to want to rise to a cheer in agreement, but this cheer may have been rebutted by an equally strong boo, so in the goal of unity it died down, but I had heard that this sentiment for the Church of St Pius V was still there and, perhaps, the longing for the Tridentine Mass.
I have been dormant for many years, raising a family and just trying to get by, but now I feel that it is my duty to putout all that I know and love about the Tridentine Mass. I call upon St. Pius V to help me in my explanations, as well as Mary who appeared to St Pius in a vision to let him know that the Catholic navy had been successful at Lepanto against the Moslem navy in 1571. (I learned about this great naval battle at the Chesterton Conference where shirts were sold proclaiming this victory.).
St. Pius V had protected Catholics from a physical invasion then, and he had established the Mass as it was to be said until the End of Time for our spiritual protection now, but, somehow, Vatican II bypassed his wall of defense and the Mass has been destroyed and is not being offered in most churches or is the 'Novus Ordo" truly a viable alternative?
This is my chore: to examine what has happened and to lay out my own personal journey through these troubled times. I hope to have the help of GK Chesterton anong others. We will see. This is a time when there are many spiritual battles being waged. May the Catholics rise to meet them for the salvation of souls and for the Glory of God.

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