I am accustomed to being considered crazy, nutty, and an over-thinker. But when it comes to certain truths, this isn’t something I can just back down from easily. Especially when confronting so-called “experts”.
Doctors
For many years, I have been of the mindset that one must research what goes into my body. This came after the doctors kept prescribing drug after drug for a particular medical condition. When the drug side effects became several inches long and written in 1pt type, I refused to continue taking them. Most of the side effects were worse than the problem, to which the ones advertised on television will attest.
It turned out that my medical condition was due to a particular way in which my body metabolizes sugar. Once I figured that out, the problem went away. Diet. Nutrition. Something doctors are not taught in schools but for 1 hour at most.
What is disheartening is when those same experts try to dictate to all of us a remedy based on pharmaceutical drugs instead of seeing the body as something far more interactive and complex.
We don’t have high blood pressure because we lack a particular drug any more than we have cancer because we are lacking chemotherapy. We are sick because we have either not paid attention to our basic body’s needs nutritionally, or something is amiss in our DNA or environment.
One hormone or gland out of whack can inhibit the entire body from functioning correctly.
But getting a doctor to understand that what is wrong with you is because of a nutritional deficiency is like trying to have a philosophical conversation with a rock. Most I have met believe they are the experts and those without extensive, scientific training are ignorant.
Which basically says that all our ancestors who came up with Ayurveda and Herbology were equally ignorant, even though the remedies are successfully in use today around the world.
But things are changing…
As time is going on, a number of doctors are realizing that their schooling was not complete. They are beginning to study the effects of nutrition and the body. And they are not prescribing drugs just because the symptoms align with a particular pharmaceutical drug therapy.
Finally, many are turning back to nature and natural therapies instead. And those of us who are nut cases are now shown to have been right all along.
Europe has been on the leading edge, allowing compounding pharmacies and alternative medications in their prescription mix.
Priests..
Priests? Wait a minute…
What does a priest have to do with doctors?
Quite a bit, actually. They are related because they each serve to give advice to the needs of the entire human person. The doctor is to help the person’s body; the priest is to help the person’s soul.
Recently, Pope Francis consecrated Russia and the Ukraine (once part of Russia pre-USSR) by name and in union with the world’s Bishops, and with the blessing of the Russian Orthodox hierarchy. It was the fulfillment of a long-awaited request from Heaven – 1917, to be exact. The request came from Our Blessed Mother to the children at Fatima, Portugal at that time.
At least we are hoping is was correctly done this time.
But the young parish priest at our church didn’t say a word. Not a word regarding the upcoming consecration last Sunday; not a word about the consecration this Sunday.
After Mass, I asked him why he said nothing. We’ve been waiting since 1917 for this time, yet not a word was spoken by him from the pulpit.
When asked, his reply was, “Really?”
When I told him it was the request by Our Lady of Fatima, he said, “What’s that?”
I was a bit taken back. He hadn’t heard of Fatima. One of the most famous apparitions of the Catholic Church.
And he wasn’t interested in researching about it. Nor telling the parishioners about it from the pulpit.
Mary’s beloved sons…
Like the doctors, it puzzled me. One of the most famous, integral apparitions in the Church was unknown by the parish priest was difficult enough. But the enormity of his indifference to it was something that gave me pause.
Our Blessed Mother has asked us to pray for her beloved sons, the priests. She pleaded, as the times were growing short, and they were going to go through very treacherous times. They needed all the grace those prayers would bring to them.
Little did I realize just how much they do need our prayers. It wasn’t until this encounter that I began to realize how much their Faith would be tried.
Foundations…
Unless a tree is rooted beside running waters, and unless the tree is well fed, the tree will not grow strong. When the winds begin to blow, they will snap and break. But a strong tree will uptake the rich nutrients from the soil and grow strong enough to withstand even the harshest snows.
Our priests have been lacking in education. Their faith is weakened by worldly influences and incomplete backgrounds. They are eager to serve, but have insufficient knowledge of the teachings to guide their flock.
Some come from backgrounds where they learned the Faith at their parents’ knees, but many do not.
But there are growing numbers of those who are converts. They are deeper in their faith because their walk took them through the depths of historical and Biblical research.
Laity…
As for the laity, we are left to wander alone. It is up to us to be the little priests, the backbone of the Church at this time. We need to question what is being taught. And we need to not be afraid to kindly challenge the priests when they teach something that isn’t Catholic.
From folding altar linens, to saying the words in the Mass, there is an order to everything that is done. When the priest adds words to the Mass prayers, says his own version, puts his two cents in during the Consecration of the Eucharist, it is time for the laity to let the priests know that they may have crossed a line.
There is disorder and a lack of leadership from the hierarchy right now. The laity have to find out for themselves what the Church actually teaches. What is it that cannot be changed, what must we believe, and what is the opinion of the hierarchy at the time that doesn’t affect the Faith.
But this is about to change…
There is a great movement among the young Catholic generation. Many are converts to the Faith. And many are beginning to be curious about the ancient rites of the Church.
They are discovering what has been lacking in their spiritual life.
And it is apparent in the growth of the traditional Latin Mass. A surprise to both those of us who grew up with and loved the Latin Mass, and those who insisted that no one would want it because no one speaks Latin anymore.
The argument isn’t valid…
No one came into the world speaking the language of their parents. They learned over time, associating new words with experience.
The same thing happens with learning any other language. No one learns a language better than complete immersion in the culture the speaks it.
The younger Catholics are quickly learning that is the case.
Missals have been written for decades with the latin on the left, and native language on the right. Bell symbols, rubrics (red text) describing what to do (genuflect, kneel, bow, sit, whatever), and illustrations of what the priest is doing aids the user of the missals in case the reader gets lost.
Even in the Novus Ordo…
Those who are trending toward the reverence found in this movement aren’t always attending the Latin Mass only. But they are gravitating to the parishes where the priests are living, breathing, and enacting the teachings of the Church.
They are the ones who pass on the love of the Faith, and do not participate in the inventions and alterations of the teachings or rubrics so that it would be more “appealing” to the masses.
These men understand what the Faith is all about. And they aren’t willing to compromise.
Good leadership leads willing followers…
Good leadership is what people crave. They want their leaders to be committed to what they believe. To do otherwise would be hypocritical.
But knowing what the Faith teaches implies a good foundational education. If the leader is not fully educated, his understanding of the Faith suffers. Without a willingess to learn, his understanding of the Faith suffers.
As a result, if the Faith of the leader suffers, it follows the those who look up to them will not learn anything, either. Nor have the desire to learn.
We are only as good as our teacher. That is part of human nature.
Mary’s request…
Mary has asked us to pray for these beloved sons.
Criticism of them does not serve to improve their position. Or their willingness to serve.
We need a church filled with men who become priests because they want to serve. It is a vocation to them, not a job.
St. John Vianny and other great priests didn’t take vacations, weekdays, or national holidays off. They said Mass every day. They heard confessions daily and often for hours. These men were weary and worn, but they mustered on.
Just like their counterpart, Mother Theresa of Calcutta followed a similar path.
Their goal was to save as many souls as they could. And they sacrificed everything for the sake of their flock.
They served God with everything they had in them. Even in sickness, as with St. Padre Pio, St John Paul II, and St. Ignatius.
So…
Pray for your priests. Pray for the pastors, deacons, nuns, and religious.
With prayer comes Grace. From Grace comes commitment and the strength they need to serve and fulfill their mission in life.
The result will be stronger leadership. It will turn this laxness around and spill down into the flock and community around them.
And it will impel all to reach out to others and serve.