Christmas and Reality
December 31, 2022
Adoring Angel, Fra Angelico
[Reposted and edited.]
CHRISTMAS is mostly a non-controversial phenomenon in what is otherwise a highly controversial world. Some complain about its commercialization and excesses or denounce its roots in pagan festivities, but it is still loved and enjoyed by billions. It is a unifying force. And what’s not to like? The tree, the decorated greens, the lights, the food, the presents, the music, the togetherness of friends and family, days off from work, the slackened pace for an entire week, the brief silencing of all commercial activity and, behind it all, the mystical backdrop of an infant birth unlike any other. All this is perfectly attuned to human sensibilities and joy. Christmas is by no means just for the religious.
But the strength and longevity of these traditions should not deceive us. Christian civilization is a shell of its former self, a termite-ridden house. A moderately heavy blow and it will tumble — and take the rest of the world with it.
The vast majority of the people who enjoy Christmas find much that is Christian deeply repugnant. The principles and doctrines are too ingrained and in conformity with reality to be cast off entirely. But the things rejected are hardly insignificant. The most serious things do not even pertain to morals. They pertain to Faith and the first of the Ten Commandments.
Christmas comes from the words “Christ’s Mass” and refers to a definite ritual, the highest form of prayer, instituted by God Himself. The Mass — what we Catholics call the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass — is not just a prayer. It’s a form of propitiation, offering to God something of great value to repair the damage done by sin. In the ancient pagan and Hebrew worlds, live animals were offered — and sometimes humans. Our Lord instructed His disciples to end these practices and replace them with the most perfect of sacrifices, an infinite and unblemished sacrifice: Himself. The idea that He was just a great ethical teacher or a sort of guru cannot be true. He claimed to convert material substances into His flesh and demanded that He Himself be worshipped, something no great prophet or spiritual master had ever done — or would ever in good reason do. He was a deceiver or a lunatic, and thus quite evil, or He was what He said He was.
Each true Mass is a reenactment of the sacrifice of Calvary and each Mass rains graces down on humanity, benefitting even the non-Catholic world. “Pope” Paul VI, doubtfully elected to the papal chair in 1963, was the most dangerous figure in the entire 20th century; some believe he was the Anti-Christ. Few recognize how great was his harm. But then 60 years after Christ’s birth, few recognized the earth-changing significance. A man who leads spiritual genocide is far more harmful than those who lead to physical genocide.
Paul VI abolished the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in sanctuaries around the world and replaced it with a man-made service, a form of worship much more congenial to some and much more acceptable to ancient opponents of the One, True Faith. What followed from Paul VI’s act, and the changes and novel teachings of all the apostate, false popes of the Vatican II revolution, was an unprecedented falling away. Convents, seminaries and Catholic schools rapidly emptied; thousands shut down for good. Tens of thousands of priests and nuns left. A growing blindness took hold among the laity. The source of much of the decline in our world iand the centralization of power are due to the loss of those graces that came from the Mass. The very stones of modern churches speak to what has occurred.
It’s Christmas time, but you won’t find the Christ Mass in our churches.
I say this not on my own authority, but on the authority of the popes and councils of the Catholic Church for close to 2,000 years, which is amply documented. When humanity believed in mythology, it didn’t worry about truth. It enjoyed the parade of fascinating, colorful gods. We have to care about truth and logic. Contradiction is not reality.
Sadly not even in “traditionalist” chapels can the Mass be found. These chapels operate without authority from a pope in Rome and therefore do not offer licit sacraments. I say this with no judgement on the intentions of those who go to either diocesan churches or traditionalist chapels. After all, I was once one of you. Study this issue for yourself. The number of Catholics who see beyond the media show and now declare the Vatican II popes to be false popes has exploded in the last five years, judging from their presence on the Internet. More and more of these people, I believe, will come to the next logical conclusion, that no one on earth has the authority to set up churches or seminaries, to ordain priests or consecrate bishops, in the absence of papal authority, no matter how dire the situation is.
The whole traditionalist movement was sapped and misdirected in its resistance to Vatican II from the very beginning. It should have been directed at false papal authority instead of at setting up renegade mass centers and schismatic groups. Paul VI refused to meet with traditionalists who traveled to the Vatican by the thousands to appeal to his good intentions. Catholics were rudely turned away because he had not good intentions. Catholics clung to false notions of obedience and misunderstandings of papal infallibility.
There is no such thing as an “independent” priest. “The abomination of desolation” foretold in the Book of Daniel and a near universal blindness also foretold are apparently upon us. How could the sacrifice cease for a time, as prophesied, if independent operators can start a new Church on their own?
We can still observe this sacred season. Pray the Holy Mass from a pre-1962 missal at home, as the English recusants did when the Mass was abolished by the English oligarchy; as the Japanese Catholics did for close to 200 years, as Catholics around the world have done when missionaries came to remote areas, converted them and then left them without priests. They kept the faith alive without churches. The Church as a long-established tradition of Spiritual Communion and Acts of Perfect Contrition, which may confer more graces than indifferent assistance and presence at the sacraments. We hold by faith to the doctrine of sufficient grace in all circumstances in which we may find ourselves.
The priesthood and Mass have not ended for both continue in heaven, as taught by St. Alphonsus de Liguori:
Yet the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ will never cease, since the Son of God will always continue to offer himself to his Father by an eternal sacrifice, for he himself is the priest and the victim, but an eternal victim and an eternal priest …
T. Stanfill Benns writes:
From the earliest days of Christianity, Catholics have kept their faith and saved their souls in times of persecution without the clergy; they have cooperated with the bishops and priests or functioned in their stead to spread the faith; they have defied incredible odds to pass the faith onto future generations.
Catacomb Catholics believe in all aspects of this timeless Tradition and know that they must observe the conditions set down by Pope Pius XII concerning their functions in the absence of the hierarchy. This means that they must follow all teachings on faith and morals, obey all the laws of the Church, and never do anything against the implicit or explicit will of the Church. Catacomb Catholics have their critics but these critics have never been able to offer proofs that staying away from Traditional chapels is sinful in any way. Indeed they cannot; for no one could ever prove that a faithful Catholic was obligated to participate in any service or group not in communion with a true pope. All roads lead to Peter and His Master. Catacomb Catholics would fail in their duties as spelled out by Pius XII were they to neglect to spread the faith and warn others about the dangers of Traditionalism.
Jesus founded his Church on the rock of Peter, not on devotion to the Mass. God has chastised us and for good reason. We are left in a wilderness predicted long ago. But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth? (Luke 18:8)
He alone will rescue us. For that is foretold too.
Resources for further study are below. I will be adding more to this list so check back. The authors below quote infallible sources of the Catholic magisterium; they themselves are not infallible and make no pretense to be so.
Strojie correctly concluded back in the 1970’s that Paul VI was a heretic and that Catholics must stay home rather than support their diocesan churches or flee to traditionalist sects.
I can put those interested in more of Strojie’s writings, including ones not available on the Internet, with a source.
Former Presbyterian minister and Catholic apologist who has adopted the recusant position. See his recorded talks “Communion with Heretics” and “Unauthorized Shepherds.” (Available here.) He is also on Facebook and responds to inquiries by phone.
Recommended for its thorough defense of the recusant position, especially on the “Visibility and Perpetuity” of the Church. Warning: Serious errors of judgment are also on this site.
“A Petition for Spiritual Help”; “Epiphany Letter” and “The True Church”
Patrick Henry years ago posed and answered questions all traditionalists should be asking. These articles and long and thorough. They deserve careful study. Henry maintains, however, that the Church hierarchy exists in unknown bishops somewhere on earth, a view many of us have temporarily held but which no longer is tenable.
A careful reading of this famous catechism demolishes both the New Church and independent Trad operations.
The Case Against Marcel Lefebvre and the SSPX
Traditional Catholics: Do Your Clergy Possess Valid Orders?
Still a great summary of the problems of the New Mass after all these years
The Problems with the New Mass
Scandals and Heresies of Paul VI
Heresies of Antipope John Paul II
Scandals and Heresies of Antipope Benedict XVI
Primary Proofs the See Is Vacant
The Sword of Truth by Mary LeJeune
— Comments —
Jean-Paul writes from Quebec:
I just read your “Christmas and Reality” piece of December 24th.
I read it twice; thank you.
I was born, raised and educated a Catholic and I fully agree with you.
I have my 1957 Saint Andrew Missal which my mother gave me and also her own 1937 edition, with the small mementos she carefully folded and kept between the pages; the telegram about her father’s death, his last letter to her, tiny clippings of her life in England before she came here at age 18, six months pregnant, in 1944.
Eric writes:
And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place, and he shall be for a throne of glory to the house of his father. (Isaias, 22:23)
The papacy is the peg. When that fails everything falls.
David writes:
The only thing necessary is the salvation of our souls. Nothing else matters. The ordinary means of salvation and sanctification are the sacraments. During the difficulties after Henry the 8th, the faithful parish priests and jesuits had much infighting. This is not new. Catholics in persecuted Ireland and Mexico had to make sacrifices far beyond what we are asked today. This may change soon as we both might end up in a death camp as our country goes further in the gutter. We both know that the world and the sacrifices required to lead a faithful daily life put a strain on souls far greater than previous times with the exception of the persecution’s of the early Church. They also had to make sacrifices far beyond what we are being asked. Many in those times had daily communion. It seems folly to deny oneself the spiritual nourishment of the ordinary means to combat, the world, the flesh, and the devil. If we were to follow a strict reading of cannon law without the principal of equity, this would lead to untold absurdities. Father Cekada points out these absurdities in articles that he has written. The supreme law is the salvation of souls. The Church in her mercy supplies for the sacraments in ways that are surprising if you read Church history. I have become quite different as a man using the ordinary means of salvation. A person might say that it is from my daily rosary that such a change occurred. I don’t believe this to be the only reason for such a change. Each situation is different and families must be guided by prudence and their confessor.
Laura writes:
It seems folly to deny oneself the spiritual nourishment of the ordinary means to combat, the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Of course, it is folly to deny oneself of the sacraments. But we must have the sacraments in order to avail ourselves of them!!
Almost all the priestly ordinations of traditionalist groups flow from Abp. Marcel Lefebvre and Bishop Pierre Martin Ngo Dinh Thuc. They both signed V II documents and thus fell into heresy! Lefebvre was ordained and consecrated by a known Freemason Achilles Lienart. (See more on this issue here.) We have reasonable doubt and where there is reasonable doubt we cannot avail ourselves of alleged sacraments.
I know this is painful and hard. I am sincerely sorry for that.
Dec. 31, 2022 [Comments above are from 2019]
David Z. writes:
You state, in response to David above:
“It seems folly to deny oneself the spiritual nourishment of the ordinary means to combat, the world, the flesh, and the devil.
“Of course, it is folly to deny oneself of the sacraments. But we must have the sacraments in order to avail ourselves of them!!”
Almost all the priestly ordinations of traditionalist groups flow from Abp. Marcel Lefebvre and Bishop Pierre Martin Ngo Dinh Thuc. They both signed VII documents and thus fell into heresy! Lefebvre was ordained and consecrated by a known Freemason Achilles Lienart. (See more on this issue here.) We have reasonable doubt and where there is reasonable doubt we cannot avail ourselves of alleged sacraments.
End of your quotation.
It is true, of course, but people are always looking for loopholes. Someone may be left with the impression that you believe it would be alright to otherwise attend traditionalist chapels, but for the doubt of their validity. Of course, your entire website says just the opposite(!), but again, people will go for what they imagine is a loophole; all it takes is for them to imagine that an “exception” exists.
Case in point: “Invincible ignorance.” Fr. Mueller makes very clear: God will not punish someone for invincible ignorance. But that does not mean that he will therefore confer eternal salvation on that person! It just means that this one defect, invincible ignorance, is not counted against them; God is not cruel. But what about all of their other sins, excluding all mention of the fact that original sin in one who is invincibly ignorant has not been remitted through Baptism?
Traditionalists make this error on invincible ignorance even more readily than liberals!
I don’t mean to ramble but I thought I should bring it up,
Laura writes:
Thank you for the correction.
