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Looking for a "Trick"

Writer's picture: Fr. SeraiahFr. Seraiah

People today, generally, like to find the easier way to do something but the easier way is not always the best way. I have tried to show people that this is true with parenting, and spirituality, but there is another way that this truth applies, and that is with renewal. Most of you will know that for a while now I (and many other Catholic clergy) have been calling for a complete return to the traditions of the Church. No, I am not saying just that we need to have more Divine Worship Masses, or even Latin Masses (though they each would have a good impact). It is much deeper than that.


Let me give an example. Someone came to me recently and asked for the "trick" to restoring the Church to faithfulness. What I think he really wanted was some kind of gimmick; a sneaky way to "make it work right". Certainly it would be nice to have a "quick and easy" method to solve all that has gone wrong, yet if it is "quick and easy" it is probably not going to work. Whether it is personal, familial, or ecclesiastical, there is not a gimmick that works. Yes, there are many gimmicks out there, but they all fail in the long run; the only thing that works is good old fashioned Catholic faith and devotion.


I have read some who have said "we tried that and it does not work in this modern age". That is kind of like quitting a diet and exercise regimen after 24 hours because you did not lose the 50 pounds you were aiming at. The real question is, do we really believe what our Lord has told us? If we merely "try that" when it comes to the tried and true traditions of the Church, can we really say we approached it with the right attitude? Our failures often are caused by our own doubts in ourselves and disbelief in the methods we use.


What worries me about this whole thing is that the questions about the "trick to make it work" are so common these days. I do not want to presume the worst, but it certainly appears that there are quite a few people who do not want to commit themselves to hard work; they want a quick and easy fix for our problems. As I mentioned recently, many exorcists have pointed out that Catholics are too quick to blame something outside themselves for their problems (whether it be demons or otherwise) rather than just being willing stick with doing the hard work that was effective for the previous 20 centuries.


When the rubber hits the road, we all need to realize that we are called to stay true to what God has given us, and not seek "a quick and easy way" to solve our problems. We need to work on finding a greater commitment to God's Sacraments and the tradtional devotions of the Church. Making Mass contemporary has been a total disaster, do we really think that if we make our spirituality contemporary it will be any different? The devil is attacking us and he wants you to give up on what (even) he knows will work. If we do not stay true to God's Church then we are letting the devil have the battle!

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