Fundamentalism and Fundamentals

I love the Latin Mass. I love it for its beauty, its prayerfulness and its reverence. It aids my contemplation of Christ. I believe it is deeply important that we retain the ancient liturgy as it imparts the faith with stability and clarity that goes deeper than simple instruction.

For years, I never knew my faith as it wasn’t imparted fully. I continued in sins that  were damaging to my life. 

Now the Church is being led from below, by a poorly catechised laity, a synodal church that has long been uprooted from its ancient, art, liturgy, devotions, teachings and traditions and as a result the Church is becoming, in some ways unrecognisable. 

I do see the difficulties that seem unreconcilable, I see the confusion, I feel the pain.

Yet I’ve also seen so much division between the old and new rite church, to the point where both sides ( on the extremes) are simply defending their ideology and in so doing often losing sight of Jesus. 

We must never lose sight of Jesus. 

In Matthew 15 Jesus says "Thus you nullify the word

of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites!

Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

"'These people honor me with their lips, but their

hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their

teachings are merelv human rules." This "tradition"

can be both the "old tradition" and the "new

tradition". 

Both can create hard hearts. 

When the heart grows cold for those who go to a different rite, or those who aren’t where we think they should be spiritually, or those who are of a different denomination or even a different religion and culture then we are walking on dangerous ground. 

I’ve felt it, I’ve been there. I’m not exempt but I don’t ever want to go there again.

The message of Jesus is so clear and pure. It cuts right to the heart. 

It’s not by many words or arguments but by abiding in Jesus that Souls are converted. 

If we simply love Him and give Him our heart He will do the work in us first and then through us He will meet others.

We are to imitate Him. We are to lay down our lives for one another, be broken for one another, confess our sins to one another, and cover one another as Noah’s son covered him. For love covers a multitude of sins. 

We are to look for the log in our own eye rather than the splinter in our brother or sisters. 

We are called to rejoice if we face persecution.

Our Saviour exhorts us to pray for, bless and do good to those who seek our harm.

When Jesus returns He will be looking for the little ones, the humble ones, the ones who quietly and diligently prayed and called on His name rather than calling out other believers, undermining them, mocking them, with snark and caustic sarcasm.

Jesus will be looking for the ones that abided with Him in The Secret Place of their hearts. The ones that worshipped The Father in Spirit and Truth. This will be His remnant. 

Let’s never forget that the first commandment is to love. 

And the last commandment Jesus left us with is to love.

‘In the evening of life we will be judged by Love alone.’ - Saint John of The Cross

‘A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Our faith must begin and end with love.

Love is the city that cannot be hid. Love is the light and the salt.

‘So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.’ Matthew 7:12

Love is to love others you would wish to be loved.

Saint Mother Teresa said ‘if we judge people, we have no time to love them.’

We can discern and judge truth but only God can judge a soul. 

Love seeks the best for another. Love weeps with those who weep and rejoices with those who rejoice.

If the ultimate fruit of our faith isn’t Love then it is like the fig tree that didn’t produce any fruit and Jesus condemned to wither.

Every practice and ritual and prayer should nurture humility and love and lead to humility and love. 

Every practice and ritual and prayer should soften our hearts with compassion. If not, what is it all for? 

Our whole faith should be leading to the fulfilment of this commandment to Love.

Our best witness to Truth is Love.

Jesus says that those who love Him will obey His commandments.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Despite the turmoil going on around us, despite the noise, confusion and distraction of the world, if at the end, all we have done is Love. It will be enough.

Dear Jesus, be our light in these dark times. Maranatha.