TrapCast Express
TrapCast Express, it's Wednesday, November 24th, 2021.
Yesterday, the Associated Press reported on a virtual civil war
inside a Novoseldo parish in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Listen to this.
They protested outside Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in St. Paul on Sunday
over what they say is the eradication of culture and tradition
from Minnesota's first Hispanic parish.
Many of the demonstrators were third-generation members of the Catholic Church,
which has a 90-year history in St. Paul.
Among specific complaints, they say Aztec dancers
are no longer a part of the Catholic Church.
They are no longer allowed inside the church.
There is no Sunday school or choir.
Masses previously led in Spanish are now in Latin.
And women are not allowed on the altar.
Unquote.
Yeah, don't you hate it when that happens?
Just imagine, you come to Mass one Sunday,
you're minding your own business,
and all of a sudden you find out someone's taken away your Aztec offertory dancers.
That's such a...
That's such an attack on tradition.
What the heck is going on here?
They're going from Latino to Latin.
Where's Francis when you need him?
And now, let's take a look back at the time when your grandma was young.
In his opening speech for the fateful Second Vatican Council,
delivered on October 11th, 1962,
the false pope John XXIII proclaimed,
quote,
The greatest concern of the ecumenical council is this,
that the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine
should be more effectively defended and presented.
What is necessary today is that the whole of Christian doctrine,
with no part of it lost,
be received in our times by all with a new fervor in serenity and peace
in that tradition,
traditional and precise conceptuality and expression,
which is especially displayed in the acts of the councils of Trent and Vatican I.
As all sincere promoters of Christian, Catholic, and apostolic faith strongly desire,
what is needed is that this doctrine be more fully and more profoundly known,
and that minds be more fully imbued and formed,
and by it.
Unquote.
Oh, what lofty words.
Well, that was 1962.
After nearly 60 years of nothing but the great renewal of Vatican II
and the post-conciliar magisterium,
well, here's a little reality check on how things are going.
The French Novels' Ordo publication La Croix International
published an interview on November 21st, 1962,
with the current head of the Dominican Order,
a certain father, Gerard Francisco Timoner III,
who said this,
quote,
The future of the Church is wherever the Gospel needs to be proclaimed.
As for Europe, which has been a missionary church,
it must probably recognize that it is now mission territory.
Unquote.
Yep, that sounds about right.
With breakneck speed, Vatican II transformed what was a very robust church
with incredible growth into an irrelevant social justice NGO
running on greeting card spirituality,
complete with ugly buildings and bad liturgy.
Can't fathom why anyone would want to leave, right?
In fact, since it's November, the month dedicated to the Holy Souls in Purgatory,
let me give you an example of what they did to the Catholic Requiem Mass.
Now, I'm not going to go into details about all the liturgical differences.
I think we can just summarize things pretty well
with just the example of the extremely beautiful,
edifying and instructive hymn called the Dies Irae, Day of Wrath,
from the traditional Catholic Mass for the Departed, the Requiem Mass.
The Day of Wrath is in reference to the Last Judgment,
the general judgment of all the living and the dead at the end of the world
when Christ returns in glory.
And that is a very salutary thought to keep in mind at all times,
and in particular to recall at a Requiem Mass
when we reflect on the reality of death and judgment,
heaven, purgatory, and hell.
I will read all 19 stanzas,
You really don't want to cut this short.
But it'll go fast, and as you're listening,
notice how sublime, how spiritually substantial and satisfying these words are.
Here we go.
The Judge descendeth, on whose sentence all dependeth.
Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth,
Through earth's sepulchres it ringeth,
All before the throne it bringeth.
Death is struck and nature quaking,
All creation is awaking,
To its Judge an answer making.
Lo, the Book exactly worded,
Wherein all hath been recorded,
Thence shall judgment be awarded.
When the Judge his seat attaineth,
And each hidden deed arraigneth,
Nothing unavenged remaineth.
What shall I, frail man, be pleading,
Who for me be interceding,
When the just are mercy needing?
King of majesty tremendous,
Who dost free salvation send us,
Found of pity then befriend us?
Think, kind Jesus,
To my salvation,
Cause thy wondrous incarnation,
Leave me not to reprobation.
Faint and weary thou hast sought me,
On the cross of suffering bought me,
Shall such grace be vainly brought me?
Righteous Judge, for sin's pollution,
Grant thy gift of absolution,
Ere the day of retribution.
Guilty now I pour my moaning,
All my shame with anguish owning,
Spare, O God, thy suppliant groaning.
Through the sinful woman shriven,
Through the dying thief forgiven,
Thou to me a hope hast given.
Worthless are my prayers and sighing,
Yet, good Lord, in grace complying,
Rescue me from fires undying.
With thy sheep a place provide me,
From the goats afar divide me,
To thy right hand do thou guide me.
When the wicked are confounded,
Doomed to flames of woe unbounded,
Call me with thy saints surrounded.
Lo, I kneel with heart's submission,
See like ashes my contrition,
Help me in my last condition.
Ah, that day of tears and mourning,
From the dust of earth returning,
Man for judgment must prepare him,
Spare, O God, in mercy spare him.
Lord, all-pitying,
Jesu blessed,
Grant them thine eternal rest.
Amen.
This is marvelous, breathtaking,
and, in the truest sense of the word, awesome.
How could that not raise a soul
from being preoccupied with the things of earth,
to focusing on matters of eternity?
The truths contained in the Dies Irae,
yes, they are frightening,
but they are important because they are reality.
They remind us that our goal in this life
needs to be to prepare well for this test
at the end of our lives.
For if we fail this test,
then, and only then,
our life was wasted.
Whereas, if we pass this test,
no matter how we fared in this life,
our life will have been an eternal success.
And at the end of the day,
that is all that matters.
See, everything on this earth,
we will one day leave behind.
Riches, fame, accomplishments, health, comforts,
friends, parents, siblings, children, all of it.
And then, only one question will be important.
The ultimate question.
At the moment of your death,
are you Christ's or are you Antichrist's?
Because if you do not belong to the one,
you will belong to the other.
Necessarily.
What shall I, frail man, be pleading?
Who for me be interceding?
When the just are mercy needing?
These are very sobering thoughts.
And how wonderful for Holy Mother Church
to put these thoughts before us again and again,
especially in the month of November.
And yet not, of course, with a sense of despair,
as if there were no hope.
No, there is hope.
The Dies Irae is imbued with true Christian hope.
Faint and weary,
thou hast sought me,
on the cross of suffering bought me.
Shall such grace be vainly brought me?
Christ became incarnate and died for our sins
precisely so that we would not be condemned to hell.
But that offer of salvation requires our cooperation.
Just like someone who throws a rope
to one who is trapped in a deep hole in the ground
cannot actually help him unless that person
grabs the rope,
holds on to it,
and allows himself to be pulled up by it.
Through the sinful woman shriven,
through the dying thief forgiven,
thou to me a hope hast given.
Absolutely beautiful.
Now compare this, the Dies Irae,
with what you will hear,
at least here in the United States,
at your average Novus Ordo worship service
for a deceased person,
usually not called a requiem mass,
but a mass of Christian burial.
Planting a vase of love on eagle's wings,
begging on the breath of God,
Yeah, uh, okay.
Thanks.
On eagle's wings,
is a sappy sentimental tune from the 1970s
that focuses entirely on resurrection
as if every deceased individual
goes straight to heaven.
As if God is only all mercy and love and forgiveness
and there is no judgment,
no danger of punishment,
no purgatory or hell,
none of that.
It's all just saccharine,
God loves you, God will never leave you,
kind of stuff,
with no thought given to the supernatural battle
we have to fight and win in order to make it.
The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence
and the violent bear it away.
Our Lord says in Matthew 11, 12.
Well look, if you teach either directly or indirectly
that everyone goes to heaven,
at least everyone who's a good guy,
and come on, who isn't, right,
then don't be surprised if people no longer bother with church
because they just don't see the point anymore.
Now a question naturally presents itself here.
If you go from a church that is a booming vineyard
to one that is an abhorrent wasteland in just a few decades,
then what is that if not the great apostasy?
Now keep in mind, the great apostasy isn't something
that a bunch of traditionalists dreamed up,
you know, like it's some rat-trap conspiracy theory.
The great apostasy is one of the signs
that precedes the second coming of our Lord.
It's one of the signs that indicates
that Christ's return is at hand.
Now I don't mean imminent, as in next week,
but very soon, as in, I don't know,
maybe 100 years or 200, okay?
We don't know the day or the hour, as Christ said.
But he did reveal the proximate signs of his return,
and he did so for a reason.
The Catechism of the Council of Trent,
published for the Universal Church in the 16th century
by Pope St. Pius V,
under the editorship of St. Charles Borromeo,
teaches the following under Article 7 of the Creed.
Quote,
The sacred scriptures inform us
that the general judgment will be preceded
by these three principal signs,
the preaching of the gospel throughout the world,
a falling away from the faith,
and the coming of Antichrist.
This gospel of the kingdom, says our Lord,
shall be preached in the whole world,
for a testimony to all nations.
And then shall the consummation come.
The apostle also admonishes us
that we be not seduced by anyone
as if the day of the Lord were at hand,
for unless there come a revolt first
and the man of sin be revealed,
the judgment will not come."
Unquote.
So there we have the general judgment,
the day of wrath,
being preceded by,
among other things,
a great falling away from the faith,
a great apostasy.
And if there is one single event
that triggered that apostasy
more than any other,
it was the Second Vatican Council.
The Second Vatican Council
whose directives, ideas, and teachings
have been implemented throughout the world
for the last five and a half years.
And now you know
why Europe is Mission Territory again.
All right, last story for today.
On September 23rd,
Pope Francis preached a sermon
in St. Peter's Basilica
in which he once again manifested
his disdain for real Catholicism.
He said, quote,
If Christians,
instead of radiating the contagion
of the Holy Spirit,
are to be saved,
they are to be redeemed
by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit,
the Holy Spirit,
radiating the contagious joy
of the Gospel,
keep speaking in an outworn
intellectualistic and moralistic
religious language,
people will not be able to see
the Good Shepherd."
End quote.
Yeah.
See, this is exactly
the kind of attitude
that has transformed Europe
into Mission Territory.
First of all,
there is no intrinsic opposition
between radiating the joy
of the Gospel,
gospel—whatever that is actually supposed to mean, as always, no one can tell because it's
deliberately vague—between radiating the joy of the gospel and speaking clear religious and moral
truth, which is necessarily intellectual. You know, the gospel isn't just hugs and handouts,
okay? In the same homily, Francis says, quote,
Jesus does not ask us to make arguments for God. He asks us to show him in the same way the saints
did, not by words, but by our lives, unquote. That is false. Now, of course, we must also show
Christ by our lives, but it is utterly false and dangerous to say that Christ doesn't want us to
use disputes and argumentation in the making of converts, okay? That's ridiculous. That's
ridiculous. That's ridiculous. That's ridiculous. That's ridiculous. That's ridiculous. That's
ridiculous. First of all, our blessed Lord himself gave plenty of discourses and disputed
with people of goodwill and of badwill. He reasoned with the Pharisees, the Sadducees,
the common people, with Nicodemus, with the Samaritan woman at the well, and so on.
Secondly, our Lord commissioned his disciples to teach his doctrine to all nations,
going, therefore, teach ye all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. That's Matthew 28, 19, and 20.
Now, Francis himself, of course, loves to teach. He's constantly teaching. The problem is it's not
the gospel of our Lord, but his own false gospel, what we might call the Bergolian gospel of man.
We'd wish,
that Francis would shut up already and just radiate joy, you know, but no, he's always got
his trap open. Third, guess what the apostles did? They didn't just live the gospel, they also
preached it. In the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2, St. Peter preaches the first Pentecost sermon.
It's beautiful. Likewise, St. Paul, he actually made arguments. In Thessalonica, for example,
he went into the
synagogue and argued with the Jews, trying to convince them that Jesus of Nazareth is the
Messiah. In Acts 17, 2, we read,
And St. Paul did the same thing in Corinth, and he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath,
bringing in the name of the Lord Jesus, and he persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.
That's Acts 18, 4. And likewise in Ephesus.
And entering into the synagogue, he spoke boldly for the space of three months,
disputing and exhorting concerning the kingdom of God. But when some were hardened and believed not,
speaking evil of the way of the Lord, before the multitude,
departing from them, he separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.
And this continued for the space of two years, so that all they who dwelt in Asia heard the word
of the Lord, both Jews and Gentiles. That's Acts 19, verses 8 through 10. So there, you can see
the apostles did a little bit more than Gentiles. They did a little bit more than Jews and Gentiles.
Just radiate joy. You know, it's funny, but this opposition Francis has to apologetics and
proselytism, he displays that only with regard to the gospel, with regard to Catholic teaching.
He doesn't mind proselytizing when it comes to his eco-climate religion, for example. In fact,
these are things that he wants entire nations to embrace and commit themselves to.
And however noble the goal might be, it is nevertheless an earthly goal. When it comes to
an eternal goal, he doesn't give a hoot. But for the climate religion, he demands conversion,
ecological conversion. And yet, when do you ever hear him talk about making converts to Catholicism,
except to condemn it or to speak about it at best in terms only of the gospel?
Only of a personal conscience.
But why is Francis doing that? Why does he not want religious converts to be made with arguments
and reason, with disputation? Why this constant focus on only smiles and hugs and tenderness and
soup kitchens? Because the less people concern themselves with doctrine,
unless it's his doctrine, of course, the less people concern themselves with Catholic doctrine,
the easier it is for them to be deceived and to embrace whatever garbage novelty he comes up with
from day to day. For example, the idea that the world's different religions are different ways
to the same God, as he said on October 5th. See, the less people know,
or care about doctrine, the more likely they are to accept the Antichrist when he comes
with open arms. Especially if he preaches humanitarianism, the oneness of humanity,
peace and security, freedom and dignity, justice and fraternity, as supposedly the ultimate doctrines
of all religions. Sound familiar?
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