The Progressive’s Regress

A great essay! The title is an allusion to  C.S. Lewis's allegorical story of his conversion, The Pilgrim's Regress.

From Carlos Caso-Rosendi

“The error of the Progressives resides in rejecting the necessity of working for the implantation of a Christian social order. In doing so they are obliged to accept the lay city, Liberal, Socialist, Communist. The root of their error and their deviation from Christian progress lies in seeking the alliance of the Church with modernity.” – Fr. Julio Meinvielle (1905-1973) From the Kabala to Progressivism.

The phrase quoted above encapsulates the history of the last 2,000 years. Even before the time Jesus was born in Bethlehem there was a great deal of anticipation. There were many prophetic signs pointing at that generation. Israel and Judah were a mere Roman province at the time. The original structure of the nation had changed. They were no longer the Israel of the Twelve Tribes. The kingdom was divided after the death of Solomon, the exile in Babylon had caused the loss of the Southern Kingdom and finally, the Romans had taken over. The nation looked at the Scriptures for the answer and hoped the predicted Messiah would arrive. They expected a warrior king, a general greater than David, much more effective than Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar.

The Messiah they imagined was going to “liberate” the nation and move on to conquer the world for the God of Israel and restore all things. The people of God expected days of glory, a new and final Passover in which Israel was going to reach its final destiny.

It was easy to see the Messiah in the tall Galilean that showed up one day by the shores of the Sea of Galilee. He could do amazing things: cure the sick in an instant, make bread out of nothing, even resurrect the dead. But even those astonishing things counted as nothing when he started talking to the people. The masses were mesmerized by his message, he was able to change men and women by merely talking to them. Prostitutes began to live virtuous lives, thieves and tax collectors abandoned their dishonest trade. Even those uneducated Galilean fishermen that followed him were somewhat transformed and were treated as great men by the multitudes. The question was: “Is Jesus the Messiah or is he only a glorious man preparing the way for the restoration of Israel?”

Every time anyone asked him about it, he evaded giving a clear answer. He talked about a mysterious “Son of Man” sometimes he almost identified that “Son of Man” with himself, other times he seemed to identify the “Son of Man” with the glorious Messiah. He spoke in arcane parables that transformed the listeners but were incomprehensible to the wisest and most religious men. The man was a walking enigma wrapped in the deepest enigma about his origin and real intentions for the future. When Greek, Sidonian, Syrian, and Roman followers began to join, the Jewish authorities got suspicious. Some of their followers talked about his mother being a virgin. He could not be the Messiah. He had to be an impostor.

The religious leaders of the nation never thought, not for one minute, that they could be wrong and perhaps their expectations had to be revised.

When they finally dragged Jesus into an illegal religious court, he did not escape from them as usual. When no miracle happened in spite of the abuse they piled on him, they were convinced that this man was no Messiah.

They thought: “Those miracles were surely works of diabolic powers trying to confuse the people.  Those gullible simpletons had stupidly placed the nation in a collision course with Rome.” Something had to be done. The man was given to the Roman governor for execution. “That cunning Pontius even asked them if they wanted Jesus to be their king but they were prepared for that trick. The men assembled before the Roman governor quickly declared their loyalty to Rome by shouting: ‘We have no king but Caesar!’ Soon after the tall Galilean was crucified between two thieves and that was the end of that nuisance.”

The problem facing the religious authorities now was simple: the expected Messiah had failed to appear. Could it be that the Messiah was not a man but and idea, an archetype of the warring Israelite? “Perhaps we are the Messiah, perhaps God is waiting for us to wake up and do something!” And thus the revolt was born and the world was divided in two camps.

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34)

The Roman order was challenged many times by the Revolt. The declared objective was “liberation” but it could not be a true liberation because the self-anointed Messianic revolution was unwittingly working against the will of God.

The fight evolved over the years but the two basic elements were there: the human civil order of the day, and the revolutionary forces for liberation. Those were the dragons that Mordecai saw in his dream. Two dragons engaged in mortal combat for the control of the world.

There are some indications that we are reaching the end of the fight. The liberation revolutionaries have gradually invaded every institution of the Civil Order. Not satisfied with their victories through history, they are now focusing in modifying even the natural order. In doing so, they reveal who is the spiritual father of their movement: the father of lies, the devil, the ancient enemy of God, the original serpent, the dragon described in Revelation 12.

It is obvious that the revolutionaries have also infiltrated the Church. That is terrible news. The infiltration is also a sign of the prophesied defeat of the revolutionaries. The progressives are running out of things to “liberate.” By attacking the natural order, they are biting more than anyone can chew. The weight of the whole world is upon them.

Saint Peter addresses the revolutionaries of all times from the window of the Cenacle in Jerusalem at the time of Pentecost:

“You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know— this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law.” (Acts 2:22-23)

The revolution against God’s rule has been gradually regressing the condition of the world to its original chaos. Should they be allowed to achieve their goals, nothing would survive, not even them. But the regression is ending and people are awakening to the realities of the conflagration between order and chaos, good and evil.

This coming Saturday is Saint Elijah. That is a good day to meditate on these things and decide once and for all what side are we on.

 Please join us in praying that Our Blessed Mother assist the Church in this hour of trial. Click here to read the prayer of St. Simon Stock, the Flos Carmeli.