A Comment Received

This is a comment I received on the One Peter Five article I shared, 'Pope: “The Church Has to Change”'. I think it is very insightful.

It's clear from the Pope's comments that he has a notion of "progress" which is strictly positive - society moves through time, and things get better and better. This is why the Pope says that going "backward" is bad. This notion, while popular, is not a Christian teaching. Some things get better, while others get worse. The Pope's own stances regarding environmentalism and the incultaration of the mass with prechristian elements concede this point - one could reply to his calls for green energy and pachamamas with "no, no, we must never go back."

Traditionalists should perceive that the Pope's view of progress is chiefly emotional - it is demonstrably not logical, as anyone who has experienced an atomic blast, nuclear meltdown or multiple car crash on a freeway can attest. Modern people cleave to this evolutionary fantasy because, lacking the traditional faith, they cannot integrate gross moral failure with the luxury of modern life. They don't like the former, and they can't conceive of giving up the latter. In their way, modern thinking men are far more fearful of the future than traditionalists, who understand that all earthly things are doomed to pass away. Christ teaches this clearly "heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away." Once we accept that the process of passing away is happening now, we see tradition in a different light. Tradition, the way that the sacraments are done, the words that are used, the language that is spoken, are all ways of honoring Christ's prophecy that his words shall not pass away, that they are permanent.

In defining himself as "the tradition," the Pope seems to be attempting to take charge of the destiny of the world-in effect, through the office of the papacy, he seeks to sanctify a modern world which is basically evil. The traditionalist sees this effort both as a potentially tragic refusal to accept the providence of God. Tragic, because it is fruitless, and can ultimately lead only to profound disappointment when the reality that evil remains evil ultimately forces itself upon the consciousness.

There is a reason that the Last Gospel was suppressed. Each week, traditionalists are reminded that even the angelic saint, St. John the Baptist, is not himself the light, but only bears witness to it. The same, only more so, is true of each of us living today. One cannot faithfully witness and change the message. God grant that the participants of the synod and the Holy Father recall it.