Mr Flanders on pilgrimages and Sister Wilhelmina.
From One Peter Five
By Timothy Flanders, MA
The Reality and Unreality of the Internet
At OnePeterFive, we cover Vatican news on the internet. It’s a source stress for me for a number of reasons. For one thing, constantly following every new news story is a spiritual death trap. I know that for me personally, I have a great need to unplug from the internet at 5:00pm and plug into “real life” – my wife and kids, family dinner, chores – fresh air!
If I don’t do this, I find myself sucked into the unreality of internet chatter. The internet is a strange place because it connects us to the whole globe instantly. The whole globe is real and it is certainly a real connection we have to it through the internet. But the issue is that truly real connections with persons and places are experienced through our five senses.
At the same time, the internet connects us with something real which we would otherwise not know: the Sacramental reality of the Mystical Body of Christ. We being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another (Rom. xii. 5).
In the Eucharist, the Mystical Body of Christ communes with Christ and each other, becoming members one of another. So this communion
1.) transcends physical boundaries – I am a member of Christ and of you, brother across the Atlantic, etc and
2.) transcends boundaries of time – the Church Suffering and Triumphant are in a sense “more real” than the Militant – they are closer to the True Reality Who is God Himself.
We do not commune with the Church Suffering and Triumphant by means of our five senses – this is a spiritual communion we gain by praying in a state of grace in the Holy Sacrament. But before the internet existed, Christians could never experience the communion across physical boundaries. This was a reality that existed, but it could never be experienced.
(Except, perhaps, through letters. One could send a letter, wait twelve months, and get a letter back from across the Atlantic. This was the experience of this communion. And so it was real, yet very limited.)
This is the positive side of the internet – it permits us to experience a spiritual reality that our forefathers could not experience. And this is my joy, being the editor of OnePeterFive – communing and connecting with brethren across the world for the cause of Christ the King. I’m grateful for the way modern technology allows the faithful to spiritual participate in the Christian culture of the eternal city, like these posts from Vincenzo Randazzo, our Romanitas expert in Rome:
I’m grateful for the way that the internet allows us to spiritually participate in pilgrimages like the recent one in DC:
(Stay tuned for more from the pilgrimage this weekend in the United States:
These things are no substitute for experiencing these realities in person. They are rather the spiritual connection that already exists in our communion, from which we can gain strength for the spiritual struggle in our own time and place.
But since my job is on the internet, this is always my struggle – to never get sucked into the unreality of the internet myself, so that I can do my best to lead others into the reality that the internet provides for us, for the sake of your local community. I don’t want anyone to live on the internet. I want you to gain some benefit from the communion we experience through the internet, and use that for your “real life” with your family, friends, and local parish community. This is why our latest not-yet-canonised saint is so important.
Sr. Wilhelmina and the Unreality of this Pontificate
Last year when the Synod on Synodality was rolling in October, I went on a “pilgrimage of hope” to the relics of Sr. Wilhelmina.
After seeing her relics at the Gower Monastery, I recorded a podcast with Nicholas Cavazos (The Traditional Thomist) and discussed what it was like to experience the reality of her incorrupt body from the first time:
Because of this, I believe, Sr. Wilhelmina worked out her salvation with fear and trembling at a time when the bishops (and a few popes) were less than stellar examples of Christian piety. The holy nun lived the final five years of her life under the pontificate of Pope Francis (she died on Mary 29, 2019). While the Church was in such a crisis, she achieved such holiness that her body is incorrupt. Therefore she teaches us the unreality of this pontificate. I’m sure word reached her at some point that there was this thing called the “Synod on the Family” or “Amoris Laetitia” or “The Dubia [of 2016].”
What do you think Sr. Wilhelmina’s response to this was? She probably made a joke about this all being “above my paygrade” or something like that, and went on with her business of prayer, penance and general gaiety.
Sr. Wilhelmina was unplugged from the internet and plugged into reality: the greatest reality this side of the afterlife – the Blessed Sacrament. We can get sucked into the unreality of the internet and the unreality of this pontificate, or we can allow ourselves to be molded by the Really Real: the Real Presence.
Yes it’s “real” what’s happening in Rome right now – the next synod circus and all that. But in another sense it’s just another unreality when compared to going to your parish right now and sitting before the Tabernacle. The sanctity of Wilhelmina is more real, in a sense, than the circus in Rome. Because whatever happens in Rome, the Real Presence is right here for you. Sanctity is right here for you. Heaven is here for you.
And nothing can change that. Even if – God forbid – the Real Presence were taken from us in a time of persecution. Nevertheless: neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. viii. 38-39). What is more real that the love of God? Nothing. For this is heaven itself. God is charity (I Jn. iv. 8).
So what about the Canonisation?
(I should really spell the word “canonisation” with a “z” like a good American talking about an American saint, but I’ve been radicalised by Charles A. Coulombe’s book Puritan’s Empire against Noah Webster. But I digress.)
The diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph provided an update back in August of this year regarding Sr. Wilhelmina. In it, Bishop James V. Johnston, details some of the medical examinations of Wilhelmina’s relics that were conducted since the discovery of alleged incorruption:
On May 24, 2023, as the Bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, I commissioned a team of local medical experts to conduct an examination and evaluation of Sister Wilhelmina’s body. The team was led by a Doctor of Pathology, who was assisted by two other medical doctors and a former Missouri county coroner. In addition to examining and evaluating the mortal remains of the deceased, the team inspected the casket, and interviews were conducted with eyewitnesses to events immediately preceding the burial in 2019 and the exhumation in April 2023.
In the final report, the investigative team noted that the condition of Sister Wilhelmina’s body during the examination was notable for a lack of any detected features of decomposition. The lining of her casket had completely deteriorated, but her habit and clothing showed no features of breakdown. The report also noted that the related history of Sister Wilhelmina’s death and interment does not describe conditions that would be expected to protect against decomposition.
The investigative team was only able to conduct a limited examination but still concluded that “the condition of her body is highly atypical for the interval of nearly four years since her death, especially given the environmental conditions and the findings in associated objects.”
The report continues that there are no other indications that would provide a natural explanation for the incorruption. The report then states flatly:
The Catholic Church does not have an official protocol for determining if a deceased person’s body is incorrupt, and incorruptibility is not considered to be an indication of sainthood. There is no current plan to initiate a cause for sainthood for Sister Wilhelmina (emphasis added).
Wait, what? This is probably the most exciting miracle of any alleged saint in the past 100 years in these United States… and you’re just going to say “There is no current plan…?” Reading that line is shocking, to say the least. But we also know, of course, there’s all sorts of controversy with looking into the canonisation of a Latin Mass saint. Perhaps the diocese will pursue canonisation after we have a regime change in Rome and there’s no longer a witch hunt against Latin Mass faithful. That might backfire if Wilhelmina gets too much attention – the “Eye of Sauron” will look at the monastery. Or perhaps the diocese is ideologically opposed to the Latin Mass (I hope not, since the Benedictines of Mary are still there!).
In any case, what would Wilhelmina say? “Oh well. What can you do?” and she would chuckle and move on to getting the wax out of that vestment, then hurry to the Reality of the Real Presence, where peace is found.
Perhaps if we took time every day to meditate on the reality of the Real Presence, nothing would ever disturb our hearts.
Going on Retreat
With that, I need to give you my own update: I need to unplug myself and go on a retreat until the feast of our patron, Blessed Emperor Karl, October 21st. I need to unplug from the internet and plug into the Real Presence. This helps me deal with the stress of this spiritual burden, so that I can face the Vatican news every day and not get too spiritually exhausted.
When I get back on October 22nd I’ll check to see what has happened in Rome, but I know one thing for certain: Jesus will still be on His throne and the gates of hell will not have prevailed over His Church.
If you’ve read this far, please say an Ave for me, and I will do so for you. Let’s support one another through the spiritual reality of our communion, afforded by this evil thing called the internet. I encourage each of you to take some time to retreat or go on pilgrimage to ground yourself in Him Who Is. Let us ask Sr. Wilhelmina to help us live in the reality of the Real Presence.
Couple of things I've noticed about prayer lately: sins being revealed and mirth, (didn't realize it was mirth till now, thumbs up)
ReplyDeleteI think Our Lady approves