Tuesday, July 26, 2011

It's All Just a Matter of Trust

Amid all the blathering on in the press and the political world about the ongoing budget / Debt Limit battle, the essence of the problem at hand is (predicably) overlooked completely.

Ther real problem has nothing to do with taxes, spending cuts, entitlements, etc. Those could all be dealt with with little problem. All it takes is the motivation to do so. The problem is that those in charge on both sides of the aisle have over the past generation condcuted an all out campaign to discount and demonize the other. And by all out, I mean ALL-OUT. The mantra has been "there is no terrible way to win, there is only - winning"* No lie or distortion was seen as to much. Nixon, with all his dirty tricks, was little league - or a T-Ball league - by comparison to the deceitful, lying pack of coyotes that run things in D.C. now.

BUT... Time moves on, and sooner or later the game is up. Or rather NOW the game is up. NOW we need leadership, NOW we need men who, in spite of their differences, can trust each other to make a deal work. But those men (and women) are long gone. The Honor that the old ones carried is gone - for good - and the newcomers, some of whom still have Honor, are kept as far away from any real power as possible. So, the leadership, being small, deceitful, selfish men, the current batch of selfish idiots lack the abuility to fix themselves and the situation.

THEY CANNOT TRUST EACH OTHER BECAUSE THEY KNOW THAT THEY ARE NOT THEMSELVES TRUSTWOTHY AND THEY EXPECT THAT THE OTHERS ALL ARE TOO.

So like the mutinous crew on a ship of old, they threw the Captain overboard so that they could enjoy the power. But now they have discovered that the Captain was the only one who could navigate, and they are lost at see. The bright young scrawny kid swabbing the deck has some idea how to navigate, and could save them, but to put him in charge would make them all seem like the weak, bombastic, selfish fools that they are. Better, think they, to remain lost and die at sea with your ego intact, deep in denial, than to have accept your own miserable failure.

God Help Us All...

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Oldie But Goodie...

Several Years Ago, I became dismayed by the almost pathological fixation that the traditionalist community had with the externals of the Mass. I wrote a post about it, Clowns to the Left of Me, Kooks to the Right wherein I vented my spleen on such pettiness and the perpetrators thereof.

Of course, over the years, little has changed in that regard, at least on the part of the "old hands". Interestingly enough, the newbies, those who only recently (often post Summorum Pontificum) began to experience the Extraordinary Form don't seem nearly as obsessive about vestments, or who the music arrangement was by, etc. They are more than happy to appreciate the holiness and beauty just as it is - to take it as it comes and thank God for it.

That is a GOOD thing. Yes, the externals matter - look at a gothic cathedral - but they are only useful to expand on the beauty of the truth of The Mass. When the externals become THE important part, you have lost the meaning - period.

This all comes to mind because of the comments on a post by The Great Father Z. wherein he asked about the presence or absence of music in a Low Mass. In my opinion, it has no place at all, but I accept that other opinions vary, and I respect that. What galls is the implication by so many that a Mass without Music is somehow lacking.

GOD HIMSELF IS PRESENT ON THE ALTAR!!!

If anyone thinks that is somehow inadequate because there is no singing, then maybe they have an understanding of the Church, and of Catholicism, that needs serious help.