Catholic during the Great Apostasy

…when the soul, with its three powers, turns entirely toward a creature, it turns its back on the temple of God, that is, on the sound reason of the soul, which cannot bear anything created within itself…
St. John of the Cross

What is there to explain here? Probably nothing. We observe this today. A retreat from God and a fixation on man. The Holy Mass, which is a sacrifice and a mystical encounter with God, has become some kind of gathering at a table. Yet, this isn’t enough, so they introduced the unfortunate human element: “Offer one another a sign of peace!” and the faithful start wandering around the whole temple as if in a shop, patting each other on the back. And God can wait until they graciously finish this grotesque dance and perhaps even approach Holy Communion. But kneel? No way. They might still receive on the tongue, though increasingly less often. They’ll grab it in their hands and, with remnants of lunch or a cigarette, consume it.
– “That’s God!” someone alarmed might exclaim.
– “Really? Oh, we didn’t know, but that’s okay. God will forgive us, let’s sing together God is Love…”

As I wrote earlier, the Mass is a sacrifice and a mystical encounter with God. How much of the sacrifice remains in the post-conciliar Mass is already a topic for another text, so let’s leave it for today. The Tridentine Mass is called the Mass of All Time, and one can enumerate its countless merits, but I would like to focus on only one thing: the Mystical Encounter with God, as this seems to be the epicenter of its greatness.

We must realize that what is important in the Mass is not what we see and hear but what reaches our souls.

In the Tridentine Mass, which is a perfect sacrifice, a soul can encounter God even if it is unprepared. Unfortunately, this is almost impossible in the new post-conciliar Mass. It is like a dwarf that needs to be lifted. If the priest has enough spiritual strength and can achieve this, such an encounter might occur, but only with souls that are prepared, purified, and open to this mystical contact with the Lord Jesus Christ.

The light it provides is very faint, and for those entangled in their own desires—like a dirty window stained with human passions and sins—it cannot penetrate. If the soul is in mortal sin, approaching God is impossible, even though He is present in every person, even the greatest wrongdoer. However, His light does not permeate such a person but instead gently suggests with a clear ray that they must purify themselves. For such a soul, if it does not do so, God slowly becomes a distant memory and is then buried at the very bottom. Thus, a person often must hit rock bottom to find God again, buried where they had hidden Him before. And the deeper they buried Him, the further they fall.

Everyone must be reborn anew, even if they think they have been pure all their lives. This is impossible. As imperfect and sinful beings, humans always succumb to some temptation and become stained.

At times, we may think we are immaculate, like a clean window, and then suddenly Jesus says, “Come with Me!” and, unfortunately, it turns out that this, that, and the other show we are not ready, because our habits and attachments are stronger.

Purification is essential for salvation. Through the death of our desires, we must be reborn for God. Otherwise, we are not on the path to paradise but on a slippery slope to hell.

2019

Arkadiusz Niewolski