Have Catholics Forgotten How To Be Catholic?

There are far too many of the brethren acting like their evil inclinations and bad actions will have no consequences. Think again.

Proverbs 6:16-19

There are six things which the Lord hates, seven which are an abomination to him:

1. haughty eyes,
2. a lying tongue,
3. and hands that shed innocent blood,
4. a heart that devises wicked plans,
5. feet that make haste to run to evil,
6. a false witness who breathes out lies,
7. and a man who sows discord among brothers.

What makes a Catholic a Catholic? It's easier to say what doesn't make one a Catholic or, more precisely, what is unbecoming a Catholic.

1. Arrogance, conceit (James 4:16). "As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin."
2. Lying. The liar is a murderer, like his father the devil (St John 8:44).
3. Pro-choice, i.e., pro-abortion.  Canon 1398 provides that "a person who procures a successful abortion incurs an automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication."  At the very moment that the abortion is accomplished, all formal conspirators are excommunicated.  Making a sincere confession is all that is necessary to be freed from the sin of abortion and the excommunication associated with it (St Matthew 22:7; Romans 6:23).
4. Cruelty. People who, for various reasons, deliberately inflict physical and/or psychological injury on others are enemies of charity and are thus enemies of God.  Anyone who torments another is already in the camp of the devil.  Of course, we're not referring to someone who is justly demanding and is branded cruel by someone who lacks resiliency, who has a thin skin and screams oppression for being called out for acting in an irrational manner (Nahum 3:19).
5. The abuse of power (St Matthew 25:41–46).  People who equivocate or swap allegiances in an attempt to gain favour or advance are repugnant and disgusting (2 Timothy 4:3).
6. Obstinacy in sin. A refusal to change or to repent even after receiving the illumination and assistance of the Holy Spirit.  Persistent sinners are headed toward perdition (St. Matthew 3:2; 4:17; St. Luke 13:3, 5; Revelation 2:21).
7. Gossip. Like the liar, the gossiper is an assassin (Romans 1:29-31). Gossip erodes unity. Gossip is a dagger in the heart of a community.

The Catholic and the Sacred Liturgy

We must glorify God in public, among family, in private, and in all of life in accordance with God's own nature and truth.  The Catholic who ignores the obligation to worship God in spirit and in truth (St John 4:24) is a charlatan.  A worshipper of God does so configured to the character of God Who is Truth, Goodness and Beauty.

God is love (1 John 4:7-21). The Catholic who does not keep the commandments of Christ does not love God.

If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you (St John 14:15-17).

The Holy Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life (CCC 1324-1327). When the Mass is turned into a circus by a priest who makes himself the centre of attention, a view to God is obscured. People turn inward away from God. Few if any miracles can be observed in the company of the proud who are enamoured of themselves.

Ratzinger labelled such widespread abuse of the true spirit of the liturgy as “an unprecedented clericalization”:

Now the priest—the “presider,” as they now prefer to call him—becomes the real point of reference for the whole liturgy. Everything depends on him.  We have to see him, to respond to him, to be involved in what he is doing.  His creativity sustains the whole thing…. Less and less is God in the picture.  More and more important is what is done by the human beings who meet here and do not want to subject themselves to a “pre-determined pattern.”  The turning of the priest toward the people has turned the community into a self-enclosed circle. In its outward form, it no longer opens out on what lies ahead and above, but is closed in on itself.

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The celebration of the Mass ad orientem is, therefore, the orientation of man toward his true home in Heaven, pointing him in the right direction for the journey home.  It is the true orientation of homo viator, pilgrim man, toward the Christ who has shown us the path to Heaven by the way of the Cross, which is why Ratzinger insists that “the symbolism of the Cross merges with that of the east.”

Seen in this light, which is nothing less than the light of Heaven itself, we can see how the celebration of the liturgy versus populum, in which the priest faces in the opposite direction to the people, is a radical disorientation, a turning away from the Lord.  What is needed is reorientation toward Christ, which is why Ratzinger urges that “we should definitely take up again the apostolic tradition of facing the east, both in the building of churches and in the celebration of the liturgy.”

The Sacraments

Jesus has provided for our journey with Him. He offers us reconciliation and restoration in the Sacrament of Penance.  No matter how far you may have fallen, how destitute you have become, Jesus waits for you in the confessional.  Turn to Him and know the power, relief and joy of His forgiveness, of His mercy and loving embrace! Ask Jesus for the grace of courage to approach a priest, if that is the grace you need.  Do not be afraid! Go to confession. Attend Mass.  Stay close to Jesus.