"My child, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials(Sirach, 2)Most American Catholics who came to call themselves Traditionalists were totally unprepared for the assault on the Roman Rite manifesting itself at the Second Vatican Council and in its aftermath. Their reactions to the Liturgical Revolution were, therefore, those of a shocked incredulity, such a nightmare seeming impossible in a Church that they had considered so well-protected from error by the Papacy. There was a general lack of awareness of the development of the movement for a "pastoral" liturgy-not to speak of the various forms of "Personalism" and "New Theology" and the dangers of an exaggerated papal power put to unfortunate use in its favor.
This volume deals with many of the trials faced by Traditionalists throughout the Catholic world in their battle for the maintenance-and ultimate restoration-of the butchered Roman Rite. Those trials have included the need to confront a myriad of questions. Such questions have ranged from the proper understanding of the teaching on Papal Infallibility coming from the First Vatican Council and the extent and limitations of the authority of a local bishop to the explanation for the intense opposition to a defense of Catholic Tradition arising from an ever-more oppressive "pluralist" socio-political order. Profound internal divisions over how to answer these queries have made such trials still more complex and painful.
The Book of Sirach warns us that those filled with zeal for the proper worship of God and obedience to all His precepts; those moved by a justifiably righteous indignation over any assault upon these foundations for our existence, must expect woes and sorrows. It also gives sound advice regarding how frontline soldiers must comport themselves if they are to contribute to victory rather than defeat. They are told to perfect their Faith, their personal holiness, and their hope in God; to be "sincere of heart and steadfast"; to "accept whatever happens to you; in periods of humiliation to be patient. For in fire gold is tested, and the chosen in the crucible of humiliation."
Yes, Volume Three of For the Whole Christ underlines many of the difficulties Traditionalists in love with the Roman Rite have had in following this advice. But, happily, it also points to their growing understanding that the must always patiently and hopefully "sing the song of the statutes of the Lord in the land of their exile" so that the recovery of their liturgical birthright and their "home" in the mainstream of the life of the Universal Church will make their future protection of these goods even more conscious, heartfelt, and invincible.
