Being a Traditionalist Catholic, though I take issue with that title as I've explained before (and here is why), I admit that I myself am guilty of this pride that is all too common among Traditionalists (as Father Ripperger explains here in his "Traditionalist Problems" sermon...see section #2 of sermons). We feel better than our fellow Catholics because we posses the truth concerning the Catholic faith and not the twisted and bastardized version pawned off by most prelates today (wittingly or unwittingly). We think because we attend authentic Catholic liturgies (the ancient Roman or Byzantine Rites) that we are somehow better than our peers who attend the Novus Ordo. Sometimes we are more aware of this, but mostly I suspect it is as pride always is: rather insidious and often undetected without much self examination.
But I know that for me, someone who has been exclusively attending the Classical Form of the Roman Rite (aka Traditional Latin Mass aka "Tridentine" Mass aka "Gregorian" Mass aka Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite) for the last 8+ years, that there are many people I know who while ignorant of much are far holier than I. Thankfully, God granted me a very special grace to come to know myself about 5 years ago. I came to understand just how little I really know, just how prideful I really was, and how I ought not trust in my own opinions but rather in the wisdom of the Saints, the teaching of the Church, and words of our Lord Himself. This is not to say that I am now somehow holy for knowing this, but rather simply that I know that I am not.
One of the most interesting things I was given was the letter written by Saint Thomas Aquinas to a fellow Dominican Brother who had asked his advice on how to study in which he said:
"Do not consider who the person is you are listening to, but whatever good he says commit to memory."
And this seems to us very counter intuitive doesn't it? So often we want to write off this or that person or even this or that priest because they don't seem to be very holy or maybe because they say the Novus Ordo we think they can't possibly be a good or trustworthy priest (I know some people who think this way).
Now sometimes we even may know a priest is good and holy and trustworthy, but then he starts saying things that seem contrary to what we thought was the case. Are we then simply rejecting what they say out of hand? Or do we stop and think and consider if possibly we may have had an erroneous position until now?
I had somewhat this experience this past Sunday when I listened to this sermon preached on this Sunday's Gospel [Matthew 13:24-30] (according to the Traditional Calendar), which you can listen to here.
I've taken the time over the last few days to pray and meditate about what he said and also upon the commentary given by Saint Thomas Aquinas in his Catena Aurea on this very Gospel, which you can read yourself here.
I stand corrected.
