There is no shortcut to sanctity. There is no Christianity without the Cross. Holiness is a thousand decisions daily, each one a cut, until you bleed out for Christ.
Wow. You’ve summed up the spiritual life in one article. Every Catholic, indeed everyone who calls themself a Christian, needs to read this. I’ll be sharing it far and wide. I hope others will too. And if I may be so bold, maybe you could send this to other outlets for wider publication? It’s that good. Thank you! Thank you for this excellent guidance.
Hey Rob! No need for “Father.” I liked the article and thought it was worth sharing. How are you? I was recently thinking of Fr. Wendell’s early morning history class and the struggle to stay awake. Man that was so long ago.
Well said. One of the most pernicious fruits of Vatican 2 and its new mode of worship was the great dilution of days and seasons of fasting. Traditional Church calendars, east and west, implore fasting throughout the year. In many "Catholic" circles that has been replaced by giving up meat on Fridays, but only during lent. For centuries, Holy Church knew that fasting (with prayer) was critical for people to control their appetitites in order to maintain a good prayer life and stay in a state of grace. Those who can control their stomachs can control every other appetite. The lack of catechesis on this point cannot be overstated. I once told a Franciscan priest that it was difficult to fast during advent because of all the distractions around the holidays. He suggested I was confused - "Catholics only fast during lent not advent."
Thanks for this essay, much to ponder here! Your call to arms is a firebrand thrown into the dry tinder of a complacent age, a necessary conflagration, for only in the crucible of suffering is the dross of mediocrity burned away. Yet one wonders if even this militant fervor, so bracing in its urgency, risks becoming another kind of evasion… a flight from the deeper, darker mystery at the heart of the Cross.
For the Incarnation is not merely a call to battle, it is the unbearable descent of the Divine into the very marrow of human frailty. The Christ who rides forth in the Apocalypse with eyes of flame is the same who wept at Lazarus’ tomb, who trembled in Gethsemane, who whispered “I thirst” from the Cross. The militant and the mystic are not opposed, they are one flesh, just as the God who commands is the God who bleeds.
To my mind you rightly excoriate the effeminate, therapeutic counterfeit of Christianity, but let us not mistake hardness for holiness. The saints did not suffer gladly because they loved suffering, but because they loved Him. Their joy in agony was not masochism but the ecstasy of the bride who has found her Beloved in the very heart of dereliction. This is the scandal of the Incarnation: that God’s strength is perfected in weakness, that the sword of the Spirit is wielded from the scaffold, that the true warrior kneels to wash the feet of his betrayers.
Where, then, is the militancy of the broken? Where are the soldiers who will march into battle with tears in their eyes, who will strike down sin with a hand that trembles in love? The essay speaks of resoluteness of will, but what of the will that is shattered on the wheel of divine abandonment, only to be remade in the kiln of obedience? The martyrs did not die with clenched fists, but with arms outstretched, conformed to the cruciform love they imitated.
And what of the Church herself… this wounded, harlot Bride who is also the spotless Mother of Saints? The essay’s disgust for her modern deformations is understandable, even prophetic. Still, the mystic knows that the Church is not merely an institution to be purified by our fury… she is Christ’s own flesh, bleeding yet radiant, corruptible yet indestructible. To love her in her squalor is part of the martyrdom.
The path to sanctity is indeed Calvary, but let us not forget that Calvary is also the path to the Resurrection. The militant treads the winepress of God’s wrath, the mystic drinks the wine that has become Blood. Both are necessary. Both are one. I realize you are not suggesting otherwise.
In the end, the most radical fidelity is not to the battle, but to the Beloved, the God who is both Lion and Lamb, whose victory is hidden in defeat, whose glory is revealed in the scandal of the Cross. The true soldier of Christ does not merely fight, he falls in love. And love, as the saints know, is the fiercest war of all.
Actually, I am working on a book project that may provide a practical answer to the problem situation you have described in this insightful article. The work is essentially a revival of the ideal of chivalry. One might think that that is impossible because the world has changed radically since the Middle Ages. However, the human psyche has not. Anyone who doubts this just needs to read an account of the sinking of the Titanic. The captain's willingness to sacrifice his life so that a woman or child could have access to one of the limited spaces among the inadequate number of lifeboats on the Titanic testifies to the survival of the chivalrous attitude throughout the ages.
You have given voice to the inner rumblings of my soul. I would like to share this with the priests of my diocese and the bishops of our Bishops’ Conference. Can you tell me how I can do this?
Hi Donald. Feel free to share with anything. If you click on the share button it should give you options such as email, WhatsApp etc.... Thank you for reading.
Hi. You can copy or screen shot the article. I assume you can print that? Alternatively send me an message with your email address ad I will mail it to you.
I encourage everyone to put the virtues explained in this excelent article to use in defense of the Church by reporting on the double scandalous election of Cardinal Prevost.
Scandal #1: One month before the conclave Survival Network for Abused priests published the list of cardinal electors who had protected pedophile priests and Prevost was on it. And they willingly went ahead and elected him! We can forget about the current claimant to the throne of St Peter doing anything about sex abuse in the Catholic Church.
Scandal #2: The second scandal is that the cardinals violated Pope JPII papal law on elections Universi Dominici Gregis by having 133 cardinals voting when the maximum allowed is 120 and also because they elected a candidate who had made statements against catholic doctrine (Fiducia Supplicans, Amoris Laetitia etc), contrary to Pope Paul IV’s Bull Cum ex Apostolatus Oficio.
Because that a man is pope is not a presumption of fact but a conclusion of the law, and the law was not followed in the election of May 8th, 2025. Jesus himself confirms the juridical nature of the Church when he tells St Peter in Matthew 18:18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heave, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heave.”
I can say with certainty that the one thing that changed my life was deep, intense, personal suffering. Were it not for that, I surely would have spent eternity in hell. But for the grace of God, He knew what I needed, and though it was and continues to be painful, I now know it was the best thing that ever happened to me, and I praise God for my suffering.
Yes to the call for men but also to the call for women to ALLOW the men. Women need to know their role and accept it. Gen X women do not know, they haven't been taught in the NO world. Many are birth controlled, and post abortive. Pray for conversion of their harden hearts, confession, and return to the fullness of faith!
I have found over the years that even "traditional Catholic women" are more liberal than they know. I recommend all Catholics read "Liberalism Is A Sin".
Wow. You’ve summed up the spiritual life in one article. Every Catholic, indeed everyone who calls themself a Christian, needs to read this. I’ll be sharing it far and wide. I hope others will too. And if I may be so bold, maybe you could send this to other outlets for wider publication? It’s that good. Thank you! Thank you for this excellent guidance.
Hey Father. This is Rob Cui. We were classmates in Suffield I believe. Great article.
Hey Rob! No need for “Father.” I liked the article and thought it was worth sharing. How are you? I was recently thinking of Fr. Wendell’s early morning history class and the struggle to stay awake. Man that was so long ago.
Hey Scott. Where are you assigned now? It was so long ago. Hope you’re well. You’ll be in my prayers. I try to pray for priests whenever I can.
Well said. One of the most pernicious fruits of Vatican 2 and its new mode of worship was the great dilution of days and seasons of fasting. Traditional Church calendars, east and west, implore fasting throughout the year. In many "Catholic" circles that has been replaced by giving up meat on Fridays, but only during lent. For centuries, Holy Church knew that fasting (with prayer) was critical for people to control their appetitites in order to maintain a good prayer life and stay in a state of grace. Those who can control their stomachs can control every other appetite. The lack of catechesis on this point cannot be overstated. I once told a Franciscan priest that it was difficult to fast during advent because of all the distractions around the holidays. He suggested I was confused - "Catholics only fast during lent not advent."
Thanks for this essay, much to ponder here! Your call to arms is a firebrand thrown into the dry tinder of a complacent age, a necessary conflagration, for only in the crucible of suffering is the dross of mediocrity burned away. Yet one wonders if even this militant fervor, so bracing in its urgency, risks becoming another kind of evasion… a flight from the deeper, darker mystery at the heart of the Cross.
For the Incarnation is not merely a call to battle, it is the unbearable descent of the Divine into the very marrow of human frailty. The Christ who rides forth in the Apocalypse with eyes of flame is the same who wept at Lazarus’ tomb, who trembled in Gethsemane, who whispered “I thirst” from the Cross. The militant and the mystic are not opposed, they are one flesh, just as the God who commands is the God who bleeds.
To my mind you rightly excoriate the effeminate, therapeutic counterfeit of Christianity, but let us not mistake hardness for holiness. The saints did not suffer gladly because they loved suffering, but because they loved Him. Their joy in agony was not masochism but the ecstasy of the bride who has found her Beloved in the very heart of dereliction. This is the scandal of the Incarnation: that God’s strength is perfected in weakness, that the sword of the Spirit is wielded from the scaffold, that the true warrior kneels to wash the feet of his betrayers.
Where, then, is the militancy of the broken? Where are the soldiers who will march into battle with tears in their eyes, who will strike down sin with a hand that trembles in love? The essay speaks of resoluteness of will, but what of the will that is shattered on the wheel of divine abandonment, only to be remade in the kiln of obedience? The martyrs did not die with clenched fists, but with arms outstretched, conformed to the cruciform love they imitated.
And what of the Church herself… this wounded, harlot Bride who is also the spotless Mother of Saints? The essay’s disgust for her modern deformations is understandable, even prophetic. Still, the mystic knows that the Church is not merely an institution to be purified by our fury… she is Christ’s own flesh, bleeding yet radiant, corruptible yet indestructible. To love her in her squalor is part of the martyrdom.
The path to sanctity is indeed Calvary, but let us not forget that Calvary is also the path to the Resurrection. The militant treads the winepress of God’s wrath, the mystic drinks the wine that has become Blood. Both are necessary. Both are one. I realize you are not suggesting otherwise.
In the end, the most radical fidelity is not to the battle, but to the Beloved, the God who is both Lion and Lamb, whose victory is hidden in defeat, whose glory is revealed in the scandal of the Cross. The true soldier of Christ does not merely fight, he falls in love. And love, as the saints know, is the fiercest war of all.
Actually, I am working on a book project that may provide a practical answer to the problem situation you have described in this insightful article. The work is essentially a revival of the ideal of chivalry. One might think that that is impossible because the world has changed radically since the Middle Ages. However, the human psyche has not. Anyone who doubts this just needs to read an account of the sinking of the Titanic. The captain's willingness to sacrifice his life so that a woman or child could have access to one of the limited spaces among the inadequate number of lifeboats on the Titanic testifies to the survival of the chivalrous attitude throughout the ages.
You have given voice to the inner rumblings of my soul. I would like to share this with the priests of my diocese and the bishops of our Bishops’ Conference. Can you tell me how I can do this?
Hi Donald. Feel free to share with anything. If you click on the share button it should give you options such as email, WhatsApp etc.... Thank you for reading.
Okay. MANY THANKS. Would like to print it, with due attribution. They are more likely to read it that way. Your post is SPOT ON!
You are welcome to share it anyway you see fit as long as it is attributed to Radical Fidelity. 🙏
Truth.
Amen!!!!!
Amen!!!!!
How can I get a copy of this???
Hi. You can copy or screen shot the article. I assume you can print that? Alternatively send me an message with your email address ad I will mail it to you.
This is excellent and spot on. Thank you!
I encourage everyone to put the virtues explained in this excelent article to use in defense of the Church by reporting on the double scandalous election of Cardinal Prevost.
Scandal #1: One month before the conclave Survival Network for Abused priests published the list of cardinal electors who had protected pedophile priests and Prevost was on it. And they willingly went ahead and elected him! We can forget about the current claimant to the throne of St Peter doing anything about sex abuse in the Catholic Church.
.
https://apnews.com/article/sex-abuse-snap-zero-tolerance-92d2770ffc6ddf2f10c828ed26f1cb17
https://www.conclavewatch.org/cardinals/prevost
https://www.snapnetwork.org/survivors_respond_to_pope_leo_xiv_s_election_with_grave_concern_about_his_record_managing_abuse_cases
Scandal #2: The second scandal is that the cardinals violated Pope JPII papal law on elections Universi Dominici Gregis by having 133 cardinals voting when the maximum allowed is 120 and also because they elected a candidate who had made statements against catholic doctrine (Fiducia Supplicans, Amoris Laetitia etc), contrary to Pope Paul IV’s Bull Cum ex Apostolatus Oficio.
Because that a man is pope is not a presumption of fact but a conclusion of the law, and the law was not followed in the election of May 8th, 2025. Jesus himself confirms the juridical nature of the Church when he tells St Peter in Matthew 18:18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heave, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heave.”
https://www.fromrome.info/2025/06/01/project-save-rome/
Excellent
Thank you
Yes :) https://open.substack.com/pub/oswald67/p/to-form-or-to-be-formed-iconic-bridges?r=2r3au&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Thank you, will definitely read.
This is my more general position-in-process viz a Catholic/Christian postliberal political economy https://open.substack.com/pub/oswald67/p/postliberalism-a-very-quick-response?r=2r3au&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
The way of the Cross has no detours.
I can say with certainty that the one thing that changed my life was deep, intense, personal suffering. Were it not for that, I surely would have spent eternity in hell. But for the grace of God, He knew what I needed, and though it was and continues to be painful, I now know it was the best thing that ever happened to me, and I praise God for my suffering.
Crux sacra sit mihi lux.
Yes to the call for men but also to the call for women to ALLOW the men. Women need to know their role and accept it. Gen X women do not know, they haven't been taught in the NO world. Many are birth controlled, and post abortive. Pray for conversion of their harden hearts, confession, and return to the fullness of faith!
I have found over the years that even "traditional Catholic women" are more liberal than they know. I recommend all Catholics read "Liberalism Is A Sin".