Alone With the Alone

By Timothy J Cullen " Nec minus solum, quam cum solus esset" 1 (Cicero: De Officis ; 3:1)

A once well know variation of these words (Nunquam minus solus, quam cum solus) was spoken to Blessed Henry Newman (1801-1890) by Edward Copleston, provost of Oriel College, Oxford, who approached the thenstudent while both were walking alone.

"The event left such an impression on Newman that he recorded it in his spiritual autobiography, the Apologia pro Vita Sua some forty years later."

2

Cicero’s words (ascribed by him to Cato) had been written to describe the Roman Emperor Scipio Africanus (236-183, B.C.), a noted recluse, who rejected being made either Consul for life or dictator and after being elected Censor in 199 B.C. eventually retired to solitude at his country estate where he remained for the rest of his life. Cardinal Newman, a convert to Catholicism, was to experience isolation from family and friends after his conversion, but was to become very active in public life, leading a movement in his native England "for lay people to be at the forefront of any public apologetics: '[Catholics should] make the excuse of this persecution for getting up a great organization, going round the towns giving lectures, or making speeches’."

3

Perhaps such a moment is once again upon Catholics—Traditional Catholics in particular—and it appears there are indications that such is the case.

Nevertheless, there will always be those for whom solitude, silence and contemplation speak with a stronger voice than words of protest, preferring the Word of God to the voices of those who claim to speak on His behalf.

God’s Word perhaps can be better heard in silence than through a bullhorn in the public square, though a bit of broadcasting can never hurt!

As he ages, this writer inclines ever-further to the meditative and contemplative nature that has grown within him to the kind of solidity now shown by the fruit trees he planted some eight years ago, trees now firmly rooted, flowering and, God willing, fruiting an abundant harvest. He sits in the sun on his porch, daily contemplating the miracle of creation that is renewed with the approach of Spring, when God’s Creation renews Its promise of life upon this orb of stone that is the home of fallen humankind. He is "far from the madding crowd" and is content to be so, offering his minim of ideas thanks to the courtesy of the Remnant and its publisher/editor, willing to share them with those who might find them of interest. These ideas are one older man’s point of view, ideas gleaned from an active life gone passive with the passage of time and an ear more attuned (one hopes!) to the "sounds of silence".

1 "Never less alone than when being solitary" (my translation).

2 http://www.newmanfriendsinternational.org/ newman/?p=634 3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_Newman There is no "company" preferable to that of God, whose voice is best heard in silence. His speech is omnipresent for those who bend their inner ears to hear. He often speaks silently, speaks through the revelation of His Creation, "speaking" to His listeners by daily reminders of His glory unfolding before our very eyes, our ears, our simple human senses. Angry words, resentful words have no place in this dialogue. Neither lamentations, criticisms, warnings nor complaints make themselves heard, because all that is truly imperfect is found within ourselves, not in His Creation, save for ourselves who have gone astray. Yes, surely, the pope is flawed, the Church is flawed, but the Faith is not, and those who would keep the Faith know that to do so in silence is to do so before God, Who loves His Creation of which each and every one of us is a part, the one part that we are capable of recognizing without equivocation; the rest is beyond our fallen capacity to comprehend in its totality.

God is All. We are subsumed into God, and with good intention and proper preparation for the Four Last Things, we can complete the consummation so as to enjoy eternity in the state of the Beatific Vision. What God has willed for the world need not concern those who have chosen to leave the world and its tribulations to itself. Once upon a time, the monastic orders of contemplatives provided the means for those so inclined to do so, but in the words of Wordsworth, "the world is too much with us" and this is no longer true as once it was: the world has found its way into the contemplative orders by way of ecclesiastical structure and the cold realities of economic subsistence.

Blessed is the person who depends upon no one but God and one’s own efforts to provide the "daily bread" necessary to remain alive for another day to await God’s call to homecoming.

The Mass has been debased by those whose duty it is to preserve it in its pure form. Christ´s Church is now nearly unrecognizable to those who knew Her only half a century ago. Corruption is rife within Her, much of the clergy and its antics make one ashamed, yet the Faith transcends the Church and Her foibles, which are transitory not eternal.

The Faith from which the Church sprang forth resounds until the end of time, when the Church is subsumed into eternity, an appendage of the Faith that has served Her earthly purpose, a purpose known only to God. God’s Church is a Faith, not a flawed earthly bureaucracy peopled by fallen humans who claim to speak for a Faithful She seems to have chosen to cast aside in the interests of garnering approval of the faithless.

Obedience training works well with dogs, less so with humans gifted by God with reason. Catholics submit to obedience when one’s own conscience dictates that obedience is appropriate, or so believed St. Thomas Aquinas: "Consequently in matters touching the internal movement of the will man is not bound to obey his fellow-man, but God alone."

4 It is well to bear this in mind when the hierarchy of the Church (very possibly intentionally corrupted) dictates pastoral imperatives that on their face contradict nearly two thousand years of tradition to the contrary. The Church is meant to speak for God, but the Church is not God! The Church is composed of fallible, fallen humans touched by Grace but not with either omniscience or omnipotence, qualities possessed only by Her founder, Who has the final word.

Can one alone truly discern God’s design? We are taught that this is not so. But what of a Church that seems to have been co-opted by a malignant and humanly revolutionary force bent upon distorting the design that has been known through the ages? Must one bow down in obedience to such an institution? Must one ignore all that has gone before in favor of a "politically correct" orientation that amounts to a slap in the face to nearly two thousand years of tradition? This writer has his doubts, deep doubts, and prefers to rely upon a long history of teachings rather than jump onboard a Barque of Peter fashioned out of glue and baling wire to float upon the sea of fallen man's fashions. God bless and inspire Pope Francis, in whom he placed much hope, but until such time as he sees a clear course to the polar north of God, prefers to trust in his own comprehension of God’s guidance to salvation. Hubris?

Arrogance? Perhaps so. But until convinced otherwise, one man’s stance in solitude and silence.

Kneel, pray and listen: this writer has no other suggestion.

God alone guides us, though His Church is meant to do so. She has, however, over the course of nearly two millennia, until suddenly, some half a century ago, for reasons unknown, She changed course and left at least a remnant of the Faithful thoroughly

4 St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica , II, II-104, Objection 3.

confused as to what God had ordained for those who believed in Him. Could His Church misguide the Faithful?

Dogma denies such a possibility, but everyday observation seems to lend it credence. Strong words, but not without careful consideration. Does one truly believe that a "priest" in a tie-dyed tunic with a dog as an "altar boy" truly has the power to interpret God’s Word to a congregation of near-illiterates who have been propagandized into believing that Christ came to Earth to preach not salvation but social "equality"?

One is all in favor of a more equitable distribution of the goods God bestowed upon His created souls, but not at the price of their eternal salvation: first things first!

Those who believe this to be true are in good conscience compelled to offer their criticisms to the Holy Father and those once upon a time compelled by the Church to obey his dictates, not vote upon them. This writer believes that His Holiness has been chosen by God and those sanctified to elect him to guide the Faithful in a time in which the Church is in clear decline. This writer hopes and prays that the Holy Father’s vision is more clear than his own. But this writer wishes that the pope’s ear is attuned to God, more so than his own, and that God’s message to fallen man not fall upon deaf ears among those who have gone astray, even among those who kneel in silence awaiting the one Voice that speaks the eternal truth.

One who listens alone for the voice of the Alone must await in silence, awaiting for the dictates of He Who decides our final fate. Our Church appears to have other things on Her mind. So be it. Meanwhile, however much one might laud Her pronouncements on behalf of the poor, this writer opts for the admittedly selfish option of salvation within the Church of his youth and the millennia rather than the social worker Church of 2013, A.D.

Alone with the ALONE is far from the worst place to be. God is with us, each and every one: in time, He is also with His Church. It is not for us to determine when that time will be. v