Well said. Totally agree. God is not bound by any limitations. He has always taken care of His children.
Yes. A great saint (St John Damascene maybe?) Said the worst punishment God can inflict on His people is bad priests. We are there.
7So thy people received the salvation of the just, and destruction of the unjust. 8For as thou didst punish the adversaries so thou didst also encourage and glorify us. 9For the just children of good men were offering sacrifice secretly, and they unanimously ordered a law of justice: that the just should receive both good and evil alike, singing now the praises of the fathers. Wisdom 18:1-9 Douay This was part of the Epistle today, and it referenced the Passover, but it foreshadows what is coming upon us. IMHO
Here I am, after coming across the above comment from Bobby written some years ago in an older thread. Geralyn and I try to be faithful, and still attend, almost exclusively, the Novus Ordo. In the discussion of efficaciousness, what is at times most critically left out is what does one do with the grace received. It could be argued Grace A is better than Grace B, but the more important question always is: have I applied such grace received, to the areas of my life where I fall short? It might be presumption, but I assume, that a person who attends the TLM, but inconsistently lives out the grace received, is less fortunate than the Novus Ordo attendee who consistently allows such grace received to seep into the decisions of daily life. Therefore, I conclude: if you can attend the TLM regularly, then wonderful. If you can't, it isn't a fault to be concerned about, as long as you take the Word of God and the Bread of Life into your heart, mind, and soul: and live by it! Of course, if I manage to attain the heavenly realm, and one of you TLM'ers is in the 10th pew who turns around and winks at me in the 20th pew, I promise not to get upset.
Fulton Sheen had a wise thing to say about the Mass and people saying they found it boring. He said what we take out of the Mass is what we bring to it. It is a great idea to arrive at mass early and to leave it late if possible. At the moment I read a chapter of the bible and do the morning office before mass. This is a huge, huge help. Also first thing in the morning I do a walk with my morning rosary and prayers and of course my time on the forum. So all this is a preparation for the Mass as well. A good act of contrition is a big plus. All the day flows towards the mass and away from it. The center the light of my day. Mass should be our greatest joy. I do miss the old mass which I much prefer, but beggars cannot be choosers, if God wants me to have the TLM again no doubt he will bring it to me. But oh how I miss it!!
