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The final decision

19/7/2008 

Foreword

The present writing is a narrative, the product of the author’s imagination.  Therefore, names of people and situations are fictional.

Part One

A few days ago, Paul was surprised to receive a message from Joseph, a friend of his son Mario, whom he had not heard from for some time.  It said:  

I recall we had a brief discussion a few years back about your including some correspondence of mine concerning 'Sedevacantism[1]' in an up coming book you were putting together. You obviously have an interest in these sorts of contemporary Church issues and so you may be interested in the attached flier.  This man, Gerry Matatics, is apparently a great presenter of this particular issue, though I have never seen him.  He will be in Sydney on Thursday (17 July), if you are interested in going along.  Sorry for the short notice!
 

Anyway, I hope you find this of some interest.

Regards,

Joseph 

========

Paul was glad to hear that Gerry Matatics was going to give a talk in Sydney and he decided to go.  Now you might ask, ‘Who is Gerry Matatics?’ 

Gerry Matatics[2] converted to Catholicism from Presbyterianism over twenty years ago.  However, since this time, Gerry realized that the Catholic Church he had accepted as the only true Church was no longer the Traditional Catholic he longed for.  He started attending the Tridentine Mass at the SSPX chapels.  Lo and behold, many Catholic people, who knew him and had followed his lectures, deserted him in droves.  Today, for the Novus Ordo church, Gerry Matatics epitomizes the pariah whom nobody wants to be associated with. 

After Paul met Gerry Matatics and had heard what he had to say, he was assailed by some disquieting thoughts:   

“This Gerry Matatics is a good man.  He said that, apart from the appellative of sedevacantist given to him, he is not affiliated to any particular group of Traditional Catholics, because no one of them can give him what the official Catholic Church has already lost since 1958, that is after Pius XII death and the election of Angelo Roncalli, as Pope John XXIII.  Since then the liturgy had been hijacked, and   the validity of the sacraments except for the two sacraments of Baptism and Marriage, is questionable. 

This happened because, by tampering with rubrics, the consecration of bishops, has been rendered invalid after 1968.  Therefore, Confirmation and Ordination to the Priesthood, which are the prerogative of the bishop alone to give, are also invalid.  Accordingly, the celebration of the Eucharist [the Sacrifice of the Mass], Confession, and the Anointing of Sick are invalid.  Thus, what we have today is indeed a protestant church.  Paul found these thoughts very disturbing indeed.

Part Two 

By and by, some years later, Paul was bedridden and dying.  His wife, his three children, and a few friends, were around him, assisting him in his last hours.  Although in pain and tormented by the devil in many ways, Paul never lost his lucidity. It is now in the afternoon, the wind blows outside, and the sky is almost clear of clouds.  The room inside is well illuminated and comfortable.  Notwithstanding, there is an air of expectancy that something is going to happen.  What might that be, apart from death of the dying Paul, one might well ask. 

At that moment his firstborn son Nicola - who is a priest for some years now - tried to convince his father to repent from his ‘heretical views’ and to reconcile himself with the Catholic Church [which Paul calls the ‘New Church’]. 

“Repent, Dad, of your sins and renounce to your heretical views”, Nicola begged his father, “for persisting in your ideas you will die outside the Catholic Church and so without the grace of God.” 

“That I will die is certain, for my time has come,” replied his father.  “Repent from my sins I will do with all my heart, for they are too many.  But to renounce my ideas on the state of affairs in the Catholic Church today would be for me to reject truth that is Jesus Christ Himself.  I will never do that, my son.” 

“Dad, you will go to hell, I am sure, if you don’t come back to the Church.” 

“I am in God’s hands, now more than ever.  The Lord Jesus Christ, whom I love with all my heart, will judge me today.  If I deserve anything but hell, I don’t know.  God knows.  In this my last and final act, I am refusing to renounce what I truly believe to be true.  As I have already said before, it is because of my love of the truth, which is Jesus Christ Himself.”  Paul pauses for an instant as if to recollect his thoughts, and then continues:  

“My son, don’t judge me wrongly.  It is not that I don’t fear the hell -  the Lord knows that well.  But it’s my love for the Lord and for His Gospel that is greater than anything else.  The great Saint Philip Neri said:  

“My dear children, whatever you do, you should never act out of fear of hell, but out of love for God.” 

“What makes you believe, Paul, so strongly that the Catholic Church we are in is not the real one?”  Clara, a good friend of his son Nicola, asked. 

 “The Church that I was born into was the traditional one, in which the unalterable Truth could be found and lived.  That Church has been gagged by the enemy for over fifty years.  Apart from a few cases, we don’t have a Catholic voice to speak out against social and political corruption, injustice, immorality, etc., neither from the pulpit nor from the Vatican.  Today, the official catholic church is a counterfeit, the product of Vatican II, which got rid of tradition altogether, so creating a new religion.” 

“You are greatly mistaken, Paul.”  Clara said.  “I really hope that God will forgive you…” 

“Clara, I understand your position. You are an academic and a religious woman.  Apart from that, you know very little what is going on outside your little world.  I took the same stance myself, long ago, for I had no sympathies for people who had no love for the Catholic Church.  That was then.  Today is different.” 

“What made you see in a different way now?” she asked. 

“Two things: my understanding of the contemporary Catholic Church in our world affairs, and my increasing love for God and His word.”  After that, Paul stopped talking.  He looked around the room.  No one dared to say anything.  Silence reigned.  Then Paul, after blessing himself, spoke again and said: 

“Nicola, my son, and you too Clara, I have only few minutes to live.  So I want to leave my testament unto you.  I will be most happy to die as I am now.   

I will be very happy for you both, if your efforts to convince me may be accredited to you as spiritual gain and will ultimately get you to heaven for your good work.   

However, if my refusal to accept your words will lead me to my salvation and you to the loss of God’s grace, I will be very sad in heaven, should you will find that I was right and you were deceived.

It's not what we don't know, that gets
us in the end - it's what we do know,
that just ain't so.
Author Unknown

For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases pain. ...but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it

Ecclesiastes 1:18  7:12

“My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.”—Hosea 4:6

Contact: nadir@sheddinglight.info

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