Our times call for strong and courageous Catholics, not ‘nice’ ones by SantosO.Muñoz,LtCol(Ret),USAF for Life Site News
Broadly speaking, our beloved bishops, priests and deacons, both here and abroad, either are not very effective speaking about our Blessed Lord’s bravery, strength, and masculinity, or they fear reprimand and reprisal when teaching the Truth in the same manner as Him.
I’m a cradle Catholic, Hispanic man, husband, father, and retired U.S. Air Force officer who grew up in Puerto Rico during the 1980s and graduated high school from a Catholic school. I recently attended a local parish meeting to provide input to the Synod but didn’t know much about it and wasn’t fully prepared for the discussion.
There were around twenty people in attendance and a general agreement with the comments provided. After the meeting and much reflection in the importance of this upcoming historic event, I wanted to provide a summary of my thoughts in a more clear and succinct way since I believe there are other laypeople thinking the same way as I do. My views and experiences are not based on a particular diocese, but rather observations taken over time by attending Mass in different places around the world due to my travels during my twenty-four years of military service. Hope and pray this encourage other laypeople to participate and help their local parishes in this endeavor as well.
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I’m deeply ashamed to admit this now, but while a student in college, I stopped going to Mass for a long period of time since I didn’t feel obligated, didn’t know the rich history or sacred traditions of the Church, couldn’t explain or defend our Faith, and didn’t know about the real presence of our Blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. People tended not to genuflect while walking in front of the tabernacle where our Blessed Lord is present, and I don’t remember a palpable reverence for, or pious worship of, God in the Eucharist. The Eucharist was treated as an object or symbol, and if you dropped it on the floor while trying to grab it with your unconsecrated hands, it wasn’t seen as a disgrace.[1] I viewed the Mass as a family custom, onus, chore, opportunity for socializing with friends and family, and vestige of my Hispanic heritage and culture.
Nevertheless, around the time I was 47 years old, I started to hear the stories of conversion into Catholicism by Protestants, atheists, and believers of other religions. Their love for our Church’s rich history, sacred traditions, liturgy, splendor, beauty – and zeal in their apologetic work – was contagious and a force multiplier in my heart. However, the most compelling testimonies that brought me back to the fullness of the Faith were the ones related to the way they finally found the Real Presence of the body, blood, soul and divinity of our Blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and their devotion to the liturgical worship in the Traditional Latin Mass. I wasn’t even aware that the Church had this reverent and traditional form of worship until around 2018!
