Received this morning in our blog comments:
Father: Please, I need your prayers. Presently I attend a sedevacantist chapel. I go there because it is reverent, blessedly quiet, and quite peaceful. I am not sure what to believe any more. This month of May I have been praying to Our Lady to let me know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what to do. Will you pray with me and for me please?
Father: Please, I need your prayers. Presently I attend a sedevacantist chapel. I go there because it is reverent, blessedly quiet, and quite peaceful. I am not sure what to believe any more. This month of May I have been praying to Our Lady to let me know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what to do. Will you pray with me and for me please?
Thank you.
A Lost Sheep
Reply:
Dear Lost Sheep,
Thank you for writing and asking for prayers. We have begun praying with you and also for you, just as you asked. In the chapel you go to you have found reverence and peaceful quiet. You can pray. Keep praying and, although you have come to a point where you do not know what to believe any more, do not panic; the doubt will pass; Our Lord and Our Lady will not leave you in perpetual uncertainty.
You called yourself ‘a lost sheep.’ Well done. Now you need to recognise and accept the name of the Shepherd Our Lord has given to you. It is Pope Benedict. He is your shepherd and you belong to his fold, the Catholic Church.
Reply:
Dear Lost Sheep,
Thank you for writing and asking for prayers. We have begun praying with you and also for you, just as you asked. In the chapel you go to you have found reverence and peaceful quiet. You can pray. Keep praying and, although you have come to a point where you do not know what to believe any more, do not panic; the doubt will pass; Our Lord and Our Lady will not leave you in perpetual uncertainty.
You called yourself ‘a lost sheep.’ Well done. Now you need to recognise and accept the name of the Shepherd Our Lord has given to you. It is Pope Benedict. He is your shepherd and you belong to his fold, the Catholic Church.
The Shepherd of the Flock
Dear Lost Sheep, look at the photograph of your Shepherd and then, when you are ready, take a pen and a piece of paper, kneel down and write the following note:
“I believe in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ upon the Apostle Peter, and today I fully accept Pope Benedict XVI as the true Pope of the Catholic Church and I submit myself to his authority in obedience to the same Jesus Christ who will come to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire. Amen.”
Then sign the paper and put the date beside your signature.
I advise you to make this act of submission to the Vicar of Christ. You will see the good that it will do for you.
Secondly, make a firm decision that you will no longer go to the sedevacantist priest for Confession. This is important. Do not go to Confession to him since he has no jurisdiction to forgive sins. Do not open up to him since he will try to convince you of his errors. In fact, unless you know for sure that he was ordained by a SSPX bishop or by Archbishop Lefebvre you really must not trust his priestly Orders at all, because the Catholic Church does not recognise them.
With these things agreed, you should soon find a chapel of the Fraternity of St. Peter or another chapel where the old Mass is offered by some good, orthodox priest. This is no longer difficult, especially in the United States of America.
I know that this news presents you with the Cross since it is difficult to change and the need to change may raise many questions or bring unrest to your soul. It will pass. Trust me, it is worth it. The chapel you are in may be beautiful but, unless you are under the authority of your true Shepherd, Pope Benedict XVI, you will not be in your Father’s house; but in the house of a stranger. You need your Shepherd. Dear lost sheep, you must start for home.
If you need any help you can write to me by pressing the ‘Contact Me’ button. You will find the internet address of the Society of St. Peter on the links at the left of the screen.
May Our Mother of Perpetual Succour guide you and lead you along the rest of the way home.
Please also pray for us.
“I believe in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ upon the Apostle Peter, and today I fully accept Pope Benedict XVI as the true Pope of the Catholic Church and I submit myself to his authority in obedience to the same Jesus Christ who will come to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire. Amen.”
Then sign the paper and put the date beside your signature.
I advise you to make this act of submission to the Vicar of Christ. You will see the good that it will do for you.
Secondly, make a firm decision that you will no longer go to the sedevacantist priest for Confession. This is important. Do not go to Confession to him since he has no jurisdiction to forgive sins. Do not open up to him since he will try to convince you of his errors. In fact, unless you know for sure that he was ordained by a SSPX bishop or by Archbishop Lefebvre you really must not trust his priestly Orders at all, because the Catholic Church does not recognise them.
With these things agreed, you should soon find a chapel of the Fraternity of St. Peter or another chapel where the old Mass is offered by some good, orthodox priest. This is no longer difficult, especially in the United States of America.
I know that this news presents you with the Cross since it is difficult to change and the need to change may raise many questions or bring unrest to your soul. It will pass. Trust me, it is worth it. The chapel you are in may be beautiful but, unless you are under the authority of your true Shepherd, Pope Benedict XVI, you will not be in your Father’s house; but in the house of a stranger. You need your Shepherd. Dear lost sheep, you must start for home.
If you need any help you can write to me by pressing the ‘Contact Me’ button. You will find the internet address of the Society of St. Peter on the links at the left of the screen.
May Our Mother of Perpetual Succour guide you and lead you along the rest of the way home.
Please also pray for us.
Your devoted servant
Fr. Michael Mary, F.SS.R.
Thank you Father for a touching resonse to our 'Lost Sheep.' As you gently point out to him it is only in communion with Peter that we can truly say we are at home.
ReplyDeleteBe assured of my prayers for you and your community. i look forward to welcoming your students in my parish on their return to frm the States.
I am weeping. You have given me what I have been seeking, the truth. I too am a lost sheep and you have put me on the path home. God bless you. For me, finding this website and reading your answer is a miracle. I have not been to church in years, but tomorrow I will go. Thank you so much. You have no idea how powerful your words have been.
ReplyDeleteBrian
You are not a " Lost Sheep ", you are The Found Sheep !
ReplyDeleteYou heard the call of God and you answered to it, open your heart to God
and He will show you the way.
" Lost Sheep ", I suggest you to write to the Rev. Fr. Michael Mary, F.SS.R. -
in Him you will find a charismatic Spiritual Father and a very good friend.
May God Be With You
In addition to Fr. Michael Mary's very good advice, I would also recommend that our Lost Sheep visit the SSPX USA site and read the many good articles there on the topic of sedevacantism. Archbishop Lefebvre said that sedevacantism is "a false solution to a real problem", and he firmly rejected it. By all means find a FSSP chapel, as the FSSP priests exercise full priestly functions within the Church, including Confession. (By the way, when visiting the SSPX USA site, you should avoid the articles on Confession and supplied jurisdiction -- too confusing. Get thee to a priest who has the jurisdiction to absolve your sins -- the salvation of your soul depends upon it.)
ReplyDeleteDear Lost Sheep, Fr. Michael Mary is right: you must submit to Peter in the person of Pope Benedict XVI. I'll be the first to admit that the current Pope says things sometimes that drive me nuts. He is apparently surrounded by vipers in the Vactican who whisper heresies in his ear (although he has never taught heresy himself) and he had a very modernist education as a young priest. You must PRAY for him, and you must GO to him. He is our Papa, for better or for worse. I will pray for you.
Your brother in Christ,
Confiteor