By Their Fruits...

When somebody has a "holier-than-thou" (HTT) attitude, it usually doesn't bother me much, because it just isn't that hard to beat me in holiness. Traditional Catholics are often diagnosed with HTT, simply because they searched and searched for the One True Faith. This alone is commendable, and every human should strive for truth. The rest of us Trads get a bad name when our peers then continue searching for the One True Sub-Faith, then the One True Parish, then the One True Group of Friends, and eventually hope to become the One True Catholic in all the land. Somewhere between One True Parish and Only Correct Person Ever Born a bit of arrogance tends to creep in.

I don’t really blame them for this. Arrogance is very hard to avoid when you are right 100% of the time. I know this because I have been cursed with right-ness since the day I was born and it’s a constant struggle to remain humble about it. I do pretty well in the humble department, but let’s face it, not everyone can be like me.

I don’t claim to be able to interpret the Bible but I do like to take the basics and apply them to my life. Crazy, I know, but bear with me. In the Sermon on the Mount, we are told to beware of false prophets. Had we been left alone with that phrase, we would have quite a job trying to distinguish the “false” and the “true” prophets, or as it goes on to say, a “bad tree” from a “good tree”. Lucky for us, our God knows us well, and He ends our confusion in the next verse.

“By their fruits you shall know them”, and later, “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit.” So, if men are the trees, fruits would be…actions, words, desires? When a person comes to you with the “truth”, are you to believe it because they say it? Of course not. Are you to believe it because they are great debaters, and you have run out of arguments? No. Are you to believe it because they give you a book which proves it? Absolutely not. This verse tells us to look at their fruits.

I do not mean to say that, just because a person is kind and seems holy, they are always telling the truth. God gave you reason – use it. Read, study, and most of all, discuss. It’s the discussion part that is key – only discuss with persons who bear good fruit.

This is where the problem lies with people in the Trad-World. There are good, honest, kind, faithful and devout Traditional Catholics out there. Use their fruits to find them. Don’t use their reputation, big words, arguments, money, education, or titles – this is where so many people are led astray.

I know a well-respected and well-educated man with a title. He is quite friendly and has a lovely family. I won’t describe him further, because I don’t want to give away his identity. People flock to this man for advice because of these things. The problem is that those aren’t fruits. At a social function, this man made a series of hateful and derogative remarks about people he had never met in order to get a laugh out of the people around him. I was in shock that someone so well-respected still had the mentality of a second-grade bully. THAT is a fruit. (Yeah, yeah, yeah...I'm sure the guy has other fruits, as well, and I shouldn't judge...I'm just trying to make a point here, people!  You are more than welcome to keep asking unnamed-dude for his advice.)

If the doctrine is sound, you will see the good fruits. If a doctrine is founded on pride, you will see the fruits of that, as well. It doesn’t have to be blatantly heretical to be wrong. I was told by a man at my church that I could go elsewhere if I didn’t like the fact that he was spreading gossip about our priest. He wouldn’t speak to me in kindness, even though I approached him calmly and with love. He spoke to me in anger, clammed up and walked away. That doesn’t seem to be the fruits of a person who is doing the right thing. “The wicked man fleeth when no man persueth; but the just, bold as a lion, shall be without dread.”

This doesn’t always have to do with pride, of course, but it does seem to be the main difficulty in the Trad-World. As a Catholic, you are eventually going to hear about the Trad-World. Learn about it, discuss, and look at the fruits in the Trad-World community. Are they Christ-like and desirable? I find that they are. As a Trad, you will be approached with further ideas and ways of life, such as homeschooling, the Marian Code, Pre-Vatican II vs. Post-Vatican II, and Sedevacantism. Some are good and some are not. There are some things that work for some people if they are called to it, and won’t work for others. Look at the fruits. Talk it over with your Savior Who loves you and will show you the way to Heaven if you just let Him. Then decide if these are the kinds of fruits you want or need in your life. If they are, and you are sure, go, my friend, and live it to the fullest.

And pray for those who have not reached your same conclusions, because cramming it down their throats never works, and to tell the truth, force-feeding isn’t really a fruit most people find attractive. If it comes to that, you are welcome to go to the top of the page and start over, however, I recommend that you find someone who actually knows what they are talking about, look at their fruits, and, finding them yummy, talk to them about it.