Won't You Be My Valentine?

Love and Marriage in Catholic Tradition

This Wolf has the Intuition that many were taken aback by the recent post concerning SSPX Priest Fr Louis Pieronne's commentary on Catholic Modesty, and probably think this Wolf Overdosed on Puritanical Asceticism- He can see those nodding heads already- and so wants to issue a clarification and further exposition of some points.

First off, everybody likes falling in love, this Wolf included.  On a personal note, He prays every day for the repose of the soul of one who he loved many years ago, whom he knows to have died, and another, also from his youth, for whom he does not know her status regarding Eternity.  Concerning the former, he does not even know whether the poor girl was baptized, while the latter was a Catholic, though the extent of her devotion is highly conjectural at this point.  Nevertheless, in the Immaculate Heart of Mary he holds out Holy Hope that he will find both on the right side come Judgment Day.  So, yes, for the record, once upon a time this Wolf was deeply in love, but a true love progresses from funny interior feelings to a sacrificial commitment, and as the feelings diminish and mellow- as they inevitably will- persevering devotion comes to the fore, as it ought.
And so, by all means young man, fall in love if that is the will of God.  Hopefully, that love will be tempered by good Catholic courtship- something mightily neglected these days, alas!- and prudence.  Hopefully one will have prepared for that moment from a child through a tender devotion to St Joseph, model for fathers- who was entirely chaste, by the way.
This Wolf said that all concupiscence is disordered, and it is.  But in the Unspeakable Mysteries of God, He allows- nay, even favors- concupiscence in the hearts of the inexperienced.  (Think about that the next time you ask God "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil...")  Romance and courtship is not meant to be entertaining or a recreational activity, Hellywood notwithstanding, but rather the entrance to great trials of soul, and the beginning of a great growing and maturation process, which, alas, the vast majority today flunk profoundly.
The Catholic view on marriage and courtship is rooted in the words of St Paul: "But if they do not contain themselves, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to be burnt."  The more perfect state is that of continence, even though marriage be a sacrament- and a very holy one at that.  The married should understand that theirs is the inferior vocation in the order of Grace, and that they have forfeited the opportunity to be great saints in heaven, and that they occupy a lower rung in the Divine Economy. This is proper humility- assenting to the truth.  And so in the economy of salvation they will struggle mightily just to enter the threshold of Purgatory, should they die young.  Please God that they live to Old Age, that they might through suffering and time expunge the imperfections and sins of their youth, especially wanton indulgence in eating, drinking, and luxury.  And meanwhile, those shut up in the cloisters and in the clerical state should grasp their obligation is to give themselves totally to God, reserving nothing, so they might atone for those in the world, that all might speedily come to the Beatific Vision.  That is the purpose and summit of the obedience they give their superiors- self abnegation, the slaying of their own will upon the Altar of God.
The Priest and the Religious, if they are taught well, hopefully have learned to practice Custody of the Eyes and Custody of the Heart.  They have learned to practice so that in their encounters with creatures great and small, their hearts are not wounded by a mark of concupiscence, which causes no end of disquiet of soul, making the tranquility of prayer well nigh impossible amid a torrent of distractions.  Now some men might be able to gaze at women- even those immodestly dressed- and contemplate them while retaining tranquility.   (For this Wolf, truth be told, pornography is disgusting.  He would be more quickly aroused by a shapely woman covered in clothes, who gives the appearance of modesty, than a brutally naked female.  One can indeed make a distinction between an immodesty which arouses the most based passions in men, and a feigned modesty which attracts the more refined.  But both originate in the same corrupted fount.  That is why Our Lord insisted that our eye also be Lightsome.)  Others, alas, are quite easily aroused.  It is to these that the modesty of women must cater.  Many women have the attitude that, well, my dress is "in bounds" and if a man gets aroused, well, then it is his fault!  These women forget that the standards of modesty expressed by Pope Leo XIII are a MINIMUM standard, not a RECOMMENDED one.
And this is the basis of this Wolf's complaints against Fr Louis Pieronne.  Hopefully, we want priests who zealously lead souls to the summit of perfection, and are not satisfied that souls merely have a proverbial foot in the door.  And to that end they will adhere to the constant traditions and teachings of Holy Mother Church.  No priest has any business calling himself Traditional if he is not going to be studied in the asceticism of the Fathers and Doctors and constantly be quoting them on any subject, or at least using them as a foundation and launching point for any speculation.  We do not want priests who are trying to marry God and mammon, especially in the context of the New Sodom, but who understand that EVERY aspect of modern society caters to the whims, comforts, and satiation of our lower, bestial nature- what St Francis often referred to as Brother Ass- which has been profoundly wounded and disordered since the fall.  The spiritual combat is all about slaying our concupiscences, and not being satisfied with some plateau of attainment.  The Spirit of the Cross has no limits.  It is unbounded.  Let us remember that at the doorstep of this Holy Season of Lent.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.  You are our only hope!