Fans of the greatest sport ever devised by man, men who have been fortunate enough to walk the Augusta National Golf Course, have their memories and emotions stirred every spring when The Masters competition begins.
The entire experience of the senses is realised amidst a respectful ordered decorum, happily observed by golfer and patron alike (o, and how the word, patron, is despised by the liberals).
Where else, in this crummy country, can one find such a public display of southron, ordered, respectful, and mannered behavior?
And what a joy it is to see and hear the respect for the great traditions of the greatest game ever invented; and it is simply pure joy to revisit in one's mind the incomparably beautiful grounds - and the sights, sounds, and smells - of the golf course of Augusta National which is located but several well stuck three irons away from the crummy city, Augusta, Georgia, which surrounds it:
and what a joy it is for a man to hear the golf professionals from all over the world speak about Augusta National and The Masters and The Green Jacket with such love and reverence and solemnity.
And, inevitably, what thoughts of sadness are also triggered by these sweet memories for it is impossible for Raider Fan to think of any secular good and not to think about, by way of comparison, the execrable ecclesiastical epoch he is blessed to live in.
And, as it does every year at this time, Raider Fan's intellect is assaulted by what has been done to the Real Mass and how little it is valued and how it was blown-up and how the Lil' Licit Liturgy was created to supplant it and how Pope Paul Vl refused to let us love and reverence the Real Mass the way golfers love and reverence a secular site that has as its purpose mere sport.
Lord have Mercy.
During the lamentable reign of Pope Paul VI, Clifford Roberts and William Lane were the successive chairman of Augusta National and they would never have destroyed The Augusta National Golf Course the way Pope Paul VI destroyed the Roman Rite - and golf fans would have had their heads if they had even tried to do it.
Go ahead, try and imagine Roberts or Lane bulldozing the entire golf course and replacing it with some modernised stainless steel contraption or, even worse, replacing it with a bunch of damn gorse and weeds with trees stuck in the middle of greens and then removing all discipline and strictures about attire and behavior so that some golfer could arrive at the first tee dressed as a clown; hell man, even famously irascible, Tommy Bolt, at midnight, drunk out of his mind, would never dishonor such a tradition.
Had they destroyed The Augusta National Golf Course, would you have bought their putative reason for destroying it - that they wanted to attract those ineligible to compete in this classic event?
But when it comes to the Holiest and most consequential act ever taking place on earth at any moment in time, the Mass?
Eh, who cares?
Certainly not The Pope:
[Abp. Jan Graubner speaks:] When we were discussing those who are fond of the ancient liturgy and wish to return to it, it was evident that the Pope speaks with great affection, attention, and sensitivity for all in order not to hurt anyone. However, he made a quite strong statement when he said that he understands when the old generation returns to what it experienced, but that he cannot understand the younger generation wishing to return to it. "When I search more thoroughly - the Pope said - I find that it is rather a kind of fashion [in Czech: 'móda', Italian 'moda']. And if it is a fashion, therefore it is a matter that does not need that much attention. It is just necessary to show some patience and kindness to people who are addicted to a certain fashion. But I consider greatly important to go deep into things, because if we do not go deep, no liturgical form, this or that one, can save us."
Really? Then try going to The Masters some year and ask the youth what they think of Augusta National and its traditions.
And, come on, just try and imagine some patron foolish enough to think that he could stride onto a green during competition to remove a flag stick.
The Augusta officials would haul his goofy butt outta there and he'd never be allowed back onto the grounds of Augusta National. PERIOD!!
Please, patrons aren't like lectors and lectrix who are comfortable roaming the Sanctuary; patrons at Augusta National love and honor golf tradition and they know that their place is not on the greens.
Now, imagine if our Pope and Prelates loved, reverenced and treasured the Real Mass the way golfers love and treasure The Masters and imagine that our Pope, Princes, Prelates and Priests did not try and place guards around The Real Mass so it could not rise from its Tomb.
Conversely, try and imagine any Chairman or official of Augusta National trying to prevent Professional golfers from competing at The Masters; imagine THEM putting barriers up around Augusta National and refusing to let anyone in...
Lisen to the way the Champions at The Masters speak about the Green Jacket; such reverence and joy could be directed - as it once was - to the Vestments used in The Real Mass. Yes, it can, and will, happen.
For starters, we might see this insight resurrected - and note the source, from a liturgical revolutionary yet:
The Mass of The Roman Rite, Vol 1;
Joseph A. Jungman, S.J. page 280,
Actually, of course, there is a certain symbolism inherent in the liturgical vestments. The fact that the priest wears garments that are not only better, but really quite special, distinct from the garments of ordinary civil life, enhanced where possible by the preciousness of the material and by decoration - all this can have but one meaning: that the priest in a sense leaves this world and enters another world, the shimmer of which is mirrored in his vesture.
But, there is no rational hope, only the true theological Hope, which now exists that The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will, one day - and this is ontologically ineluctable - be resurrected and restored in all of its masculine solemnity, reverence, and beauty.
You have NOT won, modernists; we Catholic Traditionalists hold in our memories the love for Tradition as it is embodied in The Real Mass and we pass that on to all of those we come in contact with.