Why Piety on Purpose
Understanding the rebrand and the direction of the channel.
After much thought and prayer, I have decided to take the channel in a different direction. Catholic Missa Breve was to be an aid to diving deeper into the scripture scheduled in the Missal throughout the liturgical year. Although this is a worthy direction for a Catholic content channel, it came with several factors that brought me more tension than creative opportunities. For one, which Missal? I am a person who has a love for Tradition and uses the 1962 Tridentine Missal daily and attends the Traditional Latin Mass as family schedules permit. I also am a member of a Nuvos Order parish and love to attend Daily Mass and often fulfill my Sunday obligation at St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church in Charlotte, NC. Because of this, I found myself bouncing back and forth in my content between the 1962 Missal and the Missal of Paul VI. I felt this was unfair to my listeners and it would confuse them, not knowing if their preferred Missal would be represented from one week to the next.
Another reason for the change is that I felt very limited to what I could talk about in my videos and posts. If I am going to call myself what equates to ‘Catholic Missal Briefs’ I had better stick to the niche I put myself in. But I am learning so much more and have so much more to say. I am currently in the Inquiry phase of the Dominican Lay Order. I am learning insights from St. Thomas Aquinas. How do I fit that in when I am supposed to talk about the epistle for the 30th week of Ordinary time because of the channel niche.
But I think the biggest reason for the rebrand is to be more in tune with myself and what is important to me and that is the transformation of my soul. When I reverted back to Catholicism, one of the draws was how practical Catholicism is in regards to the sanctification process. In all my years in various Protestant denominations, I have never seen such structure given to becoming holy, to becoming Christ-like, to leave the old Adam drowned in my baptism and to live the new life that Christ has given me. I am such a sinner and although I know my salvation comes from the finished work of Christ on the Cross, I know I am not to live in the flesh any more. I am not to remain as I was, but out of love for God I am to walk in the newness of life in Christ. Catholicism has so many opportunities to take your sanctification seriously. Piety, asceticism, Mass, scripture, rosaries, prayers, fasting and alms giving, studying the lives of the Saints, are all tangible goals and tools given by our Holy Mother Church for our good.
What I have found is that piety doesn’t just happen. A few quick prayers in the morning does not automatically make me walk the rest of the day as a holy and pious man of God, impervious to the devils temptations and attacks. No, in fact what I have learned the hard way is that if I don’t take my sanctification and walk with Christ deadly seriously, I am a sitting duck against the evil of this world. If I don’t strive for PIETY ON PURPOSE, it will not magically happen for me.
The anchor verse for this channel is Mark 12:30-31
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
This is the goal of personal piety and sanctification. To love God so much that with all my thoughts, actions and strength, I live to give thanks, to serve him, and to flee from sin. The second is how I serve my neighbor. My wife is my neighbor, my daughter is my neighbor, my employees are my neighbor. And in this verse it says to love your neighbor as yourself. This means I have to serve myself with what is best for me, and then let the outpouring of that benefit my neighbor. This is where the professional and more secular forms of excellence will aid in the channel. How we treat our bodies, our mind, the goals we strive to achieve and the way we go about these things are incredibly important to how we live out this command from the Lord. Excellence, success, and good habits are either vanity of vanities, or, if directed out of love of God and neighbor, are some of the best gifts of yourself you can give to others.
And so that is where I am and what I want to do with the channel. It will be mostly Catholic theology, but there will be a theme of what we do with that knowledge. I love to study. But if all of this theological knowledge only puffs up or serves as simply a book report, then it is for nothing. But if it helps to grow in piety, in how I love God and serve my neighbor, well then that is something worth fighting for.
I look forward to you coming along with me on my journey.
In Christ through Mary,
Rich