I pray that this summer (for those in the Northern Hemisphere!) finds you happy and joyful.  I want to write today about the difficulty of separating oneself from what one has known, or thought they knew, all their life.  I am referring to someone raised in the Catholic Church, going to Novus Ordo masses from the time they just learned to walk, raised in Catholic schools perhaps but unexposed to Tradition.  I remember making friends with a Traditional Catholic for the first time just a few short years back, and I began learning all of these things about Modernism and Vatican II's loopholes and the Protestantation of the Church.  It has taken me awhile to get to the point where I decided to attend SSPX masses.  The difficulty for me is not in that I doubt Tradition or the SSPX preisthood;  I believe in it with my whole heart.  But to leave the mainstream and friends behind is, frankly, painful.  It is painful to leave what is comfortable and familiar.  The Latin mass is still a little strange to me, and most Catholics in my town are by no means traditional.  I had arranged to try and start a young adult group in my town, and was planning on being a part of a Diocesan beach mass and picnic, when I realized that I couldn't reconcile my beliefs with having a mass on the beach.  The Catholic mass is sacred, the most sacred form of worship there is this side of heaven, and I felt it wouldn't be right having a mass in that setting.  I am disappointed, because I wanted to make friends in my town with other Catholics, and the priest who offered to do the mass is a wonderful person.  But our highest calling is to God.  I realize you can't have it all, I can't have it all, I can't keep myself on the fence in good conscience.  I can imagine how hard it would be for a Protestant or person from some other faith to enter the Catholic church if his/her family and friends were not Catholic.  Yet when God calls, it our job just to trust and obey.    I don't know what the future holds for myself or the Church, but I believe in the words of Christ, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against (the Church)".  Our job is to follow where God leads us, and I personally believe that the SSPX priesthood is helping to preserve the true Catholic faith!  God bless!