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Quote from: Matthew

Only a chastisement would be sufficient to get everyone to shut off their gadgets long enough to think about Eternity and the state of their souls. Everyone is engrossed in distractions and pleasure -- how can even a saint compete with that?
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Never has there been a turnaround after a situation as dire as this one. The world is now worse than it was before the Flood. And even though there have been turnarounds before, they have always involved a chastisement like the Black Death. It's simply the way things work.

Indeed, Matthew, but the lack of a chastisement IS the chastisement.  God is Love, and chastisements are in fact a great expression of His love, just like any loving parent might spank a child for his own good (despite being hard to do).  Unlike human parents, of course, God doesn't lose His cool.  God's chastisements have always been His greatest mercies.  Whenever there's suffering, a war, a crisis, a famine, the once-empty churches suddenly fill with people on their knees, and they realize their need for God.  But at some point the parent might just give up and say, "There's nothing more I can do.  This child is just doing to do what he's going to do, no matter how much I try to intervene."  That's where I'm afraid the world has gotten to, where God won't even bring a chastisement upon the world because He knows it's gotten so corrupt and evil that it most likely wouldn't help.  Instead of seeking God and repenting, humanity would only collectively curse His Holy Name.

Probably the worst chastisement is when God precisely does not do anything at all; but leaves free way to this damned race of Adam, by depriving them from His grace and letting them fall in free spiral. Tainted with original sin and pride of life, there is absolutely nothing but abyss and hollowness, that can be expected from humankind without God's help.  

Another point --

My family is integrally Catholic. That is to say, our Catholicism is 7-days-a- week. You wouldn't be scandalized if you followed us home after Mass. The girls' dresses don't come off once we get home. They wear them all the time. We don't have a TV. We teach our kids the Faith from an early age. Our kids know their prayers. We don't eat meat on Friday -- both inside and outside of Lent. We attend Mass on all Sundays and Holy Days. And so forth.

And yet, my integrally Catholic family has very few friends at our SSPX chapel of 200+ people. Sure, there are some -- some acquaintances and those we get along with. But most people either live too far away and/or aren't interested in forming close friendships with us.

The million-dollar question: Why?

One might say that our Catholic family is a microcosm of the Catholic Faith. How many people are interested in becoming "estranged" from The World? Not many. We are certainly estranged from it -- which is why we have few friends. That's my theory, at least.

I'll admit -- I'm not a social butterfly and neither is my wife. So part of the problem is our own melancholic temperaments, and I'll admit that. But we're friendly to everyone, and we USED to be friends with 2 different young families there several years ago. So our introverted natures didn't stop us then! But they both moved away to St. Mary's, KS, and we haven't really had any friends there (in the same state of life, I mean) since.

Part of the problem is that my wife and I both *know* that some families just aren't that similar to our own. Either they send their kids to public school (that's a HUGE difference right there), both parents work, or something along those lines. It's hard for an orange to be friends with an apple. Human friendships have to be formed on something in common. The Faith is something, but if the entire rest of your life is 100% different -- then what?

Some people just aren't cut out to be friends. Very sad, but true. There is one family in particular that bothers me to no end, because we just don't get along. (My Irish heritage teaches me to be affable and get along with everyone. My father (R.I.P.) was that way.) Anyhow, I could list a dozen things we have in common, but our personalities just clash too much for some reason. And I'll admit there are differences, too, and I suppose those differences do outweigh the similarities.

It reminds me of trying to form friendships based on "we both have the same disease or disorder". Ok, now what? You're still just a stranger, even if we both have _____ Syndrome.

Also, it reminds me of trying to pair up young Trads for marriage. Sure, you both go to this particular Mass in Latin every Sunday. But beyond that? What are your lives like? Your family culture? Your interests? Your attitudes towards work/family roles/money/entertainment/TV/swimming/you name it? They could all be night & day different, even though you both go to the same church.