8.14. How do you explain the good fruits some people experience from the Novus Ordo—conversions, peace, etc.?
God can draw good even out of flawed circumstances. But subjective feelings of peace or spiritual experience are not valid measures of divine truth. Many Protestants report feeling “close to Jesus” in their churches, but that doesn’t mean Protestantism is true.
The true “fruits” Christ speaks of are doctrinal fidelity, moral integrity, and growth in sanctity. Look instead at the objective fruits of the Novus Ordo: collapse of vocations, disbelief in the Real Presence, widespread liturgical abuses, religious indifferentism, and moral compromise. These are not the fruits of the Holy Spirit, but of confusion.
When someone finds peace in the Novus Ordo, we don’t deny their sincerity—but we ask: Is this peace rooted in truth, or in comfort? Christ's peace sometimes disturbs before it consoles—
“I came not to bring peace, but a sword.”