BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS

A MESSAGE FOR THE 7th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Our Lord gives us a stern warning today.  “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”  There is a difficulty with this verse of Scripture, which our knowledge of the catechism should make us instantly aware of—we are not supposed to judge people, at least not in the internal forum.  And here is our Lord, warning us to beware of certain people who “inwardly,” that is, in that internal forum that we must not judge, “are ravening wolves.”  So if we may not judge them, how are we to decide who are the false prophets?  We must beware them, but how are we to know them?

Our Lord immediately answers this question.  “Ye shall know them by their fruits!”  While we cannot know what’s going in their heads, whether their motivation is sincere, or malicious, whether their intention is to guide us towards heaven or to lead us into temptation, there is one thing we can know.  We can see for ourselves, in the external forum, what are their fruits.  And so, very often, the men in sheep’s clothing betray their true intentions by their words and by their actions, and most importantly, by the results of these words and actions.

For this reason, we are perfectly free to judge the Second Vatican Council by the fruits of that Council.  The long list of those fruits is familiar to all of us—the destruction of the Holy Apostolic Mass and the doubtful validity of all the new sacraments, the apostasy of so many Catholics, the immediate and continuous drop in vocations, closing of churches, convents, hospitals, seminaries, the open debauchery of the clergy—these are just a few of the putrid fruits whose stench rises to heaven and fills the air, warning us of the presence of evil.

Our response to this evil must be a practical one.  It is not enough simply to acknowledge that the new conciliar Church is a corrupt tree that bringeth forth evil fruit.  We must actively “beware” the false prophets of Vatican II, and insofar as we can, hew down this evil tree of corruption and cast it into the fire.  Even that ravening wolf, Pope Francis, should not be omitted from our condemnations.  Indeed, he is the leader of the pack, and must be singled out for denunciation.  As Catholics, we must welcome the slow uprising among some of the more conservative Novus Ordo bishops and laymen, who are beginning to criticize his leadership, and we should pray that from these humble roots there may grow a solid, good tree that will bear forth the good fruits of the true faith, moral values and sacraments, so that the Church may again be visibly one, holy, catholic and apostolic.

As for ourselves, it’s not enough just to mouth the words “Lord, Lord!”  We have to be active in doing the will of our Father in heaven, condemning evil where we find it, and replacing it with goodness, virtue and truth. We have to follow the words of St. Paul in today’s Epistle, being made free from sin and becoming servants to God.  His exhortation should not be viewed as some vague call to “be good.”   Rather, it is the stern admonition to rid ourselves of all sin, all our little vices that separate us from God.  This is the first step towards perfection, but unless we take that step we shall never make any further progress towards our ultimate goal of salvation.  Let it be our resolve today to take that step once again, and to convert our lives to virtue and godliness.  Thus shall we have “fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.”