A MESSAGE FOR THE 5th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
It’s a common practice when we
find ourselves surrounded and overwhelmed by adversity to simply throw our
hands in the air and surrender, giving in to the evils that beset us, and
letting go of the once deeply held values that originally caused the
conflict. However, this is not the
Catholic response! At least, not when
those cherished principles are based on the revelations of God and are part of
the divine Truth.
We live today, constantly crushed
by the devil’s seemingly unstoppable onslaught on our faith and moral
values. Liars in the media and elsewhere
vomit out a never-ending torrent of propaganda against everything we stand for,
and to be honest, we get very tired of it.
But what should be our response as Catholics? Should we just throw in the towel on the
spewing drivel that attempt to dethrone the truth with blatant delusions of
transgender rights, unbridled abortions, and the total abolition of God from
our society? Or conversely, should we
become so filled with anger and bitterness against the purveyors of evil that
we seek to do them harm?
As usual, our Catholic faith
teaches us that there is a third way, the way of moderation between two
extremes. It is a way you are familiar
with, having arrived yourselves at this conclusion when you neither went along with
the false faith of Vatican II, nor became an enemy of the true faith by joining
a protestant sect. Alas, so many
millions chose one of those two extreme paths, and one can only pray that God
extend his mercy on them. But what you
have chosen is that middle path in which we resist the changes made by the evil
infiltrators within the Church, but without rejecting that Church altogether.
Our response to the morass of
evil in today’s world must surely be the same.
We must firmly reject it, we must do our best to defend our values
against those who seek to destroy them, but we must never offend God by joining
in the hatred and violence that is the last, desperate weapon of our enemies.
This surely is the true Catholic
path, and one that must surely be the most pleasing to God. It is not an easy path, however, and we are
all familiar with the murky place to which it has led us, one in which we face
ostracism from both sides, and where we seem to be “on the outs” with most of
the world. Dark though it may be, we
have the promise of our blessed Saviour who promised to abide until the end of
the world with those true members of his Church who would keep the faith. With a promise like that, we should be not
only reassured, but positively encouraged, that our “murky place” is truly a
garden of delights, the only sane place on earth where we may find the true
peace of knowing the certainty of God’s grace, that blessed assurance that
although our path may lead us through the valley of shadows, the good Lord
walks at our side, and together we travel the only safe path that will guide us
towards our eternal peace in heaven.
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