Life itself is a terrible wrestling match between divine love and human freedom. And God is not insured of a victory–not even from some of our own, especially some of our own clergy. Right now, human freedom seems to have the upper hand.
We are in troubled times where not every human life, even the most vulnerable and innocent, is considered valuable. This is a lie being twisted to resemble Truth. This past Mother’s day weekend shows us that. Catholicism, indeed all Christianity, is being threatened, God Himself is being threatened. We are at the core now, of a great battle that must be won.
And if one disagrees with the present governments promoted agendas, there is an attempt to make him or her feel guilty by holding up false platitudes resembling Catholicism, but not true to it. Instead, a finger is pointed at faithful Catholics, insinuating that disagreement with the falsities shows racism, sexism, no charity, lots of judging, and more. This is difficult for many faithful Catholics to hear. It is difficult for Catholics to watch the degradation of their churches, beliefs and other charitable institutions. Difficult to , personally experience from others who call themselves Catholics or Christians, yet question what the church has taught for well over two thousand years about the sanctity of marriage, the evil of abortion, the disorders of homosexuality, and the fact that a man is created to be a man and a woman is created to be a woman. But disorder is where evil works best. Confuse and then condemn.
The four main tactics of the devil/evil are :Evil’s (The devil’s) tactics are four: deception, division, diversion, and discouragement, in individuals and also in institutions.
Always we must remember: Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. —Ephesians 6:12. For despite the condemning labels, we are indeed wrestling for the truths God intended us to follow.
We don’t want to admit that some who speak as authorities concerning the Church we love are as vulnerable to evil as anyone else. Yet, we should not be surprised. The very mission of evil is to seek and destroy Truth in any way, and in any place, it can — especially in the Catholic Church whose doctrine crushes its ugly head. We must have courage to vigorously stand up for the Truths of our Church. We cannot be vicious in our battles though; we recognize that we have often been sinful, too.
The Church is made up of individual people, and each of us, at one time or another, is also a target of evil, and sometimes even a participant. My goodness, how many times do we personally open the door for evil in our own lives? We know first-hand the sins we have and how easy it is to cover them over with lies or excuses, and then twist circumstances to make our sins seem okay. We don’t want to be the ones who are wrong, so we change the ‘wrong” to “right.’ Our human freedom allows us to do this.
But we also know that we have the strength of God within us, and that we are called to admit our sins and confess them in sorrow, expecting God’s forgiveness which He gives.
We know as well, that a person is an individual being, one in itself and distinct from all other beings. No two people are exactly the same, just as no two flowers or no two stars in the sky are exactly the same. Our sameness–the thing that makes each of us a human person is that we are both body and soul—we have a physical nature and a spiritual nature. And just as our human bodies are fallible to human failures, our spiritual natures are also fallible, for they are influenced by our personal histories–as unique as the flowers and the stars– and by our own free decisions.
And yet, there are times–this is one of them–when we must not let our fallibilities frighten us. Neither must we be afraid of being labeled. We must polish up our spiritual armor, tattered as it may be, and stand together in TRUTH. We are more than God’s hands and feet on Earth. Indeed, we are His army. His soldiers. And soldiers are brave; they do not run from battle. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. — Ephesians 6:11
We are the Body of Christ–the genuine Body of Christ–sent out as lambs among wolves.
In fact, Jesus sends us out with battle instructions: If any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.–Mark 6:11
In Matthew: 27-28, Jesus gives us confidence in the voice of the Holy Spirit within us. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
We have been allowed to live in this moment of history. We cannot ignore that we have a role to play in today’s world. A role to defend TRUTH. And we will play it.
We are Catholic, after all.
Translating a World on the Edge 