"Stand Firm and Hold Fast..."
I'm sure you know about what is happening in Rome right now with the Amazon Synod. Quite frankly, I am angry. I'm angry because the serpent is right within our Church, trying to destroy her from the inside out. WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING!!! We are the Church Militant, and it is OUR DUTY to take action in moments like these! One Sunday during the Gospel, Saint Augustine was reading a new translation of the Bible in Latin, and when he read one of the words, those attending Mass started an uproar because one of the words wasn't translated right. To calm them down, he told them it was just a translation mistake. If those in the early Church protested so much about A TRANSLATION MISTAKE, how much more should we take action against the INTENTIONAL EVIL that is seeking to "change" Church doctrine and teaching when we all know CHURCH DOCTRINE AND TEACHING CANNOT CHANGE!
NOW is the time to take action by praying the Rosary, fasting, abstaining, making sacrifices like not having dessert or being gracious to a person who is less than friendly, going to Confession, to Daily Mass, praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet, offering up Holy Hours, all for the sake of Holy Mother Church!
Please, friends, we cannot just stand by. I hear it all the time where people believe that our unchanging God somehow doesn't act the same as He did in the Old Testament, or even in the New Testament. This is ABSOLUTELY FALSE. God is still the same, always and forever, to all eternity. And He deals with us the same. Just as the Israelites would sin, break the covenant they made with God, and start worshipping false gods, which would lead to them being made the slaves of other nations; so have we, through sin and being lukewarm, broken our covenant with God, and started worshipping false gods, whether it be money, power, clothes, food, or whatever our pet sin is. We have abandoned God. And we have abandoned the Narrow Way. Through these hard times in the Church, God is beckoning and calling us to return to Him. And so, while we may be suffering right now the just consequences of our sins and our cowardice, God is waiting for us. He is waiting for us to say "yes" to Him, to reach out and beg His forgiveness, to come home to His arms. His Divine Mercy is our hope, and NO ONE is ever beyond its reach. So during this difficult time, "stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours" (2 Thessalonians 2:15). Know that Church teaching CANNOT change, even if some of the Church hierarchy says it can. IT CANNOT. Find an old Catechism (pre-Vatican II or the one that Pope Saint John Paul II oversaw) and teach what is IN THERE to yourself and to your children. It is up to us laity, to us Church Militant, to pass on the Light of the Faith. But do not fear, and do not be alarmed. Our brothers and sisters in Japan went 400 years (I think) without a single priest in their country after Saint Francis Xavier first evangelized their country. Although they did not have any priests, the LAITY baptized their children and taught them the Faith the priests taught them. And so, when the next priests arrived, thinking that there would not be any Catholics in Japan, they were shocked when HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS emerged out of hiding. And all because parents had baptized their children and taught them the Faith they themselves had been taught.
Friends, God told us that He will make all His mountains a way (Isaiah 49:11), and how amazing is it that the first Sacrament of Initiation (Baptism) is one that ANYONE can do (under extreme circumstances)?! And so, if it comes down to it, He will make us a way, as He did for the Church in Japan. We just have to remain hopeful, pray, and trust in His Mercy because His anger lasts but a moment, His Mercy a lifetime (Psalm 30). God bless You all!
Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.
P.S. I highly suggest reading 2 Thessalonians! It is short, but very pertinent to the situation in the Church right now. Also, Psalm 30 (29 in the Douay-Rheims translation) - this Psalm is very consoling!
NOW is the time to take action by praying the Rosary, fasting, abstaining, making sacrifices like not having dessert or being gracious to a person who is less than friendly, going to Confession, to Daily Mass, praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet, offering up Holy Hours, all for the sake of Holy Mother Church!
Please, friends, we cannot just stand by. I hear it all the time where people believe that our unchanging God somehow doesn't act the same as He did in the Old Testament, or even in the New Testament. This is ABSOLUTELY FALSE. God is still the same, always and forever, to all eternity. And He deals with us the same. Just as the Israelites would sin, break the covenant they made with God, and start worshipping false gods, which would lead to them being made the slaves of other nations; so have we, through sin and being lukewarm, broken our covenant with God, and started worshipping false gods, whether it be money, power, clothes, food, or whatever our pet sin is. We have abandoned God. And we have abandoned the Narrow Way. Through these hard times in the Church, God is beckoning and calling us to return to Him. And so, while we may be suffering right now the just consequences of our sins and our cowardice, God is waiting for us. He is waiting for us to say "yes" to Him, to reach out and beg His forgiveness, to come home to His arms. His Divine Mercy is our hope, and NO ONE is ever beyond its reach. So during this difficult time, "stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours" (2 Thessalonians 2:15). Know that Church teaching CANNOT change, even if some of the Church hierarchy says it can. IT CANNOT. Find an old Catechism (pre-Vatican II or the one that Pope Saint John Paul II oversaw) and teach what is IN THERE to yourself and to your children. It is up to us laity, to us Church Militant, to pass on the Light of the Faith. But do not fear, and do not be alarmed. Our brothers and sisters in Japan went 400 years (I think) without a single priest in their country after Saint Francis Xavier first evangelized their country. Although they did not have any priests, the LAITY baptized their children and taught them the Faith the priests taught them. And so, when the next priests arrived, thinking that there would not be any Catholics in Japan, they were shocked when HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS emerged out of hiding. And all because parents had baptized their children and taught them the Faith they themselves had been taught.
Friends, God told us that He will make all His mountains a way (Isaiah 49:11), and how amazing is it that the first Sacrament of Initiation (Baptism) is one that ANYONE can do (under extreme circumstances)?! And so, if it comes down to it, He will make us a way, as He did for the Church in Japan. We just have to remain hopeful, pray, and trust in His Mercy because His anger lasts but a moment, His Mercy a lifetime (Psalm 30). God bless You all!
Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.
P.S. I highly suggest reading 2 Thessalonians! It is short, but very pertinent to the situation in the Church right now. Also, Psalm 30 (29 in the Douay-Rheims translation) - this Psalm is very consoling!
"Pray, hope, and don't worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer."
~ Saint Padre Pio
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