I wrote a book a few years past – The Ordinary Path to Holiness – devoted to presenting and explaining the traditional journey to holiness as lived and experienced by so many of the saints in Catholic salvation history.  The journey is found to be in stages of relationship with God in Christ, or one might say ages of growth and maturity in Christ.  We are to grow in Him, in love-communion with Him, and that process of that supernatural growth is as clearly in stages as is the process of growth in our natural life through stages of childhood, adolescence and finally adulthood.

The process of living, and growing, is given to us one precious day at a time – whether we are talking about the natural human life or the supernatural life as a Christian.  One precious day at a time we can advance toward “spiritual adulthood,” toward maturity in Christ, or we can stagnate – or possibly even regress.  We can see examples in the natural life, troubling to see, of biological adults who still cling to adolescence or even childhood!  Peter-Pan-like, they insist with their attitudes and choices that they just don’t want to grow up!  They want pleasures without consequences, possessions bought on credit, joys with no sufferings, satisfaction and success free of the patient laboring necessary for a fruitful life.  A life of authentic fruitfulness is gained by the investment of righteousness in many days, one moment at a time.

So also the spiritual life.  Growing in blessed communion with God in Christ is an invitation given moment by moment, one moment at a time.  We have a promise, in the spiritual life, that can assure that every moment’s invitation can be received as a saint would receive it: with the fiat of Mary, with the “yes” – “be it done to me” – of the fullness of personal communion with Him.  What gives us such an assurance that allows our ever-ready “yes”?  The promise is given us through St. Paul:

We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. (Rom 8:28)

“Everything” is an all-inclusive word!  Every moment of every day, every event of every kind: moments of joy, moments of suffering, moments of gain, moments of loss, moments of our desire, moments of our fear, moments longed-for and moments dreaded – God works for good in everything.  The future lies in darkness and obscurity for us, but God sees plainly the good He is ever working toward!  Every moment offers a “sacrament” of communion with His holy will – He who has allowed whatever He has allowed, in this moment, for good.  There is great peace in this simple realization!

The classic work of spirituality by Fr. Jean-Pierre de Caussade, S.J.,  Abandonment to Divine Providence, expresses this better than I ever could.  Life is a very long train of moments, each a precious encounter with what God has allowed to pass through His hands to our lives: the sacrament of the present moment, offering us again and again a chance to say “yes” to what He has willed for our good in that moment.  How often we live in past moments, or in planning or preparing for future moments, impatiently neglecting the sacrament of this precious present moment!  How long will it take us to learn to trust Him in what He has provided now?  How long, before we can say “yes” as Mary did, not knowing how this would or could work to good, but trusting and holding in our hearts His promise of goodness?  How long before our frequent recitation, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” be prayed in all earnest sincerity and trust?  How long to really believe Him – to really rest in faith in His works now and His will this moment?

I quote below a portion of de Caussade’s work on Divine Providence:

SECTION IV.—In what Perfection Consists. 6

Perfection consists in doing the will of God, not in understanding His designs. The designs of God, the good pleasure of God, the will of God, the operation of God and the gift of His grace are all one and the same thing in the spiritual life. It is God working in the soul to make it like unto Himself. Perfection is neither more nor less than the faithful co-operation of the soul with this work of God, and is begun, grows, and is consummated in the soul unperceived and in secret.

The science of theology is full of theories and explanations of the wonders of this state in each soul according to its capacity. One may be conversant with all these speculations, speak and write about them admirably, instruct others and guide souls; yet, if these theories are only in the mind, one is, compared with those who, without any knowledge of these theories, receive the meaning of the designs of God and do His holy will, like a sick physician compared to simple people in perfect health.

The designs of God and his divine will accepted by a faithful soul with simplicity produces this divine state in it without its knowledge, just as a medicine taken obediently will produce health, although the sick person neither knows nor wishes to know anything about medicine. As fire gives out heat, and not philosophical discussions about it, nor knowledge of its effects, so the designs of God and His holy will work in the soul for its sanctification, and not speculations of curiosity as to this principle and this state. When one is thirsty one quenches one’s thirst by drinking, not by reading books which treat of this condition. The desire to know does but increase this thirst. Therefore when one thirsts after sanctity, the desire to know about it only drives it further away.

Speculation must be laid aside, and everything arranged by God as regards actions and sufferings must be accepted with simplicity, for those things that happen at each moment by the divine command or permission are always the most holy, the best and the most divine for us.

The unfolding stages of holiness that mark the ordinary path to holiness are filled with moments which, when seen in the divine grace of the moment, present us with concrete examples of God’s providential care, His unwavering love, the holy will that we pray “be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  The unfolding stages of holiness are comprised of increasing union with His will, increasing realization of His love, increasing communion in His mind and heart.  Increasingly, the soul, by the fruits of discipline which commend him, approaches and enters and rests in the blessed peace of the Master – one finally with Him in the will of God.

The following is a homily given in the Mass of 1/20/2013, the 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, by Dcn Ed Peitler.  I was so moved by the homily that I asked the good Deacon if I could include it in the Blog.  He agreed, and I’m happy to offer it now for you readers:

In many protestant churches, the preacher will post the title and subject of his sermon on one of those roadside boards on the church’s property. We don’t do this in the Catholic Church, probably because, while the homily is important to the Mass, it is not essential to how we worship. But if I had to give a title to my homily this morning it would be this: “Every Day is Newtown in America”. You do realize that I am referring to Newtown CT where last month 19 children, innocent in all respects, and who were simply doing what we expect all children of that age to do – get an education -had their precious lives ended one sad morning in the weeks before Christmas.

I have entitled this homily “Every day is Newtown in America.” Ours is a very interesting country. In fact, it’s not only our country that’s very interesting but human nature itself. You see, we are very adaptable beings. We can become accustomed to almost any condition that life throws at us. We learn to live with it and go on about our business. What am I referring to? Every day in the US 3300 pre-born babies have their lives taken from them through abortion. And the act of abortion is no less violent than what happened to those children in Newtown. And yet most people hardly blink an eye when they hear the statistics about abortion.

For weeks, the media was consumed with the tragedy of Newtown – and rightfully so. But are there any differences between those children killed in Newtown and those still living in their mothers’ wombs? One difference is that some of the children in Newtown were able to run, hide or escape the one who sought to harm them. But children whose development is still taking place inside their mother’s womb have no means of escape, no place to hide. One would think that inside a mother’s womb would be a safe enough environment – as we presume a classroom in a school would be. But sadly, mother’s wombs stopped being a safe place a long time ago.

Other differences? The children in Newtown were older in years but only a few short years removed from having been babies in their mothers’ wombs themselves. Six or seven years earlier those children at Newtown were not unlike the 3300 babies still in their mother’s wombs whose lives are taken away from them daily. In fact, those 1st and 2nd graders attending school in Newtown are closer in age to any preborn baby than they are to most of us here.

The pre-born child is a human person who is simply at an earlier stage of their development. Not yet ready for reading, writing and arithmetic but getting ready for the day when they will take their place in the schoolrooms of America. But for so many of these developing human persons, “Every Day Is Newtown in America.”

Every day, the Newtown experience happens 3300 times in this great land of ours. Not caused by madmen wielding a gun but lives ended by doctors wielding equally as lethal weapons. And it happens so often now, that we barely blink an eye. How frightening to think that we can get used to a Newtown experience happening every single day. In fact, there are even some Catholics who believe that there is nothing morally objectionable about abortion.

Some Catholic politicians openly support taking the lives of children when they are at their most vulnerable time of development. These Catholic politicians believe that they can publicly support abortion and remain a faithful Catholic. They cannot. They try to defend a right to do what – take the life of a defenseless innocent human person? The only right we as Catholics enjoy when it comes to abortion is the right to be outraged. Could you imagine anyone getting up anywhere in America today and defending what happened at Newtown?

For weeks, the media detailed for us the horrible carnage of Newtown. We saw pictures of the traumatized children who survived and were given graphic descriptions of what transpired on that fateful morning in rural Connecticut. And yet, my brothers and sisters, we will never hear descriptions of what actually takes place in abortion clinics all across this country 3300 times every single day of the week. And you also will not hear about the hundreds of thousands of people who will take to the streets of our nation’s capital this week to protest the horror of abortion. No, our country ignores the reality of “Every Day Is Newtown in America.”

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the infamous Roe v Wade decision. The justices of the Supreme Court could not find in our Constitution a right to life. Imagine that! Over these ensuing 40 years, 55 million pre-born have had their lives taken from them. Not by a lone gunman but by a team of professionals who call it healthcare. Given the 19 children whose lives were taken at Newtown, that number of 55 million amounts to almost 3 million Newtowns occurring over these past 40 years.

Think about that: could you imagine the US going through that Newtown experience 3 million times over the past 40 years? And yet, we barely blink an eye when it comes to the issue of abortion. How human beings can adapt. It’s simply amazing.

All of which leads me to today’s scripture reading. God knows exactly the depths of the sin to which all of us can descend. And how easy it is to get used to the sin in our lives and pretend it doesn’t matter. How easy it is to adapt to a life of sinfulness. The scriptures refer to it as a ‘hardness of heart.’

My brothers and sisters, there is an alternative to this specter of “Everyday Is Newtown in America.” God has a different plan for our lives and for our world. God offers us a plan to have a change of heart and turn away from sin. His name is Jesus Christ. He is the one sent by the Father who can save us from our sin and restore us to life. God’s life. He is the one whose name we are called to carry to this Newtown world of ours.

In today’s scripture readings, we learn that Jesus comes to us as the promised lover, as one who will espouse God’s people. In short, he’s the one who intends to marry us by giving his body as an everlasting sacrifice – just as a husband presents his body to his wife as a sign of his love. Isaiah, in our first reading, speaks about the people Israel taken into captivity in Babylon and cut off from their home – Israel. He tells of God’s plan to return them to their rightful home where God will make of them his spouse.

And to fulfill the promise, the Father sends His Son so that God can espouse not just Israel but all mankind. God intends that every person on the face of this earth hear the name of Jesus Christ and take leave of the sin in their lives which divorces them from God. God fully intends that all enter into this spousal union with Him. And the first act of Jesus’ public ministry drives home this point.

Jesus is at a wedding feast with His mother. A feast that celebrates the union of a man and a woman – an occasion for much joy. But something has happened which threatens to ruin it all. The very thing that is used to make the occasion a joyous one, to lift people’s spirits and transcend their everyday existence – the wine – has run dry. Without the wine the wedding is a dud.

Something very central to the celebration of the marriage has gone missing. The wedding feast is now ruined. Mary says to Jesus, “They have no more wine.” Doesn’t that say it all? Isn’t that an adequate description of so many people’s lives today? Isn’t it true that in so many ways our society has ‘run out of wine?’ Don’t those living without God in their lives sense that something at the very core of their lives is missing?

Mary knows the one who came to bring life. Mary turns to the One whose mission it is to make it possible for man to once again live in the spousal relationship that God intends. And Jesus, baptized in the Spirit, moves forward in His mission on earth. Jesus gives a sign that He is the instrument of God who will bring about this spousal union once and for all. Jesus is the one whose sacrifice on the cross will bring about this spousal union. He is the one who does what all husbands are called to do – sacrifice themselves for their spouse – even to the point of giving up their lives if necessary. Jesus fulfills His Father’s will and offers His life in sacrifice – in order to complete the marriage act. And in the resurrection, we see that Jesus’ act of spousal sacrifice brings life –eternal life.

You and I – having been baptized into Christ’s divine life – have found our spouse – He is Jesus. He is the bread and wine become Body and Blood. We have found the One who has loved us into life. And whether you realize it or not, this morning you have come to your wedding feast. For in this Mass, you have come once more to meet your spouse who will offer you his body and blood in a communion of love – the marriage covenant God has made with you through His son Jesus Christ. This is your wedding day when you come to once more meet your spouse. He wants to be everyone’s spouse and it is up to you and me to go out of this place and tell everyone about the One who offers to be their spouse too…who offers them life and not death.

This is what the Lord wants for the entire world – not the world of ‘Everyday is Newtown in America.’ It is Mary, in her last recorded words in Scripture, who tells us the way for us to get the marriage feast back on track – to get the wine flowing once more so that joy and the celebration of the intended marriage can happen – Mary’s words are these: Do whatever He tells you. Christ invites everyone to leave the Babylon of their separation from God – the life of sin – and heed the words of the prophet Isaiah: “As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.”

The “Munus Regendi” of the Priest and the Vocation of the Laity

I stress a simple but essential prerequisite (for adult formation) … without which all the formal education in the faith will remain merely on the surface of the person.

In a recent article in HPR, I stressed the need in the Church for adult formation. 1  Of course, the leadership of the Church knows the need very well!  But, the inconvenient truth is that there is widespread neglect in following through on the well-documented magisterial recognition of that need.  The many wonderful documents that teach the rightful priority of adult formation don’t seem to make it down to the pews.  That, however, was the subject of the first article: we need adult formation in the faith!

… for more of this article by Thomas Richard in Homiletic and Pastoral Review, click on:  Prior to Adult Faith Formation, One Thing Is Necessary.

Last February I wrote a blog entry on the New Evangelization, It’s Time to Wake Up!, citing some of the shameful statistics of Church membership: we are hemorrhaging members.  One in ten American adults are former Catholics!  This is staggering, and humiliating, and is a serious indictment: we are failing to live the mission that Jesus sent us to do.  We are shrinking.  We are feeding protestantism with new members, many of them rightfully angry with us for our hypocrisy.  Someone please tell me that somewhere, the New Evangelization is being taken seriously!  That somewhere, we are doing what the Church is sent to do: “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Mt 28:19-20)

The many former Catholics who become zealous Protestants prove something important: these people didn’t leave because they were not interested in God and the things of God.  They were not cold-hearted secularists.  They were looking for Christ!  And they could not find Him in His own Church.  How many times I have heard from Protestants who are former Catholics, “I wasn’t being fed.  I wasn’t hearing the Gospel.  I couldn’t find Jesus Christ.”

The Pope is certainly aware of the need!  Thank God that our Pope is aware of the religious ignorance of modern Catholics!  He recently said (to French Bishops in a recent ad limina visit),

… one of the gravest problems of our time is the ignorance of religion on the part of many men and women, also among the Catholic faithful”.

“This is why the new evangelisation, in which the Church is resolutely engaged, … assumes such importance”, the Pope continued. “One of the most formidable obstacles to our pastoral mission is ignorance of the content of faith. Indeed, this is a dual form of ignorance: the ignorance of Jesus Christ as a person and ignorance of the sublime nature of His teachings, of their universal and permanent value in the search for the meaning of life and happiness. In the new generations this ignorance produces an inability to understand history or to recognize themselves as heirs to this tradition, which has shaped European life, society, art and culture”.

I especially appreciate the Holy Father’s precise and complete observation.  Although he is speaking here to French bishops, the problem is certainly not an exclusively French one.  Our problem – certainly for the modern West – is two-fold; there is “a dual form of ignorance” :
1) we are ignorant of “Christ as a person,” and
2) we are ignorant of “the sublime nature of His teachings.”

This grave, profound problem is not “rocket science”!  It is not as though the Church in the West is incapable of meeting the One who died to meet us!  It is not as though we all need theology degrees to know the beauty of His eternal Truth!  We need only His grace, and our desire!  He gives to all who ask; He is found by all who seek; He opens Himself to all who will knock at the door of His Sacred Heart!

The American bishops also, recently, have acknowledged in specific terms the poverty of our souls.  The new draft of the USCCB on preaching has this:

We also recognize that many Catholics, even those who are devoted to the life of the Church and hunger for a deeper spirituality, seem to be uninformed about the Church’s teaching and are in need of a stronger catechesis. At a time when living an authentic Christian life leads to complex challenges, people need to be nourished all the more by the truth and guidance of their Catholic faith. Aware of this present social context and realizing the need for a deeper evangelization among our Catholic population, with renewed vigor the Church’s preachers must inspire and instruct the faithful in the beauty and truth of Catholic Tradition and practice.

Adult formation is needed, to place Catholic adults in communion with Christ as a Person, and to communicate His teachings as received in His Holy Church.  This is rightly called formation in faith – more than merely education, or training, or exposure to “information” about Christ and His Truth.  Exposure is needed to Jesus Christ, God the Son.  We need to meet Him, to hear Him, to learn from Him – and thus to discover in Him, Truth.  Then it is alive in us, and then we are alive in Him.  We need this.  We need Him.  Not programs, not more episcopal papers, not workbooks and videos.  We need the life of God, and He is so very near.

We need a New Evangelization – we really do – not merely as a project, but as a reality.  The Pope pointed out to us in a recent homily, that the need is dire.  We are languishing in a spiritual desert:

“If today the Church proposes a new Year of Faith and a new evangelisation, it is not to honour an anniversary, but because there is more need of it, even more than there was fifty years ago! … . Recent decades have seen the advance of a spiritual “desertification”. …This, then, is how we can picture the Year of Faith: a pilgrimage in the deserts of today’s world, taking with us only what is necessary: … the Gospel and the faith of the Church, of which the Council documents are a luminous expression, as is the Catechism of the Catholic Church, published twenty years ago.

If we in the West find ourselves in a spiritual desert – a wasteland – then our Church ought to be a place of life in the wilderness.  Our Church ought to be an oasis of His precious living water – in the midst of barren sand, fertile rich soil – in the midst of ignorance of God and Truth, treasures of blessed and holy wisdom.  How is it, that we have come to such poverty as we now have?  And when will we wake up and remember who we are, and what we are called to be?

Many Catholics are knee-jerk Democrats.  Holding tight the Church’s teaching for a “preferential option for the poor,” these loyal Democrats swallow the pills of free abortions, amoral equality in all ways for active homosexuals (I cannot bring myself to use the word “gay” now distorted to its modern meaning), further destruction of marriage and disintegration of families of the poor, the upending of all Catholic notions of subsidiarity, the discarding of the need for personal responsibility among the poor, the strangulation of personal initiative and the massive expansion of a socialized welfare state – and so on – all these poison pills are in the cup with the one that is labeled “social justice” and so many Catholics swallow them all together.

The result is the election, and now the re-election, of the most pro-abortion president in our history.  I remain astounded that this happened.  Even after these weeks since the election, I want to remain in disbelief and denial.  How did it come to this?  If not for the Catholic vote, it would not have happened.  If not for the Catholic silence in the pulpits, I speculate, and if not for the absence of solid Catholic adult formation in the Faith, it would not have happened.  If Catholics were formed in the truth of our responsibilities to society – and if we lived them – Catholics would not have en masse handed all “preferential option for the poor” over to a political party that promised to do it for us, on the cheap: the Democrats.  Of course, nothing true or good is cheap.  There is poison in that easy-in easy-out fast-food party of “social justice,” and the whole country is showing the growing weakness and sickness of heart that leads eventually to death.  There is a fault in the wall, and the wall will fall.  The Church was sent to be a watchman for the city and a light for the nations, and we have become too drunk with the toys and pleasures of secularism to stand our guard.

A major factor in this misguided political philosophy of the Church in America is the widespread misunderstanding of Catholic social teaching, and social justice.  I recently read an excellent article – superbly crafted and written.  It gives a precise and accurate Catholic analysis of the mess we have gotten ourselves into.  Please read it!  The article is in Crisis Magazine on-line:

Catholic Social Teaching: It’s Time to End the Misrepresentations, by Anthony Esolen.

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Here are a few possibly helpful references:

Catholic Social Teaching on Poverty, an Option for the Poor, and the Common Good

The Catechism on Social Justice, #1928-1948

Compendium on the Social Doctrine of the Church

The fall meeting of the U.S. Bishops begins today, Nov. 12 in Baltimore.  (LINK)  An item on the agenda is preaching, and they will consider a new document on preaching (“Preaching the Mystery of Faith: The Sunday Homily”) to express their sense of it in the Church in America today.  Archbishop Robert J. Carlson of St. Louis, head of the USCCB’s Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, shepherded the writing of the document.  Some highlights of the proposed document that have been released include:

• “The homily is intended to establish a ‘dialogue’ between the sacred biblical text and the Christian life of the hearer,”
• “Preachers should be aware, in an appropriate way, of what their people are watching on television, what kind of music they are listening to, which websites they find appealing, and which films they find compelling,”
• “References to the most popular cultural expressions — which at times can be surprisingly replete with religious motifs — can be an effective way to engage the interest of those on the edge of faith.”

The draft of “Preaching the Mystery of Faith” has this: “The ultimate goal of proclaiming the Gospel is to lead people into a loving and intimate relationship with the Lord, a relationship that forms the character of their persons and guides them in living out their faith. … By highlighting his humanity, his poverty, his compassion, his forthrightness, and his suffering and death, an effective homily would show the faithful just how much the Son of God loved them in taking our human flesh upon himself.”

This draft inclusion holds the most promise for me – for homilies that lead to Christ, that bring persons into intimate personal communion with Him, and that encourage and challenge Catholics to faithfully live the truth of Christ.  Including, specifically, I hope:

• The sacred right to life for the unborn!
• The intrinsically sacred character of marriage as traditionally understood!
• The crucial importance of the family for persons and for nations!
• The horrific scandal of Catholic politicians who trample upon the truth of the Catholic Faith in their public lives!
• The false, acidic, corrosive and destructive character of most popular entertainment!

Personally, I hear an occasional reference to some of these contemporary burning issues from some Bishops.  Rarely do I hear these issues preached with the zeal the issues deserve, and the zeal that lukewarm and sleepy Catholics need to hear that they might be awakened.  More often from Bishops, but still not frequently, I have read  written teachings that communicate more an academic analysis than a full-throated call to action.  When the theater is on fire, whispers are not appropriate.  But mostly – mostly – I hear nothing of these matters from the pulpits.

Most of the readers of this blog are in the U.S.  Some are in Canada, some the U.K., the Philippines, occasionally a visit from an African nation, and so on.  How is the preaching in your parishes, and dioceses?  The world is aflame, dear friends, and it is not with the fire of the Holy Spirit!  It is not with the fire of Truth!  There is a fire spreading, world-wide, that has origins in a place we do not want to go, and is being spread by a destroyer we do not want to meet.

Dear Bishops, do you see the fires of destruction spreading throughout the cultures of the nations of the world, in our time?  Do you see the damage already done in the Church, among the people in your flock?  Do you realize how confused so many Catholics are, how weak so many are in their grasp of the Faith, how vulnerable so many are to the lies and seductions of the evil one?

There is a fire reaching into all cultures that must be identified, and resisted, and fought with the light and zeal of holy Truth.  Warnings must not be whispered, dear Bishops!  Warnings must be clear – unambiguous – potent!  You, dear Bishops, are called to be the authentic teachers and preachers for Christ and for His life – and you are the shepherds and overseers of your priests.  We, the people, are seated before these priests every Sunday at least, and we hear their homilies, we read your writings, and we need to hear the Truth preached and taught with the clarity, the simplicity, the unction and the zeal that it deserves.

Romans 8:28 We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

President Obama is better for America, America as she is now, than Mitt Romney would have been.  I say this by faith and with sure hope, even though with deep sorrow.  I see much suffering coming our way, suffering that I hoped could be averted with Romney, but God sees more clearly than I can, and God had a better plan.  President Obama, not because of his own plans or purposes, but because of God’s, will work the greater good for this country and for the world.

Mitt Romney, especially in the closing days of the campaign, called America to an optimism in a future that he could see as possible – and he offered a plan to get there.  Unlike the president, Romney had a record of success to give substance to his promise, but most of America preferred otherwise.  Most of America wanted what President Obama promised – and that is precisely, I submit to you, why God allowed him to win.  We got what we wanted.  Because so many wanted such small and unworthy things, God gave us what we deserved.  We were not ready – not even now are we ready – for more and for better.

America is shrinking.  Her economy, her standard of living, her military strength, her internal security, her civil harmony are all weakening, unravelling, shrinking.  Those criteria are all, however, only symptoms of the deeper things that concern God more, and that ought to concern us more.  America is shrinking, weakening, unravelling in the eternal things – in the moral economy – in the spiritual values that are the foundation of those other things, the things of her economy, her standard of living, her military strength, her employment percentages and so on.  America is increasingly turning away from God, and as she does so she finds the lie more attractive than truth, deceit more convincing than honesty and fantasy more desirable than reality.  America prefers hope for the goods of this world, rather than hope in the good that brings true happiness.  America prefers sugar highs and drive-through gratification, to the substance and perseverance found in the Bread from heaven that brings eternal life.

How has America so dumbed herself down, and so quickly?  How has she cast aside so thoughtlessly the treasure bequeathed to her by heros, by history?  How has she sold her birthright so cheaply, her honor for such counterfeits?  How, America, has it come to this?

I look to the Church for answers, because the Church was sent for this reason: to bring the saving Truth of God to a dark and fallen world, even to America.  I look to the lampstand for light, but the lamp flickers dimly and the glass is covered with soot!  It sounds one moment strong and clear, then it flickers and falls to mumbling words with no meaning.  Where is the Church!  I see the buildings, I see the people, but where is the mission?  I hear words, I see activities and programs – where is the Word?  Where is the Life?  Where is the Fire?

America got what she deserves.  The watchmen sent to stand duty on the towers were not looking out toward the enemy, they turned their backs to the danger and were preoccupied with parties and celebrations inside the walls.  The world grows darker, America grows darker, and the Church is sleeping.  The Church is busy with many things, but one thing is lacking.  Has the one thing been forgotten entirely?  Has the one thing been cast aside forever?  Does she even know and can she recognize, anymore, what she has forgotten?

One person commented, maybe tongue in cheek and not intending to be prophetic, that we need to hang on and try to survive the coming 4 years of purgatory.  God does work that way – He allows suffering for His purpose of remediation, for correction, for purging of that which is unworthy, and for the purity of holiness.  Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden and into a world of suffering, that humanity might begin a journey of return to God.  Divine justice is one with His mercy, because God is ever and always and only True.

Holy Church, will you awaken now?  Will you see the poverty of your people, their hunger, their thirst?  Will you hear their cries for that which you were given and entrusted with, cries for Him whom you were sent to reveal and proclaim?  For now, He continues to give us all time.  Church in America, will you now do what He commanded you?

Mt 28:18 Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

I watched the movie today – “2016: Obama’s America.”  A deep sadness has come upon me, a sadness close to anger, but anger is a temptation I resist.  So I fall back to this sadness, realizing that it did not have to be this way.  There ought to have been clearer voices, prudent voices, and ears listening for truth.  There was a nobility in the America soul – a goodness – not perfection, not by a long shot, but a goodness that knew simple truths and held them up as our principles and our guiding light.  “We hold these truths to be self-evident…”  God put those truths in the American soul; God sent us His Church to help us keep true to the truth!  And God blessed this country with wealth, with power, with freedom.  But instead of holding true to His truth, we let ourselves be seduced by the easier pleasures of wealth, and of power, and of license.

I am deeply sad; I grieve over this sick land that is so confused and divided, pathetic in her foolishness – can we see what we have done, and change now while we still can?  Can we wake up?  Can we sober up?  Can we stand up and return to the wisdom of our fathers?  Or are we doomed to destroy ourselves in fiscal insanity, in moral denial, in spiritual destitution, in cultural bankruptcy – in national suicide?  Can we yet recover our humanity that hangs on an unravelling thread close to snapping?  Can we yet piece together and restore what remains of the God-given human dignity in us?

Please see the movie, “2016: Obama’s America.”  It can help explain how we got here, having elected a president without a resume, without a vetting, without national debate, with only a hope – and a hope unjustified, but used nevertheless and potent to its unconsidered end.

This blog entry, however, is about the solution to the problem, if it is not too late.  The solution is simple: turn to God, Catholics.  Fall to your knees and pray for His mercy on us His Church, and on this poor nation so blind and undeserving.  We in America do not deserve His mercy – we have sought every evil up to now, and we continue to bath in self-satisfaction when we ought to be in penance, on our knees.  We need His grace.  We, His Church, need Him.  We need His truth!  Catholics need to hear His Truth!  We need to repent of our lukewarmness, our compromises with the world, the flesh and the devil.  We need to convert and become who we have been called to be, because the world needs His light.

Catholics, vote and vote the Truth!  Do not be ashamed of the holy sacrament of marriage.  Do not be ashamed that sin is still sin – and all sin is an abomination to God.  Do not be ashamed to be repulsed at the murder of the innocent: abortion.  Do not be ashamed of Christ who died on the Cross for you and for me, that we might be free of the fear of the opinions of blind men, and free instead to love them and bear the witness of truth to them that they might be saved.