By: Msgr. Charles Pope, adw.org 
Satan, it would seem, does not act in an arbitrary manner when trying to tempt us. Rather, he is more a master hunter carefully setting traps, or a skilled fisherman studying behavior in order to choose the most effective bait. Satan is calculating and clever.
Sadly, most of us are far less calculating and clever in seeking to avoid temptation and sin. We often engage in the wishful thinking that no trouble will befall us. Our strategy seems to depend more on dumb luck than anything else. Would that we were as ingenious in holiness as Satan is in trying to trap us! Jesus sadly and ironically observed, For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light (Luke 16:8).
Let us ponder for a moment the notion of the bait and the hook, to use imagery from the fishing world.
Let’s consider first the bait: It is of course the purpose of bait to be alluring, to be attractive. If a fisherman were to lower an empty hook, or a hook with a rock attached to it, no fish would come near. So he chooses a bait that appeals to the fish: an insect or some other morsel that seems to promise a meal.
Thus in choosing the bait to attach to his hook, Satan will strive to render it appealing, even beautiful. He often casts a spell to hide the ugliness of sin and to distract us from the presence of the hook.
In our time especially, Satan cloaks sins in exalted language, speaking of them as ways of giving us “freedom,” or of “fulfilling ourselves.” Abortion is not the killing of a baby; it is “reproductive choice,” or “reproductive freedom.” Many exalt sinful acts by disguising them in the language of tolerance and acceptance. Still others exude a false compassion in declaring it licit to actively kill the suffering or to terminate the lives of children in the womb who have been given a poor prenatal diagnosis.
In ways like these, evil masquerades as good. Sins once thought of as clearly awful and ugly are now presented as good and even beautiful.
Of course other more traditional bait is still used by Satan as well: sex, money, glory, power, and so forth. Not all of these things are bad in themselves, but they are presented in excess or in the wrong context. And how tasty, attractive, beautiful, and desirable they can seem!
And thus the bait is attractive, beautiful, and tasty. Scripture describes Eve’s assessment of the forbidden tree as follows: the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it (Genesis 3:6).
But then comes the hook—there’s always the hook with Satan. Never forget this: the hook is always there with Satan. No matter how beautiful, reasonable, or desirable the bait may seem, there’s always the hook.
With the bait of illicit sexual union dangled before us comes the hook. Perhaps it is addiction to pornography, sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, teenage pregnancy, single motherhood, absent fathers, abortion, ruined marriages, broken families, improperly formed families, and terrible injustice to children.
With the bait of gluttony comes the hook. It can be obesity, heart disease, high cholesterol, hypertension, arthritis, addiction to alcohol or drugs, and even death.
With the bait of more and more possessions comes the hook. Perhaps it is credit card bills we cannot pay, or slavery to a lifestyle we think we cannot live without but which drives us to need two incomes and work long hours. And thus we never really know our children or even enjoy the things we think we need. Perhaps it is the supreme frustration to realize that no matter how much we have, it will never be enough. Our eyes are never really satisfied with seeing, or our ears with hearing, or our will with amassing. We seem to be insatiable; we want more and more as the hook of greed drives deeper within us, snaring our hearts so that Satan can reel us in.
But there is always the hook. Never forget that no matter how pleasing the bait may seem, there is always the hook.
We moderns are perhaps more foolish than those who came before us, for we live in a culture that is rather successful in at least temporarily hiding the consequences of many things. Our medicine and advanced technology may temporarily stave off the effects of too much food and drink or the diseases that come with sexual irresponsibility. So-called government safety nets, many of them well-intentioned and to some degree necessary, have also expanded over time to create the illusion that there are no consequences. Too easily and too repeatedly, many are bailed out from their foolish decisions. This makes is easier to maintain the illusion that the hook isn’t really there.
But the hook is there. The hook always follows the bait.
So just a simple reminder: don’t forget the hook. With the bait comes the hook. The bait is about the hook. First the bait, then the hook—always the hook.
One Cannot Oppose The Natural Moral Law And  Receive Awards From Catholic Institutions!
Interview By: Thomas McKenna, CatholicActionLeague.org
Thomas McKenna, president of Catholic Action for Faith and Family, interviewed Cardinal Raymond Burke about this position taken by Bishop Rhoades in an effort to further clarify the issue for the public.
Philadelphia – April 3, 2016
Thomas McKenna: Your Eminence, recently the University of Notre Dame announced that it was going to bestow their Laetare Medal which is presented “in recognition of outstanding service to the Church and society,” to Vice President Joseph Biden. Vice President Biden is on record consistently supporting abortion rights and same sex marriage. Recently Bishop Kevin Rhoades, the ordinary of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend where Notre Dame is located, released a public statement declaring:
“I believe it is wrong for Notre Dame to honor any “pro-choice” public official with the Laetare Medal, even if he/she has other positive accomplishments in public service, since direct abortion is gravely contrary to the natural law and violates a very fundamental principle of Catholic moral and social teaching: the inalienable right to life of every innocent human being from the moment of conception. I also question the propriety of honoring a public official who was a major spokesman for the redefinition of marriage. I disagree with awarding someone for ‘outstanding service to the Church and society’ who has not been faithful to this obligation.”
Does Your Eminence agree with the position taken by Bishop Rhoades and could you comment on it?
Cardinal Burke: Bishop Rhoades is simply exercising his responsibility as a teacher of the faith and as a bishop who has the care of a prominent Catholic university in his diocese, and what he says is absolutely true and most commendable. I find it difficult to imagine that a Catholic university would assign its highest honor to any politician who favors abortion and who also advocates for the recognition of the sexual liaison of two people of the same sex as equal to marriage. It is even more difficult to imagine that the university would confer such an honor upon a Roman Catholic who supports these anti-life and anti-family policies and legislation. It is my hope that Notre Dame University will hear the voice of their shepherd, the successor of the Apostles in their midst, and change this gravely wrong and most scandalous decision.
Thomas McKenna: The university of Notre Dame says that it is bestowing this award to honor Vice President Biden for his public service in politics and that they are not recognizing him for his positions regarding support for abortion and same-sex marriage. What would Your Eminence respond to this?
Cardinal Burke: Well, we honor people for the integrity of their lives. Notwithstanding the fact that Vice President Biden may have sound views on other matters, his positions with regard to human life and marriage are contradictory to the natural moral law and obviously, therefore, to the teaching of Our Lord Jesus Christ. So, as much as one may want to praise certain positions which he has taken, at the same time one must realize that other positions are in the most grievous violation of the moral law and therefore make him ineligible to receive such an award from a Catholic university.
Thomas McKenna: Bishop Rhoades explains that he is opposed to Vice President Biden receiving the award by stating:
“My principal concern about this whole matter is scandal. In honoring a “pro-choice” Catholic who also has supported the redefinition of marriage, which the Church considers harmful to the common good of society, it can give the impression to people, including Catholics in political office, that one can be “a good Catholic” while also supporting or advocating for positions that contradict our fundamental moral and social principles and teachings.”
Could you please comment on this scandal and the implications it may have?
Cardinal Burke: As St. John Paul II observed in his apostolic exhortation on the laity, one of the greatest evils of our times is the tendency of Catholics to separate their faith from their daily living. And this is exactly what we have here. So we have the impression, given to other Catholics and to the population in general, that one can believe one thing and act in a completely contrary way. The fact of the matter is that most people will simply conclude that the Catholic teaching with regard to the inviolable dignity of innocent and defenseless human life and the integrity of marriage as the faithful, indissoluble and procreative union of one man and one woman, is not very firm and that it can easily be violated. Therefore it is a great scandal within the Church, but it is also a great scandal within society in general which depends upon the Church to give a witness to the truth about human life and the family.
 By, Bradley Eli, M. Div., MA.Th
VATICAN (ChurchMilitant.com) – Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is saying belief that all men are saved has crippled missionary efforts and caused many Christians to leave the Faith.
An interview of the former Pope, conducted last year, is being published today in L’Osservatore Romano. In it the former pontiff is reaffirming the dogma that there’s only one true Church outside of which there is no salvation.
Discounting false churches that are founded on “assembly of men who have some ideas in common,” Pope Benedict says they cannot be “the guarantor of eternal life.”
Contrasting self-created institutions with the Catholic Church, Benedict clarifies, “The Church is not self-made; She was created by God, and She is continuously formed by Him.”
He refutes the modern notion that all men are saved, commenting that men of today have “the sense that God cannot let most of humanity be damned.”
Pope Emeritus notes that starting in “the second half of the last century,” mankind believed “God cannot let go to perdition all the unbaptized” or even let them go to a place of “purely natural happiness,” which the Church calls Limbo.
Benedict contrasts the zeal of “the great missionaries of the 16th century” who “were still convinced that those who are not baptized are forever lost” with the lackluster missionary efforts after the Second Vatican Council, when “that conviction was finally abandoned” by many.
The former pontiff affirms that the lost conviction that the Church is necessary for salvation causes “a deep double crisis.”
“On the one hand this seems to remove any motivation for a future missionary commitment,” he says. “Why should one try to convince the people to accept the Christian faith when they can be saved even without it?”
Benedict also notes that many Catholics were scandalized by this presumption into leaving the Church, explaining, “If there are those who can save themselves in other ways, it is not clear, in the final analysis, why the Christian himself is bound by the requirements of the Christian faith and its morals.”
He then attacks the faulty attempts to “reconcile the universal necessity of the Christian faith with the opportunity to save oneself without it.”
After dismissing Karl Rahner’s mistaken notion that most men are saved as anonymous Christians, Benedict turns to another popular theory. “Even less acceptable is the solution proposed by the pluralistic theories of religion, for which all religions, each in their own way, would be ways of salvation, and in this sense, in their effects must be considered equivalent.”
In saying all this, Pope Emeritus Benedict is affirming the constant teaching that the Catholic Church is the only true Church and is absolutely necessary for salvation.
 By, Msgr. Charles Pope, adw.org
Too many Catholics are uncomfortable using the biblical and traditional words, “Repent,” convert and conversion. To repent means to change your mind and come to a new way of living. To convert means to turn from sinful ways or erroneous teaching.
But too many Catholics, including priests are uncomfortable using words like this. We used to speak of convert classes etc. But now many prefer abstract descriptions like, “Inquiry Classes” or the even more abstract “RCIA”
Many draw back lest they seem to suggest that others are wrong, “going wrong,” need to change, or, heaven forfend, “sinful.” Words like repent and convert more than suggest that there is right and wrong, true and false, sanctity and sinfulness, good and evil.
But the fact is, many, including us, need on-going conversion And a good number need outright conversion And a complete change of mind, heart and behavior.
Of course repentance and the call to conversion are a key biblical summons. repentance is not suggested, it is commanded, and without it we will not see the kingdom of God.
Perhaps a central reason for the embarrassment many feel at the call to repentance and conversion is that it runs a foul of a kind of “consumer Christianity” wherein faith is reduced to using God’s grace to access blessings but not to give one’s life over to Jesus Christ in love and obedience. Consumer Christianity targets “seekers” looking for enrichment rather than disciples. The heart of discipleship is, as Jesus says, is to “Deny yourself, take up your Cross, and follow me.”
But when faith is reduced to personal enrichment, true discipleship seems obnoxious and words like repentance, conversion, and concepts like self denial, and the cross are non-starters and rejected as negative, judgemental, and, to use consumer language, is bad marketing.
To be sure, the faith does enrich and words like repentance and conversion need not be accompanied with sour faces or with no reference to the joy of salvation. We need not act like the wild-eyed sidewalk evangelists screaming repent only as a tactic of cringing fear.
But as to the avoidance of any fear at all and the words repent and convert, nothing could be more unChrist-like, for Jesus led with the summons to repent. It was in the very opening words of his public ministry: He said, “The time is now! The kingdom of God is near! Repent, and believe the gospel (Mark 1:15).
And why does Jesus lead with this? Because the joy and enrichment of salvation cannot be accessed except through repentance and conversion. Eternal Life cannot be accessed except through turning our back on this world and dying to it. Easter Sunday is accessed only through Good Friday.
Consumer Christianity cannot save. Repentance and conversion, even if not popular in marketing focus groups of “seeker-sensitive” mega-churches, must be recovered in the call and vocabulary of the Church. Watering down the very thing Jesus led with is no way to make true disciples.
Repent and be converted that the Gospel may fill you.
 By: Father William Casey, The Fathers of Mercy
“All the evils of the world are due to lukewarm Catholics.”
— POPE ST PIUS V
I know your works, I know that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish you were either cold or hot, but because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth, for you say I am rich and affluent, and have no need of anything and yet you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, white garments to put on so that your shameful nakedness may not be exposed and buy ointment to smear on your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and chastise. Be earnest therefore and repent.
— BOOK OF REVELATIONS CHAPTER 3:15-19
Before I begin, let me say this to you: Today, with the help of God’s Grace, I am going to try to speak with complete honesty. At times, I may be somewhat painfully and brutally frank. Some of you, may not like what I have to say. NO MATTER! Tough times demand tough talk and tough love. If I offend anyone, I apologize in advance, but there are certain things that I believe have got to be said, things that have for too long been left unsaid. At this point, I feel like we priests have nothing to lose. St. Paul wrote, “My brothers, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?”
I believe there is a sense of urgency that must prevail among men and women of faith if the church in this country is to continue in any kind of effective way. If we are going to turn this evil around, one thing is for sure, it is not going to be easy. Unless you have been living on another planet for the last year, you know that the Church in America has been most gravely wounded by scandal. Archbishop Fulton Sheen use to compare the Church to Noah’s Ark:
It is carrying the remnant of the faithful to salvation through the storms of life and the flood tides of evil in the world.
With all those animals within Noah’s Ark for all that time, you can bet there were times when the smell got pretty foul. So it is with the Church, things smell pretty bad right now with the kind of scandals that stink to high heaven. There is hardly any talk of evangelization because everyone is talking about scandal. These scandals of the most shocking and abominable kind are perpetrated by consecrated souls who incredibly carried them out with the full knowledge of Church authorities who simply chose to do nothing to stop them. May God have mercy on their souls! New evangelization is stopped dead in its tracks. It is stuck in the mire of corruption. We have instead of a new springtime in the Church, a cold winter of unbelief.
St. Paul said, “Who is led into sin and I am not indignant?” Something must be done about it. I am appalled by it all, but I am not surprised or shocked by it. Anyone who knew anything about what has been going on in the church and the seminaries for the past 40 years could have seen this
day coming long ago. It was entirely predictable and it was preventable!
My patience is wearing thin with those who would minimize and trivialize the gravity, the enormity and the devastating effects of these scandals on the Church. Some respond in a non chalant way saying, “We will always have scandals; Oh well, don’t worry about it, things will work out. It will all blow over soon enough, God will work it out. No big deal, business as usual.
The idea that there is nothing we need to do to correct this situation right now is abominable. Please don’t tell me that scandal, moral corruption, dissent and depravity have got to be business as usual in the Church, the NORM for us Catholics. If we are going to sit back and accept this, there is something wrong with us! Let me use this analogy. Suppose you are at home one day with your family and all of a sudden the children come running into the living room shouting to you that your house is on fire. What would you do? How would you react to that? Would you sit there calmly and say, “Oh well, there have always been fires, don’t worry about it, somebody will put it out, eventually it will burn itself out.” Is that what you would say? How many of you would react that way if your home was on fire?
Friends, the Church is our spiritual Home and our home is in danger! Yes, Christ promised that the gates of Hell would never prevail against his church but He did not promise it would survive here. Think of all the countries around the world, all those Nations that were once entirely Catholic and now, the True Faith is dead. Think of North Africa and all the places in Asia Minor where St. Paul preached; think of Scandinavia, think of England, Scotland, Holland, and Northern Germany: Don’t think it can’t happen here! I tell you it can!
Scandal causes the loss of souls
This is the worst thing that can happen in the order of creation! Nothing you can name in the order of God’s creation is worse that the loss of souls. The buildings may still be standing, the walls still may be erect, but there is a killer contamination inside. It is for this reason that the Saints and Doctors of the Church were in total agreement that scandal involving unchaste priests is the worst thing that can happen to the church.
What would Christ do? The Gospel shows us that Our Lord took a very, very hard line against scandal. Some of His most severe words in the Gospel were directed to those who cause scandal. Christ took a hard line and we must also.
“But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of scandals. For it must needs be that scandals come: but nevertheless woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh. And if thy hand or thy foot scandalizes thee, cut it off and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to go into life maimed or lame, that having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thy eye scandalizes thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. It is better for thee, having one eye to enter into life, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.”
–MATTHEW 18:6-9
St. Thomas Aquinas taught that the lay faithful have the right, the absolute right to expect and demand not only sound doctrine but also good example on the part of the clergy and Church leaders. And, if they don’t get it, they also have the right to press for the reform and the removal of corrupt elements. If we don’t do this, we deserve what we get. God will punish both the men who do evil and the good that do nothing to stop the evil.
The scandals, the corruption, the unrelenting media coverage and the Church’s public disgrace lead to a purification. It is a purifying fire that, God willing, will bring about good but it is much, much more than just purification. It is also a judgment. It is nothing less than the Hand of God upon the Church in this part of the world for forty years of infidelity, corruption, disobedience, dissent, affluence and, I might add, arrogance: Forty years of lukewarm Catholicism!
We are going to have to be very careful, lest God vomit us out of His mouth. God willing, the damage done by the scandals will purify the clergy, the seminaries and the universities from a certain amount of corruption. The Protestant revolt and the Reformation had that type of effect. Historians are in total agreement that the primary cause of the Protestant schism was the corruption of the Catholic clergy. The Protestant movement ultimately forced the Catholic clergy to reform themselves, but still the damage was done.
We live with the terrible effects of the Reformation every day of our lives. Back in the 16th century, St. Robert Bellarmine said, “The Protestant revolt is a punishment from God because of the sins of priests.” St. John Eudes, apostle of the Holy Eucharist, said, “The surest sign that God is thoroughly angry with His people, is when He allows them to fall into hands of a corrupt clergy.”
My brothers and sisters in Christ, you must know that the priests who commit these abominations and do things that would make prostitutes blush, are men who had long ago rejected True Catholicism. Long ago, they bought into the mind-set of the sexual revolution. They failed to hold to the Church’s timeless teaching of the sanctity of marriage, human life and sexuality.
With the rejection of the Sixth and Ninth Commandments, the rejection of chastity, comes the mentality that one can simply follow his own conscience. Animal activity is accepted as normal. The Church’s timeless teaching against abortion is thrown out. Self satisfaction takes precedence over God’s Law, over life itself.
Watered Down Catholicism
How long has it been since you heard a good sermon on sexual morality? Many bishops and priests no longer believe in sexual sin. People are sick and tired of lukewarm watered down Catholicism. They are sick of superficial, boring and non- committal Catholic preaching. They are sick of being fed false doctrine or no doctrine at all.
They are sick of a lack of sound catechesis for our young people. They have had enough of the rotten sex education programs which do nothing but incite young people’s natural curiosity and tempt them to solve it by personal experience. They are sick of the lack of teaching about sin, virtue, and vice, the Commandments, Confession, family life and sanctity.
They are tired of leaders who won’t make moral judgments publically and stand up and defend the Faith as they are obligated by Christ to do, and who seem to fear everyone’s judgment but God’s!
Moral authority is like muscle tissue. Muscle tissue, if never used, will atrophy and die. This is our present condition. Our people are tired of shepherds who seem to protect the wolves rather than the sheep! They have had enough of the modernist mush! New Age nonsense has been shoved down their throats in place of the true Faith. People are fed up with the superficial spirituality of butterflies, banners and balloons. They have had enough liturgical abuses and irreverence at Holy Mass.
The Council of Trent states, “Where there is irreverence, there will be corruption.” Scandal follows corruption, like night follows the day. There is not now nor has there ever been a New America Church. It is a sham and a lie. If we don’t put an end to it, God will, sooner or later, one way or another! Call it anything you like. It comes in many different forms, by many different names and in many different disguises:
• Lukewarm Catholicism
• Cafeteria Catholicism
• Theological Modernism
• Liberal American Catholicism
• Rationalism or Relativism
Whatever you choose to call it, it is a fatal disease. It is a killer! Ultimately, it leads to paralysis of faith and the ruin of souls.
Lukewarm Catholicism, in all its various forms, can be rooted in many things: weak faith, loss of faith, moral laxity, habitual sin, lack of prayer, pride, material prosperity, spiritual sloth, sheer laziness, worldliness, whatever; but its mindset seems to have permeated everywhere and almost everything in Catholic life today, in one degree or another. It has crept into Catholic Schools, Bible Studies, RCIA programs, Religious Ed programs, Chancery offices and liturgical preaching.
If you recognize the signs of Lukewarm Catholicism, if you see some of the symptoms in yourself or your home, in your family or in your parish, wherever you may see it, please, my brothers and sisters in Christ, the time has come to do something about it! Make changes in your life.
Rebuild your interior castle with the seven habits of sanctity.
Seven Daily Habits
It is the work of a life-time and requires our determined effort and cooperation with God’s Sanctifying Grace through the Sacraments. If we are to have robust Spiritual health, we must develop these SEVEN DAILY HABITS.
- Morning Offering,
- Spiritual Reading,
- the Rosary,
- Holy Communion,
- Mental Prayer,
- the Angelus
- daily examination of Conscience
These seven habits must take priority in our lives for they are more important than meals, sleep, work or recreation.
The Church is mortally wounded in this country. Friends, don’t put it off. Don’t count on others to do it for you. Our time may very well be short. Archbishop Sheen used to say that, before the hand of God comes down upon the world, it always comes down upon the Church.
Surely, the hand of God is upon the church today. What’s going to happen to the world, God only knows. I fear that it will not be pretty.
What is wrong with the Church? Let’s take a mirror and look into it. When you come right down to it, we are what is wrong with the Church. I am what is wrong with the Church. You are what is wrong with the Church. We failed to take seriously God’s call to holiness of life. And, now, all of us have got to light our candles and stop cursing the darkness, and try to turn this evil around.
The situation is critical! Just look around you. Do you need more evidence or proof to convince you that God is, in reality, a low priority in the lives of people, in your own life and in your family?
- Is your daily life characterized by spiritual sloth, TV, iPAD, computer, addiction to technical gadgets, time wasted, and toleration of habitual sin?
- Is there a lack of devotion in your life, compromise with the world, and silence in the face of sin, error and evil?
- Is there lack of charity (LOVE), foul language and gossip in your home?
- Does your wardrobe reflect the standards of modesty given by the Church?
Does the best of your time, talents and energy always seem to be expanded on the chase after more money, more material possessions, honors and recognition?
“Sports” is one of the great idols of modern times. In the Old Testament, God punished the Israelites when they turned to Idols. They worshiped Baal. We don’t worship Baal any longer; now we worship the God of Ball: Baseball, Football, Basketball, etc!
Rebuild the Church
It is time to rebuild the Church. Let every man and woman who loves the Church do everything in his or her power to rekindle the fire of the Holy Spirit where it has been snuffed out by lukewarm Catholicism. Christ said, “I came to cast a fire upon the earth, and long to see that flame enkindled.” Are you going to light that fire?
Begin by making Christ once again King of your home. Then, start by restoring reverence in our churches. It can be done! Don’t say that there is nothing that you can do. You can still pray! If the priests will not listen to you, pray, pray and pray more that God will change their hearts or remove them! IT WORKS!
If we don’t believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, we might as well close down our churches and rent out the space. Much of the liturgical experiment has failed. We are not holier and not more Christ-Centered; in fact, we are facing a generation of young people who have largely lost their faith because we have not given them the precious gift that is at the heart of Catholicism; the Real Presence of God in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Holy Mass has simply become a drama, a vehicle for whatever agenda is currently popular. The church building is no longer a place of encounter with God but a social center, not a place of prayer, rather a place of chatter. We have lost the sense of the sacred which has always been the hallmark of Catholic worship.
The behavior of many in Church is outrageous. When Mass is over, it is impossible to spend time in prayer. The noise level reaches a pitch that one would expect at a sports event. Christ is forgotten on the Altar, indeed, if He still resides there. We are teaching our children by what we do and the way we are behaving, that there is nothing special about the Sacred Host. The dethronement of the Blessed Sacrament has resulted in the enthronement of the clergy. The Mass has become priest centered and people centered.
I have lived with lukewarm Catholicism all my life. When I was growing up, I can’t remember ever hearing anything at Mass, or anything from the pulpit to get me fired up about my Catholic Faith. There was nothing to make me want to love more, know more and pray more. I seemed to me dead, yet it was so rich, incredibly sublime and beautiful. Many of us never knew that. I feel like we were cheated of the beauty, the majesty, the eternal truth of our Faith and the glory of our Sacred Worship. We must not repeat the mistakes of the past. Now is the time to get it right.
God said to the prophet Jeremiah, “Cursed are those who do the work of the Lord halfheartedly.” If you say you love the Church and you can’t get fired up now, you never will. There is something wrong. I want to ask all of you to do everything in your power to defend Her:
Stand up! Speak up! Rise up to put an end to lukewarm catholicism!
St. Padre Pio said, “Be firm in your resolution, stay in the ship in which Christ has placed you. Let the storm and the hurricane come. Long live Christ! You will not perish. What is there to fear? Let the world turn up-side-down, let everything be in darkness, smoke and noise, GOD IS WITH US!”
Choices Have Consequences In This Life And In The Next!
Msgr. Charles Pope – The themes of early Lent are pretty basic. The ashes of Ash Wednesday announce the simple truth that we are going to die and thereafter face judgment. Hence, we need to repent and come to believe the good news that only Jesus can save us.
Another early reading from Thursday after Ash Wednesday featured Moses laying out the basic reality that all of us have a choice to make. He says to us,
Today I have set before you
life and prosperity, death and doom …
I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:
I have set before you life and death,
the blessing and the curse (Dt 30:15, 20).
So there it is, our choice: life or death, prosperity or doom. An old Latin expression says, Tertium non datur (no third way is given). We often like to think that we can plow some middle path. But in the matter of the last things, there is no middle path, no third way. Either we choose God and His kingdom, reflecting that choice in all of our smaller decisions, or we do not.
To those who think that a middle path is possible, I would say that it is in effect the way of compromise, ambivalence, and tepidness. Walking such a path shows a lack of real commitment and a refusal to witness to Christ. These are not virtues that belong to God’s Kingdom; they pertain more to the kingdom of darkness. Jesus says, Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil (Matt 5:37). He also says, No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money (Matt 6:24).
So we are back to a choice: for the Kingdom of Light or for the kingdom of darkness, for the world and its ways or for God and His ways. Do we choose to gratify the flesh or nourish the spirit, to serve Satan and his agenda or Christ and His will and plan?
You’re free to choose, but you’re not free not to choose. That is to say, you must choose. And if you think that you can go on simply not choosing one or the other, I’ve got news for you: not choosing is choosing the kingdom of darkness.
While it is true that many do not directly choose Satan, but rather indirectly choose him by following his ways, we are asked to choose God explicitly, by accepting the gift of faith and basing our life on what the Lord commands. Faith is not some sort of “default position” we can have by accident. Faith is the supernaturally assisted and transformed human decision for God and all that that choice implies. Faith is a gift freely offered, and one that we must also freely accept; it is a choice that will not be forced on us. And through many daily choices we are called to reaffirm, by grace, the choice we have made for God.
So again, life is about choices: the fundamental choice of faith and all the daily choices that either affirm or deny the reality of our faith.
We live in times in which people like to demand free choice but at the same time want to evade the responsibilities that come with making choices. Moses goes on in the reading today to describe the fact that the choice we make for or against God will have consequences:
If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,
which I enjoin on you today,
loving him, and walking in his ways,
and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,
you will live and grow numerous,
and the LORD, your God,
will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.
If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen,
but are led astray and adore and serve other gods,
I tell you now that you will certainly perish;
you will not have a long life
on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy (Dt 30).
Yes, choices have consequences. And even small daily choices have the cumulative effect of moving us in one direction or the other, toward God and our goal or away.
Many little choices also have a way of forming our hearts. Deeds become habits; habits become character; character becomes destiny. These choices move us into one future or the other.
And while it is true that sudden and dramatic conversions are possible as long as we are still living, it is more common that, as we make our journey, our hearts become more fixed and our fundamental character becomes less likely to change. As we get older, it’s harder to change because that’s what choices do to us: they move us in a certain direction, down a certain path. And the further along that path we go, the less likely we are to turn back.
Therefore, daily choices are important, and making frequent examinations of conscience and frequent confession are essential. Each day we ought to ask the question, “Where am I going with my life?” If we go on too long living an unreflective life, it is easy to find ourselves deeply locked in sinful habits and patterns that are harder and harder to break. Thus, frequent reflection is necessary and we ought not make light of small daily decisions.
We live in times in which, to some degree, it is easier to insulate ourselves from the immediate consequences of many of the choices we make. Medicine, technology, social safety nets, etc. are all good things in and of themselves, but they do tend to shield us from immediate consequences and they help cultivate the illusion that consequences can be forever avoided.
We also live in times in which, perhaps more than ever before, the community is willing to bear the burden of many bad individual choices. Again, this is not in and of itself a bad thing, but it does become an enabler of bad behavior and fosters the illusion that consequences can be avoided forever. They cannot.
Our own culture is currently struggling under the weight of a colossal number of poor individual choices, ones that have added up to a financial, spiritual, moral, and emotional debt we cannot pay. Sexual misconduct, divorce, cohabitation, abortion, STDs, the use of hallucinogenic and addictive drugs, the casting off of of discipline and parental responsibility, the rejection of faith and ancient and tested wisdom, rebellion, silence in the face of sin and injustice, greed, consumerism gone mad, factions, envy, discord, and on and on … all of this is taking a tremendous toll. The consequences are mounting and it is becoming clear that even the most basic functions of society such as raising the next generation, preserving order and stability, and ensuring the common good are gravely threatened.
And what is true collectively is also true for us as individuals. Lots of bad little choices quickly draw us into self-destructive patterns that become more and more ingrained. And without regular reflection and penitential seasons like Lent, we lose our way too easily! St. Augustine noted this in his Confessions, in which he described himself as being bound, “not by another’s irons, but by my own iron will … For in truth lust is made out of a perverse will, and when lust is served, it becomes habit, and when habit is not resisted, it becomes necessity” (Conf 8.5.10).
Moses’ warnings are before us as never before.
Back in 1917, a beautiful and holy Woman (Our Lady) appeared to three young children in Portugal. She explained that the horrifying war (World War I) was finally coming to an end. But, she warned, if people did not turn back to her Son Jesus and start praying, a worse war would ensue; Russia would spread her errors and great disaster would befall this world. Do I need to tell you what happened? Of course not! Any even casual assessment of the 20th century would find it hard to conclude that the century was anything but satanic.
Life and death, prosperity and doom. What will you choose? What will we choose?
Choices! Consequences!
Originally posted at: blog.adw.org
The Battle We Are Fighting Is Against More Than Ignorance. It Is A Battle Against Powers And Principalities
Bishop Athanasius Schneider – It is a sad truth that we are in a time of great crisis in the Church. God is with us, however. You have asked me what the faithful can do to combat the errors spreading through the Church. I would like to answer with some suggestions:
Spread The Gospel And Teachings Of The Church
We must create groups of true Catholics, scholars, families, and clergy who will spread courageously the full Catholic truth, especially on the Church’s teachings on the family, on nature, and the commandments of God.
As a means to this aim, we must make use of all the resources that the modern world offers to us. We are not confined to waiting for the media to spread these messages. We do not have to wait for each individual pastor to preach them from the pulpit. We should embrace the new media forms that allow us to spread the Gospel and the teachings of our Holy Mother, the Church. We should take our message to the Internet, publish it on websites, blogs, and social media.
But we must not forget to engage with our fellow Catholics in more traditional ways. We should organize conferences and symposiums on a scholarly level. We should use these to create publications, papers, and books that can be used as a reference and broaden our discussion.
Witness In Truth And Love God’s Design For The Family And Sexuality
We should also create a movement of Catholic families, of “domestic churches”, to witness, defend and spread the integral faith and the teaching on family, marriage, and the order of nature.
We must, at this dangerous time, be courageous in illuminating the truly Gnostic and revolutionary character of the “Kasper agenda,” demonstrating the continuity of the Divine doctrine on marriage and its practice throughout the two thousand years of the history of our Church. We should inspire the faithful with examples of holy husbands, families, children, and teenagers. We should demonstrate, on the one side, the real beauty of a marital, family, or single life in chastity and fidelity. On the other side, we must point to the demonstrated ugliness, unhappiness, and schizophrenia of a life against the divinely-established order.
To give hope to those who are struggling, it is important for us to give examples of repentant Catholics from the past and present time. Those who converted from their sinful life in adultery, divorce, or sodomy.
To address the errors currently being spread, true Catholic husbands, families and single persons must write to the pope, to the their bishops, and to the competent dicasteries of the Roman Curia, notifying them of heretical, semi-heretical, or Gnostic pronouncements of ecclesiastical persons or events with such an agenda which are being promoted though ecclesiastical persons or groups.
This Is A Spiritual War And Must Be Fought With Spiritual Weapons
These are all means of education and formation. But the battle we are fighting is against more than ignorance. It is against principalities and powers. It cannot succeed unless we organize a great national and international net of prayer through Eucharistic adoration, pilgrimages, solemn Masses, intercessional and penitential processions with themes such as “The Holiness of Family and Marriage,” “The Call to Chastity,” “The Beauty and Happiness of a Chaste Life,” “The Imitation of Christ in Family Life,” and “Expiation for the Sins Against Family and Marriage.”
Perhaps most fundamental of all, we should pray fervently that God may give to His Church holy bishops and holy popes. Such a prayer should be prayed especially by children, because the prayer of the innocent ones penetrates heaven like no other.
Originally posted at OnePeterFive.
The Sense Of Sin Must Be Restored To Men So That They Can Truly Be Men! A Roman Catholic cardinal in the US has blamed radical feminism for leaving men “marginalized” in the Church since the 1960s.
Interviewed by Matthew Christoff of the New Emangelization Project, which focuses on resourcing men in their discipleship as members of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Raymond Burke said: “Unfortunately, the radical feminist movement strongly influenced the Church, leading the Church to constantly address women’s issues at the expense of addressing critical issues important to men.”
He said that “the goodness and importance of men became very obscured, and for all practical purposes, were not emphasized at all … So much of this tradition of heralding the heroic nature of manhood has been lost in the Church today.”
Cardinal Burke, a noted theological conservative, spoke of the need for children to have good relationships with their fathers, saying: “We need that very close and affirming relationship with the mother, but at the same time, it is the relationship with the father, which is of its nature more distant but not less loving, which disciplines our lives. It teaches a child to lead a selfless life, ready to embrace whatever sacrifices are necessary to be true to God and to one another.”
He said: “I recall in the mid-1970’s, young men telling me that they were, in a certain way, frightened by marriage because of the radicalizing and self-focused attitudes of women that were emerging at that time. These young men were concerned that entering a marriage would simply not work because of a constant and insistent demanding of rights for women. These divisions between women and men have gotten worse since then.”
The cardinal spoke of the abuse of women by men who “violated their own manly character” by their actions. He blamed a “fluffy, superficial kind of catechetical approach” to issues of sexuality and the “explosion of pornography” which “leads men and women to view their human sexuality apart from a relationship between a man and woman in marriage”.
He called for a recovery of home life in which children ate and talked with their parents, saying: “My generation has taken for granted the many blessings we were blessed with in our solid family lives and with the Church’s solid formation of us. My generation let all of this nonsense of sexual confusion, radical feminism and the breakdown of the family go on, not realizing that we were robbing the next generations of the most treasured gifts that we had been blessed to receive.”
One of the consequences of ‘radical feminism’, he said, was that “The activities in the parish and even the liturgy have been influenced by women and have become so feminine in many places that men do not want to get involved.
“Men are often reluctant to become active in the Church. The feminized environment and the lack of the Church’s effort to engage men has led many men to simply opt out.”
The cardinal called for a recovery of a sense of sin, whose loss he blamed on a liberalizing movement in the Church following the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. “Men are not going to Confession today because there has been a denial of sin,” he said. “There was a period after Vatican II where many were promoting the idea that there weren’t any serious sins. Of course, this is lethal for men, especially young men.”
He continued: “Confronting sin is central to being able to love one another. How does a man love? He loves by obeying the Ten Commandments. After Vatican II, that great call to love by confronting sin was lost, leading to the most horrible abuses of individuals, abusing themselves or others, the break down of family life, a precipitous drop in Mass attendance and the abandonment of the Sacrament of Penance. We must restore the sense of sin to men, for men to recognize their sins and express deep sorrow for their sins.”
By: Mark Woods, Christian Today.
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