In last week’s issue of these “Comments,” a reader was commended for taking a properly supernatural view of the modern world’s frightening problems, namely, they constitute one overriding offence against Almighty God. That is why their full gravity cannot remotely be grasped on a purely human level. That is why for centuries purely human solutions have failed, one after another. If the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom (Ps. CX, 10), then atheism, the scorn of God, is suicidal folly. “The Lord is a jealous God and avenging, the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries and keeps wrath for His enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and of great might, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.” (Nahum, I, 2–3).
Read again our reader’s version of the problem, and now read his version of the solution –
All that said, I think recognizing this state of affairs also reveals the solution: A spiritual intensification, to obtain help from the only One Who can defeat our enemy (but Who is currently withholding it because His aid is not being solicited earnestly enough). It is reparation, penance, prayer, and supernatural acts of faith, hope, and charity which will win His help.
Likewise it will be Our Lady’s heel which will vanquish the devil and his New World Order, not just our human efforts. For us, the focus should be on fidelity and final perseverance in grace and faith, than which nothing more is necessary, or needed. As for the coming persecution in particular, a rather profound letter back in February from the Superior General of the Society of St Pius X, Fr. Davide Pagliarani, seemed to reveal the secret of perseverance amidst bloody persecution:
“Having been warned of this for a long time, we have to prepare ourselves for it, peacefully, by surrendering ourselves unreservedly into the hands of Divine Providence, and without desperately looking for a way out. Let us think back to the first century Christians, under the persecutions: those who looked too closely at the persecutors, the instruments of torture or the wild beasts, and forgot the God of love calling them to join Him in Heaven, saw nothing but danger, pain and fear . . . and ended up apostatizing. They had no lack of clear information, but their faith was not strong enough, and it had not been sufficiently nourished by ardent prayer . . . ” ( https://sspx.org/en/publications/letters/feb-2021-letter-friends-and-benefactors-n%C2%B0–90–63853 )
That is to say, our gaze should remain on God, and not on the noose. If we pray ardently for fidelity, faith, and final perseverance, the good God who certainly desires that we should have these things will not fail to grant them. But it may very much be doubted whether He will bestow such gifts upon those who do not ask for them.
The athletes of God are now in training for the contest to come.
Escape is not in the cards.
Kyrie eleison.
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WAY FORWARD – II
For this, we Catholics must be His leaven!
In last week’s issue of these “Comments,” a reader was commended for taking a properly supernatural view of the modern world’s frightening problems, namely, they constitute one overriding offence against Almighty God. That is why their full gravity cannot remotely be grasped on a purely human level. That is why for centuries purely human solutions have failed, one after another. If the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom (Ps. CX, 10), then atheism, the scorn of God, is suicidal folly. “The Lord is a jealous God and avenging, the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries and keeps wrath for His enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and of great might, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.” (Nahum, I, 2–3).
Read again our reader’s version of the problem, and now read his version of the solution –
All that said, I think recognizing this state of affairs also reveals the solution: A spiritual intensification, to obtain help from the only One Who can defeat our enemy (but Who is currently withholding it because His aid is not being solicited earnestly enough). It is reparation, penance, prayer, and supernatural acts of faith, hope, and charity which will win His help.
Likewise it will be Our Lady’s heel which will vanquish the devil and his New World Order, not just our human efforts. For us, the focus should be on fidelity and final perseverance in grace and faith, than which nothing more is necessary, or needed. As for the coming persecution in particular, a rather profound letter back in February from the Superior General of the Society of St Pius X, Fr. Davide Pagliarani, seemed to reveal the secret of perseverance amidst bloody persecution:
“Having been warned of this for a long time, we have to prepare ourselves for it, peacefully, by surrendering ourselves unreservedly into the hands of Divine Providence, and without desperately looking for a way out. Let us think back to the first century Christians, under the persecutions: those who looked too closely at the persecutors, the instruments of torture or the wild beasts, and forgot the God of love calling them to join Him in Heaven, saw nothing but danger, pain and fear . . . and ended up apostatizing. They had no lack of clear information, but their faith was not strong enough, and it had not been sufficiently nourished by ardent prayer . . . ” ( https://sspx.org/en/publications/letters/feb-2021-letter-friends-and-benefactors-n%C2%B0–90–63853 )
That is to say, our gaze should remain on God, and not on the noose. If we pray ardently for fidelity, faith, and final perseverance, the good God who certainly desires that we should have these things will not fail to grant them. But it may very much be doubted whether He will bestow such gifts upon those who do not ask for them.
The athletes of God are now in training for the contest to come.
Escape is not in the cards.
Kyrie eleison.