Defend The Fullness Of Faith!
“Here I am Lord, I have come to do your will.” – Hebrews 10:9
I am very grateful to share my thoughts regularly in this column, “Gratitude for the Gift of Faith.” I take this responsibility to prayer each time I sit down to write. I ask the Holy Spirit to direct every topic because faith in a loving God is truly the greatest gift!
This issue of The Message is published just 10 days before the 2016 presidential election on Nov. 8. History is being recorded, and I love history. The story of the Catholic Church instituted by Jesus Christ more than 2,000 years ago is the oldest documented narrative:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” – John 1:1
We live in very challenging times, and throughout history we are reminded that Christianity has been a battle. Our country is under attack with the most significant issue of religious liberty. The day before the Feast of the Apparitions of Fatima, on Oct. 13, 2016, there was a leak of information from a political party criticizing the Church and suggesting the need to create a “Catholic Spring,” or movement to change its “archaic” teachings. This is a violation of our religious freedom.
This government encroachment is reminiscent of the anti-religious ideology encountered in Portugal in the early 20th century during the time of the Fatima Apparitions. Portugal was renowned by its Christian faith until the 18th century, when the government was influenced by anti-religious belief. By 1911, separation between Church and State was official. There was terror for priests and bishops, who were imprisoned or exiled; seminaries were closed; and religious orders were suppressed while missions were abandoned.
We will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Apparitions of Fatima, Portugal, in 2017. The messages shared to the children at Fatima by the Blessed Mother were ones of peril and promise. Our salvation history is full of accounts with warnings and examples of courage, which should give us pause for concern. But most important, they should remind us to take time in prayer for our country and its leaders!
In 1776, as our nation was declaring independence from Great Britain, European historian Alexander Fraser Tyler shared a warning that should be of interest to Americans today. In researching his book “The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Empire,” Tyler is attributed with discovering a pattern in the rise and fall of societies and nations. Here is how the cycle was outlined:“From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from great courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; and from dependency back again to bondage.”
In the Catholic Church we have great gifts to strengthen us in the sacraments, devotions, prayers, the rosary, our examples in the lives of the saints and so much more. Do we talk enough about the true teachings of the Catholic Church instituted by Christ? Are we culpable because we do not defend what it is that we believe for fear of offending someone? In God’s commands there is freedom in the process of obedience. We need to pray like there is no tomorrow, and vote like we care about the day after tomorrow – and forever.
“Pray for me that I would speak boldly as I ought to speak.” – Ephesians 6:19.
Amen!
