(Photo: Pieta by Giovanni Bellini)
(Photo:Saint Edmund Jennings, priest and Martyr)Matt.26
[31]
Then Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away because of me this night; for it is written, `I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'
Christianity has undergone persecutions throughout its history; As Jesus said no servant is greater than his master, we too must expect suffering and persecution, to some degree.
The greatest persecutors to our faith today are the false promises of an earthly utopia.
Access to leisure, pleasure, and its pursuits, attempt to anaesthetise us from this reality. These substitute comforters distract us from the consoler our soul yearns for. The Spirit of God.
We are deceived when the inevitability of middle age and our subsequent dotage are coated with a veneer of glamour by the media. The pursuit of eternal youth spawns a culture where leaving anything such as moral wisdom to the younger generation, or any kind of material or spiritual wealth are values that belong to a former age.
Consequently our youth have been served a great injustice. They are being betrayed by those who should nurture them.
As a recent example of this subversive trend, Here is a link to the eighty -year old priest who was arrested at Notre Dame for his peaceful protest to maintain Catholic values at the University for future generations: Under the benign guise of justice for all, the ideology of communist thought where all are equal, has besmirched the thinking of many regarding the roles of men and women within the church. Both sexes are undermined, and the beauty of true woman hood, and manhood have become distorted.
There is a subtle dissent which has confused truth and falsehood.
Today amongst the faithful Catholic congregations, there has arisen a kind of "Cold War" which serves to persecute the Clergy, and undermine the faith of the laity.
That's why we are in such need of good, holy shepherds who are not afraid to guide their flocks in spirit and in truth as Jesus did.
(PHOTO: Father Ralph Sherwin - Martyr and Saint.)The darkness of night in which the followers of Jesus "fell away" was born of the jealousy and resentment toward Him because of His divine power to work miracles. Those who should have recognised him as a fellow high priest and clung to him, spread distrust and rumour.
Now, just as then, we have a situation where our Shepherds - our priests and ecclesiae, our religious are being attacked more viciously by the "night" - (the darkness where things take place unseen.)
What a prize for Satan is a priest who publicly falls from grace, (as some have in the most unthinkable ways) - the whole church suffers. Distrust and suspicion work away to create doubt and confusion.
The reputations of innocent and faithful priests become objects of derision.
In an age when "TRUST" has become a "five - letter" word, Jesus has manifested the message of DIVINE MERCY which exhorts us to "TRUST IN HIM".
(Photo: Saint Bernard tormented by the devil - book of hours of Etienne Chevalier.)
Now is the time for us to take ownership of our belief in God rather than man, and be fully confirmed in our faith.
Man is flawed and weak, but God is Truth.
Truth must prevail, for it is the measure of goodness and perfection.
We need to pray for our priests and all religious. If we have not played our part by praying for our clergy, then perhaps mediocre pastors (and worse) are all we deserve.
As baptised Christians, we have entered into a priesthood where praying for one another and forgiving one another are basics of our faith.
1Pet.2
[9] But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
(Photo: Pope Benedict 16th.)
Providentially, in these difficult times God has given to us our present Pope Benedict XVI, who is reaching out like the good shepherd in Ezekiel. 34:
" As a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of his sheep have been scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness."
He is trying to jog our memories to lead us back to the right path.
We have to be aware that Satan wants for us to loose hope, he wants for us to lose faith in the promises Christ. He wants us to be caught up in our criticism of others in order to spread despondency, division and doubt.
He works to scandalise the priesthood, that he might discourage vocations. He wants less priests available to consecrate the Eucharist, and to administer the sacraments. Thereby preventing the strength we draw from them.
Our baptismal priesthood is a union with God, as intimate as a marriage: The attitude of the man in Sirach 23: 18 describes a foolish spouse who has become unfaithful and so lost awareness of his own sin, and of his accountability to God.
The passage is as poignant today as was then:
Sir.23
[18] A man who breaks his marriage vows
says to himself, "Who sees me?
Darkness surrounds me, and the walls hide me,
and no one sees me. Why should I fear?
The Most High will not take notice of my sins."
In these times when our Church and its pastors are being persecuted on all sides, we must not loose hope, we must remain faithful.
When a grain of wheat falls to the ground and is surrounded by darkness it undergoes a transformation. The chaff is left to wither, but the centre emerges with new roots and shoots, its form becomes transfigured. The Church too will be renewed in the same way. This darkness will not last indefinitely. Prayer will always overcome the darkness, just as the crucifixion was followed by resurrection.
Mic.7
[8] Rejoice not over me, O my enemy;
when I fall, I shall rise;
when I sit in darkness,
the LORD will be a light to me.
