UPDATE:
Feedback from a reader…
In a recent post, you respond to a question about the distress that is caused by the latest homosexual scandal in the Vatican. You pointed out that the enemy will attack, “in particular,” those who have influence over others. Among the list is the father of a family. Well, I’m one of those, and your comment hit the mark. I went to confession almost immediately after reading your article. As I’m responsible for souls, I need to make sure I can pass muster myself. I’m grateful for the push. Please keep on pushing.
My work here is done… just started.
____
From a reader…
QUAERITUR:
Father, since converting through RCIA and beginning work within my parish, I read your blog twice a day for insights into the struggles within the Church today. You regularly give insight into the the conflicts surrounding curial politics, the shakeup at the CDF, AL, the St. Gallen group, and the Lavender Mafia. But, like Sherlock Holmes’ dog that didn’t bark, this horrible incident in the CDF apartments is becoming a deafening silence. Please give us some perspective: what does it say about the CDF, the curia, and Vatican leadership that this sort of abomination was taking place within their headquarters? How can we trust what comes out of Rome?
Alas. It’s enough to make a grown man cry. Truly.
These days I get a lot of questions like this in my email and it is hard to know how to respond.
Let’s get real about this.
The Enemy, Satan and the fallen angels of Hell, hate the Church in way that we mere humans cannot fathom. Their purpose is to diminish in any way they can the love that God will be shown in the End, when Christ will take all things to Himself and submit them to the Father so that God will be all in all. Each time a soul fails at death and is excluded from the Beatific Vision (and let’s not kid ourselves that that doesn’t happen), the Enemy exalts with the cry, “That’s one more that You won’t have!”
To accomplish their hellish purpose, the Enemy will attack everyone, of course. But the Enemy will attack in a particular way those whose influence extends over many souls. Take down an individual, okay. Take down a father of a family, better. Take down a parish priest or bishop, even better. Take down officials in the Church’s HQ so that massive scandal can be broadcast by the MSM… a damned ‘good’ day’s work.
The Enemy will attack the Church in every way through her weak link: people.
The Enemy is like a roaring lion, roaming about seeking whom he might devour.
Tu autem, Domine, miserere nobis! But Thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us!
That’s my cry, too, for I too am a sinner in need of forgiveness, conversion and grace.
Let’s be clear about another thing. Just because the apartment in which the deviant sex orgy and drug stuff took place is in the same building as the offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), that doesn’t mean that the CDF was in any way involved. I worked in that same building for years, in a different office. There are a few residential apartments in that building that have nothing to do with the CDF. People with clout (or people who have people with clout behind them – so to speak) have enough pull to get an apartment there. But, those are not “CDF apartments”, in the sense that the CDF controls them so closely that the CDF can be implicated in what goes on in them. In my time working in that building, there were in these apartments retired cardinals and long-time, Curia officials, none of whom worked for the CDF. Those are not “CDF apartments”.
That said, keep in mind that the building in which the CDF is located and the residence where the Pope lives (Santa Marta) are really close to each other. Enemy demons can attach themselves to places and objects and infest them due to sins that are committed in them and with them. They stick to those places like vile, hell-leeches and claim the right to be there because of those sins until their hold is broken through exorcism. If I were Pope, I would weekly send exorcists around the curial offices to clean house. If I were a bishop, I would weekly send priests around blessing the work spaces of the chancery and sprinkling holy water and even blessed salt. Pastors of souls should do that for their rectories. Fathers of families should ask the priest to bless their homes. Hell and demons are real, friends. And they really hate you. Fight back. Use sacramentals. Even more powerful than sacramentals are sacraments. So, given the great opportunity to wreak havoc on a spiritual level, would horrible homosexual sins (demons can be “specialists”) inside the precincts of Vatican City, literally a stone’s throw from where the Vicar of Christ lives and works and eats and sleeps, not be just the thing for the Enemy? You bet it would be.
Demonic infestation of the same building where doctrine is overseen for the whole Church and abuse cases are dealt with. The same building in which you find the offices of the Commission which oversees the use of the Traditional Roman Rite. Coincidence?
About all the rest of the stuff you mentioned and more… I could give a list, but you know what they are… these also are manifestations of the ongoing mission of Hell to take souls away from God.
This is about Hell and souls, Heaven and souls… souls… souls.
We can get down in the dumps about what is going on or we can rise up and fight back.
I want to keep as many of you out of Hell as I can and enjoy the glory of Heaven with you when our time comes.
For now, however, we are in The Fight Of Our Lives.
So, you read about awful things in the Church and heresy and stupidity from her duly appointed pastors? Fine. If the Church is being attacked with such fury, and from the inside, that means that the Church is exactly what we need to belong to! Paradoxically, the corruption we see and the infidelity we read of are proofs of the Church’s divine origin. And since Christ founded the Church, that’s the Church I want to be in, flaws, wickedness and all.
Next, battle isn’t pretty. Just as a soldier in the state of grace who does his duty knows that even in battle he is in the “safest” place he can be, so too we know that we members of the Church in the state of grace are in the safest place we could be, even though corruption and infidelity and disgusting things are going on at every level. Since the Church is of divine origin, there is no place else we should ever want to be. We can be sad sometimes at the results of the battle. We can be afraid sometimes in the midst of the battle. But let us not waiver in our trust in Christ’s promises. Heaven is our reward, not worldly security, even in the Church. The Lord is my strength and shield and my trusting heart exalts in Him and with song I’ll give Him thanks even for the terrible battle that it falls to me to fight as His priest.
Moreover, Rome is only Rome. The “Vatican” is only the Vatican. Curial structures are not of divine origin. Christ promised nothing to the Roman Curia. He made no guarantees that the Faith would be preserved in the Curia. “Put not your trust in princes: In the children of men, in whom there is no salvation.”
Stick to the true and the proven. Stick to traditional sources for the review of the content of your Catholic Faith. Remember too that the content of your Faith is not just stuff to be read and memorized, but is also a Person with whom you have a relationship. Stick to Christ. Use the sacraments well. Review your own state in life and, having determined your duties and obligations, carry them out faithfully and with singularity of purpose. Examine your conscience and…
GO TO CONFESSION!