Special Treatment

The commemoration of the 75^th anniversary of the D-day landings was important not only to remind us of the courage and sacrifice of the previous generation in fighting the evils of Nazism but also to remind us that contending with evil now falls to this generation. There is always something that needs to be revealed, opposed and conquered.

There are dark clouds gathering over Europe once again; it is the same atheistic spirit that moved the Nazi’s and the Communists to the horrors they inflicted on humanity. And like them they conceal their works and objectives with their own new language to rationalise and sanitise.

Now that people have gotten used to eliminating the unborn; it’s natural for their eyes to fall upon the elderly, the infirm, those with mental or physical disability and push society towards mercy killing or special treatment as the SS used to call it.

Assisted suicide, a precursor of voluntary (and not so voluntary) Euthanasia is already well established in Holland, Luxemburg and Belgium. The laws were made loose to enable its extension or a liberal interpretation of them and already from an initial position of being for those in unbearable pain with no hope of recovery it is already found its way to the disabled and even the depressed at the ‘end of life clinics.’ In Holland a child of 12 can request Euthanasia.

We need to show that every life and every stage of it is important, has its own dignity and purpose, regardless of appearances and each human being has an immortal soul, a unique role in eternity.

It’s as important to keep this kind of legislation away from our shores as it was to keep an invading foreign power away. This is our fight, (or one of them) and as with all spiritual battle only prayer will decide the outcome.

Vanquish the Enemy

"It is the image of God reflected in you that so enrages hell; it is this on which the demons hurl their mightiest weapons."

Anyone seeking to live a Christian life will discover that our adversary will quickly move from anonymity to bullying and intimidation. But we have been given a wonderful gift, as Catholics, in that we have at our disposal a means to counter whatever comes, Mary, the mother of God. She is charged with the task of ‘crushing the head of the serpent’ (Gen 3:15).

Protestant churches have been robbed of this knowledge and struggle on without this important heavenly help, perhaps not understanding why the Lord delegated in this way.

Fr Amorth, a prolific exorcist from Italy, noticed that whenever he invoked the name of Mary during an exorcism the person became more agitated and violent; having authority over the evil one, he questioned him about it.

He asked why he seemed more afraid at the name of Mary than the name of Jesus Christ: He replied that ‘I am more afraid when you say the Madonna’s name, because I am more humiliated by being beaten by a simple woman, than by Him..’ Her power over him is such :- “Because she always defeats me, because she was never compromised by any taint of sin!”

It’s analogous to a school bully who terrorises everyone and is then laid out cold by a punch from the smallest girl, in front of everyone. God makes his humiliation fitting to his pride.

When Fr Amorth questioned further it was revealed that ‘every hail Mary makes hell tremble’ and the most noteworthy point I think was that ‘if Christians knew the power of the Rosary, it would be the end of me!’

No wonder the greatest saints were champions of the Rosary; with this weapon we can protect ourselves and Our Lady can vanquish the enemy.

Time Square

A few days ago there was a prolife event in Times Square, New York where legislation against the unborn is currently at its most harsh.

There was the usual mix of speakers, abortion survivors and prolife advocates and a crowd of 20,000 supporters. A group of 2,000 pro-abortion supporters also attended to disrupt the event but they got more than they bargained for. One of the speakers prayed for the protesters; others who had had abortions themselves and had previously shared their views expressed their sorrow and regret.

Towards the close of proceedings, the former Planned Parenthood Director (turned pro-lifer) Abby Johnson was in the back of a van hooked-up to a 4D ultrasound machine scanning her new baby in her womb. The sleepy baby’s face, in great picture clarity, was beamed to large screens on the stage and the audience fell silent. 

After a few moments the technician doing the scan amplified the sounds coming from the womb, and a thunderous heart beat reverberated around the square. A more concise or eloquent testimony cannot be imagined.

All else was silent, even the pro-abortion protesters skulked away in defeat.

Recommended to Heaven

   

               

Years ago I heard a talk where it was suggested that we all adopt a saint. Someone to ‘have our backs’ and pray for us. A condition was added; that we should have something in common with them.

All the sweet ladies could pick St Therese of Lisieux, the clever might go for St Alphonsus, the reformed hell raisers St Augustine perhaps. What was disturbing was that I couldn’t find a saint who fit my profile; surely heaven must have one nutter !

I eventually landed with a different idea. I’d hitch my wagon to the holy souls. Whilst not being the brightest stars in the sky they were on their way, their course was set, they had decided for God and were little by little headed in the right direction. I would pray for them and when they arrive in heaven they can pray for me.

No one goes to heaven alone, we must be recommended, and it can only be those whom we have helped get there first.

Charity is the glory of God shining through us

Money can be something of a conundrum in the Christian life, particularly as one part of the world has vast wealth, the other vast poverty and the gap is seemingly ever widening.  Add to this the ‘natural’ tendency towards selfishness and a hostile economic system which encourages a posture of self-preservation; there will be a conflict between compassion and the fear of being irresponsible and winding up in want.

As in all things though, the Gospel turns this issue on its head and points towards eternity “Make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” Furthermore, it encourages us to not be afraid. 

There are good examples to be found in this area; one grandmother I met years ago was given a large gift by her children and grandchildren so she could have the trip of a lifetime. She had never been abroad and after her many years of selfless service and kindness to her family they wanted her to have something special. This was in the mid-nineties at the tail end of the war in Bosnia and the beginning of the genocide in Rwanda. And she gave this gift to the refugees from these two conflicts instead of treating herself. I imagine she is reaping the reward of a lifetime of such acts now.

Another I heard of is a schoolboy who on hearing about the work of a charity in Africa that provides one meal a day for children so they can attend school every day, decided to forgo his birthday and Christmas presents and instead give what would have been spent to enable these children to be fed and get an education. He continued in this discipline year after year and later became a fundraiser to add to this wonderful legacy.

Sacrifice is no longer sacrifice when it is done in love, it is joy to the giver and life to the recipient.

‘Quest for Freedom’

 

The life story of Frederick Douglas remains a definitive work on slavery in pre-civil war America, because he was a slave, an eye witness, writing from experience. He secretly taught himself to read and freed his mind and the rest of him followed in due course.

Everything about slavery was designed to prevent any thought or hope of freedom; the slaveholders knew their craft well. The brutality required to subjugate their slaves and turn them into brutes, turned the slaveholders themselves into something much worse. One could say that to be a slave was to be possessed by the possessed.

It makes all the more understandable the condition of being a slave to sin, to be beholden to the cruellest taskmaster of all.

For Frederick, even though he was learned and articulate, there were so many obstacles and dangers in obtaining freedom, discouragements and temptations to resignation and settling for the certainties of slavery rather than the risk and uncertainty of freedom.  Many ensnared in sin suffer the same malaise. Freedom, whilst desirable, will make demands also.

The slave to sin initially gives reasons to sin because of the pleasure derived from it, then justifies it as not being sinful at all as the heart becomes calloused. Eventually there will come a point where the slave to sin has an emptiness that is so great that it can either lead to despair and self destruction or by God’s grace to liberation and salvation.

Eventually the yearning to be free overwhelmed Frederick.  Standing over a harbour looking at the sailing ships he prayed “You are loosed from your moorings and are free, I am fast in my chains and am a slave. You move merrily before the gentle gale, and I sadly before the bloody whip. You are freedom’s swift winged angels. I am confined in bands of iron...It cannot be that I shall live and die a slave.” Then he escaped.

For those entrenched in lives of bondage to sin, of whatever varieties, time will come when the heart cries out in a similar way. Freedom is only a step away, a decision and a prayer for mercy and forgiveness; then freedom is given by the Lord in an instant. That’s the miracle of the Divine Mercy.

Pilgrimage and Penance

Penance seems an odd word in this day and age; as is anything which is uncomfortable or can’t be done from a mobile phone app. But for Holy week I sometimes undertake a penitential walk.

I was inspired to do so by the story of a Brazilian plumber. His wife had just left him, and he was staring down the barrel of old age with a lot of failures and regrets in his backpack. He sold his van and tools and bought a plane ticket to the Holy Land. There comes a time in the life of every man when only authenticity and the truth will do and he went in search for it.

He joined a pilgrim group and on the eve of the visit to the route of the way of the Cross, he spent the night in prayer. In the morning, one of the group members would lead and carry a replica of the cross and he prayed for that privilege.  His prayer was answered.

As he placed it on his shoulder, he suddenly felt an incredible weight pressing down on him. It was revealed to him that this was the weight of his own sins only. As he walked the way of the cross, it was so difficult that he fell and struggled with it; the other pilgrims thought he was play-acting as he collapsed at the end in complete exhaustion.

Then, as he described it, he felt that all his sins were absorbed by the cross and when he stood up he felt as light as a feather. He returned to Brazil to an unknown and uncertain future but with a great love for Jesus and a growing confidence in His love to carry him through.