Faith and Family

               “Jesus didn’t ask Paul: “Why do you persecute My Church? He asked: “Why do you persecute me?”
                The crises in our culture today is but one of the manifestations of the struggle between good and evil. When we lack the common sense to recognize objective truth, the entire moral order crumbles. Societies’ collective mind is no longer guided by the truth; it seeks only “bread and circuses” entertainment and pleasure. When these twin distractions fail to satisfy, the culture -save those who fight for the truth of Christ- moves on to other distractions, passions and the latest fashions. In times like these when right is wrong and wrong is right, the struggle for the true faith and family becomes paramount.
               Almighty God, through His ‘greatness and His goodness’ reveals Himself in the person of Jesus Christ who brought us “the Way the Truth and the Life”. Christianity grew from twelve Apostles to a world-wide religion because of the truth of the Gospel message and the Christian ethic of banning of infanticide, abortion and the promotion of the natural family of one man and one woman. In this way, the new Christian faith strengthen families; and families in turn strengthen the church. People learned their faith in communities beginning with the unit of all communities, the family. We are only beginning to understand how the attacks against the natural family has coincided with the attacks against Christianity itself. Consider how the ‘alternate’ forms of faith and family repudiate essential Christian truths like sin, heaven and hell, the Trinity, the Incarnation and the Resurrection and marriage between one man and one woman. As a result, only a minority of families are ‘traditional’ in the Christian sense. Families have become smaller and more scattered, less likely to be bound by the marriage contract, and only a few are extended under the same roof. Time spent together between relatives, neighbors, and friends has been drastically reduced. This is more than debate between different viewpoints. Many take violent offense to the teachings of the Gospel. It is almost frightening to see the rage that is greeting the church especially the church’s views on morality. Additionally the chaos in the modern world has left many in rebellion as they never were before to the Christian way of life. Many angry people who march to the trendy tune of the latest pied-piper do not realize that the bitterness against traditional society that they rebel against is nothing more than their own desire for the very things many of them despise.
               Faith starts and is nurtured in family life. The main mission of the family is to pass down through the generations the gift of faith. The main mission of the church is the salvation of souls. Without faith in the Christian God there can be no salvation of souls. With every act of faith, love and service to God and our fellow man, we score victory against those who would destroy our families to be replaced by a godless human construct whatever you want to call it-communism, fascism, socialism, humanism, etc. In the last hundred years how have these “utopias” worked out? In our day families are struggling to live their faith despite a concerted and all out attempt to weaken, discredit and destroy the ‘Truth’ of twenty centuries of Christian values and good works.
               “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”(Matt.7:13-14)
               The problem of our day can be summed up in one sentence- the rejection of the God of faith and the truth of His Gospel, and the embrace of rationalism, moral compromise and the excessive love of worldly things.
               “We live in a time of bigotry and intolerance. Key truths- the truth about marriage, about life in the womb, about the nature of the family and the meaning of freedom- are denied and vilified. Yet this makes our commitment to the truth all the more important. As knights, we are called to proclaim God’s love in word and deed; preaching the Gospel and doing good works for our fellow man.   We too must stand with St. Paul and Christians throughout history for the poor, the weak, the abandoned, the elderly and the most vulnerable- the unborn!”  (Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly.)

Christians have no need to fear attacks and persecutions from the secular world. We have a Father in Heaven. Jesus tells the apostle: “you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” The sun is rising even when it looks like its setting. We are not like the secular world subject to all kinds of fear. We are already bathed in the blood of Christ, our victory is assured and our names are written in the ‘book of life’

Wendell Jeanpierre, Lecturer