Praise Be to the Lord Jesus Now and Forever!
Scripture says we are baptized to be born again in order to be participants in the struggle for eternal salvation. Who and what are we fighting? We are fighting the enemies of eternal life who try to rob us of the redemption that Jesus sacrificed and won for us. This battle is fought primarily by strengthening, reinforcing and with the help and grace of God – sanctifying family life from conception to natural death. Only a society which is dedicated to increasing the spiritual health of its members can, in the long run, obtain the divine aid of God in defeating and eradicating evil and sin. This struggle must begin in the natural family, because family is the basic unit of society.
Sin was created by man, not by God since God cannot be the source of disorder, error and death. God’s Word handed down by Jesus Himself, is clear and concise and written in the New Testament after having been prophesied in the Old Testament and does not contradict itself. The divine message of salvation leads us to the truth, not away from it. That mankind’s main enemy, Satan, seeks to destroy the family should not surprise anyone because now it is in full view of the whole world. Why is the growth and holy cohesiveness of the family the main target of evil in many of its deadly forms?
“The final battle between good and evil will be fought over marriage and the family,” Mary told the children at Fatima. Who can deny that we are in the mist of this battle; it’s intensifying and raging all around us. Why is the sanctity of marriage life the main target of demonic attacks?
“Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not participate fully in it.”(St. John Paul II).
Love begins at home from the parents, grandparents, siblings and extended family members. Love extends to the socialization of children, the education of children, religious and otherwise, and the protection of children along with the entire family unit. The fundamental task of marriage and the family is to transmit God’s love and affection to all Human beings and to affirm the dignity to the human person.
Karl Marx said that the human struggle was economic. Sigmund Freud said human dysfunction was psychological and rooted in the sub-conscious. The Romans believed the ultimate battle was military conquest and pagan centered pleasure-seeking. The Christian “Truth, Way and Life” is centered on the Cross of Christ. Our truth is based on God’s never changing revelation to mankind which asserts that some actions, thoughts and desires are always wrong if they come from the world, the flesh or the devil no matter what historical period or source they emanate from or form they take. The divine message of salvation leads us to the truth and no other philosophy or new-age utopianism, however trendy and popular, comes close.
When we are no longer guided by the truth, life becomes confused, lonely and empty. When common sense is lacking, objective reality is “canceled” and the entire moral order of society collapses. No longer guided by truth, the collective mind and heart cannot be rightly ordered. Many become selfish, seeking only self satisfaction and entertainment. One result of this tragedy is that common sense is really not all that common. The increase in the present-day chaos and violence is directly related to the rejection of God, the family, faith, the Gospel, and natural law, and the substitution in its place is atheism, moral compromise, and love of worldly things. Our times are troubled, but not without hope. Not so long ago, Bishop Fulton Sheen said:
“God will not allow unrighteousness to become eternal. Revolution, disintegration, chaos are reminders that our thinking has been wrong, our dreams unholy. Moral truth is verified by the ruin that follows when it has been repudiated. The chaos of our times is the strongest negative argument that could ever be advanced for Christianity. . . . . The disintegration following and abandonment of God thus becomes a triumph of meaning, a reaffirmation of purpose. . . . . Adversity is the expression of God’s condemnation of evil, the registering of Divine Judgment. . . Catastrophe reveals that the evil is self-defeating; we cannot turn from God without hurting ourselves.”
(To be continued. . .)
Wendell Jeanpierre
February 2022
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