Fr. Robert Pasley, the Pastor of Mater Ecclesiae Parish in the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey, addressed the issue of the continued closure of our Catholic Churches. After encouraging Catholics to petition the authorities to reopen churches (noting that a court case is being brought against the ongoing closures by a priest of the Society of St. Pius X), Fr. Pasley touched upon the pagan mindset that is oblivious, and even consumed with hatred towards God and Christ:
I've noticed when they talk about setting things back to normal after this. And you listen to them: we have to get the businesses under way, we've got to do this for the economy, we've got to set this back in place.
No one ever mentions we have to open the churches. No one. And why?
Because modernists, secularists, those who hate God: one of the best ways to kill something isn't to attack it front on.
It is just to completely ignore it as if it doesn't exist. That's the situation we're in. There are many out there who don't even give us a thought; couldn't care in the least. And we can't be influenced by that.
We can't let ourselves as a Church and as a People of God be marginalized, and pushed aside, as if we don't exist. As if there's nothing there. There's nothing more important for us in our society!
And maybe that is why we are going through the horrors that we are: because too many people have pushed the most important things aside, and don't think about them anymore. No we must be strong!
1 comment:
Father is essentially correct, but I would add that since so many Catholics consider Mass optional (for various reasons), I am not surprised at the situation we are in. Not terribly surprised. Osee makes reference to God's justice in Chapter 2, verses 8 to 15, when he talks about the gold and silver given to Israel being sacrificed to Baal instead, and how God responded by not allowing the land to produce.
How many idols have we sacrificed our gold and silver to as Catholics? I am not just talking about Pachamama. I am talking about Communism, material objects and the willies of the world. I would even go so far as to interpret that as harkening back to the time when our heritage was disgracefully cast out into the streets back in the 1970s and 80s. Is it any wonder we are facing a global pandemic (with all likelihood of a second wave), not to mention the reports coming from the West Coast about a killer hornet? Is it any wonder at all? We don't have to look very far - indeed, just to the tip our nose - to find who is really responsible.
However, Osee also offers some words of hope in Chapter 3, verses 4 and 5. The Israelites did come back from their trial with a renewed vigor. Let us take some solace from that, and bear this shared trial with a good countenance.
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