The CatholiCity Message
Volume XIII, Number 5 – September 2, 2009
Dear CatholiCity Citizen,
We believe you will truly find this month's message helpful. This is one you might want to forward on to your friends and relatives.
THE DYNAMICS OF WORLDLY POWER
A wise man once told us that the most searing allegory for understanding human nature is The Emperor's New Clothes. Why did the people in the story ignore that the emperor was naked and praise his imaginary outfit? Because the emperor had worldly authority, and the people lusted after the favors, fortune, power, and pleasures he could provide to them—to the point of ignoring the reality before their very own eyes.
THE KENNEDY FUNERAL
We know it must have been discouraging for many of you to watch (or hear or read reports of) the nationally televised Kennedy funeral. Willful blindness to evil is ugly. Our potential response (that is, your personal response) to the understandably negative emotional reaction to such an event is an opportunity for true Christian optimism. It is crucial to remind ourselves of the reality of power as the saints understand it.
REAL POWER
Real power is power over the eternal soul. Real power allows a person to live eternal life in heaven and avoid the indescribable tortures of hell. God has this real power, and is even the source of worldly power, even if wielded unjustly by sinful leaders and their minions (which, tragically, seems par for the course in human history). As Christ (who was unjustly murdered via an ugly partnership of the worldly and religious authorities of his time) reminded Pilate: "You would have no power over me if it had not been given to you from above."
WE HAPPY FEW
In terms of the population of the United States (and to an even greater degree in other western countries), the percentage of baptized Catholics who actually believe and practice the teachings of the Catholic Church as the Church itself defines those teachings is quite small. Based on available polling data and various other measures, the number of faithful Catholics (so defined) is probably less than 5%. Perhaps it is as low as 2%. Your own anecdotal experience in your parishes likely supports this conclusion, especially taking into account that at most parishes, 60% to 80% of baptized Catholics do not even attend Sunday Mass.
SHARING SUFFERING—AND ENCOURAGEMENT
Here is the encouraging news. We few Catholics are the most powerful group of persons in the western world. In our very souls, we smuggle the Holy Trinity into our workplaces. We bring grace for salvation into the world by the humble acts of believing and struggling to live those beliefs. We change the world itself by keeping our domestic churches--our families--faithful and free of moral compromise. Raising our children to be pure and holy is our revolutionary response to the tyranny of the Culture of Death. As St. Paul counseled his brothers and sisters in Corinth:
"If we are afflicted, it is for your encouragement and salvation; if we are encouraged, it is for your encouragement, which enables you to endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is firm, for we know that as you share in the sufferings, you also share in the encouragement." (2 Corinthians 1:6-7)
CULTURAL CONCENTRATION CAMPERS
Beautifully, gorgeously, wonderfully, we do not raise our children in the One True Faith to be revolutionaries. We do so simply because we love children and love life itself and love Jesus and love Mary. Our allies and friends are the saints and the angels in heaven, who make up for our many flaws with their divinely ordered perfection. We few, so often patronized and ignored and harried and berated and resisted in our own parishes during recent decades as we try to evangelize and reform and resist corruption, need never lose hope. We few, we few, we few—we love all souls, on earth and in heaven, in wombs and beyond tombs, in time and through eternity. You are this generation's converts, reverts, or lifelong life-lovers evangelized and nurtured by our very own parents, faithful or flawed. "Faith of our fathers, holy faith, we will be true to thee 'til death!"
We must never, ever, ever allow the sight of the naked emperor and those who fawn over him cause us to lose hope or resolve. Keep praying, keep loving, keep sacrificing, keep hoisting the papal flag above our little houseboats as we navigate these dark cultural waters. Keep praying your Rosary, attending daily Mass, and learning about your faith. Keep supporting the orthodox and dynamic Catholic organizations and institutions that have sprung up to meet the challenges of our times. Stay true to your vocations, lay or religious. Keep "sharing in the encouragement" until all we are left with are catacombs. Keep evangelizing.
WORDS FROM THE WISE
Fr. Walter Ciszek, a Pennsylvania native, labeled a "Vatican spy," spent twenty-three agonizing years in Russian concentration camps. In his book, He Leadeth Me, he describes his encouragement to his fellow concentration camp victims:
"And we tried, moreover, to help them understand that their lives were not lost or wasted, but still precious in God's sight. That was why he had not, and would not, abandon them. We tried to help them see that their lives had a value each day; that their work and their sufferings had a value each day; that there could still be dignity in what they did in God's eyes, if not in men's. So we taught them to say the Morning Offering--to dedicate to God all the prayers, works and sufferings of each day in conformity to his will--as a means of winning grace for others, especially for their families and friends."
As for us at the Mary Foundation, Saint Jude Media, and CatholiCity, we are filled with good cheer, gratitude, and enthusiasm. Our mission to reach as many souls as soon as possible by providing free Catholic "tools for evangelization" remains unchanged. We are more excited than ever to be a part of your life and to know that Our Lady sent you to us to be a part of our work. With the saints and with the angels, we pray for you as you pray for us. We shall not fail.
Let us conclude, all 50,000 of us together, along with our new friends who have received this message as a gift, with a small, simple prayer:
"Dear Jesus, for all the times our leaders have let us down, disappointed us, discouraged us, or hurt us, we ask that you help us to forgive them in our hearts, and to give us the grace to avoid the temptation to lose hope. And, if we have given in to that temptation, we ask you to forgive us, and like you, to grasp up our crosses and begin again our journey to eternal happiness with you. Amen."
Until next month, we remain yours,
With Mary and Joseph,
Your Friends at CatholiCity
