Cardinal Caffare & Sister Lucia of Fatima
Recently, I mentioned that Cardinal Carlo Caffara received a letter from Sister Lucia dos Santos, one of the seers of Fatima, stating that, “the final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family.” I think that the significance of this simple statement is lost on many people given that sacramental marriage is no longer held in the high esteem in which it should be held. Even within the Catholic Church there are many who promote a false, worldly teaching on marriage and family life.
Many Catholics remain Silent about Catholic Teaching
In Ireland, even amongst Catholics, you no longer hear anyone condemn divorce in the public square. The Irish people have accepted divorce because it was made legal by way of a referendum in 1995 and so divorce is now accepted as an intrinsic part of our culture. There is no campaign to rid our nation of this brutal scourge which destroys marriages and severely damages the lives of the innocent children whose parents decide to divorce.
Similarly, the anti-life issue of contraception is hardly ever mentioned today even by Catholics. In earlier articles and in a talk which I gave at a HLI conference last year, I documented the abysmal response of the Irish Hierarchy to the dissent by Irish priests from the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae. This dissent is still widespread. In Ireland, lip service is paid to Church teaching that contraception is intrinsically evil whilst ordinary people are informed in private by priests and religious that contraception is OK if they believe that it is OK according to their own individual conscience. This is moral relativism pure and simple and Ireland is awash with it. I have even come across a case where an Irish bishop did not properly instruct a Catholic wife who came to him because she was having difficulties in this regard. He passed her letter over to a so called moral theologian, who happens to be one of our best known dissenters from Humane Vitae, and she ended up using contraception in her marriage, against her better judgement because every priest she went to, the moral theologian and her bishop were in agreement that it was OK to permit this intrinsic evil in her case.
Couple Betrayed by their Bishop
This woman, her husband and her children have been betrayed by her own bishop, by the priests she consulted and by the immoral ‘moral’ theologian. This is where we are at in Ireland today as regards marriage and family life and this has been going on for quite some time. Catholic Church teaching on contraception was not upheld when my wife and I did our ‘catholic’ pre-marriage course in 1988. Being aware of all of this, I for one was not surprised when the Irish people voted for so called same-sex marriage in 2015. The people have not been catechised. The people are not being taught the authentic magisterial Catholic faith, rather, they are being presented with a watered down man made version of Catholicism which is in fact a false religion masquerading as the truth.
“And Jesus answered them, “Take heed that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray” (Matthew 24:4-5)
We Must Tackle the Problem, not just the symptoms
In Ireland, we now have abortion, divorce, legal same-sex relationships, contraception, family breakdown, corrupting sex-education and mindfulness programmes for children in our ‘catholic’ schools, child abuse, pornography, immodesty, impurity, and other similar issues. None of these is the problem. They are all symptoms of the core problem and the core problem will remain with us for as long as we only address the symptoms without directly addressing the core problem.
The Glory of Children
The core problem, I believe, is that the world has forgotten, and many in the Church have forgotten, or have allowed to lapse into the semi conscious void of their minds, the answer to a question that was posed just over two thousand years ago by a group of men who may have been seeking to justify or even to congratulate themselves.
Let us look at this in St Matthew’s Gospel. This is the beginning of chapter 18.
“At that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying: Who thinkest Thou is the greater in the kingdom of heaven?
And Jesus calling unto him a little child, set him in the midst of them, And said: Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the kingdom of heaven. And he that shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me.
But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea. (remember that this is Christ speaking)
Woe to the world because of scandals. For it must needs be that scandals come: but nevertheless woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh.
And if thy hand, or thy foot scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to go into life maimed or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee having one eye to enter into life, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
See that you despise not one of these little ones: for I say to you, that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 18:1-10)
We Must Become Like Children
If you do not become like a child you will not enter heaven! To welcome children is to welcome Jesus! Woe to those who would lead children astray! Woe to those who would deny children their very existence by promoting contraception and abortion or who would damage children by promoting and tolerating divorce.
The Epicentre of the Current War is the Vatican
The real war that is going on in this world of ours is taking place at this very moment in the Vatican. It is a war of powers and principalities. It is the war on the family and on sacramental marriage in particular. Many senior prelates within the Catholic Church are advocating for a new doctrine, although they deny this, but this new doctrine will allow active adulterers to receive Holy Communion so long as they feel OK about it in their own consciences. This can only be done by denying Church teaching on the Eucharist, by denying Church teaching on sacramental marriage, and by denying Church teaching on the sacrament of Confession.
When we look to the book of genesis we see that God established marriage for the primary purpose of begetting children. “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth..” (Genesis 1:28)
He charged the husband and wife with begetting children and with protecting them and educating them within the marital family of one man and one woman so that these children could come to know God, to love God, and to serve God so that they may be happy with Him for all eternity in Heaven.
The practising Catholic family is the greatest pro-life place on this earth. The practising Catholic family is the safest place for children to grow up in, and it is also the only foundation and the rock upon which a just society can be built. You cannot build a just society on any other foundation than that of the Catholic family based on traditional marriage, and yet our government, our media and many of our cardinals, bishops and priests are continually undermining that very foundation.
We will never conquer the plague of abortion until we deal with the issue of contraception, and whilst we fail to publicly oppose contraception we are playing into the hands of the abortion lobby and allowing them to steadily advance in their war against the family. Abortion is becoming more and more a chemical procedure, induced by pills which are taken orally, rather than a surgical procedure. A baby who is murdered by a chemical abortion is just as dead as a baby who has been murdered by a surgical abortion, although we will never have accurate statistics for the number who die through chemical abortion.
We will never deal successfully with the issue of contraception and divorce, until we return to speaking the authentic teachings of the Catholic Church on marriage and family life, particularly that marriage is the cornerstone of society and that the primary end of marriage is children. Contraception is intrinsically evil precisely because it acts against this primary end of marriage. Divorce is intrinsically evil, because it separates what God has joined together.
This is a war for the souls of men. It is a religious war. It is a war about belief and whether we as a society really believe that children are created in the image and likeness of God. It is a war for the salvation of souls, not the salvation of society. Heaven and earth will pass away but the Words of Jesus Christ will never pass away.
Women considering abortion are not our enemies. The abortionists are not our enemies. Those promoting and campaigning for abortion and for the repeal of the eight amendment are not our enemies. The editors and journalists in the media who promote abortion, are not our enemies. Our current ‘catholic’ Taoiseach, who legislated for abortion for the first time in this nation’s history in 2013, is not our enemy. These are our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus who have been led astray and who have put themselves under the influence of satan, the father of lies, who is a murderer and a liar from the beginning. They have been deluded!
St Paul puts the following question to the Romans.
“But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how can men preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10:14-15)
We have all been sent into the world through our baptism to speak and teach the Word of Jesus Christ. How are those who promote abortion, divorce, euthanasia, contraception, sex-education etc, going to hear of Jesus Christ’s saving message and be converted unto Him, if Catholics who are opposed to these evils refuse to speak His name in public debates? If they refuse to publicly speak the name of Jesus Christ in whom we have our salvation, because they don’t want to appear to be religious or because they don’t want to offend anybody?
You will never bring someone to Jesus unless you are prepared to publicly bear witness to Him, to His name, and to His Catholic Church. Let us remember this as we enter once again into the passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ and let us resolve to pray more and to do more to help our fellow men to come to know Jesus Christ.
© John Lacken 2017
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Author: John Lacken
‘Legio Sanctae Familiae’ – The Legion of the Holy Family
E-Mail: john@truedevotions.ie
Mob: +353 (0)85-1208779
Website: www.truedevotions.ie
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