Defeat The Culture of Death - Fr. Bill Casey

[Music] [Applause] the spirit over [Music] come on spirit overshadow me [Music] they seek me but find me not because they hated knowledge and chose not the fear of the Lord they ignored my counsel they spurned all my reproof and in their arrogance they preferred arrogance they're like fools they hated knowledge now they must eat the fruit of their own way and with their own devices begot it for the self will this simple kills them the smugness of fools destroys them but he who obeys me dwells in security in peace without fear of harm Pope Benedict the sixteenth in his annual message for the world Day of Peace 2007 in his document entitled the human heart the heart of peace said that peace is the product of order the order that has been planted in human society by its divine founder and regimes which do not obey the principles of natural law destroy that order he said this alongside the victims of armed conflicts terrorism in the different forms of violence there are the silent deaths caused by hunger abortion experimentation on human embryos and euthanasia how can we fail to see in all this an attack on peace the Holy Father tells us that world peace is also threatened by the ongoing attack on religious freedom on two fronts first the violence in the name of religion as in militant Islamic fundamentalism terrorism there is an old saying that God uses good men bad men use God and then there is secularism the practical atheism of the post Christian West which attempts to banish God from public life the Holy Father said there are regimes which impose a single religion upon everyone while secular regimes often lead not so much the violent persecution as the systematic cultural denigration of religious beliefs not well the Holy Fathers use of the word systematic cultural denigration of religious beliefs that friends is precisely what is happening in our country today right now and there is no doubt in my mind that this is the greatest threat to the survival of this nation George Washington speaking about true religion judeo-christian revelation once said democracy cannot be sustained without morality and morality cannot be sustained without religion simple principle right no morality no democracy not for long why simply because without God without belief in eternal life eternal reward for goodness and eternal punishment for evil men see no reason to be good without the Ten Commandments God's law God's love the love of God and neighbor man will soon become a predator to his fellow man without God anything goes it is Dios or nada st. Teresa of Avila the great Spanish mystic and Doctor of the Church said Dios or nada God or nothing she said if God exists all things are possible if God does not exist all things are permissible all things are permissible this is the mindset of the modern world isn't it no more God no more sin if it feels good do it if you want to take it get all you can any way that you can no moral absolutes if it is technologically possible it is doable if it's legal its moral legality equals morality the same perverse principle behind the genocide committed by the Nazis and the Communists in the last century all right this is the same philosophical and moral poison that is slowly but surely killing in this country progressive family breakdown rampant divorce abortion on demand cultural war on Christianity sexual anarchy pornography pornography now a fifty two billion dollar a year industry worldwide pornography now brings in more money all professional sports combined in the US pornography destroys the dignity of the human person it reduces the human person to the level of an animal an object be used and abused denigrates women especially it leads to addiction obsession and perversion and those who become enslaved to it and the vast majority of it emanates from right here in the good old US of A I recently read an article in our local newspaper about the problem of pornography and Communist China the Chinese government is trying to crack down on the proliferation of pornography most of which is pouring in from the United States especially if I the internet the Chinese government is complaining about all this and about us Americans quote corrupting and polluting the minds of their young people did you everything you would live to see the day when the Communists would say those kind of things about us and be right they are right there's an old saying even a stopped clock is Right twice a day mm-hmm this is part of the devil's all-out offensive that we call the culture of death and it is essentially an all-out attack on the nature of the human person and the one who created it the one who is life itself when I believe that it is very likely the final assault the ultimate revolt man's ultimate rebellion against God now let me try to put this into some kind of historical perspective for you and I don't want to get too academic here so stay with me I think this needs to be covered you might remember that ten years ago the whole church was getting ready to celebrate the Jubilee year 2000 and in those final years leading up to 2000 the church called on us on a special way to consider the mystery of the Holy Trinity it was interesting to take the sequence that we followed in doing this recall pope john paul ii had designated the year 1997 as the year of god's son 1998 as the year of the holy spirit god the holy spirit and 1999 as the year of god father now back then people were asking the obvious question why didn't the Holy Father ask us to pay special homage to the three persons of the Holy Trinity in sequence their proper sequence in other words why not take the father first the son second and the Holy Spirit third why did he organize our preparation for 2,000 the way that he did well this is the reason and this is significant and I think that most people missed it completely he did it to emphasize for us the concept of spiritual warfare the historic struggle the ongoing battle between good and evil down through the centuries the trial by fire through which Jesus Christ brings his church his people the final victory over the world the flesh and the devil that should make sense to you right there any serious student of church history is going to be quick to tell you that the normative state of the church is turmoil conflict struggle the church the Bride of Christ will always follow her divine spouse along the way of the cross and this is how God gives his faithful people the opportunity to practice heroic virtue in conflict God gives us the golden opportunity to prove our fidelity he gives us the golden opportunity to gain merit the merit which will obtain for us a higher degree of heavenly glory following Jesus Christ by the way the cross again that should make sense to all of us when we consider the 2000 year history of the Catholic Church recall that in the first thousand years the first millennium of Christianity the great theological battles in defense of the truth were centered around the person of Christ the son the Eternal Word incarnate true God and true man the first millennium was the age of the great heresies that were Christological heresies they were errors about the person of Jesus Christ himself one of the worst was one of the first Arianism Arianism denied our Lord's divinity the Archaea heretic priest arias claimed that our Lord was a great man great prophet great Savior the first of God's creatures but not the Son of God not a divine person there were sects of motorless the motorless claim that our Lord was not a real man at all just an apparition then there came than historians that historians deny the hypostatic Union the mysterious union of the human and divine natures in the one divine person of Jesus Christ the heretic Bishop Nestorius claimed that Jesus Christ was two distinct persons one human one divine he said that our Blessed Mother Mary was only the mother of the human Christ and therefore not the mother of God heresy condemned as such then there came the monophysites who denied the full truth of our Lord's humanity they claimed that Jesus Christ was true God but not true man again these were christological heresies in the second millennium of Christianity now come we'll close the great theological battles for truth were concerned primarily with the role of the Holy Spirit in the church early on the Eastern Orthodox denied the internal procession of the Holy Spirit from the person of Christ the son they taught still teach to this day but the Holy Spirit proceeds is sin that is by the father all not by the son as well that's not what our Lord taught and the gospel st. John midway through Protestantism denied the role of the Holy Spirit as the guarantor of truth in the church the church is living memory the soul of the mystical body of Christ Protestantism also denied the work of the Holy Spirit as this Sanctifier by denying the efficacy of the seven sacraments and then in the last century the church was hit hard by modernism which denies the work of the Holy Spirit in the church by casting doubt upon the reality of divine revelation itself especially in the Holy Scriptures the modernist denies that the Bible is the inerrant inspired Word of God now at the beginning of the third millennium there can be no doubt that the never-ending battle for truth will be centered upon the person of God the Father the defense of the Fatherhood of God as secularism radical feminism and New Age paganism deny the sovereign rights of God the Creed or over his creatures as they reject the gift of divine adoption as they attack the sanctity of human life made in God's own image and likeness and a weak and divided church militant struggles on in a world gone mad a world in the full-scale rebellion against God and the Father so again what john paul what pope john paul ii did essentially was to highlight for us the three historical stages of cow's unrelenting war against the holy trinity and the people of god a struggle which is now no doubt coming into its final climactic phase the stage is set the battle lines are drawn it could not be more clear I would think it should be clear to everyone by now that the focal point of humanity's rebellion against the Holy Trinity is the attack on God the Father himself the attack on God the Creator in the form of the culture of death as today sinful humanity claims for itself the power over life and death as we the creatures want power over a human life from beginning to end in the form of free sex in vitro fertilization abortion contraception sterilization euthanasia cloning embryonic stem cell research which treats the human embryo life at its beginning in as disposable biological matter to be used or put out with the trash while the pro-death crowd tries to tell us that it's okay to kill human life destroy human life so eventually they can come to cure it see it's the old kill'em de cura mentality the old fallacy that the ends justify the means now let me make a distinction here right a very important distinction on what the Church teaches the church is not opposed to stem-cell research per se in fact we are all in favor of adult stem cell research which has made great progress shows great promise in its initial phases and there's nothing inherently immoral about it what we are opposed to is embryonic stem cell research which is the destruction of human life already begun and even from any practical standpoint up to this point embryonic stem cell research has been a miserable dismal failure total failure so you see what we've done we have made a God of technology and our goddess is sex and the end result is the culture of death the first of the two greatest threats to world peace the second of course is militant Islamic fundamentally which denies the doctrine of the Holy Trinity Islam will not recognize God as father and if the Bible in history are sure guides and surely they are all this can only end in one way in fanaticism chaos calamity massive destruction physical and spiritual destruction and Friends you should not be surprised to hear that it's a matter of common sense what human life is chief human life will become expendable history has taught us that many times over you know it's interesting to consider the fact that this country the United States of America is a country that was founded upon rebellion the American Revolution the American Revolution was a revolution that stood upon what our founding fathers our colonial Enders ancestor is understood to be a basic principle a moral principle in the first legal brief announcing rebellion armed uprising against the English crown the founding fathers stated in that the law of God natural law outweighed the law of the king and that human law which contradicted or violated God's law is essentially no law it is inherently unjust when the founding fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence back in 1776 they said that all of us every human person has been endowed by the creator take note by the quarry adorn with certain inalienable rights write rights that no one can take away from us precisely because they come not from this state but from God if you say those rights come not from God but from the state from the government or from popular consensus 10 you have to acknowledge that the same government that gives you those rights can just as easily take them away from you and then you have got tyranny no we have in alienable rights because those rights come from God and these were the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness and notice that the first the highest and the most basic of those rights was the right to life the right to life without which no other human right can long exist pope john paul ii in Evangelion vitae the gospel of life said this without the right to life no other human right can exist ironically it is the very right that is most often ignored violated and denied everywhere in this country today especially through abortion the Archbishop Fulton sheen used to say there there are two basic philosophies in regard to the nature of the human person the first holes that man is a little lower than the Angels the second holes that man is just a little higher than the Apes a little lower than the angels or a little higher than the Apes unfortunately the latter opinion now prevails especially in academic political and scientific circles and part of it of course is the rotten fruit of radical evolutionism which shuts God out of his own creation you see if the human person is just a little higher than the Apes it's got to follow from that you can treat him or her like an animal an animal with no inherent rights no inherent value or dignity an animal that has no purpose other than to be you expended or devoured case-in-point think of those two kids those two young devil worshipers who shot up Columbine High School and murdered 13 people they had their attack planned out in detail months in advance they carried out their attack on April the 20th which they knew to be the birthday of uh Dolph Hitler now a satanic high fees day and they charged in wearing t-shirt saying natural selection natural selection the survival of the fittest man as an animal no more no less no better no worse I thought it was very interesting and tragic that at the gravesite of Terry Schindler Schiavo there was the brain damage disabled young woman who died in by legally forced dehydration on March the 31st 2005 there stands a sign of our times which has become a kind of a monument to the culture of death and the euthanasia movement and it's perverse ideology on most grave markers most headstones there are of course two days date of birth date of death but on the gravestone of Terry Schiavo there are three days it reads born December the 3rd 1963 departed from this earth February the 25th 1990 that's the day she got hurt and at peace March the 31st 2005 now what's the message in that think about this okay that is to say that when she suffered damage to her brain and her body became disabled she was no longer truly alive their minds he had already departed from this earth she was already dead now this is like a river the ancient heresy called manichaean ISM a manichaean ism held and that the human person is really only a spirit locked inside of a body you see they taught that the body is not an integral part of the human person but just a kind of a shell to be used run its course expire and then be left behind with no thought no belief in the reunification of the body in this hole at the resurrection so the idea is that the body and what one does with it and what others do with it really doesn't matter now of course this is a twisted perverse ideology and it is an actuality an insult of the handicapped it's an affront to the disabled and to those who care for the end to God the Creator the idea is that the body is mine but it is not me therefore I can do anything that I want with it I can use my body as an instrument for pleasure get all you can any way that you can as in free sex you can sell it as in prostitution you can't put anything into it as in drug abuse you can take anything out of it you can destroy anything inside of it as in abortion you can shut it down as in contraception you can change it you can offer it as in sterilization or sex change the apostle st. Paul said none of us lives as his own master none of us dies as his own master in life and in death we are the Lord's he said do you not know our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit's so glorify God in your bodies I recently heard about a Catholic couple who had struggled with infertility and they decided to have recourse to in vitro fertilization now in vitro fertilization kind of like we could say the flip side the reverse side of the contraceptive mentality right it is the laboratory manipulation of human life this couple after the birth of their child by IVF got a surprise phone call from the clinic asking them what they wanted done with more than a dozen embryos that were quote leftover did they want them in storage frozen that is did they want them release for medical experimentation or did they want them merely disposed of destroyed they finally dawned on this poor couple if these were human lives already begun their own offspring and there was no good solution to the problem morally speaking it was not until then they understood the dire dire consequences of the rejection of the Church's moral teaching and if the IVF procedure typically involves the destruction of multiple human embryos the point is this at every stage in the rejection of God the Creator in regard to human life there is a proposed good presented for example to use unnatural means to avoid pregnancy when it's unwanted or inconvenient to end pregnancy when it's unwanted or inconvenient to conceive a child when it is naturally impossible to use unwanted human embryos for research and experimentation to cure and extend some human lives by destroying others theoretically and end human life when human light becomes burdensome the moral principle violated is a simple one but it is a vital one that is presented to us by the apostle st. Paul in his letter to the Romans chapter 3 verse 8 we cannot do evil that good can come of it human life is sacred made in the image and likeness of God the Creator to systematically manipulate and destroy it is a crime it is rebellion against God the Father and it can only end in disaster now I know that people are reticent to hear this but I've said it many times before and I would not hesitate to say it again because it is as much a part of the gospel as any other it's pertinent to the discussion at hand recall that no figure of the Bible spoke as much or as often about the reality of Hell as did our Lord Jesus Christ himself and when he did he would often refer to it as Diana sometimes fiery gana what was gana well the name Gehenna was a reference to the valley of Ben Hinnom the valley of Benny Hinn Alma was the city dumped outside of the city of Jerusalem or every day the men from the city would come and they would dump their junk in their trash and their filth their garbage down into these huge pits and if the bottom of these huge pits great fires were always burning there was always an awful stench if that rose up the fire is burned there day and night the fires never went out in gana now everyone who heard our Lord would known exactly what he was talking about when he spoke about gana think about this think of the mental picture think of this symbolic imagery our Lord was placing into the minds of his listeners when he spoke about Gehenna immediately they would have thoughts of the fire the flame the heat the smoke the stench the filth deir hannah was an awful place to be in every but he knew it nobody in his right mind would ever want to be there historically the valley of Ben he known was a place cursed by God a place of horror and infamy for the Israelites in the days of the Prophet Jeremiah the Israelites had turned away from the worship of Yahweh the true God and turned to the worship of false gods idols and one of those false gods was called a mock mocked the god of the ammonites and the worship of Moloch typically involved human sacrifice the sacrifice of infant children babies who were taken by their parents to the valley of abandon Hinnom and their immolated kilt thrown into the fiery furnace now the apostate parents believe that if they would sacrifice a baby son or a daughter to Moloch that Moloch would bless them with wealth and prosperity and good health and good fortune this was such a horror such an abomination in the sight of Almighty God that finally cards and came down upon the Israelites in a big way and he allowed a godless nation the Babylonians to make war on the Israelites and conquer them with a sword the Babylonians defeated the people of Judah they destroyed the Great Temple built by King Solomon centuries before they destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the Israelites went into captivity an exile in Babylon for half a century the Prophet Jeremiah wrote that all the while before the Babylonian invasion his rear lights cried out peace peace Jeremiah said but there was no peace like the blood of Abel the blood and innocence cried out to God for vengeance and finally it came friends we should never forget then war is a punishment for sin the Israelites found that out early on in the Old Testament all you have to do is read it and you will see at Fatima Portugal in 1917 our Russert mother appeared as the queen of peace and warned us once again in saying it war is a punishment for the sins of mankind and she showed the three Shepherd children Francisco Jacinta and Lucia the vision of hell she showed them the terrifying vision of hell and she told them souls were falling into hell like snowflakes that was July the 13th 1917 90 years ago last month oh we're not worshipping Moloch today no it is just a different kind of idolatry but I would suggest to you friends that we are still sacrificing babies to the pagan gods of pleasure convenience well economic prosperity a sexual license all under the guise of freedom the false freedom that is licentiousness the Apostle st. Peter said live as free men but do not use your freedom as a code for vice friends I believe I sincerely believe that unless there is a spiritual renewal unless there is a spiritual revival in this land history will repeat itself and the outcome will be the same it could be worse than that far worse precisely because humanity now has the capacity to destroy itself and the proliferation of nuclear weapons is now on the verge of becoming out of control and may likely soon be in the hands of fanatics who will have every intention of using them and using them on us they will literally be hell to pay the Bible says saw the wind reap the whirlwind Mother Teresa blessed Teresa of Calcutta made the statement many times the sisters have verified this she said it many times and she would not take it back she said the fruit of abortion is nuclear war surely before his death Padre Pio Saint Pietro chena was asked what is the best thing that we can do now his response was immediate he said pray pray for the world is on the threshold of its perdition I would suggest you that it does not take a genius or a prophet to see the mess that we are in it does not take a visionary to recognize the frightening picture that is taking shape right now what is coming upon the world so friends please let us pray and do penance it is not too late it is never too late Jesus said pray always and never lose heart pray for the mercy of God pray for the cause of world peace pray for the triumph of Mary's Immaculate Heart the conversion of sinners and want peace please start praying the rosary again get personally involved take part in Eucharistic Adoration get to confession keep your soul in the state of grace please don't say there's nothing I can do don't say the wars are going on on the other side of the world there's nothing that I can do I tell you there is a lot you can do there is a lot that we can do right now the apostle st. James wrote that the fervent prayer of a holy man is powerful indeed George Washington the father of our country once said if you want peace you must be prepared for war so it is in the realm of the spiritual and my brothers and sisters it must be understood that the battle that we are in is primarily spiritual warfare and it must be fought using spiritual means first the key word here is first someone once asked the Duke of Wellington one of the greatest generals who ever lived how the Battle of Waterloo was won how the British and their allies were able to beat Napoleon in the French army he said this he said they came on in the same old way and we cut them down in the same old way friends let me tell you something if we are ever going to defeat the culture of death we are going to have to stop coming on in the same old way you cannot win a war without sound strategy and tactics and you cannot win unless you know your enemy now don't get me wrong all right I've been saying this some of us have been saying this for years and can't get people to listen to us don't get me wrong in saying this I do not in any way mean to demean or belittle the heroic sacrifices made by pro-life activists over the years and the tremendous good that they have done God knows they are precious in God's sight like the precious babies they have saved over the years their reward we'll be great in heaven I assure you and a lot of the time over the years they found themselves standing very much alone without very much help from the clergy but in my opinion and it is keep in mind only my opinion the Achilles heel of the pro-life movement over the years has been the tendency to place primary emphasis on the human means the natural means to solve the problem of legalized abortion that is political social and legal activism activism is great it's great we've got to have it we've got to do it all of us all of us have got to get off the fence and get into the fray all of us have got to stand up speak up and rise up but we got to remember that of itself he's not good enough it's not good you know Jesus said it without me you can do nothing st. Ignatius of Loyola founder the Jesuit Order said it worked like everything depends on you but pray like everything depends on God surely it does yes absolutely in dealing with any kind of a crisis we have got to use all the means available to us all the natural means all the supernatural means but we can never we must never lose sight of the fact that the one we are fighting in the battle for life is the leader the founder the author of death it is the architect of the culture of death himself it is Satan and you ought to know by now Satan is not going to be defeated by human means our Lord said this kind can only be cast out by prayer and fasting the Apostle st. Paul said I appeal to you by the mercy God offer your bodies as a living sacrifice he's the key Prayer penance sacrifice fasting God never asks the impossible of us most Christians today have the idea that fasting was only something was done back in the Middle Ages a medieval practice no friends listen let's get back to fasting if you can't fast on bread and water for a day skip a meal skip a dessert to something give alms to the poor take part in Eucharistic Adoration again start the family rosary back up again your daily personal sacrifice is critical your holiness of life in the end in the final analysis I tell you these where will be the only weapons that will defeat the culture of death these are the only weapons that will overcome the culture of death listen if we come on in the same old way we are going to get cut down in the same old way what I'm saying is this for example I've seen situations where hundreds and thousands of Catholics were ready to come out and take part in an abortion protest pro-life rally the March for Life while a lot of the time we could not get 30 40 or 50 souls to come out and take part in Eucharistic Adoration prayer vigil or even a holy hour Jesus said without me you can do nothing in a minute I would suggest to you that we have all but exhausted the natural means now let's put the emphasis right where it belongs on the supernatural let's make the most out of the weapons that God gave to us we have got to stop coming on like the old cavalry against machine guns tanks and dive bombers or we're going to get cut down the same old way st. arrays early zoo the little flower used to say my whole strength lies in prayer prayer is an invincible weapon prayer moves hearts far better than words ever can she said it I know it by experience please I'm running out of time here alright the world may be may well be also running out of time don't think time is on our side in this I don't believe that it is at Fatima our Blessed Mother said the father is already far too much offended we have got to have a sense of urgency about this because the American people seem to have made their option and I believe that God may soon make his and there is no time to lose Psalm 94 verses 7 through 10 says this they say the Lord does not see the God of Jacob pays no heed mark this most senseless of people fools when will you understand 10 he who made the year not here can he who made the eye not see well he who corrects nations not punished ten judges who do evil be your friends they do injustice under cover of law they attack the life of the just and condemn innocent blot the rebellion against God the Father he's the climactic battle in all of human history and our Lord Himself taught us that he has calm and not to bring peace but division and every one of us will be remembered for what we do or fail to do in this great spiritual battle of our time and I will leave you here with our Lord's words the st. Faustina I will not delude you with the prospects of peace and consolations on the contrary prepare for great battle fight like a knight so that I can reward you do not be afraid because you are never alone may the blessing of Almighty God the Father and the son of the Holy Spirit descend upon you and remain with you forever amen [Applause] [Music] Oh with you [Music] the Lord be a reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke jesus said to his disciples I have come to set the earth on fire and how I wish you were already blazing there is a baptism with which I must be baptized and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth no I tell you but rather division from now on a household of five will be divided three against two and two against three the father will be divided against his son and a son against his father the mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law the gospel of the Lord some of you will recall that in the last few years before his death both john paul ii gave us two specific intentions two primary vital intentions to pray for with all the zeal and intensity in our hearts if we are going to avert the impending disaster for the world today first the cause of world peace so gravely threatened by the rise of international terrorism the rise of militant Islamic fundamentalism and the proliferation of nuclear weapons and second because of the family the family under such relentless attack by the gates of hell in the culture of death the cause of world peace and the cause of the family in what is the link what is the connection between the two the mother Teresa blessed Teresa of Calcutta is to say the disruption of peace in the world always begins with the disruption of peace in the family all peace in the family nor peace in the world no peace in the family no peace in our schools no peace of the family no peace on the streets no peace in society and eventually it must fall when the Prince of Peace is driven out and the Prince of this world the devil will rush in to fill that void the signs of this of all around us today somebody gave me a copy of this poem it's one of those funny but pathetic little things because it rings so true and I believe this was written by a senior in one of our public high schools and I want to share this with you because it is a sign of the times that we live in and those of you who homeschool your kids will be affirmed in the good sound decisions that you have made when you hear this this is called the new school prayer the new American school prayer now I sit me down in school we're praying is against the rule for this great nation under God finds mention of him very odd he have scripture now the class recites it violates the Bill of Rights and any time my head I bow becomes a federal matter now the wall is clear the laws precise prayer allowed as a crime of Vice for praying in a public Hall might offend someone with no faith at all in silence must be meditate the name of God banned by the state we can cuss and swear and dress like freaks and pierce our noses tongues and cheeks they've outlawed guns but first the Bible quote the good book and you'll be liable to drugs they tell us just say no but sex be safe and then you'll go you like the pregnancy in your queen but chests that he's a distant dream they dare not teach us right from wrong they say those judgments don't belong we get our condoms and birth controls study witchcraft new age in totem poles but the Ten Commandments are not allowed no word of God must reach this crowd it's scary here I must confess where chaos reigns the school of mess so Lord this silent plea I make should I be shocked my soul please take after the last deadly school shooting in Virginia back in April killed 32 people someone sent me this internet blog answering a young person questioning God about the existence of evil in the world and it reads dear God why don't you save your children dear God why didn't you save your children at Virginia Tech University why didn't you save your children at Columbine High School why didn't you save your children at Moses Lake Washington Bethel Alaska pearl Mississippi Paducah Kentucky Jonesboro Arkansas Edinboro Pennsylvania Fayetteville Tennessee Springfield Oregon Richmond Virginia Conyers Georgia Deming New Mexico Fort Gibson Oklahoma Santee California El Cajon California and all the rest the reply someone had the audacity to reply in God's name my dear child I am very sorry to inform you that I have been driven out of your schools now although once you never presume to speak and for God in specific cases I think the point being made here is a valid one you see both God and the devil hate a vacuum where God has driven out the devil will rush in to fill that void and there will be no peace God says in the book of the Prophet Hosea so the wind reap the whirlwind there will be no peace apart from the will of God in our Gospel reading Jesus says that he came not to bring peace but division recall that at the presentation of our Lord in the temple the Prophet Simeon took the baby Jesus in his arms and said to our Blessed Mother and Saint Joseph this child will be the rise the downfall of many in Israel the sign of contradiction to the world a sign that will be opposed now last night I was talking about the time when the church was getting ready to celebrate the Jubilee year 2000 and I was talking about the way that pope john paul ii organized our celebration leading up to 2000 and the way that he essentially highlighted the three historical stages of hell's unrelenting war against the holy trinity to emphasize for us the concept of spiritual warfare the historic struggle the ongoing battle between the forces of the good and evil down through the centuries the trial by fire through which jesus christ brings his church his people the final victory over the world of the flesh and the devil and i made this point any serious student of church history is going to be quick to tell you that the normative state of the church is turmoil conflict struggle the church the Bride of Christ will always follow her divine spouse along the way of the cross this is how God gives his holy people his faithful people the opportunity to practice heroic virtue especially the virtue of fidelity and he gives us the golden opportunity to gain merit merit for a higher degree of heavenly glory that should make sense to all of us you see and very often it is the case and that the things the conflicts that go on inside of the family will reflect the turmoil that goes on typically inside of the church the Christian family has got to remain faithful and sometimes that will mean being a sign of contradiction in your home having the moral courage to speak up to make it fraternal correction and someone you love you know is going the wrong way needs to get right with God precisely because the greatest love of all is concerned for your loved ones eternal salvation there's no greater love than that boys a good working definition of love as it was defined by st. Thomas Aquinas right charity which simply put is loving the way that God loves means and wanting what is truly best for the people that you love what could be better than heaven what could be better than God what could be better than perfect eternal happiness in God's heavenly kingdom in the beatific vision and that is why my brothers and sisters it is not mercy to affirm people in their sins you can create a false peace within your home just by keeping your mouth shut in the face of wrongdoing that is the most merciless thing that I can think of and we cannot have peace at the expense of morality it is a false peace when peace comes at the expense of the truth but in spite of all the turmoil that goes on around us you know that we can still be peace in spite of all the turmoil in spite of the mess that were in today in spite of the moral bankruptcy of the modern world in spite of the apparent I say to be apparent triumph of evil the culture of death we as you well know have got a rise to meet the challenge we have got to be people of hope we have got to be men and women of peace and in women of peace a few weeks ago I was speaking at the National Catholic family conference in Anaheim California and the keynote speaker there this year was one of the most extraordinary men that I've ever met Bishop Andrew Francis of Pakistan is the Bishop of the Diocese of Multan Pakistan now I know a little bit about Pakistan what's happening over there right now because it has been in the news recently and in Pakistan right now there is a growing Islamic fundamentalist militancy there is a growing revolt against the government of President Pervez Musharraf who is pro American and there is now an insurgency which is launching into violent attacks suicide bombings terrorism etc and we know very well that in Pakistan today Christians are facing now bloody persecution churches are being attacked Catholics are being murdered assassination attempts are taking place on leaders in the church of course Catholics are a very small minority in Pakistan they are only 1.5 percent of the population and I was looking forward to meeting Bishop Andrew Francis and I had seen his picture and knew very little about him I know that he had survived an assassination attempt and when I met him he was not at all what I was expecting you know to meet someone who lives day after day under the threat of death I would think would cause someone to be somber Stern sullen very very serious-minded a very very grave demeanor but Bishop Francis was not like that at all to our great surprise I found him to be a man just filled with the joy and peace of the Holy Spirit a very cultured and refined man speaks English very fluently a man of good humor it's a great sense of humor just a peaceful joyful spirit and we were privileged to get to know him for the way manesis and I were able to have lunch with him on Saturday at noon and we enjoyed his company so very much because he is a man that just exudes the love of Christ he radiates Christ and that joy that he experiences in spite of the fact that he is a man essentially March 4 death is just a manifestation of his personal holiness of life as far as I'm concerned Bishop Francis is a man who stares death in the face every single day and the odds of his survival are not good he is essentially a dead man walking yet a man so amiable so personable so joyful you couldn't imagine but that's the power of the Holy Spirit working within you that's the way that it is and I will never forget a couple of the stories that Bishop Francis told us he was telling us about the the flight over from Asia and he said that he was sitting on the plane beside two non-catholics the man on his right was a Hindu and there was a Muslim woman on his left sitting in the centre and the Muslim woman was well educated and well-traveled and she struck up a conversation with Bishop Francis and she was telling to chef Frances about a friend of hers an American woman living in Pakistan and this lady the Muslim woman had invited the American lady to attend a wedding because she was very interested in their culture and in their customs and so she jumped at the chance to accompany her to a wedding after the wedding the American woman was shot shot down in the street by a policeman who had been told and by the village mullah that if a Muslim will only kill a Jew or an American he or she will go to heaven it's a sure sign one is destined for heaven the poor woman is paralyzed for life and Bishop Francis told that story in response to the question he was most asked when he came into this country and that is what impressions to the people of Pakistan have concerning Americans that answers the question very well but the bishop also told us the story of a ten year old boy named Salim odd Molly chellamma Molly lives in a predominantly Muslim village within Bishop Francis diocese and shelah mad molly recently received the Sacrament of Confirmation and when he did he became on fire for the love of Christ in our Catholic faith he had this anointing with the Holy Spirit and he couldn't contain himself he had to share the love of Christ he had to tell everybody he knew about Jesus Christ and about our Catholic faith so he began telling the other boys in the village about Jesus talking about the faith teaching them little bits of the Catechism and teaching them hymns and they would all sing together the word got back to the village Mulan who found this intolerable now remember that proselytism right for a Christian to try to make converts among Muslims in Pakistan is a crime a serious crime that could result in imprisonment that wasn't good enough for the mullah the bulla wanted little Shalem at Mali dead so he made false accusations to the authorities he accused charlotte molly of blaspheming Islam and the Prophet Mohammed Mohammed Mali was arrested with every male member of his family put in prison and then put on trial for his life no blasphemy against Islam and the Prophet Mohammed is a crime punishable by death death by hanging this was the trial of Chillon but Mali began the word went out among Catholics all over Pakistan and they gathered in their churches to pray before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament to ask that justice be done that Shalom add Molly and his family be freed Bishop Francis attended the trial and to push his way through a mob great danger he and a group of priests and other bishops attended the trial and as the trial was going on it was outside of the courthouse a crowd of thousands thousands chanting death death death to Charlotte Molly the accusations against him were obviously false thanks be to God the judges recognized the falsehood of the accusations and chellamma and Molly was acquitted and as the bishop in the priests with young shaman Molly and his family members and supporters left the courthouse and pushed their way walked through the crowd still chanting for their death they went to the bus station believe town and as they stood waiting for the buses they were fired upon Shahana but Molly was seriously wounded along with some members of his family and Bishop Francis went to visit his ten year old boy in the hospital they prayed together the bishop gave a little Shalom at Molly some encouraging words and they asked him what will you do now what will you do when you go home and shammed Molly said I'm going to tell everyone about Jesus can you imagine this little boy in the face of death could not be inhibited could not be intimidated so deep so much on fire was his love for the Lord Jesus Christ and our Catholic faith that's true peace grant is joy in the face of persecution that is the power of the Holy Spirit that again I tell you friends is a true a manifestation of holiness of life and I wonder how many of us would be ready to imitate the example of Bishop Andrew Francis and Shalem at Mali or how many of us are there who allow ourselves to be intimidated Oh how many priests are there we stand of the pulpit week after week month after month year after year and say and nothing they're afraid to speak out and hard issues of the faith the essential truths of the faith so many of them so little doctrinal preaching and moral exhortation as far as safer to keep your mouth shut what are they afraid of what are we afraid of they keep their mouth shut for fear of a few angry phone calls to the rectory in the Chancery office afraid of a little confrontation after Mass afraid that a few people might withhold a few bucks from the collection basket dot of mercy on us when our Catholic brothers and sisters in other countries are facing death every single day doing it with courage with faith with inspiration with joy where do we stand what are we ready to suffer for our faith hmm how about you have it in your home jesus said I came not to bring peace but division division letter the Hebrews it says remember you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood right how many parents fear to speak out to correct their children living horribly sometimes very horribly immoral lives or they want to keep peace in the family they want to keep peace in the home yes it will be peace on the condition that they keep their mouths as a shut and often there is the obligation the grave moral obligation to make for eternal correction again the greatest love of all is concerned for your loved ones eternal salvation Jesus said what would it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul hmm oh you know what the attitude is today hey love me love my sin accept me accept my sin tolerate me tolerate my sin keep your mouth shut do we fear the cross do we fear that little familial love the persecution that might come do we fear to be pricked by a few splinters of the cross along the way while our Christian brothers and sisters face death claim their faith we need to do some soul-searching I tell you what are we afraid of the point is this again we can have peace the peace of Jesus Christ who is the Prince of a peace where you're gonna have inner peace we can have joy even when there is turmoil conflict and struggle going on all around us as long as we are here's the key at peace with God peace with God do you see the distinction that it's a critically important one what are we afraid of when Pope John Paul the second was elected successor Saint Peter and the Vicar of Christ want tober the sixteenth a 1978 in his first address of the people of the world his message was and be not afraid it was also his last message to the world be not afraid God is still in command his church God is still in throne over the heavens and over the earth the gates of hell are not gonna prevail after two thousand years our Lord's promises fatalist and unbroken he is still Immanuel the name that means God with us that's why we can say with absolute confidence be not afraid Jesus I trust in you jesus said be not afraid be not afraid in this world you will have trouble but fear not I have overcome world he said I'm with you always even until the end of the world he said I will not leave you orphans he is always always the Prince of Peace there's something that I want to mention to you that should we mention some time during this retreat weekend I believe the fact that this year and these months have special significance for all of us because between the months of May and October of 1917 Our Lady appeared at Fatima Portugal as the Queen of Peace and I would suggest to you that the message of Fatima is every bit as relevant today as it was in 1917 you know that our Lady at Fatima revealed many things to those three Shepherd children Blessed Francisco and Jacinta and to lucia she told them there would be wars wars and ever-increasing ferocity and destructiveness she told them there would be persecutions of the church the spread of atheism all over the world the loss of tellus numbers of souls that the Holy Father would have to suffer but by far the most frightening thing our lady showed to those children was the vision of hell's she showed them a vision of hell and she told the children the souls were falling into hell like snowflakes that was July the 13th 1917 90 years ago last month my brothers and sisters it makes me shudder it makes me shudder to think of all the souls that must have been lost since then today more than ever there is a desperate need for the world to accept the message of Our Lady of Fatima and the mercy that God offers through her intercession while there is still time today Our Lady is calling on all of us as the Queen of Peace she calls upon all of us to become a great force of prayer and reparation in the world and by the grace of God she has given us the weapon to fight with in the spiritual battle of our time and that weapon is the Holy Rosary Pope st. Pius the tenth once said give me an army of souls praying the rosary and I will conquer the world we have the rosary as an instrument of God's mercy the rosary is the weapon that we will use to bring about the conversion of sinners world peace peace at our homes peace on our families and peace in our own arts the Rosary is a lifeline that God is holding out to his people today sister Lucia dos Santos [Music] in ones last interviews that she granted said this the Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Holy Rosary to such an extent there is no problem no matter how difficult it is in the personal life of each one of us or of our families or even of people's and of Nations that cannot be solved with a rosary where the Holy Rosary we will save ourselves we will console our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls there you have it so please please don't say there is nothing I can do don't think there is nothing that we can do I tell you there is a lot we can do our Blessed Mother the Queen of Peace says to us again today as she did in 1917 you shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary [Music]

Channel: Saint Joseph Radio - St. Joseph Evangelization Network

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Keywords: Defeat Death, Death, Afterlife, Fr Casey, Catholic, Live Forever, Catholic TV, Catholic Answers, Dynamic Catholic, Death Culture, Prayer, Dying, Sorrowful Mother's Ministry

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Length: 78min 49sec (4729 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 16 2019