Wokeness is as old as the Bible itself. The remedy is even older.

it is so important that we as christians we as catholics are students of history very important if we knew our history we would know that wokeness is as old as the bible itself as portrayed in today's first reading a reading from the book of genesis the people of sodom and gomorrah had become so depraved that they looked upon depravity as good and traditional virtuous behavior as bad sounds kind of familiar doesn't it in today's society abraham couldn't even find 10 virtuous people to save the city of sodom and yet god was willing to save it if those people would only turn to him that must we must never forget that saint therese of the azu said that our god's justice gave her so just as much comfort as his mercy because a just judge would never be unadjusted to anyone lot and his family had to literally run for their lives not only because god was going to strike sodom and gomorrah but also because it was dangerous living in sodom and gomorrah at one point some of the citizens wanted to abuse the two visitors the two angels who were visiting lot and his family and they were ready to beat down the door to get at them the situation was not good you know we live in a society a culture where everything has been turned upside down the obvious example is abortion how many people out there today are clamoring about how important abortion is to this country that we need it that it's good that it gives women freedom and yet on the other hand they're attacking the existence of crisis pregnancy centers that they should all be shut down why because they're giving help to pregnant ladies they're providing for their education they're giving them money to help them buy food and medicine they're giving them daycare whatever they need why should they be burned down and yet in today's society we hear prominent politicians in the united states saying that these crisis pregnancy centers must be closed because they mistreat women abortion doesn't this is all crazy or what about if i consider gay marriage as not being good do i set myself up for a hate crime charge or what about if i'm anti-crime i'm anti-arson i don't want to see innocent people lose their businesses to our sin [Music] am i proclaimed a racist yes in today's society i would be the great servant of god archbishop fulton sheen was a student of history and quite frankly he was a modern prophet in fact he was a great prophet you know back in the year 1947 that 75 years ago he was warning us about what was coming down the road what was coming down the pike and he was clear and he was accurate and he was precise he said during a radio broadcast and i quote we are at the end of christendom pretty strong statement 1947 we are at the end of christendom christendom is economic political social life as inspired by christian principles that is ending we've seen it die then he says look at the symptoms the breakup of the family divorce abortion immorality general dishonesty 1947 what would he say today what would he say today and bishop sheen said that one of the signs of the times was that basic dogmas in our modern world are disintegrating before our very eyes and they are being replaced by other things such as number one there is no other function for man in life than to acquire wealth wealth is number one or number two man is naturally good meaning there's no need for god-given rights there's not even a need to be saved we don't need a savior because man has it all or number three the main goal of life is not to seek one's soul but rather devise new technical advances 1947 wow what would he say today with our smartphones and everything else people today owed their allegiance to social media not sacred scripture or the catechism of the catholic church for many people social media is their moral compass public opinion is what's most important to people nowadays mediocrity and compromise characterize the lives of many christians today in our world and then bishop sheen says back in 1947 i quote him again here with the family disintegrating with one divorce after every two marriages in 35 major cities in the united states with five divorces for every six marriages in los angeles there is no denying that something has snapped anyone who has anything to do with god is hated today 1947 i thought those were the golden years what would he say today so yes we are in a crisis but should our response be despair despondency discouragement of course not perhaps we as christians perhaps we as catholics should look at the present crisis as an opportunity rather than getting in front of the computer and looking at the blogs and complaining about everything that's happening in the world for example let's think about the prodigal son because of a famine what happened he went to his father right there was an opportunity for grace right there what about the good thief who was crucified with our lord and found our lord in his crucifixion bishop sheen says one of the surprises of heaven will be to see how many saints were made in the midst of chaos and war and revolution these are the ones who have survived the time of great distress they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb of course that's a reference to the book of revelation chapter 7. we've been trying for years coming up with human plans to turn everything around politics elections i can't tell you how many times every four years this is the most important election that we've ever experienced if we don't do it now it's not going to survive and then four years later it's the same thing four more years of the main same nonsense human solutions don't work when it comes to such a crisis the only way out of this crisis is spiritual what are the steps of this spiritual recovery first and foremost we priests need to be priests we priests must fight against wokeness how do we do that by being watchmen by preaching the truth in season and out of season as one author says and i quote that does not mean that we go out finding fault in other people to enjoy the delight of criticism but it does mean we must never present evil as something but evil we must never pretend that arsenic is mere flower or sugar if you consume arsenic it doesn't matter what your opinion of it is it kills if you do the evil it does not matter what you have worked up as a justification for it it does spiritual harm nonetheless it can kill so during a crisis we as priests don't make confession and other sacraments less available we make them more available right we don't stop adoration of the blessed sacrament because we're afraid of germs we increase the hours of eucharistic adoration so that the people will be nourished properly because there's nothing worse than spiritual spiritual starvation nothing worse that's what led us to this crisis to begin with right number two it's time not to be ashamed of being identified as a practicing catholic for too many years i've watched people be ashamed hiding their miraculous medal going into a restaurant and refusing to make the sign of the cross for the blessing of the food because people might see that i'm a catholic that's awful that's awful you can go into some catholic homes and they look like sports museums with sports paraphernalia all over the world walls and everything but where's the crucifix where's the statue of our lady where's the religious heart is there any sign at all that this is a house of god that the people in this house actually put god first before anything in their lives [Music] these are all things that we have to ask ourselves and then number three prayer which is what today's gospel is all about without prayer we will die how did abraham confront the wokeness of sodom and gomorrah prayer because that's what the gospel passage i mean with the first chapter uh the first reading was all about in the book of genesis right our abraham was praying he was having a conversation with god that comes first before anything the entire history of salvation is god wooing us back to himself in other words it's important for us to once again become to become intimate with god almighty he wants intimacy with us that's what the blessed sacrament that's what the holy eucharist is all about the miracle of the eucharist is the fact that god almighty can touch us as catholics 365 days a year we could literally physically touch god almighty [Music] i remember one of the greatest sundays of my life was when i gave my nephew and godson little dwayne some of you know little dwayne little dwayne has down syndrome but when he was a little boy i had the great honor as a deacon to give him his first holy communion and i remember when it came time for his holy communion in our little church of saint henry's in natural bridge new york he came up and his hands were folded perfectly he was dressed perfectly and i saw an awe in his face because he was getting excited he was getting excited about the fact that he was going to be able to touch god what an intimate moment there was a teaching moment for everyone else in that little church and yet here in america before the covid crisis only 30 percent of american catholics went to sunday mass now i believe it's down to around half that about 15 percent it's even worse in europe in france the best attendance the eldest daughter of the church mass attendance in france is four percent four out of every hundred catholics in france go to sunday mass i think it's probably that bad in germany and italy and all the other countries in europe because people have lost their friendship with god any friendship takes an effort any friendship takes effort so we cannot turn from god without hurting ourselves as one author says there is no true intimacy between lovers if they don't communicate the breakdown of communication in society whether between spouses family members or even within entire communities is the great dampener of intimacy he goes on to say a lack of intimacy is not necessarily a lack of words in fact maybe we need to stop talking so much you're probably thinking that right now you don't need words for intimacy i remember the example of an elderly couple who were married 60 years and they were on their front porch each in their own rocking chair next to each other and guess what they were together and they didn't have to tell each other i love you because each of them knew that the other spouse loved them so sometimes you might want to say well why would i want to go to the fathers of mercy chapel in the afternoon and spend time in front of the blessed i don't know what to say well how about sitting there and saying nothing and listening to the lord speak to us that's a good thing that's a wonderful thing i can't tell you how many times i've been overwhelmed with my crosses and duties and i think how can i bear this anymore and then i go in front of the blessed sacrament and i just sit there maybe complain a little bit but after an hour i'm ready to get going again so at the beginning of this covid crisis we started to have adoration seven days a week from noon until 5 30 every day seven days a week and i've been inviting people to come and be intimate with their lord come and be with him you don't even have to say anything leave your smartphone in the car and just be with him be with him we have so much noise in the world we need to go to a quiet place because isn't that what jesus did you want to be more christ-like go in a quiet place and pray that's what jesus himself did to be alone and intimate with his father as saint teresa of calcutta used to say god speaks to us in the silence of our hearts god bless you [Music] you

Channel: Fathers of Mercy

Views: 756,264

Keywords: Fathers of Mercy, Father David Wilton CPM, WOKENESS, 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Id: HMxBt3A1zNA

Length: 19min 9sec (1149 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 25 2022