‘The Church is opposed, and the priests are despised because of the bad ones who give scandal. Help Me, by suffering, to repair for so many offenses, and thus save AT LEAST IN PART, humanity precipitated in a slough of corruption and death’. - Our Lord to Blessed Elena Aiello (1954)
There are a lot of sinners in the Church, which is kind of the reason why Christ had to die. We have a lot of bad clerics, but that has been true throughout our entire history. We read of great saints like Teresa of Avila fighting against corruption in the Church, St. John of the Cross was imprisoned by other priests because he fought against the evil in the Church. It is important to fight evil in the Church, but the times we live in are not unique. I think maybe we need to also think about good things as well. There are many good and devout lay people and clerics in the Church. Our Lord is still in charge and brining many souls to salvation. The Blessed Mother is stilll there for us. The saints are still fighting for us. To just think about the bad things is to give in to Satan.
ReplyDeleteVery true. We will get through this, maybe battered and heartsick, but still faithful. I must say, though, that I'm not entirely sure I agree with your last sentence. We must have faith in God, but I think we need to keep our eyes open when it comes to humans, whether it is clergy or laity. Maybe Archbishop McCarrick's despicable actions came to light because God wants to warn us to keep our eye on Him. But I think I know your intent - we cannot become so discouraged that we question our Faith. God bless all here - Susan, OFS
Delete“To put it another way: for people of every era, and not just our own, the Christian faith is a scandal. That the eternal God should know us and care about us, that the intangible should at a particular moment have become tangible, that he who is immortal should have suffered and died on the Cross, that we who are mortal should be given the promise of resurrection and eternal life – for people of any era, to believe all this is a bold claim.”
Delete“This scandal, which cannot be eliminated unless one were to eliminate Christianity itself, has unfortunately been overshadowed in recent times by other painful scandals on the part of the preachers of the faith. A dangerous situation arises when these scandals take the place of the primary skandalon of the Cross and in so doing they put it beyond reach, concealing the true demands of the Christian Gospel behind the unworthiness of those who proclaim it.” - Benedict XVI
I'm with you Susan. If we are not aware of the evil, how are we supposed to ask the Lord to save us all from it?
DeleteAnyway, I read this solid piece by Mr. Mills over at Alethia and it was a great reminder that we are not alone, abandoned, forsaken. In these times and in those to come, I want not to forget the Lord's eternal promise that he is with us always even unto the consumation of the world.
https://aleteia.org/2018/08/10/scandal-in-the-church-god-made-room-for-sinners-as-well-as-saints/
Sunday the Pope said this:
Delete"Pope Francis said evil spreads “where there are no bold Christians to oppose it with goodness.”
“If we do not oppose evil, we feed it with our silence.”
Works for me!