The following comes from a June 1 posting by Father C. John McCloskey on the Catholic Thing.
“We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do not think that wide circles of American society or wide circles of the Christian community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel.
“We must be prepared to undergo great trials in the not-too-distant future; trials that will require us to be ready to give up even our lives, and a total gift of self to Christ and for Christ. Through your prayers and mine, it is possible to alleviate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it. . . .How many times has the renewal of the Church been brought about in blood! It will not be different this time.”
– Bicentennial talk given in the United States by the future St. John Paul II, then Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Kraków, Poland
My eyes almost popped out when I first read this. I could not believe it was authentic, but I have checked it repeatedly and yes, he did say it. And he said it to us Americans, who were at perhaps the apogee of our greatness, short of the fall of the Evil Empire.
Well, how seriously should we take this? Very, very seriously. After all, the speaker was about to become one of the greatest popes in the history of the Church. In addition, he was a mystic and, yes, a prophet and truth-teller who suffered under Nazism and communism, as well as in a certain sense also from Islam. (Recall that he was almost killed by a Muslim assassin, only to be saved by the intercession of Our Lady of Fatima, according to his own words.)
Let me be clear: my musings on the words of John Paul are not meant to encourage you to sell your property, close the bank account, build a bomb shelter, and await the rapture. That is not the Catholic thing to do. But it’s hard not to “ponder these things in [our] hearts.” What exactly did the pope see or have revealed to him? Perhaps the best place to seek the answer is his writings, although we lack space to comb through them all here.
We can also look around us at the remains of what was once called the Christian West, noting a host of behaviors and beliefs that seem custom-made to initiate and accelerate decline. For example, we find in the West depopulation, legal abortion, open homosexuality and same-sex “marriage,” epidemic levels of pornography use, declining marriage rates, and rising cohabitation rates.
Politically, even supposedly tolerant and democratic states like our own are beginning to deny the religious liberty rights of families, businesses, and churches. In addition, we observe growing centralization of power in the hands of those unfavorable to any faith except the idolatry of health, wealth, and technology. They place their long-term hope in the possibility that science may one day arrest death. They watched too many Star Trek and Star Wars movies as children. Unfortunately, they may well go where many men have gone before – and not simply into outer space.
This, surely, is the Anti-Church that St John Paul foresaw – in any event it is here, it is growing, and to a great extent it has already demolished Europe.
What are we to do? First, of course, do not despair. As Catholics we live this life looking forward to the next. We can’t lose, for as St. Paul put it, for us death is gain, not something to fear.
How then to confront and combat the Anti-Church? Imitate the lives of the first Christians! Consider this justly famous description of Christians in the anonymous Letter to Diognetus, written in 79 A.D.:
“For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. . . .They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring.
“They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. (2 Corinthians 10:3) They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. (Philippians 3:20) They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. . .they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonored, and yet in their very dishonor are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; (2 Corinthians 4:12) they are insulted, and repay the insult with honor; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers.”
If we live as the first Christians did, we too can confront and triumph over the Church of the evil Global Empires.
To read the original posting, click here.
We must pray daily. “Jesus help me to do Your will in all things”.
We must educate ourselves by reading the Bible and the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition” on a set schedule at home. Otherwise it may not get done.
We must know our Faith accurately and completely. We must accurately pass on the Faith in entirety to our children and to others.
The Magisterium has given us the CCC; there are no excuses before God.
There is much DISUNITY within the Church due to a lack of clarity, lack of knowledge.
Our Pope and Bishops need to address this at the upcoming Synod.
Our Bishops need to take responsibility for the lack of teaching the Laity in the pews.
Most to not encourage reading the Bible and CCC at home by everyone over age 15, as evidenced by their Diocese and Parish web sites.
Lack of teaching in entirety is a sin of omission if not commission.
Pretty soon the Muslims will know more about the Catholic Faith than many Catholics. They are translating the CCC into Persian for study.
https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Shia-scholars-translate-the-Catechism-of-the-Catholic-Church-in-Persian-31224.html
More on DISUNITY and LACK of CLARITY within the Church – – – ” Tremendous Confusion 06-10″ –
https://www.churchmilitant.tv/daily/?today=2014-06-10
Bishops need to:
1) TEACH (according to the Doctrine of the Faith as contained in the CCC);
2) CORRECT those in error (according to the same);
3) DISCIPLINE when necessary according to Canons 915 & 1399.
– – – – – – –
These are out of Love for ALL –
which also includes Love for the individual, and Love for those who are scandalized.
Saving Souls for eternity must always be paramount.
Our Clergy at all levels must redirect themselves for this goal. Then the rest will follow.
The final confrontation will be between a sodomite-controlled West and a Muslim-controlled East. Solid Catholic bible scholars are open to the view that sodomites and Muslims will be the two riders of the Pale Horse of the Apocalypse: Death and Hades (Rev. 6:7-8).
Mark Mallett has written a book about these words: The Final Confrontation. He also has a blog and video series addressing how to prepare for the time we are now in with hope and grace. He is a Catholic lay evangelist, singer, song writer and has 8 children.
The sooner the better…………..
What Are They Thinking – how about the ‘gospel of the Gaystapo’ in what passes for education, aka = Pander or Perish:
“Cardinal to Catholic teachers joining gay pride: ‘What are you thinking?’
Toronto Cardinal Thomas Collins had blunt words on Friday for Ontario’s English Catholic Teachers Association over its participation in the WorldPride parade later this month.
“I find it very troubling and strange that [OECTA] would choose this particular event as a way of expressing that, when it seems to be going completely against what we believe in many ways,” the cardinal told the National Post.
“That’s the point at which I would say, ‘Really? What are you thinking?’”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/toronto-cardinal-on-oecta-at-worldpride-what-are-you-thinking
At the US -DOJ (Disciples of Judas) Silence is Not an Option – All Must Pander to the Entire Gaystapo Agenda – or Perish; and All will be ‘Put to the Test’.
To Whom Will Catholics Turn for Justice, Not the DOJ – that much is most certainly true in this Age of Abomination:
“..Celebrate Gay Day at DOJ Today
.Notice that the event will feature Pam Karlan. Karlan currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division overseeing election laws.
Others have speculated Karlan is headed to the Supreme Court one day. Any Justice Department actions taken this fall in the midterm elections will need to be approved by Karlan.
State and local officials subject to those actions need to understand that Karlan is a dishonest radical academic fresh from a stint at Stanford Law School.
Her academic dishonesty hasn’t caused even a blip of discomfort among fellow left wing academics who continue to fawn over her.
Karlan’s academic dishonesty appeared in the Duke Journal of Law and Public Policy…”
https://pjmedia.com/tatler/2014/06/10/celebrate-gay-day-at-doj-today/
“They place their long-term hope in the possibility that science may one day arrest death. They watched too many Star Trek and Star Wars movies as children. Unfortunately, they may well go where many men have gone before – and not simply into outer space.” — Huh ? Has the author ever actually watched these shows/movies ? I’m a female geek. I like both — and started watching Star Trek as a kid when William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy were on the original series (and its countless reruns). While Star Wars and Star Trek may not be studies in Catholic theology, I never got the idea from them that science (medicine) would let people live forever. [In Star Wars The Force seems to take care of that.] But if human-assisted immortality does happen someday, well, hey, maybe that was part of God’s plan. NOTE: The Church has never condemned the Theory of Evolution which from what I understand says life developed from more primitive to more advanced stages (note it is always called a Theory, not Fact). The Church accepts the possibility. Why not unheard of advances in science and medicine (ex. penicillin the new wonder drug of several decades ago) ? Does he know there is a late Jesuit Italian priest, I believe his name was Fr. Busa or something similar, who did a lot of the groundwork for what is now the internet ?
The Future is Now – as in the “Future Saint John Paul ii” cited in the article is Now Saint John Paul II; yet the Words are Remain His:
“We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through.
I do not think that wide circles of American society or wide circles of the Christian community realize this fully.
We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel.
“We must be prepared to undergo great trials in the not-too-distant future; trials that will require us to be ready to give up even our lives, and a total gift of self to Christ and for Christ.
Through your prayers and mine, it is possible to alleviate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it. . . .How many times has the renewal of the Church been brought about in blood! It will not be different this time.”
– Bicentennial talk given in the United States by the future St. John Paul II, then Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Kraków, Poland”
Pray for us Saint John Paul II….
“I could not believe it was authentic, but I have checked it repeatedly and yes, he did say it.” For once, could SOMEONE, anyone, properly source this quote when re-using it? Where exactly did St John Paul II say it? Not that he couldn’t have said it, as he was making quite similar references on various occasions as early as the 60s, and especially starting in the late 70s, but listing Wall Street Journal (?!) as the source, as some do, or – as here – some vague, nondescript bicentennial talk who knows where and when is quite a bit of a stretch. I’ve even checked with The John Paul II Foundation’s Centre for Research and Documentation of the Pontificate in Rome and they could not locate this quote among the documents they keep there.
Annie, it is said to have been from his farewell address at the end of his 1976 tour of US (September, in NYC?). Cannot verify. The WSJ Notable and Quotable section is supposed to be from Nov 9, 1978 after he was elected Pope.
It is definitely not in the homily he gave at the Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia 1976. Let us know if you can find it.