Cold, Cold Hearts
Fr. Campbell
“And because iniquity will abound, the charity of the many will grow cold. But whoever perseveres to the end, he shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world, for a witness to all nations; and then will come the end” (Mt.24:12-14).
“Iniquity will abound,” says the Lord. It does! There is little love left in the world because people have become attached to sin. Sin is everywhere, but it is not acknowledged. Innocent children are not just exposed to sin, they are trained in sin. They learn to speak sinfully, to act sinfully, to dress sinfully. The sinful lifestyle has now become the norm. New laws now protect sin and the sinner, and those who protest are accused of hate crimes.
The devil has his way
of luring people into a life of sin by using things that appeal to the
senses. We could call them the devil’s
sacraments – people, places or things which are an occasion of sin for us. Even
things that are innocent, beautiful, and good in themselves, can take us away
from God if they are abused and disconnected from their purpose, which is to
bring us to God.
This is a result of the
disorder in the universe created by sin. You may know what it’s like to live or
work in an environment where there is disorder. It destroys peace and creates
angry people.
When there is perfect
order in our relationship with God, with people, and with things, then we have
peace, since peace is “the tranquility of order,” as St. Augustine says. Holiness can flourish only when there is
order in one’s life. But this must be an
interior order, not dependent on what goes on around us. When the peace of God is with us, nothing can
harm us.
But, we may say, the disciples of Jesus were able to walk with Him, to observe His actions, to listen to His teachings, and even to look into His eyes. They got to know Him and to love Him. No wonder they were able to become saints. This is true, but we can get as close to Jesus as they did. Through the Holy Scriptures and the Sacraments we are able to hear Christ, to touch Him, and even to receive Him into our hearts through Holy Communion. The Apostles themselves were not able to do that until the Last Supper, when the Lord was about to leave them. But we have Him always with us in Word and Sacrament.
The Church has also given us many little sacraments, or sacramentals, such as the Crucifix and the Rosary. Only the Seven Sacraments confer upon us a special sacramental grace which unites us with Christ, but the sacramentals, when used properly, help to increase our faith and bring us closer to the Lord. The Sign of the Cross, for instance, reminds us of the mystery of the Blessed Trinity, and also of the saving Passion of our Lord.
After Vatican II the Sacraments were all changed, if not altogether destroyed, to suit the new worldly mentality. The sacramentals were assigned to oblivion. When the new iconoclasts struck, beautiful altars and statuaries were simply attacked with sledgehammers. Statues, relics and sacred art, even the crucifix, began to disappear from the churches. Those that were not destroyed moldered in basements, or were thrown away to be rescued by the remnant whose faith had not yet been destroyed. Catholic devotions like the Stations of the Cross and the Mother of Perpetual Help Devotion were eliminated. New Catholic churches began to resemble Masonic temples, and the Novus Ordo Mass was created to replace “the most beautiful thing this side of heaven,” the Traditional Latin Mass.
The old fashioned Catholic home displayed crucifixes, statues and holy pictures in prominent places, but these began to disappear too, often to be replaced by the worldly and the sinful. Gone are the Rosaries, Scapulars and Miraculous Medals. Confusion reigns among Catholics, and the light of faith has burned low or flickered out entirely in many souls, as the Lord said it would.
Our Lady predicted this woeful decline at La Salette. She gave a sobering message to the visionary, Melanie Calvat, which I quote in part:
“The Church will be in eclipse, the world will be in dismay… Pagan Rome will disappear… Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives are crucifying my son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a stainless sacrifice to the Eternal God for the sake of the world…”
The devil is doing his utmost to destroy the Holy Catholic Church, but he can never succeed. We still have the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Sacraments, unchanged by the Liturgical Revolution that has struck most of the Church. And we still have the sacramentals, and relics of the saints and of the Lord’s Passion.
We could hate them for what they’ve done. We could likewise hate those who are destroying our way of life and our country. But hatred only destroys those who hate. Hatred, rage, revenge, resentment – these things must be crossed off our list. Love grows cold because of them. The remedy is not to use the world’s methods, to return hate for hate, but to learn instead from the Son of God, Jesus Christ, Who taught us to love instead:
“‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind.’ This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like it, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets” (Mt.22:37-40).
St. John echoes Our Lord’s words:
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. And everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. In this is the love, not that we have loved God, but that he has first loved us, and sent his Son a propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God has so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1Jn.4:7-11).
Related:
http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2015/08/fr-campbell-herd-of-wild-horses.html
http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2015/06/that-you-might-inherit-blessing-1pet39b.html http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2014/07/fr-campbell-christian-zionism.html http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-way-of-truth-maligned-2pet22.html http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-gospel-to-all-nations.html http://tradcatknight.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-year-world-stumbled.html
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