“I speak in a human way” (Rom.6:19)
Fr. Campbell
Our
Lord warns us in today’s Gospel to beware of the false prophets. They
will come to us disguised as sheep, but they will really be ravenous
wolves. (Mt.7:15). This is the time of the vicious, predatory wolves,
who will deceive many and lead them away from God and into the clutches
of the devil. We must do everything we can to warn the unwary,
especially the children, who are unable to defend themselves because of
their lack of experience. Since the situation is deteriorating fast, we
must deal with unsavory subjects and “speak in a human way” like St.
Paul in today’s Epistle.
In
the past few days we learned that the military will now welcome
transgender people into its ranks. Women may now enlist as men, and men
as women. And the military will pay for any operations that are required
in the process. It is indeed a sad day for this country when such
shameful things are accepted by our leaders as normal. This is what Holy
Scripture says:
“A
woman shall not wear an article proper to a man, nor shall a man put on
a woman’s dress; for anyone who does such things is an abomination to
the Lord, your God” (Deut.22:5).
With
regard to homosexuality, which may or may not be the issue here, it
must be pointed out that it is not a sin in itself. Just as with any
kind of temptation, the tendency must be resisted, and any sin must be
brought to the tribunal of the confessional to be absolved. All of us
have our faults and sins to confess, and no one can look upon any other
person with contempt because of his wounded human nature. But it is
gravely sinful to “come out of the closet” and to take part in “gay
rights” activities and public parades. Such “outed” persons do not have a
right to expose the public to their sin. This is a grave offense
against God, calling down His just wrath upon the world, as in cities of
Sodom and Gomorrah. St. Paul says:
“But
immorality and every uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be
named among you, as becomes saints; or obscenity or foolish talk or
scurrility, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For know
this and understand, that no fornicator, or unclean person, or covetous
one (for that is idolatry) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ
and God. Let no one lead you astray with empty words; for because of
these things the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience.
Do not, then, become partakers with them. For you were once darkness,
but now you are light in the Lord” (Eph.5:3-8).
Now
the papal pretender, Jorge Bergoglio, in what we might call his
“atrocity of the week” disagrees with St. Paul. He said recently in an
in-flight interview returning to the Vatican from Armenia, that the
Church should apologize to “gays” for the way they have been treated by
the Church and by Catholics (http://www.newsmax.com).
What is this all about? This situation would never arise if those with
the problem kept it between themselves, God, and their confessor, as
they should. But when they “out” themselves and inflict their problem on
society, they must not be surprised if they are not greeted with wild
applause. When they repent, confess their sins, and seek the help they
need, they should be received with the kindness and respect of the Good
Shepherd Himself.
Is
Bergoglio even a Catholic? Sometimes a Jew, sometimes a Muslim, in the
same in-flight interview mentioned above, he reveals himself as a
Lutheran, identifying with the heretic, Martin Luther, who, it appears,
was right after all:
“I
think that the intentions of Martin Luther were not mistaken. He was a
reformer… And today Lutherans and Catholics, Protestants, all of us
agree on the doctrine of justification. On this point, which is very
important, he did not err. He made a medicine for the Church…”
And further to this (from Martin Luther? No, from Bergoglio):
“What
is reconciliation?... True reconciliation means that God in Christ took
on our sins and He became the sinner for us. When we go to confession,
for example, it isn’t that we say our sin and God forgives us. No, not
that! We look for Jesus Christ and say: ‘This is your sin, and I will sin again’. And Jesus likes that, because it was his mission: to become the sinner for us, to liberate us.”
“This is your sin, and I will sin again?” And “Jesus likes that?”
But
if possible, it gets even worse. Traditional Catholic commentator,
Antonio Socci, reports on recent comments of Bergoglio at a Conference
in Rome:
“Bergoglio…
strung together a series of inconceivable other ‘pearls’ reaching the
limits of blasphemy: Jesus in the episode with the adulteress ‘plays the
fool a bit’ (a shocking phrase which the Vatican site changed to
‘pretended not to understand’, but we have the recording...) and then
Jesus, in the same episode when the woman was saved from being stoned –
‘was scant on morality’ (ha mancato verso la morale) (this also
textual). Then Jesus was not ‘a clean one’ (‘un pulito’). He actually
used this expression; who knows what he was suggesting (better not even
ask ),” says Socci (Antonio Socci, Lo Straniero, June 19, 2016).
There
is clearly a schism (split) coming for the Novus Ordo Church. It could
happen at any time, and it would not be the first. There was The Great Schism, the division between Eastern Orthodoxy and the Catholic Church which began in 1054 and remains to the present day. The Western Schism
was a split within the Catholic Church, in which there were two, and
even three popes, or claimants to the papal throne. It lasted from 1378
to 1417. We who still hold to the ancient faith of the Catholic Church
must not be surprised, and we must not allow it to shake our faith in
any way. We will “put on the armor of God” and continue to “fight the
good fight of faith” that the true Church has fought from the beginning.
We don’t have to be afraid, because we have the protection of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, “powerful as an army arrayed for battle”
(Cant.6:10), with St. Michael and the heavenly armies of angels, who
will slay the enemy and win the victory for Christ our King.