Sunday, April 30, 2017

Fr. Campbell, "That you may follow in his steps” (1Pet.2:21)

“That you may follow in his steps” (1Pet.2:21)


What the Shepherd requires of His sheep is that they follow Him. We know what happens to the sheep that go astray. Disobedience brings about its own punishment, and they are eaten by the wolf. God gave Moses the Ten Commandments which the people were to follow. But when Moses went back up the mountain they got tired of waiting, and they worshipped a golden calf along with immoral carousing and cavorting. God spoke in anger to Moses:

“Go down at once to your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, for they have become depraved. They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them, making for themselves a molten calf and worshipping it, sacrificing to it and crying out, ‘This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’” (Ex.32:7,8).


A terrible punishment from God was executed against them, as it must be for all who turn away from God and worship the things of this world. Today the whole world seems to be in open revolt against God, meriting a terrible and catastrophic punishment for its sins. The leaders of the nations, virtually all of them, care nothing about observing God’s Commandments, and the most immoral activities are condoned. As a result, God’s judgment lies heavy upon the world:

“Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter… Therefore as the tongue of the fire devoureth the stubble, and the heat of the flame consumeth it: so shall their root be as ashes, and their bud shall go up as dust. For they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and have blasphemed the word of the Holy One of Israel” (Is.5:20;24).

We must be absolutely clear about this: those who choose NOT to belong to the flock of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, will find themselves entangled in the snares of that evil shepherd, the devil, who will drag them down kicking and screaming into the fires of Hell. In this world there is no place safe from the devil. God alone is our refuge, as we read in the psalm:

“I love you, O Lord, my strength, O Lord, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer. My God, my rock of refuge, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold! Praised be the Lord, I exclaim, and I am safe from my enemies” (Ps.17:2-4).

We have entered a period of grave danger for the sheep, full of dangerous cliffs and difficult terrain. If they don’t follow the Shepherd now, they will find themselves lost and abandoned, and falling over the precipice to their destruction. The wolf is turning the world upside down, almost literally, and he has the sheep all over the world following him. The earth seems to be out of control, the poles are straying as the earth wobbles on its axis. Earthquakes are on the rise, and the rains become torrential, with catastrophic floods and landslides. Ask the Inuit people of the north. They have observed that the sun no longer rises or sets in its usual place.

Kings and governors and presidents must rule in God’s place. They are answerable to God for their decisions and actions. But the nations are now in full revolt against God. They are following the false shepherd, the devil. They do not recognize the voice of the true Shepherd, and they are not part of His flock. They will go down into the pit.

Pity the children, and those who are not well instructed in their Catholic Faith. They are the chief victims of the wolves in sheep’s clothing that abound today. They are even taught lies from the Novus Ordo pulpits and in their Novus Ordo schools. And their alleged “pope”, Francis Bergoglio, willfully blind to the truth himself, is leading them into the swamp of error and confusion.

Bergoglio’s close relationship with the Jews is well known, especially with his close friend, Rabbi Abraham Skorka. It bothers him not at all that God’s Divine Son, Jesus Christ, is said in the Jewish Talmud to be suffering in Hell for all eternity, and that the Most Pure and Holy Mother of God, Mary, was an immoral woman of the streets.

Every false religion is honored by Bergoglio, while Traditional Catholics are the butt of his anger and scorn. Benedict XVI spoke out about the Muslim persecution of Christians, says an article in Jihad Watch. But “By contrast, Francis energetically defends Islam, and leaves the persecuted Christians twisting in the wind… As the prototypical progressive Jesuit, Pope (sic) Francis prides himself on his ‘ecumenism.’ He oozes enthusiasm for every religion except his own. At the top of his list of favorite religions is the Church’s fiercest adversary – Islam…

“As Europe turns into Eurabia, Pope (sic) Francis is picking up honors and awards from progressives, including, hilariously, the 2016 ‘Charlemagne Prize’ for his Islamic apologetics. It is hard to imagine a Christian leader less like Charlemagne. Pope (sic) Francis is energized not depressed by the disappearance of Christian Europe.” (Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch, April 26, 2017).

Our own St. Jude, citing the Patriarch Henoch, has the appropriate words:

“‘Behold, the Lord has come with thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the impious of all their impious works, and of all the hard things that impious sinners have spoken against him.’ These are grumbling murmurers walking according to their lusts. And haughty in speech, they cultivate people for the sake of gain. But as for you, beloved, be mindful of the words that have been spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, who kept saying to you that at the end of time there will come scoffers, walking impiously according to their lusts…

“Now to him who is able to preserve you without sin and to set you before the presence of his glory, without blemish, in gladness, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, belong glory and majesty, dominion and authority, before all time, and now, and forever. Amen.” (Jude 1:14-19;24,25).