Fr. Campbell, “Upon the earth distress of nations” (Lk.21:25)

“Upon the earth distress of nations” (Lk.21:25)

We are warned by many of the saints that there is a great worldwide chastisement coming because of the sinful state of the world. Jesus Christ, our Savior, warned us in these sobering words:

“And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations bewildered by the roaring of sea and waves; men fainting for fear and for expectation of the things that are coming on the world; for the powers of heaven will be shaken” (Lk.21:25,26).

This is not only a chastisement of natural catastrophes. We are already experiencing a chastisement infinitely more terrible than any catastrophic upheaval of nature that will follow in its wake. This chastisement is so terrible because it destroys souls. It is a chastisement of sin and moral corruption, which God allows because of apostasy and unbelief. The weapons the devil employs to ruin us are the very things many of us use every day – the TV and the computer or the iPhone, to which we have become so addicted.

The corruption of our society is so terrible and complete because it is deliberately caused. It is not just normal deterioration, like a bunch of bananas past their prime and turning dark and mushy. The devil himself, and his abominable hit men, are deliberately at work trying to corrupt the morals of every last human being. The young especially are targeted. The very existence of God is denied, and His laws are overturned. They would have no real truth, goodness, or beauty left, but only lies and deceit, evil and ugliness.

The news media are filled these days with stories of the lechers and perverts among us who prey on their innocent and helpless victims. Only a few of them are identified. And it’s not just the men. The women who don’t offend by the way they dress are few and far between, and they must be commended for resisting the tide of modern fashions. But many women are blaming men for assaulting them, while at the same time they dress immodestly.

The ancient Serpent raises his head as never before, one of his chief weapons being pornography. No one is safe. But what can I say about pornography? It removes you far from God’s presence. It puts you in league with the devil. It gives the devil the power of enslavement over you. It involves you in other people’s sins. You become as guilty as they are of corrupting the innocent. It leads you down the slippery slope to greater sin and spiritual ruin. It makes you a citizen of Hell, destined to spend your eternity there if you don’t turn to Jesus Christ and repent of your sins, whatever the cost. Some devils, says Our Lord “can be cast out only by prayer and fasting” (Mt.17:20). Let there be no more secret sessions on the internet where you meet those who are agents of Satan, and are working to corrupt the innocent and trap the unwary. Our Lord had these severe words for those who corrupt the innocent:  

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it were better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depths of the sea” (Mt.18:6).

St. Paul preaches to these evil times:

“Discharging therefore this ministry in accordance with the mercy shown us, we do not lose heart. On the contrary, we renounce those practices which shame conceals, we avoid unscrupulous conduct, we do not corrupt the word of God; but making known the truth, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. And if our gospel also is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded their unbelieving minds, that they should not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2Cor.4:3,4).

But how do we escape these things? To whom can we turn? God Himself has given us the answer. He has provided us with a remedy which, if we make use of it, will rescue us from the power of the devil. God’s remedy is a fervent devotion to the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. She is God’s answer to the horrors belched forth by Satan, as described in the Apocalypse – the Dragon spews forth a river from his mouth, but the Woman flees into the wilderness, or the desert, where she looks after the rest of her children (Apoc.12:13-17).

The desert is that secret place unknown to those who love sin. It is the place of spiritual tranquility of the soul that flees from the sources of sin with the Woman (Mary) into the spiritual regions to which the devil has no access. We must find that place with the help of Our Heavenly Queen. God has given her to us so that we may be drawn by the spiritual beauty and heavenly sanctity of our Immaculate Mother. To know her is to have a sense of the beauty of Heaven already on this earth.

As for the children, teach them to love Jesus and His Holy Mother from their earliest years, even before they learn to walk or to talk. Consecrate them to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Pray with them from their first days. Have beautiful pictures and statues of Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin where they can be easily seen. Instead of exposing them to the poisonous fare offered by the TV and worldly videos, tell them the stories of the saints and find videos that are not contaminated by the mind of the world. Children’s programming and videos are loaded with dangerous subliminal images and suggestive material. The movies produced by the Disney studios these days are full of them.  Parents beware and take action! Wise parents will not delay when the salvation of their children is at risk.

The children must be rescued and protected. Those who have already fallen to the devil’s schemes must be helped to find their way back. It will be a difficult struggle for many. Because of the internet, disaster is only a click away – the ruination of their spiritual lives, and their enslavement to the devil. Better not to use the internet at all than to end up in Hell. But it is in the contemplation of the incomparable spiritual beauty of the Immaculate Virgin Mary that they will be attracted away from sin and helped to reject the devil and return to Our Lord. Teach them to love our Heavenly Mother! Teach them to pray the Rosary every day. Have them wear the brown Scapular. Teach them to pray:

“O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.”