WE HAVE MOVED!

"And I beheld, and heard the voice of one eagle flying through the midst of heaven,
saying with a loud voice: Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth....
[Apocalypse (Revelation) 8:13]

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Fr. Campbell, "The Lord’s Rescue Plan"

The Lord’s Rescue Plan


St. John, the beloved disciple, opens his first Epistle with these amazing words:

“I write of what was from the beginning, of what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked upon and our hands have handled: of the Word of Life. And the Life was made known and we have seen, and now testify and announce to you, the Life Eternal which was with the Father, and has appeared to us. What we have seen and have heard we announce to you, in order that you also may have fellowship with us, and that our fellowship may be with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1Jn.1:1-3).

Jesus Christ, God’s Divine Son, is that Man, born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, legally the Son of Joseph, with relatives, friends and neighbors, a carpenter by trade, but a teacher and a miracle worker by calling, perfect in His human nature, not suffering the effects of Original Sin, since in Him there is no sin.

But Jesus Christ is also God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, one with the Father and the Holy Ghost. With the Father and the Holy Ghost He is the Creator of the angelic choirs, the galaxies and the stars, the planets and the comets, the earth and all things that live in it.

But not content to be our Creator only, He also became our Redeemer. When Adam and Eve sinned and lost Sanctifying Grace for themselves and their descendants, God promised to send a Redeemer to rescue us from slavery and eternal loss. It was in fulfillment of this promise that He sent His Divine Son, Who took upon Himself our humanity. And in order to spread His word and give us the true means of salvation, Our Lord also gave us the true religion, without which we would wander in the darkness of false worship and end up in Hell to be forever estranged from God.

Yet today religious freedom is considered by alleged “Pope” Francis and the Vatican insiders, to be a fundamental human right, and has become one of the cornerstone doctrines of the church of Vatican II. Actually it is a Masonic doctrine, which has overtaken the true Catholic doctrine on religious freedom.  

St. Augustine, one of the great Fathers and Doctors of the Church, had this to say when writing against the Donatists: “For the soul there is no worse kind of death than the freedom of error.”

The meaning of true freedom is no longer understood even by those who should be teaching and upholding it. True freedom is not to be free to do what we want, but to be free to do what is right and true. True freedom is freedom from sin and error, so that one is free to observe God’s Commandments and worship Him as He has chosen to be worshipped. Our Lord warned the Pharisees:

“Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. But the slave does not abide in the house forever; the son abides there forever. If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (Jn.8:34-36).

Are we free to accept or reject the Gospel? People reject the Gospel because they are not free.  They are bound by sin.  They love the darkness rather than the light. The grace of God is what makes us free to choose the truth – in this case the truth of God’s word.  When it becomes a matter of choosing between the word of God and the word of man, there can be no contest. We must accept the word of God, who can neither deceive nor be deceived.

The Holy and Immaculate Virgin Mary became the very first believer in the Son of God when the Angel Gabriel said to her:

“The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee; and therefore the Holy One to be born shall be called the Son of God” (Lk.1:35).

The devil, of course, always finds a way to rob us of our faith in Jesus Christ and His Holy Catholic Church. Through his army of lying and scheming cronies here on earth, he has become master of the means of communication, such as the internet. “Surfing” the internet is like slogging your way through a huge and dangerous swamp. Those who are not careful are sucked into the mire, and their spiritual life is stifled. Remember, Our Lord told us that we can’t serve both God and the world:

“No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will stand by the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Mt.6:24).

The devil laughs because he has tricked millions into serving the world instead of God. In fact, they are servants of the devil. Those who are addicted to pornography are in that unfortunate situation. They have fallen into darkness, and they must turn to God and do penance while they can still save their souls. But Our Lord has a plan for their rescue: “This kind (of evil) can be cast out in no way except by prayer and fasting” (Mk.9:28). Whatever it takes, it must be done! Our Lord offers us hope, because the Holy Spirit of the Lord has gifts for those who invoke Him. The evil one is no match for the Holy Ghost. St. Peter preaches to the crowds about the last days and the coming of the Holy Ghost, as he quotes the words of God to the prophet Joel:

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, says the Lord, that I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And moreover upon my servants and upon my handmaids in those days will I pour forth of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and manifest day. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:17-21).