Extingushing the Catholic Church

"...Because our Western world has turned its back upon those authentic fires that were lighted at the eternal alters of the Living God, it leaves the peoples torches unlit..."-Characters of the Passion-Archbishop Sheen

In this image of St Dymphna, the winds are blowing, but the flame remains in her heart—the flame of her Catholic faith in my imagination. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Catholic Church, but that does not mean that she will not shrink. Will she shrink so far as to only be alive in the hearts of some of the faithful, with no visible sign left on earth? Will people think she has been extinguished because of this?

The flame of faith is given to each of us in varying degrees. From the time that flame is lit, satan's poisonous wind blows against it and so against the Church. The wind speed varies. Sometimes it blows fiercely in ways that we feel and easily recognize, and at other times the wind is lighter and less noticeable, but it is always at work trying to snuff the flame—a job he does well.

For many, the flame is barely there, and in many others, the snuffing is complete. But for some of us who God has chosen for His mysterious reasons, not by any merit of our own, He maintains the flame in us no matter how mightily the enemy huffs and puffs. The reason for this is clear. We are to be the Israelites to the nations living in darkness in our own time.

The Israelites were not chosen because they deserved to be. They had done nothing to merit having God draw so close to them. He picked them for His mysterious reasons. He freed them, fed them, and led them to the promised land where they could flourish as a people peculiarly His own and in so doing become a light to the world to bring them to Him. Through them, He sent His Son among us for the salvation of souls and the reparation of sins. But many rejected Him. This was a major huff and puff of the enemy. He blew out the flame of faith in many, and their religion died with the flame as they turned from God to ritual observance of the law.

Jesus' followers now carry the flame that was to draw the world to Him and His newly established Church. And the enemy huffed and puffed mightily right from the beginning. The apostles warned the newly baptized not to stray from the faith that they had been taught and to beware of wolves in sheep's clothing and men who tickled their ears with deceitful words. St. Paul told them that even if an angel appeared to them with a Gospel different from the one they preached, they were to reject him. They laid the foundations of the holy Catholic faith through their oral teaching of Jesus' words and traditions that were to be maintained. satan lurked around, blowing at the flames in each new believer's heart, waiting for the time when he could again blow mightily and extinguish many flames. This time came through the ordination of Martin Luther.

The "reformation, "as it is wrongly called, was a rebellion. It was another mighty puff from the devil. He extinguished, through Martin Luther, the true flame of the holy Catholic faith in many hearts and ignited through this rebellion a flame of confusion, tickled ears, and false Christianity. This wind the enemy blew carried the words "you don't need the Church it's full of idolatry, you don't need a priest, you can go directly to Jesus, you don't need Confession, you can receive forgiveness directly from God, you don't need the Eucharist it's only a symbol." These lies tickled the ears of many and ignited a false flame, as it extinguished the real.

satan ceased huffing and puffing in an obvious way for those who turned from The Church and embraced the false flame. He figured he would leave them in their worship of a false Christ, knowing they would lead others into this. Though they speak the name of Jesus, which he hates, they are not part of His Body. So he has done his job. And so he bided his time waiting for the numbers to climb in these false churches and waiting for their false faith to penetrate into the Body of Christ, which it has. The pinnacle of this in the 50s and 60s allowed him to make another big puff, which blew many of these false Christians into Catholic seminaries. The stage was set for yet another big blow.

We now live in a constant windstorm from the enemy blowing against a weakened hierarchy in the Church, which has created a weakened laity. The majority no longer understand the Catholic faith, or if they do, they don't believe or follow it. Their flame is flickering if not extinguished. Few are left with an intense love for Christ and His Church, and fewer still are willing to fan the flickering flame of faith through prudent, zealous defense of Christ, His Church, and her teachings. St. Dymphna had an inextinguishable flame and, please God, so do many others, not by our efforts but by God's mysterious gift of grace, for no one can maintain his own flame.

And so flame bearers must do our part. We speak up. We prudently defend the Church against attacks from without and within. We try to live the faith in a way to draw others to the true Church and true Jesus, knowing that the majority will likely say no thank you. We live as modern-day Israelites, lights to the world, salt to the earth, to the best of our ability, by God's grace alone.

Human-Written, AI-Spellchecked 4/1/21 AD

Image from an unknown Etsy artist