You can never solve a problem you cannot define. Herewith a definition.
In an address to the 12th annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast held Tuesday in Washington, Cardinal Robert Sarah (sar–AH) decried what he called an “insidious war” against Christians taking place in the United States under the guise of tolerance. Cardinal Sarah is Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship. The Cardinal’s remarks touched on three topics:
- The situation in the world;
- The importance of the family; and
- Religious freedom.
The Situation in the World
Sarah said that “Today we are witnessing the next stage – and the consummation – of the efforts to build a utopian paradise on earth without God… So all manner of immorality is not only accepted and tolerated today in advanced societies, it is even promoted as a social good. The result is hostility to Christians and increasingly, religious persecution.”
“The entire globe looks to you, waiting and praying to see what America resolves on the pressing challenges the world faces today. Such is your influence and responsibility. I encourage you to truly make use of the freedom willed by your founding fathers lest you lose it.”
The Family
Quoting John Paul II, Sarah said “the future of the world and the Church pass through the family,… The generous and responsible love of spouses, made visible through the self-giving of parents who welcome and nurture children as a gift of God, makes love visible in our generation. It makes present the perfect charity of the Trinity. ‘If you see charity, you see the Trinity,’ wrote St. Augustine,” the cardinal noted.
However, a broken family can also be the source of deep psychological wounds, he said. “The rupture of the foundational relationship of someone’s life – through separation, divorce or distorted imposters of the family such as co-habitation or same-sex unions – is a deep wound that closes the heart to self-giving love …. and even leads to cynicism and despair.”
“This is why the devil is so intent on destroying the family. If the family is destroyed, we lose our God-given anthropological foundations, and so find it more difficult to welcome the saving good news of Jesus Christ: self-giving, fruitful love.”
“Sadly, the advent of artificial reproductive technologies, surrogacy, so-called homosexual “marriage”, and other evils of gender idolatry will inflict even more wounds in the midst of the generation we live with,” said Sarah. “Advanced societies, including – I regret – this nation, have done and continue to do anything possible to legalize such situations…. This is why it is so important to fight to protect the family, the first cell of the life of the Church and every society.”
“This is not an ideological war between competing ideas,” Sarah told the D.C. gathering. “This is about defending ourselves, children and future generations from the demonic idolatry that says children do not need mothers and fathers. It denies human nature and wants to cut off an entire generation from God.”
Religious Freedom
The cardinal warned that “hidden” forms of religious persecution are just as damaging to believers as physical attacks. “Even in this yet young 21st century of barely 16 years, one million people have been martyred around the world because of their belief in Jesus Christ. Yet the violence against Christians is not just physical, it is also political, ideological and cultural. This form of religious persecution is equally damaging, yet more hidden. It does not destroy physically, but spiritually… This is the will of the Evil One: to close Heaven out of envy.”
While other countries face “merciless beheadings,” “bombings of churches” and “torching of orphanages,” Christians in the United States face an “equally damaging, yet more hidden” form of religious persecution. In America, “political leaders, lobby groups and mass media seek to neutralize and depersonalize the conscience of Christians so as to dissolve them in a fluid society without religion and without God.”
“Do we not see signs of this insidious war in this great nation of the United States?” Sarah asked. “The Church’s teachings on marriage, sexuality and the human person are dismantled” including “legalization of same-sex marriage, the obligation to accept contraception within health care programs, and “bathroom bills” that allow men to use the women’s restrooms and locker rooms.”
Cardinal Sarah recalled America’s glorious founding and lamented how far the country has fallen from its original ideals. “God is named in your founding documents as “Creator” and “Supreme Judge” over individuals and government. The human person endowed with God-given and therefore inalienable rights to ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Now “God is being eclipsed, liquidated.”
“How low we are sinking for a nation built on a set of moral claims about God, the human person, the meaning of life and the purpose of society, even by America’s first settlers and founders…. George Washington wrote that the establishment of civil and religious liberty was the motive that induced him into the field of battle.”
What Now 2 Do?
The Church’s challenge today is to “fight with courage and hope… and not be afraid to raise her voice to denounce the hypocrites, manipulators and the false prophets” who would lead the faithful astray.
“The battle to preserve the roots of mankind is perhaps the greatest challenge the world has faced since its origins,” Sarah said. “Be prophetic, be faithful, pray” for the soul of America and to “help stem the tide of evil that is spreading throughout the world,” the cardinal exhorted.
“For in the end, it is God or nothing.”
The problem has been defined. The solution:
- Do not panic. God is still on His throne.
- Read Onward by Russel Moore: Or, better yet, lead a small group study on Onward:
- Be a faithful witness. Do not be fearful or timid. 2 Timothy 1:7
The full text of Cardinal Sarah’s remarks can be found here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/ncpb/platform/wp-content/uploads/Cardinal-Sarah-Keynote_2016-NCPB.pdf
Cardinal Sarah is the author of God or Nothing: http://www.amazon.com/God-Nothing-Cardinal-Robert-Sarah/dp/1621640507
Via @blmfh @cnsnews @breitbart