Brent

How to Navigate the Current Vatican Confusion

Episode 9.5: Confusion Reigns

If you’re a Star Wars fan, you know that the sequel trilogy (episodes 7-9) was a mess. A large part of the problem was the discontinuity Rian Johnson introduced in Episode 8, The Last Jedi. He threw out much of the plot line set up in Episode 7 as he was intent on “upsetting expectations.” This put JJ Abrams in an awkward position of trying to connect Episode 9 to the previous two movies. But the damage had already been done and the trilogy felt more like three independent movies rather than a cohesive and unified story.

I see parallels to the Star Wars sequel trilogy and Pope Francis’ papacy. It feels like he is intentionally disrupting Church tradition out of some desire to modernize Catholicism. But this is creating a mess because much of what he’s doing doesn’t seem to follow the teachings and traditions laid out by Jesus Christ and has been unyielding truth for thousands of years. To me, Pope Francis is creating a legacy for himself instead of continuing the legacy set forth by Christ and previous popes starting with St. Peter.

The obvious example of this papel disruption is Fiducia Supplicans. I’m not going to go into detail about that specific letter as there are many great articles about it that I’ll link to at the end of the article. But this letter from the Vatican is only the latest of a series of statements that have confused the Church’s teachings. And while it hasn’t created an official schism in the Church, it has split the faithful about what the Church believes.

A Legacy of Confusion

My concern is that the pope is setting a precedent of the Vatican being ignored or challenged by bishops and parishes. We are not in a good state when bishops pick and choose what statements from the Vatican they will follow. That’s hardly a Universal Church. In this case, thank God that many bishops sided with Church tradition in rejecting Fiducia Supplicans. But what if, in the future, the Vatican comes out with a document similar to Humane Vitae; something hard to follow but flows from Church teaching and tradition? Certain priests will reject the teaching citing the numerous people who rejected Fiducia Supplicans.

I now find myself in this uncomfortable position where I roll my eyes whenever I hear someone quote Pope Francis or talk about the letters and declarations coming from the Vatican. It’s the same reaction I have when I read statements from liberal politicians. It’s hard for me to hear them out although they may have a good point that teaches me something valuable. But I subconsciously discount the value of that message due to who is the one proclaiming it. I don’t like the fact that I’m discounting the teachings of the person who occupies the Chair of St. Peter and holds the keys to God’s kingdom.

And that’s what saddens me. The Church which I love is starting to feel more like a political party. People change or deliberately confuse Her message to make short-term allies and score political points. The beauty of the Catholic faith has always been that she taught unyielding truth regardless of the whims of society. I liked that St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict didn’t feel the need to radically change Church teachings out of the false sense that all change is progress. No one ever accused them of doing nothing just because they reaffirmed Church doctrine instead of modifying it.

How We Handle Confusing Times

What are we, the Catholic faithful, to do in this climate? We need to act as we’ve always acted in times of confusion and persecution — pray. We need to pray for Pope Francis and those in positions of power that they use their authority to lead us to Christ instead of furthering their agendas or legacies. We also need to pray for each other so that we can look through all this confusion and hear how God expects us to live.

We need to regularly pray the Rosary and ask Mary for her guidance. I like to dedicate the Fourth Glorious Mystery to this request. God assumed Mary into Heaven because he had a special plan for her — to lead us into communion with her son, Jesus Christ. She’s there, waiting for us to ask her for clarity and direction. She may lead us to reading and learning more about the Church’s teachings. She may call us into deeper prayer and adoration. She may ask us to fast. Mary has multiple tools to lead us to Jesus. We only need to be willing to ask and listen.

Reading the Bible in a Year… Again

Bible in a Year

In 2024, I’m reading the entire Bible again. Longtime RosaryMeds readers, you may remember that I did this back in 2021. I think reading the Bible is something we should revisit periodically. Hopefully, I’ve grown in spiritual maturity since 2021 and so I’ll learn new things on this next reading.

When I first read the Bible in a year, I used the physical copy from the Augustine Institute. It was good, but I felt like the explanations and meditations that accompanied each day were too shallow. This time, I’m using the Ascension app and listening to Fr. Mike Schmitz read the Bible. The great thing about this one is that Fr. Schmitz provides much more in-depth commentary on the day’s scripture passages.

Build Strong Reserves

I’m starting my Bible reading now. I know there will be days in 2024 when I won’t be able to listen or read my Bible. I will have busy days or times when I just won’t have the energy to focus. It’s a good idea to have a few days “banked up” to stay on track. This is good advice for reading the Bible in a year and for many tasks and goals in life — get started early and build up reserves.

Building up reserve strength is also why we need to continuously pray the Rosary and receive the sacraments. As Mary promised, praying the Rosary builds up our armor against Satan. The more we pray, the stronger that armor will be. She promises that we’ll never be conquered by misfortune. We need to pray the rosary, not just when times are tough, but also when times are good to prepare ourselves for those tough times.

This Advent, Don’t Forget That Satan Hates You

Thankfulness in all Circumstances

One point that many people don’t understand is that Mary doesn’t promise that we will never encounter misfortune or be tempted to sin if we pray the rosary. It’s important to understand that Satan is always out there trying to lure us away from God. And the world is an imperfect place where misfortune happens. What Mary does promise is that we’ll never be CONQUERED by misfortune and temptation. Why? Because we will have built up strong spiritual reserves through the rosary.

The second reading for the third Sunday of Advent provides a good roadmap on how we should approach prayer — pray without ceasing and in all circumstances, give thanks. The second part is difficult to follow, especially when times are tough. My lector workbook says that we should offer thanksgiving IN all circumstances, not FOR all circumstances. When we pray, we must remember to thank God for seeing us through both the good and bad aspects of our lives.

Pray the Rosary early and often.

PSA: Two Holy Days of Obligation This Christmas

The Public Service Announcement

I know we are only starting the second week of Advent. But many of us are making plans for Christmas Eve and Day already. If it seems like time is flying by, it’s not your mind playing tricks on you — Christmas is coming early. Basically, the fourth “week” of Advent is only one day — Sunday, December 24. That means that both Sunday and Monday are Holy Days of Obligation.

uCatholic shared this article answering the question, “Can an evening Mass on the 24th fulfill the Sunday Mass obligation and the Christmas Day Mass obligation?” Short answer: NO. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops said this in reply:

“The prevailing view of many canon lawyers is that each obligation must be fulfilled with a separate Mass. When consecutive obligations occur on Saturday-Sunday or Sunday-Monday, the faithful must attend Mass twice to fulfill two separate obligations.”

I can hear the collective groans from my keyboard. I’m sure a lot of people are cranky about how they are going to juggle two Masses amongst their already-crowded Christmas plans. Or maybe, you’re covering your eyes and quickly closing this webpage while chanting, “Didn’t see that; not a sin if I didn’t know.” That leads to the question, why are we so averse to spending a little extra time with our Lord at Mass? Isn’t Jesus the reason for the season?

Team Catholicism

It’s been an unofficial theme of RosaryMeds this year — why aren’t people attending Mass? This has been a topic many parishes have been asking since the Covid lockdowns. Unfortunately, Covid exposed how weakly catechized many people are that they would so easily give up Mass. We’ve forgotten what it means to be Catholic and practice our faith.

For me, the dwindling participation in my parish hits me on a personal level. I see my parish and the Church as a whole as a team. But in the last few years, many of my teammates haven’t been giving 100%. Think about what happens to a sports team when people don’t practice, don’t show up, and don’t work hard. The team loses. And that is how I sometimes feel about Team Catholicism — we’re losing because the team doesn’t want to put in the effort anymore.

We have an Advent/Christmas doubleheader this year. Instead of bemoaning it or trying to avoid it, let’s remember all the spiritual benefits and graces that come from participating in Mass. Remember to remind your friends and family to center their Christmas around our faith. The gifts that God bestows on us will be greater than any flatscreen TV or new phone.

Go Team Catholicism!

Avoid These Pitfalls During Advent to Practice Humility

Stay Humble

Let’s take a break from current events and return to a more classic RosaryMeds post — an actual Rosary meditation. As we enter Advent and the Christmas season, I want to give some of my ideas of the First Joyful Mystery and its fruit, humility.

In the Annunciation, Mary’s humility is exemplified in her response to the angel Gabriel when she said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). She showed a joyful willingness to submit to God’s will and a trust in God’s plan for her life. She accepted the role that God had given her despite the radical changes and challenges it would bring. In short, she placed God’s will before her wants and desires.

Buying for Ourselves During Christmas

Placing God before our wants and desires can be challenging during Advent. That is why it’s important to be aware of the temptations that draw us away from behaving humbly. We are bombarded with advertisements to shop until we drop. Even when we shop for others, it’s hard to curb that desire to buy things for ourselves or at least desire them. We may obsess over receiving a certain gift and fixate on how we’re going to hint to our loved ones to buy it. There’s nothing wrong with wanting nice things and maybe splurging occasionally. But those desires can make it harder to practice humility when we place our desires ahead of others’ needs.

Christmas shopping can weigh us down and not leave room for others in our life.

I think back to last Sunday’s Gospel where Jesus tells his disciples about the sheep and the goats. The theme of his teaching is that those who serve Jesus are the ones who serve others, particularly those in most need. We honor Jesus when we put the needs of others before our wants. But that is hard to accomplish when we are bombarded with ads everywhere we turn. Advent can easily turn into a season where we serve ourselves, not others, and especially not God.

Trying to Create that “Perfect” Christmas

There are other mindsets that make humility hard to practice during Advent and Christmas. We may truly embrace the idea of “giving” during the season. But is that goal preventing us from acting with true humility? Are we putting our desire to find the perfect present, throw the perfect party, and produce the perfect Christmas ahead of being truly present in other’s lives? Are we praying for one another? Fasting and sacrificing? Maybe we can think of the perfect Christmas as the one where we put others’ spiritual needs ahead of satisfying their seasonal desires.

Christmas doesn’t have to look like a Norman Rockwell painting to be perfect

Praying only for Yourself

Finally, reflect on your humility in prayer and intentions. I so often fall into the mode where I pray only for myself. I focus solely on my challenges, desires, sorrows, and thanksgiving. That’s not exactly showing humility when our well-being is the sole focus of our prayers. It also creates a form of isolation because we don’t look past ourselves. Humility implies a sense of connection with others. After all, how can we put others ahead of ourselves if we don’t acknowledge others in our lives?

There you have it — three different challenges to practicing the virtue of humility during Advent and Christmas. I think it’s important to be aware of these traps so we can actively work on avoiding them. Naturally, asking for Mary’s intervention in these matters through her Rosary and the First Joyful Mystery is a good place to start.

How Our Faith Brings Hope into the World

My apologies for my month-long absence from RosaryMeds. Of all months, I should be cranking out the most content in October, the month that we celebrate Mary, Queen of the Rosary. But between family, school, work, and activities, I just couldn’t find the time or energy to write. But I continued to pray the Rosary and ask our Mother Mary for her intercession in all matters, big and small and global and personal. I hope you did the same.

Seeking Hope in a Troubled World

I understand that there isn’t a ton of good news out there right now. Many of us are worried about the multiple wars, growing antisemitism (which leads to growing anti-religion), and some of the concerning actions and statements coming from the Vatican. We should continue praying, especially the Second Glorious Mystery, Jesus’ Ascension. The fruit of this mystery is hope. We must remember that we are a people of hope who know that God’s plan reigns supreme even when everything appears to be falling apart.

I have a hodge-podge of stories that all center around conversion and the importance of prayer. They demonstrate the comfort that one receives when one chooses to listen to God instead of the world. These are stories of hope because they show God has the ability to change the hearts of those who seem the most distant from him.

Atheist Turns to Christianity

Ayaan Hirsi Ali recently converted from atheism to Christianity. She is a well-known critic of Islam to the point where she has a fatwa against her (she needs a full-time security detail for protection). Her Muslim upbringing left her so emotionally and spiritually scarred that she initially took the stance that all organized religion is bad and that God cannot exist. However, she now embraces Christianity. Here are her thoughts why:

“Atheism failed to answer a simple question: What is the meaning and purpose of life?” she said, arguing that “the void left by the retreat of the church” in the modern world “has merely been filled by a jumble of irrational quasi-religious dogma.” Hirsi Ali said in the essay that there is “no need to look for some new-age concoction of medication and mindfulness” to address these present crises: “Christianity has it all.”

I think she says it best when she uses the word void. There are so many people who have stopped practicing their faith creating a void in their life. They may try to fill it with activities, work, leisure, and family. Or they take up some political cause. But that is like trying to fill a round hole with a square peg. The only way to truly fill the void created when we stop practicing our faith is to start practicing it once again. There are not enough YouTube videos or community events to fill the void created by abandoning the sacraments of the Church.

Outspoken atheist Ayaan Hirsi Ali says she is now a Christian | Catholic News Agency

Father Baptizes His Dying Baby

The next story is the tragic events around baby Indi Gregory, a UK baby that was taken off life support against her parents’ wishes even after the Vatican granted her citizenship so she could receive care in Rome. But the moving part of these events is that Indi’s parents, neither of whom are baptized, baptized Indi before her death. Her father, Dean Gregory, said he wanted Indi to go to Heaven if she died. He is now in the process of being baptized as well.

As tragic as this story is, it serves as a wake-up call for all of us. Dean Gregory said that his experience with the British court system and NHS exposed the evil that exists all around us. He desired protection from that evil both for himself and Indi. We too, should realize that evil exists in many forms. Just read Father Spitzer’s books that I reviewed. But rest assured, by practicing the Catholic faith and receiving the sacraments, we have all the protection we need from any evil we may encounter in this life.

Baby Indi Gregory’s father says he chose baptism for her after feeling ‘dragged to hell’ | Catholic News Agency

Knowledge of Church Teachings Tied to Mass Attendance

A national survey found that 90% of Catholics who attend Mass weekly believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. And while that seems great, we must realize that only 17% of the respondents attend weekly Mass. The majority of Catholics surveyed (51%) believe that the Eucharist is only symbolic of Jesus’ actions at the Last Supper.

That survey results make me wonder what people think “being Catholic” means. It seems like we’ve watered down Catholicism so much over the years that it has become more like a forgotten gym membership than the focal point of our existence. But God has his ways of waking us up. I believe that the Church is due for a wake-up call.

National Survey Finds 9 in 10 Weekly Mass Attendees Believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist – CatholicVote org

It’s unfortunate that we need to have moments of experiencing Hell like Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Dean Gregory to realize just how important our faith is. This is where our prayers come into play. I like to think that each Rosary prayed and each Mass celebrated helps bring others back to the Church in ways that are dramatic, but not traumatic. We need to remain hopeful that our sacrifices will help convert those who are so far God’s grace. Keep up those prayers!

The Moral Wisdom of the Catholic Church

The Book

I recently finished reading Father Spitzer’s third book in his “Called Out of Darkness” trilogy. The first book focused on the presence of good and evil in our lives. The second book focused on practices we can make to embrace that good and defeat evil. The third, titled The Moral Wisdom of the Catholic Church, dives into why the Church teaches what it does. And while this is the third book of a trilogy, you can read and understand it without consuming the first two.

I consider The Moral Wisdom of the Catholic Church as a companion to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Both books lay out why the Catholic Church teaches what it does. Father Spitzer, while providing a Biblical foundation for Church teachings like the CCC, also cites studies and polls comparing those who follow those teachings vs. those who do not. He dives into secular logical and philosophical arguments that support the Church’s wisdom on topics like abortion, marriage, homosexuality, euthanasia, suicide, drug use, etc.

The Wise Church

There’s a good reason why the book has the word “wisdom” in its title. It’s not the “teachings” or “beliefs” of the Catholic Church. There is a quality to Church dogma born from reason and experience and guided by the Holy Spirit. The Church’s teachings are not arbitrary or trendy but has a timeless aspect to it. After all, God’s truth doesn’t change to fit our human tendencies. Our tendencies need to change as we learn God’s truth.

Throughout the book, Fr. Spitzer cites polls and studies that show that the Church is truly wise in her teachings as those who embrace that wisdom generally lead happier and more fulfilling lives. Note that it won’t necessarily be an easy life since true happiness requires effort and struggle to obtain. The implication Fr. Spitzer makes is that the wise person, when being presented with the data on what lifestyle produces the most good, will choose that lifestyle. Inversely, the fool will see what is good and choose the opposite.

Morality is Not Arbitrary

I thought of Fr. Spitzer’s book when I read this article on Catholic Exchange about the importance of the Ten Commandments. It makes the analogy that much like traffic laws, moral laws are not arbitrary. We ignore them at our own peril. We are seeing the consequences of that neglect producing its ugly fruit. As I’ve noted before, various polls show that people are feeling less happy and purposeful. And while we may not admit that the rapid increase in secularism may be the reason, Fr. Spitzer’s books show that abandoning Church teachings is certainly a contributing factor.

In a similar article on Crisis Magazine titled, Why Is the West in Such a Mess?, the author notes how society has adopted a creed not based on logic and reason, but by agendas and feelings. Despite what talking heads on The View may say, religion has always been the logical search for truth. But now the world has embraced an ethos that there is no truth, and hence nothing to search for. But without the personal search for truth, we are left with an existence void of any meaning or purpose. And that is why so many people feel unhappy and unfulfilled in their lives.

Why we Need the Rosary

As we enter into the month of the Rosary, let’s ask for Mary’s help in guiding the world back to the wisdom of the Catholic Church Father Spitzer wrote about. While it may seem like the world is too far gone to come back to the loving embrace of Jesus Christ, we need to remember that the Rosary is a miraculous tool. It has shown its power in the past and it can show its power once again.

Improving Your Rosary Prayer with Daily Meditations

A New Way to Love the Rosary

I love finding new ways to embrace the Rosary. I recently came across a podcast series called Daily Rosary Meditations hosted by Dr. Mike Scherschligt. The series is part podcast and part Rosary prayer. Dr. Scherschligt prays the Rosary differently than other Rosary meditations in that he doesn’t pray the Mysteries. Instead, he has a topic that he talks a little about between decades. He has covered stories about the power of the Rosary, the Church teachings on drug use, Purgatory, anxiety, and health.

Dr. Scherschligt does what I’m attempting to do with RosaryMeds — tie everything that the Church teaches and current events to the Rosary. There is nothing that happens to us that the Rosary can’t either help explain or give us the strength to endure. I’ve wanted RosaryMeds to be a treasure trove of ideas fueling Rosary prayer. It looks like Daily Rosary Meditations has done the same.

Some Rosary purists will point out that Daily Rosary Meditations is not Rosary prayer because it lacks the actual Rosary Mysteries. But I think it’s a BYOM Rosary — Bring Your Own Mysteries. There’s nothing preventing someone from listening to Dr. Scherschligt’s stories and teachings and recalling the daily Mysteries while praying the Rosary.

Unlocking the Power of the Rosary

The Sept. 25 episode was particularly powerful. Titled “The Sword“, Dr. Scherschligt tells stories about many of the miraculous events that have occurred because of the Rosary. Powerful armies and dictators have been brought down and dismantled through people coming together in Rosary prayer. If you’re looking for motivation to pray the Rosary, this is a great episode to listen to.

If you have the Amen app from the Augustine Institute installed, then you already have access to Daily Rosary Meditations. You can also listen to it via any podcast app or directly through the website. When I find the time, I will see how I can link to his series from RosaryMeds. It’s that good!

Ten Practices to Reclaim Prayer Time from Screen Time

How I Lose My Day to Screen Time

My day follows a similar pattern. I wake up and pray for the Liturgy of the Hours. After dropping the boys off at school, I will pray the Rosary at church or during my commute. I seem to be on track prayer-wise until about 9 a.m. when I start work. And then my prayer for the day drops off completely aside from saying grace before eating.

There are many reasons why my spiritual routine takes a hit. To start, I have to focus on my work throughout the day and parenting in the evening. There is also the need to relax and take breaks. This usually takes the form of taking out my phone and reading my RSS feeds or playing a quick game. In the evening, when the house is quiet once again, I treat myself to streaming videos. To summarize, my phone with all its apps distracts me. Part of it is the intentionally addictive nature of apps but much of the blame falls on me for seeking these distractions in the first place.

10 Ways to Break Your Phone Addiction

On Catholic Exchange, Teresa Mull wrote an article about detaching yourself from your phone. She suggests making these habits part of your routine:

Designate phoneless areas of your home and commit to phoneless activities: walking in nature, going to the gym (you’ll make more friends without your earbuds!), dinnertime, sitting in waiting rooms, and so on.
If your phone causes you to sin, cut it off: leave it at home, in your purse, whatever.
Consider significantly reducing your social media usage or getting rid of social media all together.
Limit your consumption of news to an hour a day. Find one news program to watch, or one newspaper to read, or one podcast to listen to, and leave it at that.
Wear a watch. If you’re like me, you use your phone as a timepiece, but checking it can lead to reading emails and texts.
If you like to unwind by perusing social media, website, etc., set a timer and discipline yourself. It’s far too easy to be carried away and waste time on these platforms.

Her list is a good start but I think we can expand it. Here are some of the ways I’m replacing screen time with prayer time.

No email or apps in the morning until prayers are completed. That may be the Liturgy of the Hours, reading Scripture, praying the Rosary, etc. The only exception is if those prayers are on an app on the phone. In that case, I have to exhibit some discipline.
Designate a certain amount of quiet time each day. Try 10 minutes of no phone, TV, books, music, etc. Just let your mind wander or pray.
I have a “TODO” list. Before watching any videos in the evening, I need to make progress on something on my list. For example, I need to spend time writing this article before watching “20 Amazing Gadgets that Will Blow You Away” on YouTube.
I need to leave room for nightly prayers before going to sleep. That’s the last thing I do before falling asleep.

Using the Rosary to Break Addictions

What is a good Rosary mystery for breaking addictions? A phone or gadget often goes from being a tool to a vice. That’s where the Second Sorrowful Mystery comes in. The fruit of that mystery is mortification. The Latin root of that word is “death.” Mortification is the practice of putting our sins and vices to death. Through self-denial, we allow those things that separate us from God to “die” in our souls so that God’s grace will grow.

In the context of the Scourging at the Pillar, mortification can be seen as a way to unite our sufferings with those of Christ. Jesus endured immense physical pain and humiliation during his scourging, yet he did not resist or retaliate. Instead, he accepted his suffering with humility and love, offering it up to God for the salvation of humanity. By practicing mortification in our own lives, we can learn to imitate Christ’s example of selflessness and grow in holiness.

If your phone causes you to sin or pray less, ask Mary through the Rosary for the strength to break your phone’s addictive spell. It’s time we all start spending more time with God and less on TikTok. Your mental, physical, and spiritual health will thank you.

Are We Happier?

Looking back at the 1990s

In the 1997 movie, Contact, the preacher Palmer Joss poses this question in a faux interview with Larry King, “Are we happier?” He asks if all the scientific and technological progress has made the world a better place. Keep in mind that the movie came out in the 1990s in the early days of the World Wide Web and years before smartphones, social media, and streaming video. Generally, we’ve made astronomical strides in affluence and comfort since the end of the 20th century, and yet people who have access to these luxuries are more miserable and confused than ever. Why?

Why we need the Church’s Wisdom

Let’s jump to Fr. Robert Spitzer’s last book of his trilogy, The Moral Widsom of the Catholic Church. I haven’t finished reading it yet, but I think he has some interesting thoughts on this topic of “progress” and happiness. He touches on progressive topics like fornication, homosexuality, abortion, and transgenderism and how they’ve become normalized across the world. As a culture, we’ve “progressed” passed what many consider the restrictive and outdated teachings of the Church. But he also cites numerous studies on how these lifestyles lead to increased anxiety, depression, drug abuse, suicides, and other forms of misery. As sin is mistaken for virtue because we no longer listen to the moral authority of the Church, more people suffer as a result.

People often mistakenly believe that the Catholic Church desires people to be unhappy with all their “rules” and forbidding freedom. The flawed logic is that by moving away from the Church’s restrictive and “outdated” teachings, one will achieve greater levels of happiness. What people find however is a life devoid of purpose and meaning because we are reduced to satisfying base desires instead of challenging ourselves for something greater.

Modern society has basically adopted the five-year-old’s “I want to only eat ice cream all day long” approach to life. While we’ve seen advancements in technology leading to greater safety, more entertainment, and access to more information, I don’t think many people would say that the world is a better place or we’re happier than we were a few generations ago. The traditional “first world” cultures are more divided, aimless, confused, and unhappy than previous generations despite all their progress.

Reaping what we sow

Many books in the Old Testament talk about God punishing the Israelites when they break his commandments. I like to think that God punished them by letting them reap what they sowed. If people aren’t going to follow laws forbidding theft, violence, adultery, murder, etc. then what type of society are you left with? One where sin runs rampant. I’m afraid God is punishing us like the Israelites by allowing us to live with the consequences of a world of reduced morality and religious observance.

We need to re-evaluate the Church’s teachings on their own merits, not how they are represented in popular media like the Atlantic or NPR. The Church has sound reasons for her teachings crafted over thousands of years based on the logic and philosophy of some of the greatest human minds led by the Holy Spirit. They don’t make for an easy life, but it’s a life with meaning, purpose, and direction. It’s a life that is in better harmony with natural law and God’s Will. When there’s harmony with God’s design, there’s happiness instead of confusion and anxiety.

Natural law and God

We look at the First Luminous Mystery — Jesus’ Baptism. Whenever we meditate on this mystery, we should ask ourselves whether we are living according to our baptismal vows which are summed up in the Creed. Are we living what we profess the Church teaches? Remember, embracing the Church means embracing God’s design manifested in all of us through natural law. If we want happiness, we need to be in harmony with God, not with our social media feeds.

Are you happier? If not, try forming a more harmonious relationship with God. Learn about his design for humanity through the Bible, Catechism, and the Mass. Maybe all you need is to listen to God a lot more and cable news a lot less.

The Extraordinary Strength of the Catholic Church

Catholic All-Stars

The movie, The Exorcist, is loosely based on the true story of the demonic possession of a boy known as Roland Doe (not his real name). Father Spitzer, in his book, Christ Versus Satan in Our Daily Lives, chronicles the details of the actual events showing the reality of demons and evil. Roland and his family were actually protestants. When the possessions started occurring they initially went to their pastor. However, the pastor couldn’t match the strength of Roland’s demon and referred his case to Catholic priests. After years of struggle, the Catholic priests exorcised the demon. Later, Roland converted to Catholicism.

I find it interesting that when faced with a powerful evil, the Catholic Church is the only institution that can defeat it. I like the fact that the Church is the all-star team or the special forces of the spiritual realm. When Satan is vigorously attacking us, the Catholic Church has the best defense against him. If someone were to ask me why I’m Catholic, part of my answer would include that the Catholic Church, Mary, and the Rosary are the few entities that Satan actually fears. Why wouldn’t I want the strongest protection against evil?

Sacrificing it All

It’s not easy being one of the elite. An all-star athlete needs to continuously train and make sacrifices. They need to follow workout routines and diets. They need to have laser-sharp focus. Special forces soldiers need to put up with discomfort and know how to handle their fears and perceived limitations. The same is true for Catholics. We need to be highly disciplined and focused, make sacrifices, and follow routines as we combat Satan and face our own doubts and fears.

We train to combat temptation, sin, and evil through Mass attendance and prayer. Serving God needs to be always on our minds. Like athletes needing to focus on their sport, we need to focus on our faith. We may not have the determination of a saint, but that doesn’t mean we can be lazy and half-hearted. We still need to practice our faith the best we can. The good news is that God will help us and fill in our deficiencies when he sees we have a genuine desire to serve Him.

Dumbing Down the Catholic Church

Unfortunately, many of our Catholic brothers and sisters seem to no longer want to put forth the effort required by Jesus Christ. They want to choose that easy life of sleep-in Sundays and moral flexibility. And that may seem fine and even beneficial, for a little while at least. If all is going well and we’re comfortable, we may not see our need for God. But eventually, we all come up against that monumental challenge, temptation, or tragedy. One day, Satan may set his sights on you. And if you haven’t prepared, you won’t be strong enough to stand up and defeat him.

There is a huge need for strong faith in our world that is becoming ever more devoid of morality and allowing Satan more influence. And that is why I get so concerned and scared when I hear about the Church relaxing or not emphasizing many of her teachings. Great sports teams aren’t made through laziness nor are great Catholics. We need to understand that the threat is real and that is why the Church has traditionally set the bar so high. She is only echoing the teachings of Jesus who asks us to sacrifice everything for Him.