My dear friend Leila Miller posts a good reminder, as we contemplate what I called on Twitter "the desolation of abomination" -- the desolate side altars at St. Peter's:
However, in the midst of what seems to be the ongoing, orchestrated deconstruction of our Catholic patrimony, tradition, and treasures, we should neither despair nor lose our interior peace. After all, we know enough of prophesy and eschatology to realize that as we approach the final triumph, the Body of Christ has to pass through a very dark time, imitating the Passion of our Savior.
In fact, for a few years now, I have been referring everyone to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 675-677. I have memorized the numbers and much of the content, and I suggest you do the same. You’ll feel strangely better about what we are enduring, and you’ll begin to understand that this crisis in the Church, even at the highest levels, is to be expected. Now, this knowledge won’t magically remove the suffering of this cross; however, you’ll find consolation in knowing that things are not actually out of control. God is in control, and His plan is being realized...
She summarizes the passages from the Catechism this way:
The faith of many will be shaken in the final trial of the Church.
Via the persecution that comes to the faithful, the mystery of sin will be unveiled (dare we say “unmasked”?).
Something that looks and feels just like true religion will deceive many souls.
This false religion seems to offer man a solution to his earthly problems.
The cost of this “solution”? Apostasy from the truth.
Man will put himself at the center of all things, glorifying himself while displacing God.
Man will work to fix and “save” all the things of this earth (think: social justice utopia), forgetting the transcendent.
There will be no historical triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy.
The true Church will be humiliated, beaten, crushed, and crucified by the world—just like our Lord.
God will claim the victory only after the final unleashing of evil on this earth.
The Final Judgment will be fearsome. The Resurrection will come.
Get ready.
Read the whole thing. A good, supernatural shot in the arm.
Thanks for posting this!
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