By Fr. Richard Heilman, Roman Catholic Man, July 9, 2019
The photos featured in this article show classrooms from two different eras. The photo on the left was taken about the time I was born. The photo on the right shows a current trend entitled, “Drag Queen Story Time,” which is offered in public libraries and public schools around the USA. When I first saw these photos alongside of each other, I was stunned. “Look how deeply lost and evil our culture has become in just my lifetime,” I thought to myself.
Early on, Venerable Fulton Sheen tried to sound the alarm, as he explained how such evil is allowed to advance …
“Why is it that so few realize the seriousness of our present crisis? Partly because men do not want to believe their own times are wicked, partly because it involves too much self-accusation, and principally because they have no standards outside of themselves by which to measure their times … Only those who live by faith really know what is happening in the world. The great masses without faith are unconscious of the destructive processes going on.”
And, that’s the key, isn’t it? “The great masses without faith are unconscious of the destructive processes going on.” We turned our religion into a non-government organization (NGO) and a social club, as we lost our supernatural power to discern all that is holy and good and right. St. Paul wrote:“The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor 2:14).
You see? This is why “people of faith” (supernatural faith) are seen as so dangerous to the worldly. They are the only ones with the “spiritual eyes” to see the evil the worldly so desperately wants to advance. People who belong to a religion, yet are void of supernatural faith, pose no problem for the worldly who are doing the bidding of Satan. In fact, these people of “fake faith” do the worldly a favor by seeming to have their religion endorse evil.
The only way out of this pit of destruction is a restoration of supernatural faith … TOTAL reliance on supernatural grace! This is why I am so passionate about “spiritual warfare.” The time has come, and is way overdue, that we fall to our knees and cry out to God, that we may receive His supernatural power to save souls and reclaim surrendered ground.
At times, things seem completely catastrophic, but Venerable Fulton Sheen reminds us what God is up to …
“God will not allow unrighteousness to become eternal. Revolution, disintegration, chaos, must be reminders that our thinking has been wrong, our dreams have been unholy. Moral truth is vindicated by the ruin that follows when it has been repudiated. The chaos of our times is the strongest negative argument that could ever be advanced for Christianity … The disintegration following an abandonment of God thus becomes a triumph of meaning, a reaffirmation of purpose … Adversity is the expression of God’s condemnation of evil, the registering of Divine Judgement … Catastrophe reveals that evil is self-defeating; we cannot turn from God without hurting ourselves.”
Seek “true faith” (supernatural faith), maintain hope in God’s power, love extravagantly … and believe “with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).