By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
The world doesn’t know how to use power. Like addicts, those unrestrained by any humility or faith believe that, if a little feels good, then more must be better.
We may be in masks to buy groceries for the rest of our lives. We may not be able to do anything about that. It’s the world. Let it go. We don’t have the power to change the world. That’s God’s work. We can change only ourselves.
Our Catholic faith teaches us that the only truly important work we have to do is changing ourselves, that is, repenting of sin and believing in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The things of faith we need for changing ourselves must be our priority within the new COVID paradigm. If we focus on these we can preserve the peace which the world cannot give.
The world has reached an apogee of co-opting the Gospel with a fake Catholic in the White House. Scandal is an ever-present factor which must now be taken into account in all we do. The integral Catholic tradition filters out the impostors in a postconciliar Church rife with gimmicks which serve to “mask” the enemy within. It’s interesting to note the higher percentage of attendance bleed in Novus Ordo parishes, compared to Traditional parishes.
The real danger is that we may now have a “patriotic church,” with one bishop telling a priest that he receives 80 percent of his income from the federal government.
Could that be the reason why a priest called the police to arrest a pregnant mother in his church? In a state in which the governor lifted the mask mandate? The unforgivable infraction was that she pushed her mask down slightly to aid her “breathing for two.” Another COVID side effect may be a rise in mental health concerns!
I don’t care about grocery stores. I do care about generations growing up without healthy communication skills, unable to read non-verbal communication. I’m concerned about the effect of masking on honesty and sincerity. If our faces are covered, what else about us will be concealed from others?
As idols fall in this post-COVID reality we must reassess our pastoral efforts for effectiveness in saving souls. Many of our parishioners are simplifying their lives and returning to the basics. In the Church we must do the same.
Our own local parish had detachment forced upon us in a major way during Lent as we vacated our church building due to concerns about damage to our plaster ceiling. Our sacristan and his team miraculously transformed our humble, low-ceilinged parish hall into a chapel for Holy Week and Easter. Parishioners reacted with pleased shock about the amazing results.
The Lord will abandon structures, if necessary, to further the Gospel. We certainly hope and pray we can repair our church soon and return to the more expansive alternative for large groups at Mass. But no building has ever been necessary for saving souls.
The experience was just one of many necessary lessons of detachment that will help the faithful to cope and flourish despite the new reality, in which COVID passports may be the norm for punishing those who do not conform.
No COVID passport, no conveniences or privileges. For a short period, word was going around that soldiers at one fort were denied entry to the mess hall if they could not produce a vaccination card. That would mean paying for their food out of their compensation instead of receiving it as a benefit. The authorities published a retraction and stated that current policy was unchanged: Those not vaccinated can get their food “to-go.”
For those addicted to power, COVID is an experiment in social control and groundwork for revoking freedom of movement and ultimately freedom of thought.
Health is important but not ultimately so. Those who cannot acknowledge this cannot be saved. Speaking of health, it now appears to be unlawful to observe that some people suffer bad side effects to the COVID vaccine just as some individuals tragically had fatal reactions to COVID itself.
The banned books of today are not about morality but about violating the tenets of a false gospel. Straw men are set up to create new enemies out of other human beings. Fake and racist categories like “white” are useful in creating an “us and them” scenario. A random common enemy, those who are “different,” is the most useful aid to power.
Now, the power hungry are coming for Catholics who refuse to submit to LGBTQ ideology and legal slaughter of the unborn humans. We refuse to bend our minds in homage to the diabolical tenets of the party in power and we must be forced to comply.
According to Newsmax: “Evangelical Christians and Catholics are both classified by the Pentagon as ‘extremists,’ not unlike the Ku Klux Klan or al-Qaida, according to training documents from the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, a Department of Defense agency. Obtained by the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty via a Freedom of Information Act Request, the training materials contain a 133-page lesson on ‘Extremism’.”
If everyone can be gently encouraged to comply with the mask uniform of the power elite, then nobody has to get hurt. It’s those who refuse the vaccine that are ruining it for others. They are questioning the experts and that cannot be allowed. Freedom of thought and expression violates conformity. Conformity reassures the powerful they are in control.
If you “come along” with Biden “for fellowship’s sake,” however, receiving the Eucharist exteriorly while denying Truth Himself interiorly, why then we’ll include you in the party.
The Eucharist isn’t a membership card and the Church isn’t a social club. There remain yet a few Catholics who understand this fact. Truth Himself rose from the dead. Our faith, most intensely in this this Easter season and always, is about rising in the One who is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” No Truth, no Way: no Life. It’s that simple.
Judas wore a mask. We saw how that helped him. He ended with final despair as his only friend. If faithful, if we are friends with the Friend, we will always be at war in some way with the world around us. Those who refuse to be different, who comply with random uniforms that have no scientific basis for preserving health, are on the slippery slope to heresy: outward conformity to the faith without inner freedom of belief which saves; without love.
Conformity vs. conscience.
Don’t think we won’t be celebrating Mass in camps. It’s happened before. It can happen again. If we are faithful it is a foregone conclusion that we must suffer. A wise man once said: “What’s past is prologue.”
God said: “When the Son of Man comes again, will He find any faith on the Earth?” He also taught: “Take up your cross daily and follow me.”
The carrying of the cross is a sign now to the world on the part of those who will one day rise. Persevering in doing so is our greatest source of hope.
“He who perseveres to the end will be saved.” Cling to your cross tightly and thank the Lord for the gift. Alleluia! He is risen! A most blessed and joyful Easter season to all our readers. Thank you.
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