By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
“I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have other gods besides me.”
The current political battles swirl around the skirmishes leading up to the decision-point when Catholics are forced to make a decision for president on November 8. Voting is already taking place in many areas. Obeying the Commandments and exercising good citizenship as Christians seems to pose a more and more difficult balancing act.
How do we advance the social kingship of Christ by choosing among what seems a very paltry and degrading selection of candidates? Are we swirling around the drain as a nation? Has our experiment in ordered liberty reached a point of exhaustion?
News via WikiLeaks that Democratic operatives have attempted to infiltrate the Church by erecting false organizations such as “Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good” and “Catholics United” cannot come as a surprise to those who know history.
Time and time again the purveyors of the false gods of power, money, slavery, and paganism have attempted to co-opt Christ to bolster their attempt to advance worldly agendas.
Christopher Hale, the leader of Catholics in Alliance, picked a fight with me on Twitter to claim the legitimacy of his organization. I had tweeted that Catholics cannot join either his group or “Catholics United” and remain in good standing.
Shortly thereafter he surfaced with a challenging tweet in an attempt to intimidate me, questioning whether I had a bishop’s approval to “determine who is or who is not in good standing.” I informed him that I am what we Catholics call “ordained” and that yes, as a result, I am indeed fully authorized to preach the Gospel.
I then informed him that any Catholic association of the faithful must have the official approval of a Catholic bishop in order to use the name “Catholic” and to present itself publicly as such. Typically this would be the bishop of the place where such an organization might have been founded or may have its headquarters operation located.
He did a pretty good tap-dance to avoid the issue, saying things such as “we have friendships with bishops across the country,” but never answered my question. I think we all know what the answer is — he doesn’t have approval.
False Catholic groups contribute to a concerted and diabolic effort to undermine the reign of Christ the King.
Any attempt to replace the truth of Christ with a lie is a temptation and a ploy of the Evil One.
“To burn even the smallest grain of incense before the false gods of political correctness, human respect,” abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, or any of the other “options” in the contemporary pantheon of pagan options would be a grave sin and a violation of the Commandment of God, Bishop Athanasius Schneider reminded the faithful packing the Church of Holy Innocents in New York on Tuesday, October 25.
His talk immediately followed a pontifical low Mass at this center of traditional worship in “the capital of the world,” as St. John Paul nicknamed the American Gotham.
I had the privilege of meeting and hearing Bishop Schneider speak in Washington, D.C., as well as twice in New York the past week. His firm, unflinching and yet gentle and convinced delivery of the truth is a model for all priests and bishops and a much-needed tonic in a time when so many Catholics have fallen into apostasy.
The bishop spoke earlier in Washington on Thursday, October 20 at the Cosmos Club. The subject of his talk, “The Victory of Mary Over All Heresies” was also very timely. I understand that the text of his talk there has been given to the Paulus Institute which sponsored the event together with TFP, and I have not been able to obtain it at this time.
He spoke of Mary as the model of faith. He reminded us that truth or chastity of the mind goes together with the chastity of the body. Error of the mind is an unfaithfulness of the intellect and will which can lead to unfaithfulness with the body, disobedience to the commands of God which only His grace enables us to follow.
He was also in New York City on Monday, October 24 as he preached at a Pontifical High Mass of the Archangel Raphael for this liturgical feast at Holy Innocents Church in New York City.
On Tuesday, again at Holy Innocents as noted, after concluding the low Mass the bishop mounted the pulpit and gave a stirring and encouraging sermon on the social kingship of Christ. The text of that talk will be unavailable to me until next week when the bishop will conclude his current travel. I will try to recollect some of his thoughts as recorded via Twitter during the course of his delivery.
The bishop reminded us that many still err and live in fact as though “We have no king but Caesar” as proclaimed by those who rejected Christ in His Passion. We on the contrary must respond with the confession of faith and the truth that “We have no King but Christ.” Ultimately all societies, including political societies, must be founded on Christ as the cornerstone. Without Him individuals and societies have no future.
“You would have no power except it had been given to you from above.” Every society given to men, from Caesar to an American president, is for the purpose that ultimately Christ reign as King for the sake of the highest good of every human person in salvation. The context of the Church is eternity.
Bishop Schneider also restated Church teaching that it is a heresy to believe Jesus is God and Man but that His reign should not be extended everywhere. He cited Church history to recount that Pope Gregory the Great condemned this falsehood in the sixth century.
He called us to struggle against the banishing of God from social life. “Let us never cease to protest the dethronement of God in civil society” he said. The Lord’s social reign has both a public and social character, as well as a private and personal one, because He is Lord and King of all nations.
Our Lord’s Kingdom is not meant to come only in individual souls but also in political society, in nations and in the world. Bishops and priests must be willing to suffer torture and even martyrdom to proclaim the divine Kingship of Christ.
As long as this world lasts let us never limit the reign of God to Heaven: In the prayer Christ taught us we say of His Kingdom “on Earth as it is in Heaven.” One is for Him or against Christ; He is either seen as the cornerstone or a stumbling stone. There is no middle way.
Thank you for reading and praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever. @MCITLFrAphorism
(Join me on a pilgrimage to Fatima for the 100th anniversary of the apparitions in October 2017. For more info visit proximotravel.com and search using my name Father Kevin M. and the state of Maryland.)
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress