By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
“Terrors, terrors on every side.”
The Passion of Christ which we just celebrated in the most intense way during Holy Week is followed closely in the Triduum by the Lord’s total victory over sin and death in His glorious Resurrection. Although His triumph is already completed in Himself, His suffering continues to be worked out among His faithful people on Earth until the final consummation at the end of the world when God will be “all in all.”
Until that final and decisive judgment we work out our salvation “in fear and trembling” as St. Paul teaches, through prayer and the sacramental life, drawing upon the gift of grace that we might cooperate with God in His desire that all be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. A bishop in Nigeria is among those urging us to dedicate ourselves to prayer, particularly that of the rosary, in what we might call a New Lepanto, that we might turn back the bloody rise of homicidal and evil killing in the name of a false god.
As you may remember the Feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary observed each October 7 was born out of the victory of prayer and military effort by the Christian fleet at Lepanto where, despite disagreements and disarray within the Christian fleet, and supported by the prayer of the rosary as urged by Pope Pius V, the Christians defeated the Muslim forces. We certainly face such an equally dangerous and bloodthirsty foe in some descendants of those unbelievers today. Physical force joined to prayer is no less necessary in the present conflict.
Faithfulness can never survive and thrive among the baptized without courage. We see the fruits of this virtue of strength in the face of suffering despite fear in the Egyptian, Ethiopian, and other Christian martyrs, slaughtered victims of ferocious bloodthirstiness in the Middle East and elsewhere.
As reporter Alan Holdren relates in a Catholic News Agency report:
“A Nigerian bishop says that he has seen Christ in a vision and now knows that the rosary is the key to ridding the country of the Islamist terrorist organization Boko Haram.
“Bishop Oliver Dashe Doeme says he is being driven by a God-given mandate to lead others in praying the rosary until the extremist group disappears.
“‘Toward the end of last year I was in my chapel before the Blessed Sacrament…praying the rosary, and then suddenly the Lord appeared’. . . .
“In the vision, the prelate said, Jesus didn’t say anything at first, but extended a sword toward him, and he in turn reached out for it. As soon as I received the sword, it turned into a rosary,’ the bishop said, adding that Jesus then told him three times: ‘Boko Haram is gone.’
“ ‘I didn’t need any prophet to give me the explanation,’ he said. ‘It was clear that with the rosary we would be able to expel Boko Haram’.”
Perhaps the Holy Spirit is inviting us to take up the cause of a New Lepanto through this bishop and others. The day we forget the sword of the Spirit through truth, breathed in and out through faithfulness to prayer, is the day we are defeated.
A new rosary crusade must certainly be part of our response to the “terrorism demon” that has enveloped and consumed so many of our Christian brothers and sisters in these days.
It also takes much prayer and patience for us to bear serenely the absurd circus of politics as it starts its frenzied run-up to the opening of national offices to new occupants in 2016. I often recall the wisest thing I ever heard about this foolish parade by a Neapolitan woman I once saw watching the posturing on TV: “Vogliono solo mangiare.” Literally translated, this means “they only want to eat”; the adage cuts to the real motive of power and self-advancement unfortunately so often operative among those seeking elected office.
Keep in mind the need for prayer and sacrifice, especially as we must bear with this over and over again in election seasons, in the face of the continuing scandal of pro-abortion, that is pro-murder, politicians receiving Communion, thus claiming to be in good standing.
The Real Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist, the fruit of His real sacrifice both on the cross and in each Mass, is our greatest consolation on this side of the veil. As @FatherJamesBradley shared recently in a “HomilyTweet” on Twitter:
“All we do should be ordered toward receiving the Most Holy Eucharist because it is ‘the food that endures for eternal life’.”
Surrexit Dominus vere, Alleluia! The Lord is truly risen, Alleluia! Thank you for reading and best wishes for a joyful Easter Season to you and yours.
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(Follow Fr. Cusick on Facebook at Reverendo Padre-Kevin Michael Cusick and on Twitter @MCITLFrAphorism. He blogs occasionally at APriestLife.blogspot.com and mcitl.blogspot.com@gmail.com. You can email him at mcitl.blogspot.com@gmail.com.)
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