By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
It is just a fact of human relations that weakness invites predation and attack. We see that in Ukraine with the February invasion by Russia. Covetousness, jealousy, envy, the lust for power and domination, constantly beset the human race.
After the current weakness of U.S. leadership was on full display in the recent disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, Russia saw its chance to grab a long desired prize in Ukraine. Now we see the violent and deadly result. We must pray for peace as we witness the death and destruction visited upon the people of Ukraine.
Weakness in our faith is “going through the motions” for some end other than salvation of souls. That is enough for the Devil to win in his long war against God.
When I arrived at a parish as pastor over 11 years ago, 99.9 percent of the children in the pews were with families just doing time in a kind of self-imposed jail sentence. They were just waiting until their children were old enough to get confirmed so they could be “released on good behavior.” Weak leadership allowed malignancy to endanger the body.
As many priests know, a current weakness in the postconciliar Church is the widespread phenomenon of families dropping out of Sunday Mass the week after their last child receives the Sacrament of Confirmation. It is a failure of evangelization. But, even more so, it is a failure of worship. We must face the fact that this superficiality is not present among families who attend the Traditional Latin Mass.
I am a father and I’m responsible for the good of my family. But it is only my family because it is more the family of the Lord, the family of God, and a family of faith. God must be the father of a parish and he’s the father of love. However, if people are in the pews because they think it’s a kind of jail sentence until they receive their Confirmation “get out of jail free card,” then the love born of faith is not at work: Their actions are a scandal to the weak in faith, above all to their own children.
Sure, adults can come in and use the faith any way they want. We all know there are some who come to Mass to be seen for various worldly motivations known only to God. The priest as father is responsible for assisting the parents to take responsibility as examples of faith for the children by which God has blessed them. The priest as spiritual father must work to ensure that the children are not scandalized into the same kind of behavior that their parents exhibit: a self-imposed jail sentence in lieu of a loving relationship.
Among the tools the priest can employ, in addition to prayer, is conversation. Any of us are capable of speaking in simple and honest terms which convey true compassion. We can invite the others, heart speaking to heart, and say “Can you understand my position?” As the father of the spiritual family of God with love, if I preside simply over a group of people who are doing time in the pews, what would you expect me to do in response: Just let the cancer grow?
We all are aware of the ever-present temptation to seek the easy course. I don’t think there’s a person alive who doesn’t want things to be easy. Coming and going as we please and making our own rules is attractive; it seems easy and seems to make life more pleasant. But the truth is every good is difficult to achieve. The greatest good, God, is no exception.
The Lord is found in a loving family which truly reflects His love. We know the God of love is the God of eternity. Keeping the Lord’s Day holy is our privilege and a blessing because it is the beginning of eternity for us. In this light we see the great scandal of parents who by neglect teach their children indifference.
Often parishes will require six months of Sunday Mass and a “Baptism class” as a requirement for parents who have not practiced the faith. This approach has the weakness of presenting the faith as a “rehab program” for those who suffer an addiction to the world as an idol and see the Catholic faith and its practice as a distraction. Any parents who protect their families in a physical way can easily understand that a spiritual father must protect his family as well.
There are plenty of pastors who are perfectly happy presiding over families transitioning through the parish for 12 or 13 years until Confirmation and then disappearing, but I’m not content to do that. I’m frankly not interested in having that phenomenon recur in our parish. Catholics can go anywhere they want and go through the motions as if they are authentically Catholic. I’m not interested in presiding over that.
A spiritual father in the image of the Heavenly Father asks the Lord’s people to do what God asks them to do. And so the time to ask parents to make a decision is when they bring their children for Baptism; to confront them with the necessity that they must make a decision: Are they going to submit to the obedience of faith and attend Sunday Mass faithfully, and welcome God into their home through prayer and spiritual reading with their children, educating them in the faith: love of God?
Zachary King, a converted high wizard of the church of Satan, tells the compelling story of his own dalliance with magic, then Satanism. He underwent a ritual to sell his soul to the Devil and presided over abortions as an offering, giving Satan what he wants in order to get what he wanted from Satan. He testifies to the fact that there is no middle ground between good and evil. Indifference is not good enough for God but it is more than enough for the Devil.
King became addicted to porn, sex, drugs, and alcohol as a minor, before the advent of cell phones and the ubiquitous porn they make available. He was converted through the intervention of our Lady through her Miraculous Medal and a good Catholic woman who took the initiative to invite King to fight in her army. Today King, though blind and missing one leg, travels and speaks, sharing his conversion story with many.
I was in the room at a recent lunch with priests as King spoke and shared his testimony that the Traditional Latin Mass is the Lord’s greatest weapon against the evil one. Let us hope they take his message to heart and evangelize their people with our full traditional faith.
The opposite of weakness is strength. The strength of God is love. The commitment of love for God in word and action dispels the assaults of the evil one.
Thank you for reading and praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.
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