Saturday, July 14, 2018
BASTILLE DAY
Acts, Chapter 19, verse 17
When this became known to all the Jews and Greeks
who lived in Ephesus, fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord
Jesus was held in great esteem.
In Paul’s time there were
traveling Jewish’s exorcists that were not of the faith but attempted to remove
demons in Jesus’ name and the demons said to the Jewish exorcist, “Jesus I recognize, Paul I know, but who are you?” and then attacked them.
Holy fear teaches us the necessity of being faithful
to the end.
Of the time of tribulation, the Catechism states, “Before Christ's second coming
the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many
believers.
This
time of trial will be marked by religious deception, apostasy from the true
Faith, and the rise of the antichrist. This time the end of history will reveal the fullness of
antichrist, “a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God
and of his Messiah come in the flesh. . ..” (CCC, 675). History has witnessed
much speculation about the antichrist, including writings by the Church Fathers
about his background and methods of destruction. What is clearer is that when
history draws to a close Satan and his followers—both demonic and human—will
seek to destroy as many souls as possible, unleashing diabolic destruction and
causing widespread apostasy. We also know the spirit of antichrist is already
within the world, just as it has been for two thousand years: “Children, it is
the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many
antichrists have arisen; from this we know that it is the last hour” (1 Jn
2:18). There is deception and apostasy; there are many who mock Christ and even
many self-described Christians who deny him.
In the Olivet Discourse, also known
as “the little apocalypse,” Jesus told
the disciples: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole
world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come” (Mt
24:14). Has this occurred? Arguments can be made either way. As Ralph Martin,
author of “Is Jesus Coming Soon?” (Ignatius Press, 1997), has noted, “It
is difficult to know whether this universal proclamation has taken place.
Certain nations have had the gospel preached to them in the past but not in the
present.” The one certainty is the Gospel must be preached to as many people as
possible; evangelization and missions are never optional, but always
imperative.
Of
the third event, the Church states Israel’s recognition of Jesus as the
Messiah will take place prior to the parousia. This is based on Romans 9-11
and Paul’s teaching that “hardening has come upon Israel in part, until the
full number of Gentiles comes in” (Rom 11:25). Yet is far from evident how this
“full inclusion” of ethnic Israel into the Church will come about. It would
seem it has not yet taken place; perhaps it has already begun in ways not fully
understood or recognized. What is certain is that Catholics, while always
respecting the free will of every man, have an obligation to be spiritually
prepared, to evangelize, and to advance the Kingdom. “…and after
this comes judgment”
·
The
pope was to have no say in the matter.
·
In
addition, clerics had to swear an oath of loyalty to the French Constitution.
Dissidents had to resign their ministries, and many were prosecuted as
criminals.
·
Lay
Catholics loyal to the pope were treated as rebels and traitors. With only four
out of 135 bishops taking the oath in 1791, the more radical Legislative Assembly
ordered additional sanctions against the Church.
·
All
religious congregations were suppressed and wearing clerical garb was
forbidden.
·
Priests
loyal to the papacy were automatically guilty of “fanaticism” and sentenced to
ten years imprisonment.
·
Processions
were forbidden; crucifixes and religious artifacts were stripped out of
churches.
·
Government
priests were granted freedom to marry, divorce was permissible, and marriage
became a civil procedure.
·
Also,
education, managed for centuries by the Church, was nationalized. To further
de-Christianize France, a new civil religion was introduced – patriotism.
·
The
Gregorian calendar was eliminated and replaced with names related to nature. To
abolish Sunday worship, months were rearranged to contain three “weeks” of ten
days apiece, thus designating every tenth day for rest.
·
Catholic
holy days were replaced with national holidays and civic days of worship. The
“Cult of Great Men” (i.e., Rousseau) replaced the veneration of saints. The use
of the word “saint” was forbidden. “There should be no more public and national
worship but that of Liberty and Holy Equality,” declared the revolutionary
government.
·
Every
city and village was ordered to erect an “altar to the fatherland” and to
conduct July “Federation Month” patriotic rites.
·
The
Feast of Nature was observed in August and the Cult of Reason was celebrated at
Paris’ Civic Temple, formerly the Cathedral of Notre Dame. A female dancer was
crowned as the Goddess of Reason and performed for the assembly. In 1794, the
deistic cult of the Supreme Being replaced the atheistic adoration of reason.
At the first public worship, the self-declared high priest, Robespierre,
pronounced in his homily, “the idea of the Supreme Being and the soul’s
immortality is a continuous summons to justice and consequently social and
republican.”
·
Despite
all the efforts of the missionaries of terror, the Church was not stamped out
of existence. The heroism of the thousands of martyred bishops, priests, and
religious inspired millions of the faithful and caused a spiritual renascence
in France during the nineteenth century. The notorious political rogue and
excommunicated bishop of Autun, the Prince de Talleyrand, reviewing that
terrible period of persecution, conceded, “Regardless of my own part in this
affair, I readily admit that the Civil Constitution of the Clergy . . . was
perhaps the greatest political mistake of the Assembly, quite apart from the
dreadful crimes which flowed there from.” General of the Republic, Henri
Clarke, agreed. In a report to the government in 1796, he wrote, “Our
revolution, so far as religion is concerned, has proved a complete failure.
·
France
has become once more Roman Catholic, and we may be on the point of needing the
pope himself in order to enlist clerical support for the Revolution.” The
French ideologues learned, as did their barbaric heirs in the twentieth
century, that every effort to destroy the Church and eliminate the faithful
fails. As Christ Himself promised: “the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it.”
“Therefore
do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor
secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the
light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid
of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the
one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
Bastille Day marks the anniversary of the attacks on the French prison of Bastille, a symbol of King Louis XVI's power. On, July 14, 1789, a group of Parisian revolutionaries attacked the Bastille looking for gun powder to go with the rifles they had recently stolen from the Invalides. The revolutionaries stormed the prison, defeating the soldiers and bringing victory to the common people of France. This event marked the beginning of the French Revolution, the defeat of a monarchy and the birth of a republic as King Louis XVI was beheaded by use of a guillotine on July 21, 1793 in front of a crowd of Parisians. The anniversary of this attack is now the French National holiday and is observed on July 14th each year.
Bastille Day Facts & Quotes
·
The
French Revolution was brought about partially due to the unequal class system
found in France during the late 1700s. The Catholic clergy held the
highest position, next came Louis XVI and his court, and lastly were the
general population. Without the benefit of being born into a higher
class, the general population had almost no hope of ever bettering their
station in life.
·
Louis
XVI's spending at Versailles and his financial support of the American
Revolutionary War against the British, placed France in severe economic crisis.
The general population was starving while King Louis XVI was building a
great navy and continuing his lavish lifestyle in Versailles.
·
The
French flag consists of blue, white and red. White was the color of the
Monarchy and red and blue represented Paris. During the Revolution, the white
was surrounded by blue and then red.
·
A
revolution can be neither made nor stopped. The only thing that can be done is
for one of several of its children to give it a direction by dint of victories.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Bastille Day Top Events and Things
to Do
·
Watch
the Fireworks at the Eiffel Tower. They usually start around 11pm and can be
viewed from the Champs de Mars and Trocadero.
·
Attend
a French military parade.
·
Visit
a French national museum as most are free to visit on Bastille Day or visit a
local firehouse in France - they are open to the public on this holiday.
·
Watch
a movie or a documentary about the French Revolution. Our picks: The French
Revolution (2005), Jefferson in Paris (1995), Marie Antoinette
(2006), Danton (1983) and That Night in Varennes (1982)
·
Go
out to a French Restaurant. Many have specials for this day.
"Read
these counsels slowly. Pause to meditate on these thoughts. They are things
that I whisper in your ear-confiding them-as a friend, as a brother, as a
father. And they are being heard by God. I won't tell you anything new. I will
only stir your memory, so that some thought will arise and strike you; and so
you will better your life and set out along ways of prayer and of Love. And in
the end you will be a more worthy soul."
15. It is inevitable
that you should feel the rub of other people's characters against your own.
After all, you are not a gold coin that everyone likes. Besides, without that
friction produced by contact with others, how would you ever lose those
corners, those edges and projections — the imperfections and defects — of your
character, and acquire the smooth and regular finish, the firm flexibility of
charity, of perfection? If your character and the characters of those who live
with you were soft and sweet like sponge-cake you would never become a saint.
Daily Devotions
·
Please
pray for me and this ministry
·
Please
Pray for Senator
McCain and our country; asking Our Lady of Beauraing to
intercede.
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