2 Chronicles, Chapter 20, Verse 13-15
13 All Judah was standing before
the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. 14 And the spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel, son of
Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the clan
of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly, 15 and he said: “Pay attention, all of Judah, inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat! The Lord says to you: Do not FEAR or be dismayed at the sight of this
vast multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s.
Pay
attention-Is the Lord calling you to battle? Are you afraid at the power of the
secular world? Remember the battle is not yours but God’s. He calls us to
action. Will you stand with our Lord? Do you have righteous anger?
Anger is the sword that God puts
into man’s hand to fight the great moral battles of life. The more he loves
God, the more he will love good and hate all that assaults or tries to
undermine good. And, as he was created to love God, and all else in God, so he
was only to hate all that was opposed to that love. Into the hands of hatred
was given the glittering and sharp-edged sword of anger to fight its battles —
that is, to assault and drive off every approach of evil. Without anger, hatred
could but smolder in the heart. It needs an instrument of defense and attack,
and this was given it by God a power for good that does not hurt the man who
uses it aright, but makes him strong and keeps him safe. But man, alas, can
turn away from God and live for himself, or for the things of earth, and in so
doing, he changes the center around which the orbit of his life was meant to
move, from God to self. He becomes self-centered. But in turning from God, he
loses none of the powers of his nature. He finds himself, therefore, possessed
of manifold gifts and endowments, all of which were meant to aid him in that
moral and spiritual life that leads to God as its end. These gifts he now uses for himself. Finding
in his hand the sword of anger, he seizes it and fights with it his own
battles, not the great moral battles for which alone it was intended. He draws
it and strikes at everything that hinders him in the pursuit of his own ends,
everything that touches his self-love. He uses it for purposes the very reverse
of those for which God gave it to him. He can use it to oppose good and to
establish evil. Yes, a wild mob with flashing swords of anger, drawn in
reckless madness around the cross, striking and wounding the all-holy Son of
God, crying, “This is the Heir; come, let us kill Him that the inheritance may
be ours”: this was indeed the most supreme and most dramatic moment in which
men used against God the weapon He had put into their hands to fight His
battles. The weapon of anger — let us
never forget — is good, God-given, although it may be drawn in a most unworthy
cause. It is not the anger that is bad; it is the ill use to which it is put.[1]
The New World Order has a vision of the
world quite different from our Lord. Here is the teaching of the church on some
of these issues
Church
Teaching
·
On
abortion: "Among all the crimes which can be committed against life,
procured abortion has characteristics making it particularly serious and
deplorable. The Second Vatican Council defines abortion, together with
infanticide, as an 'unspeakable crime' " [Evangelium Vitae, Pope John Paul
II, # 58, referring to Gaudium et Spes, # 51].
·
On
active, homosexual behavior: "Although the particular inclination of the
homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered
toward an intrinsic moral evil; thus the inclination itself must be seen as an
objective disorder . . . when they [people] engage in homosexual activity they
confirm within themselves a disordered sexual inclination . . . Christians who
are homosexual are called, as all of us are, to a chaste life" [Letter to
the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons,
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith].
·
On
the Ordination of Women: The Catholic Church "holds that it is not
admissible to ordain women to the priesthood, for very fundamental reasons.
These reasons include: the example recorded in the Sacred Scriptures of Christ
choosing his Apostles only from among men; the constant practice of the Church,
which has imitated Christ in choosing only men; and her living teaching
authority which has consistently held that the exclusion of women from the
priesthood is in accordance with God's plan for his Church" [John Paul II,
Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, quoting Paul VI]. "In fact, in each sacrament,
Christ invoked by the priest who celebrates in persona Christi acts through the
Holy Spirit with his efficacious power on behalf of the Church" [Directory
on the Ministry and Life of Priests, Congregation for the Clergy, 3.31.94,
sect. 10].
·
On
"freedom of speech" for Catholic educators and theologians:
"[l]t is apparent, however, that some today . . . desirous of novelty, and
fearing to be considered ignorant of recent scientific findings, try to
withdraw themselves from the Sacred Teaching Authority and are accordingly in
danger of gradually departing from revealed truth and drawing others along with
them into error" [Concerning Some False Opinions which Threaten to
Undermine the Foundations of Catholic Doctrine, Pope Pius XII, # 10].
·
On
"democratic" selection of bishops and priests: The Catechism of the
Catholic Church, # 874-913, details the hierarchical structure of the Church
and the virtue of this structure. The moral and teaching authority of the
Church flows from Jesus Christ, its head, through the Pope and then to the
bishops who operate in concert with the Pope [Lumen Gentium #25] and through
them, to the faithful. "Popular selection" of priests or bishops
reverses the flow of hierarchical authority.
·
On
priestly celibacy: "All the ordained ministers of the Latin Church . . .
normally chosen from among men of faith who live a celibate life and who intend
to remain celibate 'for the sake of the kingdom of heaven' " [Catechism of
the Catholic Church, #1579; Matt. 19:12; see also 1994 Directory on the Ministry
and Life of Priests].
·
On
birth control: "'[E]very action which, whether in anticipation of the
conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural
consequences, proposes, whether as an end or a means, to render procreation
impossible' is intrinsically evil" [Catechism of the Catholic Church,
#2370, reaffirming Humanae Vitae, # 14].
·
On
social justice and Catholic Action: "The Church well knows that no
temporal achievement is to be identified with the Kingdom of God, but that all
such achievements simply reflect and in a sense anticipate the glory of the
Kingdom, the Kingdom that we await at the end of history, when the Lord will
come again" [Solicitudo Rei Socialis, Pope John Paul II, # 48].
Daily Devotions
·
Eat waffles and Pray for the assistance of the Angels
·
Monday: Litany of
Humility
·
Rosary
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