The Right and The Left

"My kingdom does not belong to this world, if my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here."     John 18:36

"Heaven forbid that we should forsake the law and the commandments. We will not obey the words of the king by departing from our religion in the slightest degree."     1 Maccabees 2:21-22

The Church is not a political entity. She is a spiritual entity. In this day and age, we are all too caught up in our convenient ideological labels. This person is a conservative. That person is a liberal. He is only saying that because he is a member of that party. She would think differently if she were on the other side of the aisle.  But God defies our categories.

God is not a Republican. God is not a Democrat.

It is a fundamental flaw to look at religion in terms of politics. All too often, Christ is reduced to a merely political figure of history by pundits and social commentators. Quite frankly, such people fall somewhere in between insane and idiotic. You cannot judge Christ without first reading His Word. Jesus was in no way political! He did not instruct us on how to govern ourselves, he taught us how to love God and how to love one another. He certainly did not, as others might assert, endorse Communism! What part of "my kingdom does not belong to this world" is unclear?

We like to look at believers in terms of politics as well. Catholics tend to fall into the middle of the political spectrum on average, and that is not a bad thing. There is no 11th Commandment that says you must be a liberal or a conservative. It simply does not matter. In His earthly ministry, Jesus welcomed them all, conservative and liberal, tax collector and prostitute, Pharisee and poor. He made no distinction.

The Catholic Church was born under the watch of the Roman Empire. Soon (relatively) afterwards, She coexisted (also relatively) with the feudal states of Europe. The Catholic Church predates American democracy by seventeen centuries! She cannot be limited by a democracy. We have more than a few kings and queens for saints. I have a feeling that it does not count for much before the pearly gates whether or not you are a Republican, a Democrat, or even a monarchist. Heaven is an open primary.

This is the Truth. The problem is that the Truth rarely finds itself acted out in reality. In America, religion has become very much political. It seems that you can no longer discuss theology without discussing politics. There is a reason for this. Though Jesus defined political categories, His moral teachings look quite similar to the social policies of conservatives today. Politics has decided to become an arbiter of morality as well as policy. In 1973, Roe v Wade made abortion legal across the United States. It was, as a whole, applauded by Democrats, and criticized by Republicans. President Reagan was a firm supporter of the pro-life movement. President Obama might well be mistaken for a Planned Parenthood spokesman. Though you might be able to find a Democrat who is against abortion if you tried hard enough, it would be nearly impossible to find an elected Democrat who is pro-life. The opposite is true for the Republican party. The current field of Republican presidential candidates are all, to one degree or another, against abortion. This carries into other moral teachings as well. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court made the rather asinine assumption that it had the authority to rule on the nature of marriage, and legalized an abomination. Like a broken record, history repeats herself. Republicans supported traditional marriage. Democrats supported the abomination.

The Republican party is not the Church, though it tends to coincide with Her teachings more than the Democratic party. Often times, conservative politicians focus more on justice than compassion. They become out of balance on the side of the law when it affects the poor and suffering. Its stance on sin and sinners is not as refined or as merciful as that of the Church. There is nothing at all wrong with having liberal Catholics. In fact, it is a very good thing. They remind us about the need to address the human suffering in the world.

The first Catholic president, John F. Kennedy, was a Catholic. Many social reforms that eased the suffering of our poor were passed under that great humanitarian, FDR, also a Democrat. The Democratic party is not, contrary to popular belief, the spawn of Satan. It just happens to look like it at the moment. 

Catholic Democrats are placed in a rather nasty position by their leadership. Some of the social policies of the Democratic party are in direct violation of the teachings of the Church. Abortion is murder. It is that simple. Marriage is between a man and a woman. Also simple. The Church is not interfering in matters of politics. Politicians are interfering in matters of the Church. The great Bishop Fulton Sheen addressed this point perfectly. "The Church does not interfere in politics... The Church does not judge such a philosophy. But when it does this, it is not interfering with politics, for such politics is no longer politics, but theology."

True Catholics cannot vote for pro-choice politicians. By doing so, they help to perpetuate the genocide against infants. Their vote is stained with blood. Likewise, our vote must be an emphatic "No!" for any politician who interferes in matters of theology and tries to legitimize sin. That spurs on the disintegration of the family and the acceptance of sin in our society. That is not right.

You can be a Republican. You can be a Democrat. But first and foremost, you must be a Catholic. You must vote as a Catholic. Politics has no authority when it comes to the teachings of the Church. When theology becomes involved, we must vote according to the teachings of the Church and not the policies of our party. When it comes to moral issues, use the Catechism as your guide,  not political rhetoric. 

If only modern Catholics would have the same zeal as our ancestor in faith, Mattathias. Despite all the riches he was offered, he rejected the commands of the king. He would rather die that betray the law of God. Let his words echo in our hearts whenever we watch the news or walk into a voting booth! "We will not obey the words of the king by departing from our religion in the slightest degree."

Deus Volt!

Why Rand is Wrong

"I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."

Ayn Rand is one of the most famous intellectuals of the twentieth century. She is also wrong. The writings and philosophy of Rand are, in the old-fashioned way of referring to things, heretical. She denies the existence of God. She takes upon herself the Devilish task of raising up man into a god of his own to replace the throne she tries to empty.

Ayn Rand was born in Russia and emigrated to America during the early 20th century. She was well-educated, acquainted with the study of philosophy. Through the course of her education, Rand developed a philosophy of her own called Objectivism that she expressed through her writing, most of which was fiction. Atlas Shrugged, the source for the above quote, is one of the most popular novels of its century. In her novels, Ayn Rand examines the relationship between the individual and the state, and man's actualization of his own existence. She concludes that the "right" way to live is wholly for oneself, that there is no greater value than the individual and the mind.

Like most lies, Rand's philosophy contains some shreds of the Truth. Lies are only perversions of Truth, they can never be wholly original. To a certain extent, Rand's emphasis of the value of the individual is a good thing. The aggregation of mankind into statistics and Volksgeist is just as bad as his arbitrary godhood. We must never lose sight of the importance of each and every soul in the eyes of God, what Rohr calls "immortal diamonds." Concern for the "working class" but not for the worker himself is the great hypocrisy of socialism and liberalism. Rand reminds us of the inherent importance of the individual self through her unequivocal rejection of collectivism.

But Rand goes too far. She makes the world the altar of man. She exalts an imperfect creature as God's replacement. Her mistake is that of the Ancient Greeks who modelled their gods after exceptionally flawed human beings. Rand is wrong because she denies the existence of God. She places sinful man on a pedestal that is far too high. She rejects the concept of altruism, of compassion for our fellow men, of living "for the sake of another man."

There is certainly an appeal to Rand's work. The quote from the beginning resonates with a lot of people. Especially in the corporate monotony, people want to hear that they are special, that they are something more than their income or social security number. Rand's words are those of the snake in the garden or the tempter in the desert. We become inflated with pompous imaginings of self-reliance and transcendence that turn out to be nothing but an illusion. 

"No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main."

Above is an excerpt from "No Man is an Island" by John Donne. It is very fitting to counter the illusions conquered by Rand. Life is not the way Rand paints it. We cannot only be concerned for our own affairs. Rand says that "His own happiness is man's only moral purpose." She is wrong.

When it comes to our age of lies, they often come in pairs. Rand revealed a world of self-aggrandizement and fantasy where the only good is the happiness of the individual. At the same time, the Communists revealed a world where the individual is absorbed into the state and simply becomes a number, where "fraternity" really means anonymity.

Neither is the world that Jesus revealed to us. "A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you," (John 13:34.) And Jesus did not love us with vague, disinterested humanitarian feelings. He did not love us as a charity. He loved US. He loved each and every "immortal diamond." He loves us in spite of the fact that we are not perfect. We are made perfect through him. Jesus Christ taught us to live our lives for the sake of another man. It is far too easy to see statistics and not people. It can be far too easy to satisfy our consciences with a check or a protest or a meme instead of with a heart and a prayer.

"As I have loved you." Jesus love us so much that he died for us! He died on the Cross for us! There is no greater love!

For too long, the teachings of Christ have been put down to merely social instruction. Jesus was not asking us to create a world of forced equality where that equality becomes as meaningless as the individual. He was not asking us to try to reduce the poverty in the world simply to get rid of a number, a statistic.

Jesus did not ask us to exalt ourselves. He told us quite the opposite, actually. "And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled: and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted." We are great through our humility and love, not through our pride.

This is the Truth that Rand misses. She does not see the light of love of Jesus Christ. She only sees the light that souls reflect from God. She mistakes that brightness for being that of the individual. She tries to say that the Moon is its own light while all the while blind to the brilliance of the Sun.

Deus Volt!

Peace in Our Time?

What is our world coming to? Last Friday, on November 13th, the city of Paris suffered her worst attack since the Second World War. 129 people died. Several hundred were injured. Why? This was the work of truly depraved men, men who believed that they were fighting for the sake of religion. "Allah Ackbar," they cried as they stole innocent lives and covered the streets of the City of Lights with blood. These are not men of God. These are men of hate. These are not holy warriors fighting for their faith. These are cowards who target civilians and blow themselves up. These are not martyrs. These are murderers. In a recent address, His Holiness Pope Francis called these monsters and all who kill in the name of religion "blasphemers." Islamic terrorists like the ones who perpetrated the attacks in Paris make a mockery of the name of God by using it as their final words as they kill innocents. That is not what God is. That is not the truth. That is a lie.

The taking of innocent lives is never justified by religion. It is never justified by anything. We must always remember that a single life, a single soul, is so precious that Jesus Christ would have died on the Cross for them alone.

That is the problem with Islam. The Bible does not say "kill the unbelievers" seven times. The Quran does. The Bible does not sentence basically all woman to damnation. The Quran does. Jesus did not reclaim his holy city by massacring Jews. Muhammad did.

The heresy of these Islamic terrorists is that they think that God is pleased by acts of violence, by their killing of the unbelievers. They believe that they can appease him with the shedding of innocent blood. What damned nonsense.

They are dying for a lie. They are killing for a lie. They are truly monsters. Their violence and blasphemy is not limited to Paris, not by any means. Our Christian brothers and sisters in the Middle East are callously murdered by the same lie that murdered 129 in France. Every single day, the Islamic State and others like them blow themselves up, behead, rape, and murder all for the sake of their "religion," their lie.

What should we do? What can we do? Is there anything that we can do in the face of such utter violence and depravity?

Have faith in the justice of God. His righteousness is so much greater than our own. His justice comes in His own time. Make no mistake, these monsters that call themselves holy warriors, mock the name of God, and murder His true believers will have their day before the Throne. They will not be able to escape the judgement of God for their depravity.

What we should do is pray. Pray for those who lost their lives in France, in the Middle East, and around the world because of the lies of hate and blasphemy. And though it might be hard, pray for those souls that have somehow become so consumed with hate that they think that it is acceptable to take a life. And pray for better times. Pray that we might have peace in our age, as impossible as it seems, for nothing is impossible with God. This age of hate and apostasy should make us yearn all the more strongly for the coming of the Kingdom of God. Just as the Israelites prayed for deliverance during their years of captivity and oppression, so too should we Christians pray for the love of God to blot out the hate of our world.

The only thing in this world stronger than this hate is love. We have no shortage of examples of radical love in the face of hate. Do not be afraid of these terrorists. Have hope. They are not the first to promise the destruction of Christianity and all we hold dear. We have two millennia of true and holy martyrs to prove this. The Romans could not extinguish the love of Christ, regardless of the numbers of Christians sacrificed to the beasts or burned alive or tortured to death. The Church survives. She has survived fire and blood, schism and hate. The Church is well and alive!

This attack on Paris was the act of cowards, but they are doomed cowards. They have taken on a futile task because the Church of God will never fall. We are established on a rock, not on bloodied sand as they are. Await God's judgement eagerly, for He will bring peace in our time. He alone will bring peace in our time.

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us.

Saint Genevieve, patroness of Paris, pray for us.

Deus Volt!

Why We Need Mary

One of the most attacked traditions of the Catholic Church is her veneration of the Blessed Mother. Protestants, Muslims, Jews, and Atheists alike viciously criticize Catholics for "worshipping" Mary. Do not so much as listen to this infernal noise! Our faith in the Mother of God must never be shaken.

These devilish arrows of contention have no sting. The Catholic Church's veneration of the Blessed Mother as a protectress and an intercessor is well founded. The mystery of the Incarnation gives us more than enough reason to praise the name of Mary. "No man puts new wine into old bottles; otherwise the wine will burst the bottles, and both the wine will be spilled and the bottles will be lost." (Mark 2:22) Saint Lois de Montfort, the author of one of the greatest works on the Virgin Mary, explained this analogy as pertaining to the Mother of God's role in the Incarnation. The Son of God cannot have been born to just anyone. The womb that would be his home of nine months had to be consecrated - it would be the first Tabernacle. God created Mary for that purpose alone. She was set apart as the chosen handmaid of the Lord, the Mother of her Savior and Spouse of the Holy Spirit.  She was conceived without sin to bear in her womb He who would conquer sin. The Mother of God HAD to be without sin. No unworthy vessel could carry this Child.

Mary was no ordinary woman. Claims, however, that Catholics "worship" Mary are both unfounded and slanderous. God is glorified through his Mother. Ignoring Mary would be a grave offense to God. He wishes for her veneration and praise. Who does not like to have his mother spoken well of? Devotion to Mary is given to us in Scripture. The Hail Mary, the most beautiful of prayers, is entirely derived from the Word of God.

Our worship of God is magnified through the Blessed Virgin. Unlike Jesus and Mary, we do sin, a lot actually. It is an act of great humility to go before the Virgin Mary and ask her to appear before the throne of God on your behalf. You allow her grace and virtue to take the place of your ingratitude and sin.

We need Mary.

This age needs Mary more than any other. We flounder and fail in vice and sin. We replace traditions with "progress" and morality with choice. Our age seems to have forgotten God. We can only be saved by turning back to Him through His Mother. Mary is the protectress of the mortal race. Her intercession can save us. The need for returning to the Mother of God, our Mother, has been explicitly revealed to us through the appearances at Fatima and the writings of many saints of our age.

How can we turn back to Mary? The best way is also the simplest. Pray. Prayer is perfected in the Holy Rosary. Meditating on the sacred Mysteries is a sure way to grow in personal holiness. Start small. Taking on a summit that is too steep will quickly discourage our weak hearts. Begin with a single decade or even simply three Hail Mary's every day. It might seem boring, but "Blessed be that monotony of Hail Mary's which purifies the monotony of your sins!" Build from there. Prayer is just like exercise. Do not expect yourself to bench three hundred pounds on your first try. It takes practice. We would do well never to overlook the power of the Rosary. The great Saint Lois de Montfort gives us the following words of inspiration and hope when it comes to the Rosary:

"If you say the Rosary faithfully until death, I do assure you that, in spite of the gravity of your sins 'you shall receive a never-fading crown of glory.' Even if you are on the brink of damnation, even if you have one foot in hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil as sorcerers do who practice black magic, and even if you are a heretic as obstinate as a devil, sooner or later you will be converted and will amend your life and save your soul, if - and mark well what I say - if you say the Rosary devoutly every day until death for the purpose of knowing the truth and obtaining contrition and pardon for your sins."

Our devotion to the blessed Mother can also be made manifest in action. We must show the world that Mary is our Mother. Live a life that is an imitation of both Jesus and Mary. Just as His earthly life is a guide for us to follow, Jesus gave us Mary as an example of holiness. Follow the virtues that Mary lived: humility, patience, reverence, and profound faith. There is a popular rubber bracelet with the acronym WWJD? - What Would Jesus Do? It would be truly fitting for us to add to that WWMD? - What Would Mary Do? Study Scripture and the works of the Saints to learn how to imitate the Blessed Mother in all fullness.

Finally, we can express our devotion to the Mother of God through consecrating ourselves to "this august princess." There are a few methods of consecration that have been handed down to us through the Saints.  Personally, I would recommend that of Saint Lois de Montfort. As you might have noticed, this illustrious Saint comes up often when we speak of Mary. He wrote "True Devotion to Mary" a work that outlined his plan of consecration. Consecration takes the form of "slavery to Jesus through Mary." By consecrating ourselves, we submit our bodies, our minds, our will, and everything we possess to the will of Jesus and the Blessed Mother. This is a very blessed form of veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Mary is our Mother. We must not tolerate any insult to our Mother. Any time someone slanders the Blessed Virgin, you ought to be more offended than if they had slandered you yourself. Do not remain silent when her name and reputation are tarnished. We are the Church of Jesus. Jesus wants us to defend His most Holy Mother. We must also recognize our own sinfulness and turn to Mary as the means of worshipping God more fully and gaining salvation. Our lives should be an echo of Mary's Magnificat, "my soul magnifies the Lord."

Blessed ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of God - Pray for us.

Deus Volt!

The Dignity of Man

In his address to the United Nations, Pope Francis reminded the collective nations of a simple fact - all men are created in the image and likeness of Christ. Every man, woman, and child that shares this earth has the same essential dignity.

Despite the unprecedented level of connectivity and communication ushered in by technological advances, we maintain an attitude of what His Holiness called "exclusiveness." Far too often, we do not look beyond our borders, our families, and most importantly, our selves. It is far too easy to reduce the seven billion members of humanity to just that: a number.

Catholics should not look upon the world as a hodgepodge of separate nations, of individual interests, or of statistics. Sure, you might feel bad if you hear that just short of a billion people worldwide face hunger and starvation. But what do you do with that feeling? The sentiment is not enough. It might reflect well on your moral sensibilities if you can conjure up feelings of sympathy for the millions of displaced refugees around the world, but it does not make you a good person. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, or so the adage goes.

We are Catholics. The word "catholic" means universal. We are a part of the Universal Church. The truth in which we place our faith is not limited to any hemisphere of the globe. It is not limited to any culture. It is not limited to any tongue. Abraham and his descendants, the Israelites, were the first people chosen by God. When the Son of God became man, our inheritance was no longer of flesh and blood, but of the spirit.

Leaders and followers alike, do not fall into error! Do not forget that all men were created equally by God. There is no essential difference between an American billionaire and a Syrian refugee. Both have the same dignity as children of God.

Now what does this dignity mean? It means that all men are entitled to the same, basic rights. As the Declaration of Independence puts it, "unalienable rights." When speaking before the United Nations, Pope Francis put forth the three L's of human dignity: lodging, labor, and land. These three things are needed to give men quality of life. In addition to those three, His Holiness added to the necessities of life education, and religious freedom, freedom of conscience.

Men are not numbers. They are not a statistic. Refugees from regional conflicts are not a problem, they are people. The starving are not simply mouths. The homeless are not simply buckets to catch thrown loose change. Issues involving humans cannot simply be solved by throwing money at them.

What this world needs is a new host of Catholics who understand the dignity of each and every human life. We must protect that life from the womb to the grave. We must not stop fighting. We cannot allow children to be murdered in the womb. We cannot allow the elderly to be discarded when they are of no use. We cannot allow people to starve, to live in ignorance, to lack the basic necessities of a human life.

As always, Jesus did not leave us bereft of instruction. Matthew 25:37-40:

        "Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’"

When we see another man, we should not see the tone of their skin, their religion, their clothing, their wallet, or their language. We should instead see the face of God.

Especially in this age of darkness, when true doctrine is mocked and when faith is reduced to a fantasy, the faithful must act as the body of Christ. The Church must be the hands and feet of God, wherever He is needed. And He is needed everywhere: from the streets of Chicago to the slums of Mexico city, from the boardrooms of New York to the villages of Mongolia.

Every man was born as a reflection of the goodness of God.

No man can survive without God.

Deus Volt!

The Narrow Path

"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it." Matthew 7:13-14

There is a famous joke involving a tourist in England. He finds a native and asks "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" The inevitable and unexpected response is "practice, practice, and practice." 

The point is that it is very difficult to get into Carnegie Hall, at least in one sense. You cannot simply pick up an instrument and pluck a few strings for a few weeks or even a few months in order to perform in Carnegie Hall. You cannot buy a ticket to get in. The only way to Carnegie Hall is years and years of practice, of sacrifice.

Interestingly enough, there is a parallel to Heaven here. There is no easy way to gain eternal life. Now, notice that I say "gain" instead of "earn." The distinction is monumental. We, all by our little old mortal selves, cannot earn our way to Heaven. There is no deed so great, no life so perfect (excepting Jesus and Mary of course) that would make us perfect enough to enter into Heaven of our own accord. Heaven, just like grace, is a gift. Heaven, just like grace, can be rejected. The consequences of rejection remain the same: spiritual death and Hell.

But make no mistake. Though we cannot earn our way into Heaven, there is still a Hell, and it is very real. Despite the grace that has been given to us by God, despite His love, innumerable souls decide to reject His plan in favor of their own. In doing so, they reject His eternity. We are not privy to the will of God. We do not known how He decides which souls enter into Heaven. All we know is what Jesus has told us.

The gate to eternal life is a "narrow" one. As pessimistic as it sounds, there are "many" souls who reject the narrow road and plant their feet on the "wide road" that "leads to destruction."

How often do we forget this? In a world that likes to ignore both Heaven and Hell, we are told that we can live as we please. The lie of relativism tells us that there is no true way to live, only the way that seems right to us. In days such as these, the other road must be very wide in deed.

This is the danger of tolerance. For false love of image and of acceptance, we allow people to live in sin. We allow people to walk that "wide road" to Hell. This is not judgement. Who among you would allow a blind man to walk straight off a cliff, simply because you do not want to presume to show him the right way for fear of offending his sensibilities?

Jesus did not say "many is the way to Heaven, just do what you would like, and I will give you eternal life just so long as you offend no one." There is but one way to Heaven. That is the way of God.

It is hard to walk the narrow path these days. Everyone will shout that you are going the wrong way, that you are an idiot for choosing such a difficult path. All the while, they are blind to the quicksand that they themselves trod so assuredly.

Know that the road is hard. The gate is painfully narrow. There are brambles on this road. There are thorns that will cut and hurt and bleed you. There are stretches of mud that seem impassable. There will be days on this road when you will want to turn around. You will want to return to the illusory safety of the wider and easier road. The road that is far less lonely.

Remember that you do not tread this road alone. There have been saints who have walked this road. They have left us maps for the path. Look to the lives of the Saints. Read their words of encouragement and instruction. They know what it means to walk this road that seems ever narrower.

Remember what lies at the end of this road. We do not strive towards fame, wealth, or any earthly gain. All those will perish like dust in the wind. We walk to Heaven, the eternal reward. We were made for eternity, not this world of shadows.

The narrow road is hard. The reward, however, is very much worth it.

Deus Volt!

Mere Spirituality

Spirituality is not religion.

In our convenient age of five-step formulae and "there's an app for that" mentality, it should come as no surprise that we often look for similar shortcuts when it comes to practicing religion. Previous generations had at least the decorum to be either hot or cold when it came to religion. You either believed in God or you did not. Simple. There were no impious half-measures.


Not so today, not so. We have created a blasphemous assortment of half-prayers and religious "feelings." This Frankenstein's monster goes by many names: New Age philosophy, astrology, pantheism. It is most commonly addressed as "spirituality." The basic message is simple. Get rid of all that doctrine, tradition, and rules, and replace it with emotional experiences that will somehow coalesce into the achievement of some esoteric plane of existence, nirvana, enlightenment, etc....

Spirituality is the essence of our times. No responsibility, no rules, no tradition, and no God. Spirituality is far more dangerous than atheism. It is, in itself, a kind of cocktail mix of agnosticism and religion. It removes God from the equation. All of the religious feelings sans a Supreme Being. This is a dangerous, spiritual arsenic. It is a devilish trick. There is nothing wrong with spiritual feelings in themselves. In fact, they are very good. Such feelings often mean that the Holy Spirit is moving within our hearts. These feelings are intended to bring us closer to God.

Spirituality takes these feelings and disguises them, disguises them, and perverts them. It is a subtle lie unlike the outright rejection of atheism. Atheism is a desert. Spirituality is a poisoned well. The combination is deadly. St. Augustine wrote that "You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you." The heart cannot survive on atheism alone, on shadows. It needs spiritual substance. And instead of the true fruits of the true Church, a modern soul is deceived and taken in by the sweet-tasting but ultimately empty.

This is the strategy of evil. Starve the soul with atheism. Create a culture immersed with the death of the spirit, Nietzsche's nihilistic message, "God is dead." Eventually, the soul will reject the lies it has been fed. It will OD on sand and dirt. That is where spirituality comes in. When the soul has emptied itself with darkness, it looks for something more. The answer of the world is spirituality. An empty "religion" based only on emotion and fantasy, on feelings and sensations.

Always remember that God cannot be replaced. There is nothing that can replace the need for God in our souls, no matter the amount of garbage we swallow. Our hearts will be forever "restless" until they find God.


Deus Vult!