Some Observations on the Current Situation - 16 September 2008

As expected, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy & Morgan Stanley was acquired by Bank of America Monday. This occurred just over a week after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were put under the conservatorship of the FHFA. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 504 points (lets call it wha it really is dollars, not points). Now the screaming about more regulation etc will begin. I am not going to discuss if this should or shouldn't be done. Why? Because the markets aren't the real problem, they are just a symptom & a warning of what lies ahead.

The real problem isn't unrestrained capitalism (a myth if ever there was 1, esp in the current regulatory environment). Capitalism is a tool to make money & create wealth. It isn't good or evil. How it is used determines that fact. If used to sate greed it is being used for a sinful purpose, if used to create jobs etc, it is good.

The problems with the markets, as I said, are a mere symptom of the real problem, our rushing headlong into the "culture of death". I have posted time after time about the evils that Planned Parenthood is doing, I have put up posts with other evils promulgated by the "culture of death" devotees, like the murder of Terry Schiavo. Then there are the selective abortions based on tests that determine there are possible birth defects. Let's call that what it really is, eugenics at work.

I suspect that we are on the verge of a major chastisement for our country (& most of the rest of the world) surrendering to the "culture of death. We are about to reap what we have sown. No, I am not saying that God is going to punish us, He won't have to, all He will do is allow His protective hand to be withdrawn & give us what we want, our own way. The trouble is, our way always ends in death, spiritual as well as physical.

I also belive that the main reason we haven't seen the full force of that chastisement is because many of us are battling the "culture of death" by prayer & action. There are many people who have been willing to pay the price, some fully, some partially, that needs to be paid. They have been willing to put themselves in the line of fire. Some people are going through major physical & spiritual attacks because they are doing what God calls them to do. These people are going through a white martyrdom. Others may soon shed their blood & give their lives to build the "Culture of Life" God wants us to work for. It wasn't too long ago I put up a post about the death threats aimed at Bishops & Pro-Life leaders in South America. When you devalue life before birth, then for the elderly, soon no life has any intrinsic value to you. Look at ethicist Peter Singer's views. He is a prime example of this.

So, why should we be surprized at the death threats? Rather than fear what they can do to us, we need to remember Jesus' challenge to us, to be willing to lay down our lives if need be for the Gospel. Speaking the truth hasn't always been popular, look at what happened to St. John the Baptist when he called Herod to task. Look at Ss Thomas More & John Fischer. They stood up to King Henry VII even though they knew it would cost them their lives. St. Athanasius had to flee for his life when he rebuked the Emperor Constantius by calling him a foreruuner of the Antichrist. St Justin Martyr took on 3 Caesars. St. Stanislaus, Bishop, was martyred after excommunicating King Boleslaus. I could go on & on.

How many of us, laity as well as clergy & religious, are willing to pay the price God wants of us? As I said, some of us are already doing so. For many of us, we are doing some suffering, often reluctantly. Very few of us are fully paying the price God is asking of us in this battle.

Bu God is at work in us. He is cleansing & preparing His people for that day. God needs a people who will be ready when that day comes to boldly speak out & call people to repentance & to bring them back to God. We need to surrender our lives more & more each day so God can prepare us.

We also need to keep doing all we can to battle the "culture of death" & build the "Culture of Life". I've said it before, I'll say it again, the 1st thing we need to do is pray & repent. For those who are incapable of doing more, due to infirmity, praying & joining their suffering to Christ's will be all God asks of them. But for most of us, God will require more. We start, end & operate throughout with prayer. We need to speak out, vote for Pro-Life Candidates, protest at abortion clinics, support Pro-life groups financially. We need to do what we can to show what the "culture of death" really stands for. That includes getting out there pictures of the horror that abortion really is.

We can't say we haven't been warned. The message of Fatima, Akita & many other approved apparitions has been a call to pray & repentance for our sins. We haven't headed it as fully as we should have. The result is that probably won't be able to fully avoid the coming chastisement. Sr, Lucia is supposed to have said that very thing a couple years before she died. We can mitigate some of what lies ahead, but she felt we were too far gone to fully prevent the chastisement that God sent Mary to warn us about.

I have often decried the fact that most of our Bishops have failed, or fallen short in their responsibilities as shepherds. The same is true about priests. Many of them have failed, & at times even sold out to the culture rather than work to change it. But, despite their failures, that fact doesn't let us laity off the hook.

I say to all of us, the time is short, very short. We need to ask ourselves, are we doing all that we are called to do? Are we letting God guide us by seeking His face in prayer? Are we surrendering to the leading, the guidance of the Holy Spirit? Are we letting the Holy Spirit empower us to do what God has charged us to do? Are we on God's side in this battle?

I know that I am trying. No, I am not always perfect. I fall short. When I do, I ask God for forgiveness & go on. There are many of us who are undergoing attacks because we are standing up for the truth. Many of us are paying the price to some extent or another. We are being attacked financially, physically, spiritually. For many, not even their closest friends know the full extent of their suffering. Yet few of us have paid the full price required of us.

God is calling to each of us. He wants us to answer the call. He calls us to pray, He calls us to act. Are you willing to answer the call? & if you are answering the call, are you willing to answer it more fully?

_________________

Beofre I add the postscript I have to say that the 1st person I am regularly asking those questions of is myself. If I don't then I have no right to be asking anyone else.

That having been said, I have to add a postscript to mention a book I got over the past weekend, A Humble Plea. This book was written by Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue. I haven't finished it yet, but it confirmed a lot of what I said above. It is aimed primarily to the Catholic Bishops of America, but has plenty for all of us. Another book I again recommend to fire you up is Judy Brown's Saving Those Damned Catholics. We MUST pray. I have talked about some prayer initiatives & will talk about some others in the days ahead. There are many good Pro-Life organizations that need any financial aide we can give them. The other side is well funded. We have a duty to help. I repeat, we must say yes to God's call. We must pay the price He asks of us.

Make no mistake, we are in a battle. & thus we need to be fully armed. At times it will seem like things are getting darker. But we can't give up. There are signs of hope, including on the political front. But if we sit back & don't go on, we will lose much of what we have gained. God is openning many doors & offering us many oportunities to work for the "Culture of Life". & there is a cost. But if we are willing to say yes, then someday, sooner for some of us, later for others, today for a few, then 1 day we will be able to stand before God & hear him say: "Well done good & faithful servant." While behind us we will hear the cheers of those who we fought to save from abortion welcoming us.