History Is Repeating Itself
Back in the Old Testament books of Machabees we read the story of the Machabee family who let the battle against the attempts of the hellenizers to get the Jewish people to abandon their faith. 1 story tells od an old man who chose to die rather than eat pork. Then there is the story of the 7 brothers who were killed 1 at a time in front of their mother rather than eat pork. We read how Queen Esther was used to protect the Jewish people when an attempt was made to destroy them because they were unwilling to abandon their faith. There are many other stories of those who refused to compromise their faith in the Old Testament.
Then in the New Testament book of Acts we read how the early Church willingly faced death rather than be silent about Jesus. Stephen the Deacon, Paul, Peter etc, time after time refused to compromise. Next we look to the 1st couple of centuries after Jesus was assumed into Heaven. We read story after story of saint after saint who chose to die rather than offer incense to the pagan gods. When told to curse Jesus, St. Polycarp replied: "Fourscore and six years have I served Him, and he has done me no harm. How then can I curse my King that saved me." He was martyred. Century after century we see the same thing. In Europe, Asia, the Americas, Africa we see men & women who remain faithful & were willing to lay down their lives rather than compromis their faith. People like Charles Lwanga & his 21 companions martyred by King Mwanga between 1885-87. Many of them were killed because they spoke out against the king's homosexual practices, some for protecting young boys from the king's preditory practices. Others were killed for denouncing his killings of Christians, Catholic as well as protestant. He killed several Christians out of fear the truth would bet back to Europe. All of them refused to abandon their fath.
Fast forward to 21st Century America. It looks like we are fast heading in the same direction. Recently I posted about the EEOC ruling that said Belmont Abbey had to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives. I have put up several posts about laws & executive orders that say pharmacists must dispense contraceptives & the abortion pill even if they are morally opposed. Now we have a new law passed in Wisconsin (see link below) that requires Catholic institutions to provide contraceptive coverage in their insurance plan. ObamaCare threatens the possibility of requiring Catholic hospitals to do abortions. Then there was the NY nurse who was forced to help with an abortion. As an aside, where is the EEOC on this 1? (again below) The Canadian Supreme Court just ruled that a person has to pay his taxes even though they help fund abortions. (yet again below) In at least 1 state Catholic Charities quit offering adoptions rather than serve homosexual couples as the state law required. I could go on & on.
While we are not there yet, how long will it be before we face open season on Catholics & other Christians who stand up for life & morality? As you can see, the 1st shots are being fired. Soon you will see more people like the woman in Canada & the pastor in California arrested for defying laws to silence them. How long until it will be OK for the government to kill us just like the Roman empire did?
We need to keep praying & battling the "culture of death". I don't say the above to discourage anyone, but to encourage us. I am following the example of the Jewish mother in 2 Machabees 7 who chose to encourage her sons to faithfulness, thus being martyred herself. In the end, the "culture of life" will triumph. The seed for that triumph may have to be sown with our blood as the seed as it has so many times before in the history of the Church. I hope we won't have to, but if the day comes, I pray to God for all the graces I need so that I will not stumble at the end. (As Corrie ten Boom said in The Hiding Place, that I will take the train ticket from my Heavenly Father.)
Meanwhile, with the help of God, I will try to do my best to be faithful & call on all of you out there to do the same, no matter the cost. For you can be sure there will be some cost for all of us, even if it isn't our lives. All I can promise you is that, no matter what it is, in the end, it will be more than worth it.
posted by Al @ 4:58 AM
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