Today we have a guest blogger from Fr. Arthur F. Rojas, administrator of PRESENTATION OF THE B.V.M CHURCH, PORT EWEN AND SACRED HEART CHURCH, ESOPUS. For more information on this parish, check out their website at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary & Sacred Heart Churches - Port Ewen - Esopus, NY (presentationsacredheart.org)
Meditation
by Fr. Arthur F. Rojas regarding the VII Sunday
of Easter (sent May 26, 2022) © All Rights Reserved ©
Alleluia! Christ is risen! Indeed, He is risen! Alleluia!
At this point in time, we
Catholics in America are at a crossroads of Easter joy and Pentecostal hope, of
the coarsening secularization of American culture whilst our parish and
other local Catholics aim to revive the Church in our county. If we truly believe that the Risen Christ
ascended into Heaven in body and soul, then we Catholics are called to
respond in body and soul in every sphere of life to the awesome event of
the Ascension, for where He is in body and soul, there we should
strive to be one day through our transformation by seeking, cooperating
with, and sharing God’s grace. However, recent
events remind us that if mankind seeks to make Heaven on Earth or our idea
of the “perfect society” without God and His teachings at the center of our
lives, then as shown throughout human history, we end up making our
very own Hells on Earth, with our children miseducated, indoctrinated,
malformed, and confused holding up to us a mirror of what we have taught them
is truly important.
As we reflect this Memorial Day
weekend on the centuries of sacrifice of American military and
diplomatic personnel to preserve our sovereignty as a nation, arguably more
than ever before we Catholics and all of us Americans are confronted with
the questions: What did these fellow
Americans die for? For what do
our neighbors in uniform risk life and limb today? How much longer will we Catholic
Americans stay quiet, cowed, or indifferent as admittedly powerful interests seek
to change our pronouns and vocabulary, our society, and even our understanding
of the human person in ways imagined largely by science fiction writers not so
long ago?
Framed by Ascension Thursday and
Pentecost Sunday, these last days of Eastertide provide the Catholic
response to the nihilistic despair coarsening how we live today. The response is twofold: to look up to Heaven in prayer and awe
as occurred at the Ascension and then with the fire and the force of the
Holy Spirit, to go out of ourselves with the joyful valor of Pentecost
to offer our fellow Americans the hope and the purpose that only Christ gives
to mankind, to bear witness that America must not give up being one
nation under God. America will become great
again only when she is good again.
America will not become good again unless we Americans turn anew
to God and His ways in our daily lives. These
ends are worth praying for, striving for, sacrificing for, and even dying
for. John 17:25-26.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! Indeed, He is risen! Alleluia!
Wow! Thank you, Father, for your courage & holy boldness in delivering this message!
ReplyDeleteI agree that more important than making America GREAT is making America GOOD (the secret of America's greatest that Alec DeToqueville found) & we cannot truly be good without GOD!