I have just returned from Louisiana and Mississippi where, indeed, the grace of Christ was made manifest among us. I will never forget the picture I saw when I opened my eyes on the last evening during our closing time of Adoration. Dozens of people from the nearly packed church surrounded the altar, many weeping, as they gazed at the Eucharistic face of Christ in the monstrance. They gathered around Jesus like sheep longing for a shepherd to make them safe and secure in His presence.
For my part, I feel the Lord has given me a different kind of boldness in these days. It is the fruit, in many ways, of our times simply coming into more focus. A spiritual milestone was reached with the writing of The Great Culling. With it, we are able to read in precise terms what the “end times” looks like: it is the “culture of life” versus the “culture of death”.
This struggle parallels the apocalyptic combat described in [Rev 11:19-12:1-6, 10 on the battle between” the woman clothed with the sun” and the “dragon”]. Death battles against Life: a “culture of death” seeks to impose itself on our desire to live, and live to the full… Vast sectors of society are confused about what is right and what is wrong, and are at the mercy of those with the power to “create” opinion and impose it on others. —POPE JOHN PAUL II, Cherry Creek State Park Homily, Denver, Colorado,
That’s why, when I am preaching in the various churches and I quote John Paul II’s words that we are “facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-church, the Gospel and the anti-Gospel…”, I always add the words, “…the woman clothed with the sun versus the dragon, the culture of life versus the culture of death, Christ versus the Antichrist.” That, and there is a certain boldness borne in the urgency of our times. Who, that is not prayerfully “watching and praying,” cannot see that the stability of the world hangs now by a thread?Continue reading
