division

The Great Divide

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I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!…
Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.
From now on a household of five will be divided,
three against two and two against three…

(Luke 12:49-53)

So a division occurred in the crowd because of him.
(John 7:43)

 

I LOVE that word from Jesus: “I have come to set the earth on fire and how I wish it were already blazing!” Our Lord wants a People who are on fire with love. A People whose life and presence ignites others to repent and seek their Savior, thereby expanding the mystical Body of Christ.

And yet, Jesus follows this word with a warning that this Divine Fire will actually divide. It doesn’t take a theologian to understand why. Jesus said, “I am the truth” and we see daily how His truth divides us. Even Christians who love the truth can recoil when that sword of truth pierces their own heart. We can become proud, defensive, and argumentative when faced with the truth of ourselves. And is it not true that today we see the Body of Christ being broken and divided again in a most egregious way as bishop opposes bishop, cardinal stands against cardinal — just as Our Lady predicted at Akita?

 

The Great Purification

The past two months whilst driving back and forth numerous times between Canadian provinces to move my family, I have had a lot of hours to reflect on my ministry, what is happening in the world, what is happening in my own heart. In summary, we are passing through one of the greatest purifications of humanity since the Flood. That means we are also being sifted like wheat — everyone, from pauper to pope. Continue reading →

Burning Coals

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THERE is so much war. War between nations, war between neighbours, war between friends, war between families, war between spouses. I am sure every one of you is a casualty in some way of what has taken place over the past two years. The divisions I see between people are bitter and deep. Perhaps at no other time in human history do the words of Jesus apply so readily and on such a massive scale:Continue reading →

There is Only One Barque

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…as the Church’s one and only indivisible magisterium,
the pope and the bishops in union with him,
carry the gravest responsibility that no ambiguous sign
or unclear teaching comes from them,
confusing the faithful or lulling them
into a false sense of security. 
—Cardinal Gerhard Müller,
former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
First Things, April 20th, 2018

It is not a question of being ‘pro-’ Pope Francis or ‘contra-’ Pope Francis.
It is a question of defending the Catholic faith,
and that means defending the Office of Peter
to which the Pope has succeeded. 
—Cardinal Raymond Burke, The Catholic World Report,
January 22, 2018

 

BEFORE he passed away, almost a year ago to the day at the very start of the pandemic, the great preacher Rev. John Hampsch, C.M.F. (c. 1925-2020) wrote me a letter of encouragement. In it, he included an urgent message for all my readers:Continue reading →

A House Divided

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THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for October 10th, 2014

Liturgical texts here

 

 

“EVERY kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house.” These are Christ’s words in today’s Gospel that must surely reverberate among the Synod of Bishops gathered in Rome. As we listen to the presentations coming forth on how to deal with today’s moral challenges facing families, it is clear that there are great gulfs between some prelates as to how to deal with sin. My spiritual director has asked me to speak about this, and so I will in another writing. But perhaps we should conclude this week’s meditations on the infallibility of the papacy by listening carefully to Our Lord’s words today.

Continue reading →