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The days of Saints and Sinners Who will defend our Faith?
How do you write about those chosen to live and die for the Church? We had to do a great deal of praying; the lives of these Defenders of the Faith, Saints of the Counter-Reformation filled us with joy and pride to be Catholic, but also with awareness of the role Our Lord is asking all of us to play, in this the days of Super Saints and Deluded Sinners.
As never before, we must be an educated people. The most important education, and yet the shortest one, the most neglected one, has been the very learning that could save our souls, the souls of our families and those of the world, that of our Faith and those who came before us, the Catholic Saints.
In this world of deceit and delusion, where we don't know who to believe, we need to read about Heroes and anti-heroes; we need to learn about Saints and sinners.
Catholic Saints took up their crosses and followed Him, losing life on earth for a greater eternal life with Him in Heaven. And yes, my brothers and sisters, there is a Heaven.
Possibly no time in the History of the Church and the world have we been so close to losing lives and souls. Oh, nations have been under attack in the past, with almost whole continents standing on the edge of a precipice of annihilation; but never has the world faced total destruction. Because of the hi-tech global telecommunication of today, the evil that man does in the darkness of his soul, is soon broadcast throughout the world, affecting millions of people. We can hear the Lord crying out, Whom can I send to save My children from inevitable slaughter? For He has always summoned people like you and me, to go out and defend His Church and save the innocent lambs who could be lost, without someone to bring them the Truth, Who is Jesus.
In this day of Catholic Saints and sinners, where we are so often confused, we do not know Saints from sinners, we need to know the Saints of the past, those who defended their Church and through their faithfulness, living out the Gospel and teaching the Magisterium, led future generations to know and live a Journey to Sainthood. We need to know, so that we can read the road map, the Lord has laid out for us, the road to our Salvation and that of the world. Because the evil that man does, does live after him; but so does the good.
Embrace the Cross. You were born to defend not only the Church, but to embrace this Cross of Salvation, to willingly bear it when, like their Savior before them they were persecuted for speaking the Truth. It is about those Catholic Saints who discovered Jesus through His walk to Calvary and to the Cross. Saints loved the Catholic Church which flowed from the Heart of Our Savior on that Cross, so passionately the enticements of this world faded into so much straw (St. Thomas Aquinas).
Who will the Lord send today? Is it you, a member of your family, a friend, a fellow parishioner, a bishop, priest or religious you know? And what part will you have played? Feel the urgency with which Jesus walked the earth.
The time to act is now. We can make a difference! A little boy at Capharnaum brought up to Jesus what little he had, and Jesus blessed it, gave it to His disciples to distribute and they fed thousands of the children of God. This was with just five loaves and two fish? But it was Jesus' blessing that multiplied it to where, after feeding the multitudes there were twelve baskets full. What can you do? What part are you called to play? That of the little boy or have you been chosen to distribute the Word of God that has been blessed by Jesus, Who left its care in the hands of our first Pope and the first twelve apostles?
What can you do? St. Augustine said "Tolle lege!" Take and read about your family, the Catholic Saints who earned the titles in Heaven of Defenders of the Faith. Become a part of today's army of Defenders of the Faith which will usher the Church into the Third Millennium, victorious, triumphant!
Jesus loves you! Jesus needs you! Jesus wants you!
Check out the Catholic Saints DVDs list here.
We are in serious times, but not in impossible times. God is still in charge; He is always in charge; and we hold on to what His Mother Mary said in Pontmain, France, when she appeared in 1871, "But pray my children. God will soon answer your prayers. My Son allows Himself to be touched." Is not Our Lady saying, Our Lord is listening; He loves us and will keep us out of harm's way, if only we pray?
Saint Augustine tells us that the sin of Adam was Pride and Humanism, the desire to be independent of God and His Grace and dependent on no one but himself.
Unlike the Angels, who were given one chance--to choose Heaven or hell, their choice irreversible, man is given options; he can elect to either follow man's first father Adam or Our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ; through one, the gates of Heaven were closed to man; and by the Sacrifice of the Other they were opened! Likewise, when we choose, are we not making a choice between God and the devil, between the pursuit of Heaven or hell?
St. Augustine said, when God created man, God also created a bridge which connected Adam (and humanity) with God. When Adam sinned against His Creator and Father, he lifted his side of the bridge cutting himself off from God; and then because of Adam's disobedience and defiance, God lifted His side of the bridge, leaving Adam and man to himself. When Jesus suffered and died for us on the Cross, He lowered the bridge on both sides, on one side as God and on the other as Man. As Adam had sinned, a new Adam had to suffer to bring about reconciliation with the Father; and Jesus said Yes!
Why has man turned his back on the Supernatural-God, and has chosen to follow the natural-man? It doesn't make sense adoring the created rather than the Creator of all that is created. Even without touching upon eternal life in Heaven versus temporal or temporary life on earth, let us consider how lasting, how rewarding the prizes of this life are. Houses get old, sometimes past repair; and if not, a storm comes and the house you so loved is swept away. You cannot rely on clothes which the world is designing into obsolescence faster than you can wear them out. Most cars are designed to last until your final payment is made. Man relying on self does the best job he can, for the god of materialism--the corporation, and before he can reap the benefits promised, he is down-sized, a Twentieth Century word for fired, not because he failed the company but because he invested his life and soul in man, not God, and man betrayed him.
Man is living as if this is all there is. What happens when he finds that less and less brings him the joy he craves? Does he try a little more evil, a little more self-gratification? When man decides for the world, he trades in the most cherished distinction between him and all God's other creatures--the Image of God in him, for the reflection of the most depraved of all beasts, one who wanders the earth stalking the innocent, bent on taking souls with him into his final reward in the bowels of hell.
We are living in a time when we are mocked if we believe in Heaven, Hell and Purgatory, oftentimes from within our own beloved churches. We are told there is no such thing as sin, only psychosis; and so less and less take advantage of the Sacrament of Penance and more and more are seeking out man's help on a Psychiatrist's couch. Prior to World War II, a small percentage of Catholics (barely 10%) went to Psychologists or Psychiatrists; today the figures are closer to 40% seeking answers to their troubled lives, rather than seeking reconciliation through the Sacrament of Penance. And yet, a survey made by the American Psychiatric Association revealed that it takes at least four sessions before the patient and therapist achieve the trust level that a penitent has the first time he walks into the confessional.
What do we believe? Do we Catholics not believe that the Eucharist is Jesus truly Present in our Church! Do we not believe that the antithesis of Jesus is the devil; and that the sin of the devil, which got him cast out of Heaven, was Pride; and did not the devil use that same sin to lure Adam into sinning against God, resulting in his being banished from God's presence; and is it not our creed that Jesus died on the Cross, that the devil would not be victorious, and that we would live eternally in the Kingdom?
When God created man, He carefully differentiated between man and animal, giving man a body and soul and animal only a body; in so doing He entrusted man to look after those without a soul--the animal kingdom. When the flesh controls the soul, man falls to a creature below that of the animal world, seeking pleasure in the vilest of fashions, accounting to no one, not even his God.
We lived through the Second World War and saw the inhumane, methodical slaughter of God's people because of greed and jealousy, a madman and a powerful propaganda machine breeding hate and division.
Jesus spoke of these latter days, when He said, "There will be mother against daughter, and daughter against mother." Is this not mother against child, performing a selfish criminal act, below that of the animal world, which cries out to Heaven? A female animal will ferociously protect her offspring from all possible harm, even ready to fight the male parent, should he venture too close to her pups, fearing, as in the case of wolves, he attack and eat the cub.
There is no accountability, today! Who will pay for the slaughter of so many innocent babies?
Check out the Catholic Saints Audiobooks list here.
As we have said so many times before, our Church is perfect - perfect because she was founded by the Perfect One - Jesus Christ. Our Church is precious, more precious than the most beautiful, costly diamond in the world; because the cost was, and continues to be so high - higher than any price ever paid for a priceless jewel. And why is she so precious? What was the cost? Our Church flowed from the very Heart of Jesus, pierced out of love for us. And well, you might ask, if this Church is so perfect, why this book, why any book about the ongoing blood, sweat and tears shed by those who adore Jesus and His Church?
We are told that the Church is nourished by the blood of the martyrs. But there are many types of martyrs, many who lived and died for Mother Church - the Names of Jesus and Mary on their lips. Many of those Saints you will read about could have touched the world without being part of Mother Church, could have been accepted by the world solely by their merits. Then why did they choose to serve God, often suffering the malignant slings of slander, the judgments of those who misunderstood them and mistreatment at the hands of those they trusted? Why? The answer can be found in any Catholic Church - in the Tabernacle - on the Altar during any Holy Mass. It is He, Our Savior, Who is with us, as He promised, to the end of time. It is He Who is in the Church He founded, never leaving her an orphan, as He promised. This Savior stole their hearts and they would never be the same - suffering any cost, any wounds, any attacks - all for the Mother (Church) they fell in love with, as their hearts were being won by her Founder.
We are told that many of the great writers or artists, for that matter, were not accepted in their lifetime. Then why did they do it? We believe the answer can be found in the lives of the Saints you will be reading about, because they were compelled to; there was a wind at their backs propelling them forward to their writing pads or canvases. The best way to explain why they chose the path they did is to go to Hebrews 11:13, "All of these (Catholic Saints) died in faith. They did not obtain what had been promised but saw and saluted it from afar." For us, the key words here are "...saw and saluted it from afar." They trusted in God; they had Faith in God, and while possibly everyone else in the world let them down, He did not disappoint them.
There is a love story that has to be told. For us, the love story is about Mother Church, her founder Jesus Christ, His Mother Mary, all the Catholic Saints and the Angels. They are like photos on the wall, or in an album, that have no meaning unless they are shared.
We want to shout, along with the Saints we are writing about, from the roof tops, from the mountain peaks - We are in love! And because we are in love, we write. And because they were in love, they served Jesus through Mother Church, without looking at the end of the story, without any promises, sometimes lonely and forsaken - always faithful.
The greatest betrayals, the ones that wound the most, are the attacks from within the family. We, who are part of the Body of Christ, are part of a large beautiful family. Only sometimes members of the family forget to look into the mirror Jesus holds up to all of us and they give in to the traps of the world; the result - good people doing bad things. Now, don't get us wrong. We are not excusing or downplaying the iniquities suffered by our Saints, at the hands of those who promised to be faithful and lost their ways. Nor are we judging those who inflicted the mortal wounds borne by our Saints. Sometimes, even for us, as writers, it is hard to separate the act from the actor. If we looked at the guilty, with the loving Eyes of Jesus, most likely we would see those who have fallen, as they once were, full of innocence and dedication - commitment and truth their standard. Sadly they forgot that the deeds that man does live after him.
But this book is not about those who inflicted pain, but those upon whom pain was inflicted, and how, against tremendous odds, they remained true to their calling and became Saints! Get to know these Saints. Get inside their souls. Let them influence you on your pilgrimage of life. They are there for you; they will help you; they will take you gently by the hand and walk you right past St. Peter through the Pearly Gates, to the Kingdom of God. And you will at last be with Family. You will be Home! Come! Let us begin!
