A Need for a Crusade: A Spiritual Crusade

“…reality of yours has been chosen by the Lord to make you "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people who are his own" (I Pt 2:9). In a word, he has chosen you to be a Christian people. In fact, by Baptism you have been incorporated into the Catholic Church, which has come to be a constitutive part of your identity. Precisely out of this identity springs the following question: What mission do you have today as a Christian People? The answer comes out of the very condition of the baptized: you have been called by the Lord to live and proclaim his Gospel in the world…that your mission is to bear witness to your faith before the world.”-St Pope John Paul II

In modern society, we as Catholics have to fight in three frontiers. One frontier it is against Christian fundamentalism, the other frontier is false faiths, and the third and most dangerous frontier, and it is the frontier of secularism.

On the First Frontier

The first frontier it is not just the idea of fighting one or two sects, it is the war against Protestantism. But, why should we dwell a war against our Christian brothers? Well, we are not fighting them, they are fighting a false-man system of beliefs. “Why?” You might wonder, well let’s talk about this. The closer relationship a man can have with Jesus Christ, it is through the Eucharist that we get closer to Christ, “I was caught up in spirit on the Lord’s Day and heard behind me a voice as loud as a trumpet. Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and when I tuned, I saw seven gold lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a Son of man, wearing an ankle-length robe, with a gold sash around his chest.” (Revelation1:10,12-13). For Christ, he is eternal salvation, given to us in the most Holy thing that is on Earth, the almighty Eucharist, for the Bible teaches us, “…This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (St John 6:29,33)

Christ, he is the one that came down from heaven, not only he came down to meet humankind, he came and died for our sins, the Eucharist, and the Calvary are sides of the same coin. “…I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” (St John 6:35) For the Eucharist is the way of never to be hungry, the eternal beauty of love, and exactly, one year after this event, Jesus leads us to know more about the sacrament of the Eucharist in the last supper, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.” (St John 15:1), “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, from now on I shall not drink this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it with you in the kingdom of my Father.” (St Matthew 26:26-29).

For how can we truly know Christ, when we don’t truly experience His Divine presence in the Eucharist? For Christ, He is so present in the Eucharist, that He is the Lamb of the New Covenant. In the Old Testament, when Moses prepared to free his people from Egypt, they slaughtered a healthy lamb (Christ was a healthy Lamb). The blood of the lamb was used to mark all windows and doors of the house, so the angel of death will not enter those houses (Jesus’ blood marks us, he defeats death, and opens heaven to us, his blood mark us with the sign of life). Then the Jews proceeded to eat the meat of the Lamb that they slaughtered in the family (We proceed to eat the meat of the New Lamb as well, for “this is my Body” and “This is my blood” were words Jesus said). (Rf. Exodus 12:1-36). Therefore, Jesus, whom we truly know is the Lamb of God, “…Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (St John 1:29), “Then I saw standing in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and the elders a Lamb that seemed to have been slain.” (Revelation 5:6). Therefore, we must ask ourselves, should we not invite all of those who call themselves Christians, and are our siblings in Christ to partake part in the meal? The answer is yes, therefore, silence is not an option, but we are the call to bring the prodigal children back to the House of the Father.

The Second Frontier

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (St Matthew 28:19). How many times have we heard this verse? Before starting this article, I prayed, and told God to guide my hands and eyes through the Bible, so I would be able to come across with the words that He wishes that I use, you all read the first part of this blog, and those are not my words, but the words of Christ, I am just an instrument. Therefore, when we are told to make disciples of all nations, should we not have faith, faith as big as the slave, “‘For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it’ When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him and, turning, said to the crowd following him, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”’ (St Luke 7:8-9).

Do we have such faith as this slave, faith that make us obey our Lord? Do we do the will of God, or the will of society? For I tell you, we must confess the Lord with our hearts and our minds. (Rf. Hebrews 13:15 & Romans 14:11). We must not approach the Muslim, the Jew, the Mormon, the Hindu… with hate and hostility, rather, we must approach them as we approach a baby. A baby is a fragile creature new to the world, we don’t approach the little human child and tell him, “You are stupid and wrong.” Are we trying to raise the baby to be broken? No, the same way we approach the baby with love and understanding that he/she might do something wrong since they know no better, the same way we should approach those who for not their fault lie in the land of errors. They did not choose to carry those errors for so long, they received them from their ancestors, can we blame a tree to be born next to our house, when the seed did not choose to be planted there, rather it was carried by the wind or an animal? No, we must remember the words of Christ that say, “Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you” (St Matthew 7:1-2).

When we approach those who live in error, we must do it with the heart full of love, and we must remember that sometimes the best way to preach the Gospel is through our smile and actions. Therefore, as crusaders of the new Evangelization, we must see, and think one simple question, what are the Gospels? I believe the Gospels are symbols of love, and with love we will conquer the second frontier, with love, we will show the world the will of Christ, of course, for the same love, we must not allow heresies to enter our life, rather that love will guide those in errors into the House of the Father and the same love will destroy all heresies when you less expected.

The Third Frontier

A society that embraces sin, and denies God is a society for men of this world, a society that is hated by men of this world, and loved by God, is a society that belongs to the New Jerusalem. “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you” (St John 15:18). In the world where our children are more exposed to nudity, than they are to the Bible, whose fault should this be, the child or the family?

Let’s recall what a faith community is, it is a community where we all eat together, therefore, are we as a community growing in the family? Are we to start becoming a family? The hardest part of this is to actually analyze the way of fighting secularism is not by throwing Bible verses to seculars, rather, it is by creating men who become knights. A man who wears the armor of God is an invincible man. The armor protects us against darkness, and Satan knows this because when you are closer to God, and you pray, go to Mass, read your Bible, aren’t you happier? We must focus on the family, for example, if the parents, rather than reading the Bible with the kids, let the kids play games that involve guns, drugs and prostitution, aren’t the parents exposing the kids to Satan? For all evil is the absence of God, and last time I checked, many video games picture this extremely well, many reasons they are rated M. To fight secularism we do not need to conquer Rome, nor to just protest outside Congress or Parliament, no we need to start the protest by teaching our kids. We teach our kids, our kids teach their friends, their friends teach their friends…and when you less expected monasteries, churches, and the world will be so full of Catholics, that we will start debating which Gospel reflects more the family rather than which car is cooler, yes because to attach ourselves to the Kingdom of Christ, it means to detach ourselves from this world.

There are three frontiers, and the three are connected, but only through love, family values and the love for the Bible and the Eucharist, we as a Catholics will be able to say one day “God we did it, mission accomplished.” Therefore, remember this, in your right hand carry your Bible, in your left hand the rosary, and in your heart and mind, carry God, and then Satan will flee when your name will be mentioned, for darkness has already lost the battle, and the Lamb of God has won.