I have met too many people who think they are living in safe lands. Like the Hobbits at the start of their journey, some people are cooking on Weathertop, sending huge signs to the enemy as to their whereabouts. Unable to make the transition from false safety to dangerous journey, they continue as if the times were presenting the same-old security of the past.
Not so.
Poor Aragorn, trying so hard to protect the naive Hobbits, had to then save Frodo from death after the horrendous attack. This attack would have never happened if the party of Hobbits had been prudent and alert.
Cooking on Weathertop is not an activity those in the Early Church enjoyed. They were on the alert, not only because of persecution, but in order to avoid occasions of sin. We daily pray to Our Father, "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil". The assumption must be that we do not then place ourselves in the presence of evil and then expect God to save us. The sin of presumption covers this attitude.
No longer can Catholics remain naive. One must remove one's self from danger but not cooking on Weathertop. At no time, can one put down one's spiritual defenses.
We are in a war, the war for our souls. Some of us are on the front lines, some in the middle of the units, some in the back or on the sides. None are excused from this battle.
For some reason, people seem nostalgic about the past and believe there was a time when the Catholic Church was not fighting for her very presence in the world.
For over 1,300 years, Christians fought the Muslims. That group was only one of many enemies of the Church. Catholics lost the battle in England and the other countries which became Protestant.
This battle for the hearts, minds and souls continues unabated. Those who think they can take catnaps in the trenches simply do not understand what is at stake.
