Interesting, I just got into my email box the text of the sermon of Cardinal Burke at Ramsgate last week. The link is here.
However, I did not read the text until now and find that the Cardinal, also, refers to Satan trying to destroy the Church as I wrote yesterday. I am encouraged by his references, as I can say I am on the right track with my assessment of the problem.
Here is part of his talk:
Surely, too, we are conscious of the great challenges in living the apostolic faith in our time. Truly, Satan, “a murderer from the beginning” and “the father of lies”(7), cannot stand the truth and love of Christ shining forth in His holy Church. He never takes repose from his deceitful and hateful labors. He is always trying to corrupt the truth, the beauty and the goodness which Christ never ceases to pour forth into our Christian souls from His glorious pierced Heart. The pervasive confusion and grave error about the most fundamental truths, the most beautiful realities, and the lasting goods of human life and its cradle, the human family, as they come to us from the hand of God, are the tragic signs of Satan’s presence in our midst. When we see how he has succeeded in corrupting a culture which was once Christian and in sowing the seeds of confusion and error even within the Church herself, we can easily become frightened and discouraged.
The corruption in the Church is of the intellect, which is why I am writing this series. We have handed Satan our schools and parishes on a platter by ignoring how he is attacking us-in the very basic truths of the Church which must be explained through reason.
An emotional church would not be a Catholic Church, but something much less.
I watched a video of a supposed discussion with Muslims concerning the death of apostates. Some of the Muslims involved began accusing people of racism and attack because they did not want to answer the questions rationally, because they did not want to reveal the truths of their faith. Truth must prevail in all discussions, not purposeful obfuscation.
We cannot fall into this position of avoiding the tough questions. That is how Satan wins the battle-by undermining the creed, code and cult--beliefs, laws and liturgy. Unless we understand the whys, the whats, the whos, the whens and the wheres, we are living like prostestants, and falling into anti-intellectual ideologies.
Reason will always lead to truth and truth leads one to Christ and the Catholic Church.
