These friends of hers go to retreats regularly, say the rosary at least once a week, go to Sunday Mass, and attend conferences run by various Catholic groups. And, yet, these people do not want to discuss what we all have been reading in the news as it if could happen here.
Another friend of mine has told me that her friends are stuck in the same mode of wanting to pretend the world is the same as it was in 1980. And, a third friend just told me the women in her life do not want to discuss the future of the Church and the reality of persecution.
This is a serious trend. I cannot but think that what my three lady friends are experiencing is not more widespread. I have written about Catholic "ostriches" on this blog for years. I am beginning to wonder why these ladies, (all are women, which is interesting), avoid reality. As I know some of the groupings, I can say that one who does not want "to talk about unpleasant things" is a TLM goer.
Hmmm.
I have only heard one priest in all my life in America preach on persecution from the pulpit.
Why are not more priests preparing their people for the trials which are now obvious?
Why are so many women hiding in shopping, entertainment, family and not wanting to pray about the times? My friend of nine years and my friend of four years lament this blindness.
Why are some people "awake" and some not?
I have two theories. One is that people do not know how to pray. This may surprise you as a topic connected to being an ostrich, but if a person really prays for truth, God will answer her prayers.
Are we praying for a complete lack of deceit in our souls, minds, imaginations? Are we praying to be purified? When one begins to face the evil in one's self, one realizes the evil one is capable of doing. Humility leads to reality. No longer does sin surprise one, as one sees the world as God sees us all.
If prayer if not sincerely about repentance and not centered on the love, justice and mercy of God, one is missing the point of prayer.
When we turn our minds and hearts to God in prayer, we face Him and He in turn looks at us. Suddenly, we face our own inadequacies and failings in the Light of Truth. Christ explained to us a deep reality:
John 14:6 Douay-Rheims
6 Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me.
There is only one way to God the Father and that is through Jesus Christ. He is the Truth.
The second reason why these women in these groups, (some are prayer groups), do not want to hear the Truth is the fear of death. Now, we should fear our particular judgment and not be in the sin of presumption. We should fear God in a good and holy way. But, to fear death means that one is not preparing for death.
Avoiding unpleasant subjects reveals a soul running away from God and the final end of each one of us.
I believe these women in these prayer groups and in my friends' lives do sense that they are hiding. But, how does one stop running away from the Truth, Who Is a Person? There is only one way-real prayer.
Christ taught us the Our Father. The very first words present us with an act of faith. We proclaim God as Father, my Father and yours. Then, we state that He is Spirit, that He is in Glory, in heaven. We follow that with praise-His Name is Holy.
By this time, we are in the Presence of God, by addressing Him. We then proclaim that His Kingdom is to come and that His Will is to be done-not ours, not a group's, not a nation's. At this point, we have given our wills to God, and are asking Him to manifest His Will, not ours.
This is the beginning of all real prayer. We pray for God's Will, not our own, daily, constantly. Only after doing this, do we petition.
Real prayer is wanting, asking for God's Will to be done, not ours. Those who hide, hide from God's Will.
Real prayer is not only the "lifting of the mind and heart to God" but the placing of one's will on the altar of sacrifice.
Those who hide and run away from the truth have not given up their wills to God and cannot, therefore, see the signs of the times.
This passage below reminds us that Christ gave us warnings of being ready. I am not predicting the eminent coming of Christ, but I can predict that we shall all die and meet God. Our particular judgment is our encounter with the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Can we afford to be ostriches?
Matthew 24:37-39 Douay-Rheims
37 And as in the days of Noe, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For
as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, even till that day in which Noe entered
into the ark,
39 And they knew not till the flood came, and took them all away; so also shall the coming of the Son of man be.
In some illustrations of Noah and the Ark, people are depicted as laughing at Noah and indicating that he is crazy. He was absolutely sane and he listened to God. Real prayer is listening.