Fortitude

Another great article found in Our Sunday Visitor (OSV). I hope you have the time to read it. It starts:

A while back I heard a homilist quote a cardinal who heads a major American archdiocese: “I will die in my bed, my successor will die in prison, and his successor will die a martyr in the public square.”
The homilist didn’t leave it at that. “The persecution of the Church in America isn’t coming,” he told the congregation grimly, “it’s already here.”
This is a man not much given to flamboyant rhetoric. His text was from St. Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy, with its exhortation to Christians to “bear your share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God” (2 Tm 1:8).
Bearing hardship for the Gospel is central to fortitude. American Catholics soon may be called to practice fortitude by bearing more of it than many suppose. 

Please go here to read the entire article.

These are trying times for Catholics. We must have the fortitude, will, and strength to defend our faith. There are times to be silent, there are times to turn the other cheek, and there are times, like now, to speak out and defend our faith. We cannot bury our heads in the sand.

What can you do? A lot. Speak up. If nothing else, contact your local, state and federal representatives. Get to know what is happening. Do not rely on the media – they are in the secularist/socialist camp. Join political action groups. Know the facts, so you can speak of the issues with you family, neighbors and friends.

Remember Cardinal George’s words: “I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history.” This may happen sooner than Cardinal George see it.

Sadly, there are many of us who decided to vote what we think would fatten our pocket books instead of our faith. Now we need to deal with the consequences. We cannot now stand idly by.

“I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history.”