Please welcome my friend and colleague Chriss Rainey to the Les Femmes team. This is her first contribution as a contributor and since she isn't comfortable posting yet, I'm doing it for her. I look forward to her thoughts and opinions on a wide range of issues that affect Catholics.
by Chriss Rainey
I watched the news last night as the votes came in across Great Britain. By 11 PM I realized that in England most people were asleep and had gone to bed not knowing the outcome of this world changing referendum. Many who wanted to stay in the socialist EU woke up SHOCKED this morning. They had fooled themselves into believing they could demonize people and shame them into taking a position contrary to what they truly believe. Polls on election day indicated that the REMAIN contingent would win but, what the polls didn't take into account was the fact people were intent on following their heartfelt convictions even if they were "politically incorrect."
I have two friends and a relative in Great Britain and today I wish I could send them a congratulations note, but I am positive all three voted to REMAIN in the EU. I can't even say God Bless the UK because all three of them are atheists. I have no doubt all three of them believe I am a hater and a bigot and stupid and a lot of other things and would therefore not want to hear from me today at all.
I read something yesterday in the book, Antichrist, written in 1981 by Fr. Vincent Miceli worth pointing out here:
So what are we to do when our ideas conflict with friends, relatives, co-workers? Be exactly who you are -- CATHOLIC. Never flinch. Never hesitate. Never silence yourself or allow yourself to be silenced, but avoid believing you will ever change their mind or somehow convince them of their errors.
But what, you may say, will happen to them, if I, or we, don't show them the way to the truth? I have come to the conclusion that when people are ready to hear, when "they have ears to hear" God will give them exactly what they need. Anytime we turn toward Christ, he is there for us. A rather dramatic, almost comical example of this can be found in Acts 8:26-39. Philip is ordered by an angel to go on a desert road leading from Jerusalem to Gaza. Obediently, he did as the angel asked, and came upon an Ethiopian eunuch reading the book of the prophet Isaiah. The angel told Philip to join up with this man, which he did, and Philip asked him if he understood what he was reading. The eunuch invited him to get in his chariot and explain it to him. The eunuch had "ears to hear."
The eunuch's own curiosity, his own turning to knowledge of the truth, prompted the help of the angel. God answered his desire to know more by sending Philip, who revealed Christ to him and baptized him in water, which happened also to be available on this desert road, at the right time, for the washing away of his sins.
The most marvelous verse is 39, which says, "When they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but continued on his way rejoicing."
Our worry should not be over our ability to open someone's eyes. Grace alone can remedy that and often in the most miraculous ways. Our hope and desire must be that we hear and listen to the voice of the angel. In every way we can, Catholics must strive for a better knowledge of our doctrine, our traditions, our history and our goal of heaven, so that when we are approached, we are equipped with the truth those open to hear can embrace.
Throughout the ages, lost souls have stumbled on their own into Catholic churches and fallen on their knees at the height of their confusion and despair. Today many stumble on a website or a book that leads them to God. Even on a desert road halfway to Gaza, they will not be denied what they seek, because God is there for them always.
I watched the news last night as the votes came in across Great Britain. By 11 PM I realized that in England most people were asleep and had gone to bed not knowing the outcome of this world changing referendum. Many who wanted to stay in the socialist EU woke up SHOCKED this morning. They had fooled themselves into believing they could demonize people and shame them into taking a position contrary to what they truly believe. Polls on election day indicated that the REMAIN contingent would win but, what the polls didn't take into account was the fact people were intent on following their heartfelt convictions even if they were "politically incorrect."
I have two friends and a relative in Great Britain and today I wish I could send them a congratulations note, but I am positive all three voted to REMAIN in the EU. I can't even say God Bless the UK because all three of them are atheists. I have no doubt all three of them believe I am a hater and a bigot and stupid and a lot of other things and would therefore not want to hear from me today at all.
I read something yesterday in the book, Antichrist, written in 1981 by Fr. Vincent Miceli worth pointing out here:
"The Marxist theory of permanent class struggle rules out compromise, reform, truce, common humanity, mutual respect, family loyalties." ----Eugene Lyons, former enthusiast for the Communist cause. (p. 206 in Antichrist)And:
"See to it, Venerable Brethren, that the Faithful do not allow themselves to be deceived: Communism is intrinsically evil, and no one who would save Christian civilization may collaborate with it in any undertaking whatsoever. Those who permit themselves to be deceived into lending their aid towards the triumph of Communism in their own country, will be the first to fall victims of its error. And the greater the antiquity and grandeur of the Christian civilization in the regions where Communism successfully penetrates, so much more devastating will be the hatred displayed by the godless." ----Pope Pius XI, encyclical Atheistic Communism, 1937With reference to the efforts of Catholics to “dialogue” and collaborate with communists and socialists, which is NEVER a good thing, Pope Pius XII said the following in 1956:
“We must with deepest sadness mourn the help given by some Catholics, both ecclesiastical and lay, to the tactics of obfuscation, calculated to bring about a result that they themselves did not intend. How can they fail to see that such is the aim of all that insincere activity which hides under the name of ‘talks’ and ‘meetings’? Why enter a discussion, for that matter, without a common language, or how is it possible to meet if the paths are divergent, that is, if one party rejects or denies the common absolute values, thereby making all ‘coexistence in truth’ unattainable?
"Out of respect for the very name of Christian, compliance with such tactics should cease, for as the Apostle warns, ‘It is inconsistent to wish to sit at the table of God and at that of His enemies.’ "What the pope was saying here is that even entering a "conversation with" or a relationship with communists/socialists is a step in the wrong direction because there is no compromise or meeting in the middle when truth and error are at the same table. ERROR WINS EVERY TIME in such circumstances.
So what are we to do when our ideas conflict with friends, relatives, co-workers? Be exactly who you are -- CATHOLIC. Never flinch. Never hesitate. Never silence yourself or allow yourself to be silenced, but avoid believing you will ever change their mind or somehow convince them of their errors.
But what, you may say, will happen to them, if I, or we, don't show them the way to the truth? I have come to the conclusion that when people are ready to hear, when "they have ears to hear" God will give them exactly what they need. Anytime we turn toward Christ, he is there for us. A rather dramatic, almost comical example of this can be found in Acts 8:26-39. Philip is ordered by an angel to go on a desert road leading from Jerusalem to Gaza. Obediently, he did as the angel asked, and came upon an Ethiopian eunuch reading the book of the prophet Isaiah. The angel told Philip to join up with this man, which he did, and Philip asked him if he understood what he was reading. The eunuch invited him to get in his chariot and explain it to him. The eunuch had "ears to hear."
The eunuch's own curiosity, his own turning to knowledge of the truth, prompted the help of the angel. God answered his desire to know more by sending Philip, who revealed Christ to him and baptized him in water, which happened also to be available on this desert road, at the right time, for the washing away of his sins.
The most marvelous verse is 39, which says, "When they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but continued on his way rejoicing."
Our worry should not be over our ability to open someone's eyes. Grace alone can remedy that and often in the most miraculous ways. Our hope and desire must be that we hear and listen to the voice of the angel. In every way we can, Catholics must strive for a better knowledge of our doctrine, our traditions, our history and our goal of heaven, so that when we are approached, we are equipped with the truth those open to hear can embrace.
Throughout the ages, lost souls have stumbled on their own into Catholic churches and fallen on their knees at the height of their confusion and despair. Today many stumble on a website or a book that leads them to God. Even on a desert road halfway to Gaza, they will not be denied what they seek, because God is there for them always.
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