You've probably noticed that the world is in a mess! Francis didn't need to call on Catholics to "make a mess;" the mess already existed. Can anyone deny that the secular world rivals Noah's time? Do the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah come close to the diabolical condition of the modern era? Have you read any of the Epstein files? (I don't recommend it; just know that the evil is so satanic it boggles the mind. I had to stop looking at it and pray the St. Michael prayer.)
But it isn't just the secular world. The Church is also a mess. We're watching the Blessed Mother's warning that "Bishop would be against bishop," in real time every day. It's clear that the "smoke of Satan has entered the Church" and threatens to smother us. We desperately need God's help. We need the ark of salvation, the direct intervention of the God who saves. We have the history to prove He intervenes in times of trouble with the ark of salvation which offers profound hope for it to happen again.
Yesterday while I was attending a Women's Day of Reflection at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel in Linden, VA, I spent some time reading the Book of Exodus between conferences. A footnote said the word used for the "basket" in which Moses was placed could be translated as "ark." That got me thinking about Noah, of course. The fact that Moses' mother covered the basket in pitch also reminded me of Noah's chore in making the ark watertight for the 40 day and 40 night sojourn in the flood. God gave two arks because the world was in a mess! The first ark saved Noah and his family from a culture gone off the rails in sin and depravity. Only they would be saved from the catastrophic flood to repopulate the earth.
And then God intervened again.
The world was in a repeat mess. The Israelites, who entered Egypt as refugees protected by Joseph and a grateful Pharaoh, were now enslaved by a king with no memory and no gratitude. But even slavery couldn't reduce the numbers of Israelites. So Pharaoh imposed murder on all male children. But God blessed another "ark" to carry Moses who, himself rescued, would rescue God's people.
God definitely has a sense of irony. In His Providence, He aroused the sympathy and love in Pharaoh's own mother for a tiny baby. She saved the infant and raised him as her own son. Eluding Pharaoh's cruel edict, Moses was destined to be the savior of Israel. And, ironically, the condemned Jewish baby was raised as the step-brother of the tyrant king. It brings the Cain and Abel story to mind with a reversal in the outcome. It's Pharaoh's army and his chariots and charioteers who are drowned in the red sea. Whether Pharaoh died with them is unclear, but metaphorically his power died there.
Today we are in the third time around. Can anyone doubt that the world is once again in a mess as I wrote at the beginning? We are arguably living in the most immoral time in history. The "goddess of reason" is so unreasonable people actually believe that men can be women and women can be men. Insanity is mainstream! And diabolical disorientation threatens to engulf us.
So can we not expect God to offer us another ark moment? I think that's what we see in the SSPX. They have kept alive the Mass of the Fathers of the Church. I read in my missal this morning that the canon of the Mass is essentially the same as it was in the 4th century. It's amusing that progressives, who want to destroy the Traditional Latin Mass in the name of the way the early church worshiped in the past, insist on destroying the way the Church worshiped for over 1700 years. It is the SSPX that has kept Sacred Tradition alive as "anarchy is loosed upon the world." Many of the modernist Judases who people the Church are. "filled with passionate intensity." Sadly, many of the righteous "lack all conviction."
Nevertheless, we have no reason to despair. Yes, we live in difficult times, but that's nothing new for the Church of martyrs. God always calls forth saints to rescue and defend us. Our duty is to pray, fast, and obey God's laws, but, above all, to love God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength and to demonstrate that love by loving our neighbor. I expect the Holy Spirit pours out His gifts at times like these in spectacular abundance. So let us ask and pray to have the vessels of our souls filled to the brim with water that will be made into wine to be poured out to the world that needs it so desperately. Never lose hope, a most needed virtue in our time.
May Jesus Christ be praised!
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