Fr. Z's Blog

I was drafting something along these lines, but Fr. John Hunwicke has expressed also many of the points I wanted to get across (with my emphases and comment):

Those who died in the most truly appalling events at Orlando … may they, through the all-atoning Sacrifice of our most sweet Redeemer and our suffrages, have remission of their sins: we pray this for them as we pray it for all the departed, since as Christians we believe that anyone who claims to be without sin is deceiving himself and the Truth is not in him. This, of course, goes equally for popes and for rent-boys and for you and for me.

Humanly, we may surely hope that many of those killed in a situation which prima facie may have been at least a proximate occasion of mortal sin, may, through their own ignorance, not have had that full knowledge and consent which would render their deeds and intentions as lethal subjectively as they are objectively. It is a sobering thought that it may be easier for us, who are instructed Catholics, to go to Hell than it is for the uninstructed. [And yet it would be a sin not to try to instruct and admonish and counsel.]

And we pray for the wounded; for the families, friends, survivors, witnesses of those who died. Perhaps a particular prayer is appropriate for those who were not aware that their sons or daughters were being drawn into intrinsically disordered actions: parents for whom the horror of so dreadful a bereavement may even be  increased by that realisation.

And I think we need to be aware that [NB] the Hierarchs of the Spirit of this Age will use this fearful atrocity for their own purposes. Treating the victims of a deranged murderer as martyrs for a noble cause is likely to become a stock element in the perverted parody of the moral high ground which the Powers of Evil seek to inculcate. And it will become part of a campaign which, if it succeeds, will lead to the increasingly violent persecution of anybody who articulates the teaching of Scripture and of the Catholic Church (Catechism paragraphs 2357 and following). [And also persecution of those who defend civil liberties enshrined in the Constitution of these USA.]

What are the paragraphs of the CCC to which Father refers?

Chastity and homosexuality

2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

As far as civil liberties are concerned, I worry about the erosion of the freedom of religion and assembly, the right to bear arms, protection from illegal search and seizure, due process, the non-enumerated rights of the people and powers reserved to the states and the people.

It seems to me that what Fr Hunwicke calls the Hierarchs of the Spirit of this Age and also the Powers of Evil are attacking on all fronts through events like this. In times of confusion and crisis, the Hierarchs and Powers are expert at manipulation and exploitation.

Make a list of intentions, friends, and of people and then, with discipline, pray and fast for them. Use your Rosary. Invoke the help of the Guardian Angels of specific people.

This war – and it is a war – is to be fought on the spiritual level as well as in our temporal sphere.

The instrument of Satan Leon Trotsky quipped that you might not be interested in dialectic, but dialectic is interested in you.  Because of the relationship of dialectic and polemic, rooted in the Greek word for war, pólemos, Trotsky’s quip morphed into, “You might not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.”  This is absolutely the case when it comes to the war the Enemy of the Soul wages on every one of us.

In the spiritual plane we have relentless and inescapable enemies in the World, the Flesh and the Devil.  In this temporal, earthly life we also have enemies.

Don’t for a moment imagine that they are not interested in you.