There is a belief among many Catholics that it is not important if others
are of different religions, as long as they are nice and good people,
it doesn't matter, what counts is that they are "good", because "there
is only one God".
Yes, there is only one God, it is Jesus Christ, it is not Mohammed
or Buddha or anyone else.
Saying this phrase to anyone of a different religion or no religion in an effort
to be "inclusive", "tolerant", "non-jugdmental" is heresy and apostasy
against the catholic religion, it is the breaking of the very first
commandment, which says:
"I am the Lord thy God: thou shalt not have strange gods before me."
For the "god" of Muslims (Mohammed), the "heaven" of Buddhism
(Nirvana), the protestant revolt and heresies of Martin Luther and
King Henry VIII, etc have nothing in common with the Catholic Faith.
The true Catholic Faith is the objective truth about God and us, and
everything else is false and leads to perdition of souls.
It reveals lack of knowledge of the catholic religion, those who say
this have not been catechized according to the doctrine of the catholic
faith, which is codified and specific, not bland nor general nor open
to subjective interpretations.
For if all religions are equal, and even the absence of religion is
equal to a religion, that logically would mean that the catholic religion
has no intrinsic value in itself, just a question of cultural preference and
what we are used to;
"I was raised like this, so that is what I do, you can do what you do,
and it is both equally good", etc.
It is not true, because there is only One God The Father,
One God The Son, One Holy Spirit; The Holy Trinity;
Three Persons of The same Substance.
Only One Person; Jesus Christ who can save our souls.
It is true that it is important to be good, but what is good?
Jesus said that no-one is good:
"Why do you call Me good?" Jesus asked him.
"No one is good but One-God"
Mark 10:18.
The awareness of one's own lack of true goodness, is the reason
why we have the Sacrament of Confession, also called the Sacrament
of Reconciliation; a good Confession reconciles us to God. This fact is
not a small and insignificant detail, we are talking about being reconciled
with God!
Because we are all sinners, which we confess with our lips at the beginning
of every Mass.
But so many, even Catholics, now believe that they do not need to go
to a priest to confess their sins.
It is true that it is highly uncomfortable, and can even feel frightening, to
go into the Confessional and tell the truth about one self, even our innermost
thoughts, but nothing, absolutely nothing of value is obtained without pain and
effort and personal work, and in relation to God; Trust in Him.
Trusting and Believing. His will, not mine.
One of the differences between Catholics and protestants is that
protestants believe that faith alone will save them, but Catholics believe
that faith also requires work, and that the work is continuous.
It is much more demanding to be Catholic, but we are not here to live an
easy life, nor a life of comfort.
In modern parishes there is little mention of sin these days, it is as if they
avoid mentioning it, for FEAR of offending or displeasing, thus aligning
the Church with the world, and emptying out it's divine principles.
Any FEAR, apart from the fear of offending God, comes from the devil.
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and
of a sound mind."
(2 Timothy 1:7)
And
(Romans 12:2) says
"Do not be conformed to the world"
The conformity to the standards of the world, has been the Church's
down fall. The answer to the old "oh, what can we do to bring people
back into the church?" is; nothing!, just get out of the way, and let
Christ reign in His Church, through the transmission of the
Catholic Doctrine.
Christ is King, nobody else.
It wasn't even the horrific scandals of the sex abuse and pedophilia,
but the way the bishops conformed to the ways of the world by covering
it up, that inflicted so much harm.
The abuse of young children was everywhere, the majority
of which was carried out in families, and in every organizations and
associations that exists which has children in it, because children are, by
their very nature, vulnerable, unless they are protected, of course.
So why is it that in France, the Traditional Church parishes, which are
transmitting the pure, unchanged, unmodified teachings of the Catholic
Faith, are growing, where every Sunday they are filled with young people,
young couples with children, young adults, whose priests are for the most
part also young, and whose seminaries are full?
It is because people want what is true and real, they seek what will
render them strong in order to be able to continue living in an evil world.
A world where "good" people, often highly respected, people who
have power and authority over others, lie and deceive on a daily basis.
They might have a veneer of "goodness"; a good image, but their hearts
are evil; they lie and deceive you without any hesitation or second thought.
The Catholic Faith is radical, it is not wishy-washy, it is not:
"everything goes, do what you want, follow your heart, God loves everyone,
do not judge, there is only one God, he is the same for all of us, everyone is
going to heaven", etc, etc.
It is demanding to be able to call oneself a Catholic, and it produces the
opposite to what is produced by trying to make it "attractive" according to
worldly standards.
Demanding that we go to regular Confession, that we do not dare to present
ourselves for Holy Communion unless we have gone to Confession if we are
in a state of mortal sin, makes people taking the faith seriously. It produces
what it set out from the beginning to produce; a life united to God.
I know women, both in Ireland and in France, who are unable to receive
Holy Communion, because they are living with their partner as man and
wife, without being married.
At the time, they did not realize what they were doing, due to the modern
Church's failure to make this clear, and to talk about sin, but by the time
they do understand, the relationship has already been like that usually for years,
and their partner is not likely to want to make any changes, thus rendering
themselves unable to present themselves at the banquet of the wedding feast
of the Lord; Holy Communion.
This is a great sadness for those who knows what the Mass is.
God Is, Was, Will Alway Be, I Am, He is Alive, and He gives Himself
freely and fully to anyone who seeks Him sincerely, but just like in any
Personal relationship, it must be reciprocal in order for it to be a genuine
relationship; we need to be active participants and give ourselves as well,
and if we think about it, it is really logical and common sense.
That is why we can not be Catholic unless we obey God's commandments
and Catholic doctrine, it is WE who must align ourselves to HIM, conform
to His ways,because as He Himself is unchanging and unchangeable, it does
not work the other way around.
It is demanding to be Catholic, it takes self control and awareness,
we must be willing to suffer, to sacrifice, to be treated unfairly, to be rejected,
to be betrayed, to be mocked and ridiculed, to be in constant readiness
to die, not to be afraid to die, to be willing to die for the ones we love, willing
to die for our faith;
this is what the Catholic Church is all about, this is why she has produced so
many Saints, her only goal is to make us holy, like God is Holy,
and to save our souls after our death.
It does not suffice to be "nice", according to each own's definition of
"niceness".
There is good in everybody, no matter what belief or non belief, there
is a human universal capacity for goodness, along with the universal
human capacity for evil.
It is a question of awareness, being awake, and applying our free will;
the willpower; the POWER of our will, to our daily lives.
Because the 7 deadly sins, the basic barriers (original sins), pop their
head up daily: pride, envy, laziness, greed, lust, gluttony, anger.
It is not a question of "judging" people of different religions or non
religions, we judge no person.
But we do not worship the same God as them, because the god of
mohammed, the god of buddha, the god of materialism, etc, etc,
is not our God.
In order to reach the top of the mountain, a hiker needs to already
have the physical condition required, which didn't fall
from the sky, he obtained it by training and he strengthened, maintained
and improved it by regular exercise.
We are often amazed at the capacities of athletes; what is actually possible
to be achieved humanly. But again; this did not come and install
itself all by itself, it was done through desire, efforts and not least:
the perseverance of the person, through the application of his
OWN WILLPOWER.
Being Catholic is the spiritual equivalent to the hiker who desires to reach
the summit.
Modernism in the church is at it's very last legs; it has produced less and
less Catholics;
"You will recognize them by their fruits"
Matthew 7:20
If it does not have some degree of difficulty or challenge for us, if there
is no personal sacrifice in living our Catholic faith, then we are doing it wrong.
For as the famous Irish Father Brian d'Arcy once said:
"if it isn't difficult, what's the point?"
