In an age of villainous Catholics subverting, disregarding, or working against the faith – and of assailed but faithful Catholics – it is easy to become discouraged.
My daughters have friends who have two moms, or two dads. Or at last that’s what’s reported. They truly only have one of each, but…. I’m asked to implicitly or complicity take part in moral evils every day. Sometimes I fail. But, through the graces of The Holy Spirit, I manage to stand against them most of the time.
But it is not (yet) illegal to be Christian here in the Western world. It was for St. Franciscus Ch’oe Gyeong-Hwan and the other Korean martyrs, whose feast day is today. First they gave their livelihoods, then their fortunes, then their children (in the form of clergy and religious), then their freedom, and finally their lives for the faith.
Sometimes I think that the American Church will never be the burning fire of love and zeal that we need to be until we are again persecuted. (Un)fortunately, we are doing a pretty good job of not giving the world much reason to persecute us.
We will continue to be a collection of old morals until we live our morals in the face of no morals. We will continue to be gold-encrusted rotten meat until we exercise our heart muscles. We will continue to be used as comedic and political punching bags until we stand up collectively.
St. Franciscus Ch’oe Gyeong-Hwan, pray for us!
Blessed To Be Ben 