And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16: 18)
My family was talking about the origins of the St. Michael prayer and how Jesus promised us (see passage above) that the Church will prevail over Satan. Which got me to wondering about the state of the Church, especially in this country, and how we often worry about "what's going to happen." If we know the Church will prevail, why do we worry about it so much? Well, I don't think we really do worry about the Church. Maybe we worry about the Church's churches, but not the Church. What we do worry about, or what we should worry about, is not Satan "defeating" the Church, but about the souls that he is winning over to his side. Hell may not be able to prevail, for there will always be those who are faithful to the Church, but Satan is converting as many people as he can as fast as he can. So we must be warriors of Christ, defending His Church by reconquering the ground that Satan has won for himself. Is that not the Church's mission - to advance the kingdom of God by winning Him souls? By undermining what people perceive the Church to be, Satan draws souls away from it. This is why it is so important that we defend the true identity of the Church and work our hardest to bring people to it - to spread the Good News. The Church will survive, Jesus promised us that. The question is how many people will be sitting inside?
2 comments:
A great point. Unfortunately at this time it doesn't seem as if too many people will be sitting inside. The persecutions against those of us who are trying to be warriors is getting much more fierce, especially within our own families. It is very difficult to not want to retreat into a corner. Thanks for the encouragement.
God Bless.
I think what you're describing is a classic weapon of the Enemy - divide and conquer. Unfortunately we must stand strong in the face of even familial opposition. This is also why it is so important to be part of a Catholic community while at the same time witnessing to the world.
Strength in numbers!!
Post a Comment