Many years ago, when I was at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston, we endured months and then years of these intense protests organized in association with local universities and some political operatives against Catholics. Although many protesters were simply trying to bring the Church to faithfulness, others sought to destroy the faith of those attending mass there. One Sunday, I was away and when I returned that afternoon, I learned that protests became ugly, protesters turned on protesters. I looked at the faithful parishioners giving me these reports and admitted to them that I was not surprised. I told them that the previous night, I blessed the area putting holy water in the four corners of the city block on which the Cathedral sat. I prayed that God would send his angels to show His light into the darkness and to reveal the darkness that was there. My prayers were answered, people saw the darkness in its full reality. One described the scene as demonic.

It was there at the Cathedral that I  learned an important principle. Jesus gave all He had that we might be saved. The enemy (aka the devil) gives almost all he has that we might be lost, unlike Jesus, the enemy will not sacrifice himself for his cause. What is at stake is not souls in general as much as your soul. Just as much as Jesus has saved you, the enemy wants to blind you to that salvation by leading you to reject it through sin. The battle is over each one of our immortal souls. The war has been won. Now we are in the position of choosing to be on the losing side or the winning side. That might seem like a no brainer, but remember that those political organizers, who joined against us, follow a man who celebrates the loser in a battle with God.

Their playbook, Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky, has the following dedication:

Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins — or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer.

This is a manifestation of something that many forget. There is a battle for your soul and the souls of those around you. Paul was aware of it so much so that he gave all he had for the greatest victory in this battle. In our second reading we can see him rejoicing even in suffering for the salvation of others. He then points out to us that our role, each and everyone of us as the body of Christ is to give all we have for  the salvation of souls. That is what we are all about. We are after all in the saving souls business.

Our calling as Catholics is not so that we can do good things and earn our way to Heaven, our calling is to live in every aspect of our lives for the salvation of souls, ours and others. We cannot do it this if we forget what is at stake. Eternal salvation.

However, we also have to understand as great as the prize is, so great is the battle to deny the prize to others. It is no secret that there is a war against Catholicism but the war is not about freedom of religion, it is about salvation of souls and every weapon available to get good Catholics to abandon that battle is in play. The stakes are high, very high.

Paul exhorts us to glorify God in all we do. Indeed, that is our call. We cannot be lazy Catholics, we must be alive Catholics who seek to bring souls to freedom. This is what drove Paul. It was not just that he could go to Heaven, it was that you can go there as well. Indeed, Jesus makes it clear, that we receive joy when we participate fully in that mission.

St. Paul calls us to be ambassadors for Christ, an ambassador is one who speaks on behalf of whom they represent. We are also, as St. Paul says, the body of Christ. This means that we have the same mission as Christ for  we are on his mission, so we also enter his war.

St. Teresa of Avila wrote that it was a stupid idea to believe that a road which led to the greatest of all treasures would not be filled with dangers, obstacles and robbers. So it is in our journey. We have a mission and we have a choice to live that mission or abandon it. Let us embrace the attitude of St. Paul and do all we can for the salvation of souls and the Glory of God.

Are we doing our part. Remember, there is a huge  spiritual effort to get those around us to reject their salvation. Let us do all we can to reverse the effects of that spiritual effort and glorify God in our lives.

This means we have to fight some heavy powers including those who organized the war against us at a local university among other places. But the prize  is greater than the battle for it in the hearts and minds of those around us and we fight it by giving glory to God in all that we do.

God Bless You,

Fr. Robert J Carr

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