We all know the story of Harriet Tubman. She ran the underground railroad which freed individual slaves by secretly leading them to the free states in the North. You, of course, know that there was no actual railroad, but it was a journey made on foot to various safe houses from the south until freedom was made in the North. Unlike today’s coyotes that bring people from Central and South America to the US, this was not so much an industry as a revolutionary movement to bring freedom to those lost in slavery. I can only say, I hope there were many Catholics involved in that movement.

 

However, there is another side of Harriet Tubman no one ever studies in school. She was portrayed as this powerful woman who did the daring and good act of leading those who wanted their freedom North. But that does not mean she was a nice woman, or even some kind of liberal minded community activist. Tubman would have to be a tough courageous person who one would have to learn not to cross.

 

If a person decided that they would prefer the life of a slave to the journey through the tough terrain of Tennessee to find freedom and decided to go back, you would see the side of Harriet Tubman you never wanted to see. You may have not learned that in school.

 

There is a reason for this. Any slave who changed his mind and decided to return to his slave owner, would also return with all the information of the inner workings of the underground railroad. He would know where the safe houses where, the routes and even the strategies in getting slaves from the South to the North.

 

Now, there is also another side to this story you have to see. A slave who escaped was not just one less slave on the plantation. A slave owner would have, therefore, lost the cost of the slave and the productivity of his work. He would want to prevent this loss of money as much as possible, so he would work with all his will to shut down the underground railroad. He would hate Harriet Tubman with his whole being. Now multiply that by all the plantation owners in the south and you can see how many would hate her and want to bring an end to her railroad.

 

Further, in many cases slaves were insured. If a slave was insured, then the insurance companies would want to recoup their money and they would also want to shut down the railroad. Suddenly, you will realize that what Harriet Tubman was fighting was not few plantation owners, but a huge agri-political operation with international ties that wanted her defeat and would do anything to achieve it. Now you see, she could not afford a slave changing his mind to go back to the plantation. Further, the slave could not go back anyway, his life changed the minute he made the choice to escape. If he did return, he would be beaten and hounded until he revealed everything he knew about that railroad.

 

Harriet Tubman was at war for the freedom of human beings and she was fighting something too big to be named. Imagine the seven headed dragon in the book of revelation as a symbol and you could have an idea what she was fighting.

 

Throughout the history of the Church there have been organizations and even nations that have tried to silence and destroy her. From the Roman Empire to Today’s nation states and NGU’s There are many people who see the Catholic Church as an obstacle to human progress because of our stand against abortion, embryonic stem cell research, contraception, gay marriage, our belief in Jesus and more.

 

What is it that we stand against: Let me give you one example. One economics professor then at MIT promoted the idea of genetically modified children so that through this process they would have higher IQ’s. He added if you did not allow for the genetic modification of your child to boost his IQ your child would be “the stupidist child in the neighborhood” Think of that for a moment. If this technology existed and your grandchildren were not genetically modified, do you think they could get as good and high paying job as those who were? What kind of world would they live in? But there are people trying to build this world right now.  

 

Look about you at any person and imagine a world where they would not be allowed to born because of one imperfection or another. You can see what kind of a world people are talking about where some people gain great power and others become subject to that power and still others are even denied birth because they would be too much of a burden or challenge to society. The issue is, a society that does not understand truth becomes like this all the time:  Same as it ever was.

 

There is a worldwide political movement to silence the voice of the Roman Catholic Church because we are an obstacle to some of the technological goals of some powerful groups. Indeed, one representative of Costa Rica openly boasted at the UN of the work they were doing to silence the voice of the Church. There are fascinating things coming out in the wikileaks and other movements that are revealing more of this and finally, it is not just the Church they are going after, the new main target, as you probably guessed is the police. My guess is to get you to believe we need one national police force throughout the country. What this movement did to the Church they are now trying to do to the police.

 

These movements consider their greatest prize the ability to convince you and especially your children to see the world as they do. What is best for you. They want the Church out of the way.

 

Now change the venue, think they not only are their lives at stake, which is true, but there are souls as well which is also true.

 

Don’t get scared by that thought, that is simple baptismal theology.

 

Now you can see that the battle against the Church is a powerful battle in which huge political forces and unbeknownst to them spiritual forces are at play and they hate your belief in God, and in Jesus Christ. Throw in the dimension where we are also talking about souls and you can see what is at stake every time you come to mass and receive communion and how much is at stake in getting you to stop attending mass, to stop believing in the true presence and to stop believing in Jesus Christ.

 

Do you see how powerful an act it is when you embrace your faith, and live your faith, avoid sin and embrace the Eucharist.

 

Do you see how your witness to the Catholic faith, is going to be demanding in the future.

 

If you look at Jesus’ words, they are words of someone warning that anyone who follows him will suffer great resistance and it is so great that if you are not ready for what may come, you will cave and lose.

 

Jesus does not want you to hate your mother and father at all. But what if your parents told you to reject the Church because its teachings are old fashioned and join in the movement to make sure your children are genetically altered so that they would have a better job or so they would not be the stupidest child in the neighborhood because he or she was all natural. Or abort your child who may have Down’s syndrome according to the latest ultra-sound. Would you agree with them? What if your best friend told you to reject God because we don’t need that God anymore, our new leader will supply all our needs. Would you join him? That is what Jesus is talking about when he says to hate your father and mother. It means, even if they try to get you to reject the truth, you must say no. Your soul and the souls of so many around you are at stake.

 

Jesus makes it clear, the only hope for humanity is in God and when humanity abandons Him, we walk down a rather ominous road. If you have not figured it out our country is on that road now. Will you stand with Christ no matter what, or will do what is most comfortable for you, but ultimately destructive to the entire nation, even if it is your mother asking you to join the movement to genetically alter your children while you abandon God.

 

Finally, how do you fight these movements? You don’t. You just stay faithful to Christ. He does the rest.

God Bless you,

Fr. Robert J Carr

Fr. Carr is member of the Segundo Elo  of the Canção Nova Community. He is the pastor of Holy Trinity Quincy, MA and is the editor of this blog. He is the author of several books, blogs and hundreds of videos all of which you may find on Youtube.  You can follow him on twitter as @frbobcarr and on Google plus as+FrRobertCarr. Thoughts, comments on the homily? Let us know at Facebook