The Gold Book of Prayers An all-time best-selling treasury of contemporary and traditional prayers including a beautiful Scriptural Rosary, Jesus Rosary, Litanies, and Seven Sorrows Chaplet. Excellent for prayer groups or individual use.  Now spiral-bound! CLICK HERE

 __________________________________________________

'DIABOLIC DISORIENTATION' HAS SWEPT ACROSS ALL PARTS OF SOCIETY AND INTO THE CHURCH

Continuing on the theme of "diabolic disorientation" (as Sister Lucia of Fatima put it), we see its infiltration across the societal spectrum.

In the U.S., a president who opposes capital punishment (and violence in general) orchestrates and then actually watches (from a situation room) as military operatives hunt down a terrorist and execute him in front of the world (as opposed to bringing him to formal justice). Horrid terrorist -- the worst in modern history -- yes; but we do well to follow the teachings of the Vatican. Meanwhile, these generally "non-violent" types wage several wars at the same time, and while the youth are said to be important to liberals, they are okay with killing the unborn and teaching children who do make it into the world homosexuality.

They "fight" crime but are okay with Hollywood, which lives off violence; we think ourselves a moral nation but one of our greatest exports is impurity.

It is disorientation too -- at the other end of the political spectrum -- when those who are against abortion work heroically to save those in the womb but following the prescripts of commentators also support war and ignore or even oppose (in the name of the economy, or because they are afraid they are siding with population control) efforts to halt environmental degradation that threatens the same unborn (not to mention the rest of the population). The response to 9/11 was to kill far more, including more Americans (in two wars), than died that September to begin with. This is disorientation as it is also disorientation to follow those who fight more for the right of the rich than for the poor (to whom Christ called us) and whose guru (Ayn Rand) was an atheist. (Libertarianism has quietly pervaded conservatism, much to the joy of one-world corporations.) 

Confusion is a hallmark of evil. A further glimpse into this disorientation is seen when a recent poll by Gallup shows that 51 percent in the U.S. are against abortion but 62 percent are in favor of medical research that causes the destruction of human embryos. Disorientation? Sixty percent say sex between unmarried people is okay but 91 percent claim to be against adultery (although 69 percent are okay with divorce).

We are all over the place. We are all, from time to time, disoriented; we have scales over our eyes. We see this disorientation in the Church, which has made a few steps in the direction of shaking loose from modernism but needs to move much faster if it is to save the next generation from secularism.

Excuse a strong viewpoint: it is time to get rid of -- just get rid of -- sugary uninspired music that distances us from Majesty and grates against the nerves. The Vatican is trying to nudge us -- with suggestions of the Gregorian chant. Perhaps we need to be shoved. It's time to turn episcopates away from bureaucracy (do we vote at bishops' conferences more than we pray?). It's time to replace what Benedict disapprovingly calls "professional Catholics" with "spiritual" ones.

We need more exorcists than canon lawyers.

Perhaps it is time to reinstall major elements of the Latin liturgy -- during which Christ seemed the center of attention. Perhaps, the new Missal is a start. It is time to reform academic and theological and tedious homilies that test the patience of the most devout and have discouraged countless from attending the liturgy (though, of course, nothing should do that and the Church in the U.S. is beginning to examine homilies, although just beginning).

As one writer, referring to the crisis in church music, recently put it, "the effect, intentional or not, is a musical repertoire dominated by 70s style folk music and schmaltzy ballads dripping with shallow (sometimes confusing) sentimentalism. Those who oppose the greater use of Gregorian chant in the liturgy often argue that it is anachronistic, but nothing can be more out of place than music that is whipped up in a passing trend that became unfashionable thirty years ago. At least chant can claim to have perdured for centuries. It has never been the offshoot of any secular musical fad, as is much of today’s outmoded liturgical music."

Why can't we see this? Are we disoriented -- or just blinded? How many more will we chase from the pews?

A recent survey showed that Catholic marriages -- marriage as a sacrament, marriages in the Church -- have fallen sixty percent since the 1970s.

Thus, what Sister Lucia of Fatima called a "diabolic disorientation." We avoid it only in prayer.

At an apparition site the biggest problem is how many are fighting to get into crowded Masses and yet this apparition is opposed mainly and often fiercely by theological professional types who oversee empty churches and arid diocesan offices.

Is this not confused?

Here is a solution: prayer, fasting, Mass, Confession, and reading the Bible.

In the United States, we are especially afflicted by the disorienting spirit of celebrity -- that sudden magnetism that allows someone a rise to unexpected heights for reasons that seem inexplicable (see again Hollywood). Charisma has to be monitored with discernment for it can come from the prince of darkness who is dynamic and cultist and electrical (see: lightning) and owns large portions of spiritual landscape. It can manifest in charismatic and Marian circles because it is in these circles that the good -- the supernatural -- also manifests (very visibly), and thus must we be doubly careful as times turn more challenging and do so swiftly.

[resources: Retreat and Mass in New Jersey]

[see also: French fear suicides over 2012 worries and Of personality cults and false prophecy]

  E-mail this link directly