News Item: : Deus in Medio Ejus, Non Commovebitur
(Category: Torch of The Faith News)
Posted by admin
Friday 08 April 2016 - 11:09:37

The above title is taken from Psalm 45:5. It translates as, ''God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved.'' It has frequently been interpreted as an encouragement for the Church in times of trial and persecution.

It is clear from the internet that many Catholics, all around the world, have been having sleepless nights as the release date of Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia has approached. This has happened because of the dangerous events and trajectory of Synods '14 and '15. After many months of confusion and speculation, we now find ourselves on the very morning of the document's release.

Clearly, a document well in excess of 200-pages is going to take some reading and digestion. That in itself appears to make this a somewhat unusual example within the genre of papal apostolic exhortations.

With the time available to us today, we therefore wanted to post up some words of encouragement to help Catholics during this tumultuous day.

What follows is more or less part of an article that we first posted back on 27th October, 2015. It was originally written whilst the dust was still settling after the release of the Synod's hugely problematic Final Report. The content of the article emerged after an encouraging conversation with my confessor/spiritual director. He made some key points which I shared in the article. By God's grace, we subsequently learned that these key points had brought encouragement to readers in England, Ireland and the United States of America. If it pleases God, may they do so again for readers everywhere.

The Catholic Faith comes from Above

1. Pope Leo XIII was given the famous vision of the Devil being permitted 100 years to try and destroy the Catholic Church.

Whilst in one sense terrifying, this should also remind us that God is in charge of all things. In the mysteries of God's permitting Will, the enemy of our souls has been given a limited period of time to try to destroy the Catholic Church. Such private revelation, whilst adding nothing to the revealed Deposit of Faith, is sometimes allowed by God, to guide the Church through difficult times. The Lord has promised: ''I will not leave you orphans'' (John 14:18).

2. The fact that the Devil is such a powerful enemy, means that we would be naive to suppose that his worst efforts to destroy the Church, and this within a limited time-frame, would mean that we would have had an easy time of it during that period of time.

Of course not!

The gravity of events tends to suggest that the Devil is indeed making serious progress. However, we must always bear in mind that God is, ultimately, in charge; and that all of the things that are happening will eventually be used by God to draw forth a greater good.

3. God is not only going to stop the enemy in the end. We know from Sacred Scripture and Tradition that He is going to humiliate the Devil through Our Lord Jesus Christ. We also know that Our Lady will be involved in this. Perhaps, we each need to reflect more on the deep meanings contained in Genesis 3:15; which constitutes a punishment and a promise.

For his humiliation to be greater, the Devil would have to appear to have secured a great victory. The defeat and humiliation would appear less if only small gains had been made by him. In a sense, the bigger they are the harder they fall!

4. In connection with this last point, we could reflect profitably on the prophecies of Our Lady at Fatima and Quito. Taken together with the prophetic warnings of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, especially when viewed in relation to Sacred Scripture and Tradition, these all speak of an ultimate victory for Christ, Our Lady and the Catholic Church.

Indeed, taken together, these various elements suggest that the Church will first appear to have been totally eclipsed. At the point when all seems to be lost for the Church, Our Lord will enable Our Lady to definitively intervene and bring about the promised Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

5. Therefore, the worse that things get in, and for, the Church, then the closer we are to God's final victory. Our duty is to co-operate with God's grace and remain faithful come what may. There really is a sense in which the darkest hour is that before the dawn. 

Conclusion

We hope and pray that these various reflections will help those who read them to remain close to Our Lord Jesus Christ and to Our Lady - and to remain near to them on the Barque of Peter - in these difficult times.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Universal King: May we each be faithfully subject to Him, receive His gift of peace and adore Him.

Viva Cristo Rey!

We've now watched the press release meeting footage and we are presently reading through the document...

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This news item is from Torch of The Faith
( http://www.torchofthefaith.com/news.php?extend.1282 )