We Are At War


The war we as Christians face is not an earthly one, but a spiritual one. Satan never sleeps and has minions working for his cause. If you find my first two sentences hard to believe, look at what is going on around us. The Catholic Church is being attacked almost on a daily basis and our priests are on the front lines in that part of the war. I have said this before (as have others), no priests, no Jesus in the Eucharist. Our country and government seem to be falling apart at their very seams. Then there are the natural disasters~ earthquakes, floods, extreme weather; I truly believe these are a sort of wake up call from God, His trying to tell us that He is in control, not any one of us.
Some are listening and responding, but not enough. As Christians we have been called and given a place on the "battlefield". Today's feast of Our Lady of Fatima is a reminder to us of that call. In 1917, Our Lady appeared to three children. She asked them if they would be willing to pray and sacrifice on behalf of poor sinners. They told her they would. We too need to give our Blessed Mother our yes to this cause as well. Our Lady revealed to the children that so many souls are lost because there is no one to pray for them.
I don't mean to sound like an alarmist, but things in our world are getting worse. Practicing Catholic Christians need to pray and make reparation. This is no easy task given the spiritual climate (or lack there of) of our society and culture, but Our Lord warned us that this would happen; He promised us, in fact that if the world hated Him, it would hate us as well. (see John 15:18) He also promised that the gates of hell would not prevail over His Church. (see Matt. 16:18)
Nothing I have said here is anything new, and in most instances I am preaching to the choir. However, I know that I myself can very easily lapse into a bit of a spiritual numbness that keeps me from seeing and responding to what is going on around us.
The messages Our Lady gave to the children at Fatima are for us as well. The Rosary is a powerful weapon in the spiritual battle. So let's all take up our beaded sword and pray. There is strength in numbers~ the devil knows it, but so do we.
For more on Fatima, here are some good and trustworthy links.
Fr. Andrew Apostoli: here and here.
Fr. Joseph Homick has some pages relating to Fatima on his Two Pillars:Holy Eucharist and Our Lady blog.
Fatima For Today

Comments

Mary N. said…
"So let's all take up our beaded sword and pray" - AH! I LOVE THAT ADVICE! The devil hates the Rosary!

Karin, this was an excellent post and people need to hear these things. Actually, people MUST hear them. Everything is NOT alright in our world and people need to ask the Lord for "eyes of truth" so that they may see how far we have strayed from God's plan for humanity. We are definitely getting a wake up call and if we do not respond the alarm will ring louder.

As you say, Our Lady's words at Fatima are for us too and we should follow her advice.

Thank you for writing this post.
Unknown said…
Thanks for the encouraging words, Mary. It was a little out of my comfort zone which is why I knew God and Our Lady wanted it written.
Glad to see Blogger found your post from yesterday. :)
Michael said…
Beaded sword.

I love it!

Thanks for the "kick in the pants"

God Bless
Unknown said…
Thanks Michael and Colleen. The Holy Spirit gave me the kick in the pants I needed to write this one.
kam said…
Yeah, the beaded sword, I like that. I'm one of those in the choir, but I never tire of hearing what needs to be said. Last Friday at work everyone was complaining about the day being Friday the 13th, while I was proclaiming how great a day it was, being the anniversary of the First Apparition. Needless, to say, I had some explaing to do... Keep up the clarion call, sister. k
Unknown said…
Thanks kam. Good for you in proclaiming and explaining Fatima, much more productive than superstition.
Julie Cragon said…
I had a customer asking me all sorts of questions just the other day about "these times". I was almost relieved when another customer passed me and whispered, "You handled that beautifully." Not me but the Holy Spirit if done well. Beautiful post. Oh if we all would just heed her messages and pray the rosary!
Unknown said…
Thanks Julie and yes when we listen to the Holy Spirit He will tell us what to say in situations like the one you found yourself in.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences on this. God bless.
noreen said…
Ohhh... I've never heard of the rosary being called a beaded sword. I LOVE IT!! The prayers of the rosary are powerful against the Father of all Lies. I'm encouraged by Julie's willingness to speak openly to a stranger about "these times."
Unknown said…
Thanks for your thoughts on this one Noreen. I never heard of the "beaded sword" either until I wrote this post. I am sure that phrase came from the Holy Spirit and Our Lady. Padre Pio used to tell his brother priests: "Bring me my weapon!"
Thanks again and God bless.