From The Daily Caller:
To the milquetoast Catholics-in-name-only who lick the boots of Leviathan for the crumbs of approval that fall from its gaping, blood-soaked maw, I say Your day is done! Repent and beg Almighty God for forgiveness!
To the lowercase jews who who think they own the word "hitler" but wouldn't set foot in a Temple on a dare, I say Choose your friends wisely! Repent and return to the faith of your fathers before it finds you useful no more!
To the nonbelievers and heretics I say read and listen to this man's inspired words. You may not know it, but this battle is yours, too.
From The Catholic Post:
Editor's note: Following is the full text of the
homily of Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, at the Mass during the April 14
"A Call to Catholic Men of Faith" in Peoria. A podcast audio version of
the homily is available at
The Bishop's Podcasts.
The Bishop's Podcasts.
For a story on the annual march and Mass click here.
For several photos from the event, visit The Catholic Post's site on Facebook.
A further statement from the Diocese of Peoria regarding this homily can be found here.
There is only one basic reason why Christianity exists and that is the fact that Jesus Christ truly rose from the grave.
The
disciples never expected the resurrection. The unanimous testimony of
all four Gospels is that the terrible death of Jesus on the cross
entirely dashed all their hopes about Jesus and about his message. He
was dead, and that was the end of it. They looked for nothing more, and
they expected nothing more.
So as much as they
had loved him, in their eyes Jesus was a failed messiah. His dying
seemed to entirely rob both his teaching and even his miracles of any
lasting significance.
And they were clearly
terrified that his awful fate, at the hands of the Sanhedrin and the
Romans, could easily become their awful fate. So they hid, trembling
with terror, behind shuttered windows and locked doors.
When
the Risen Christ suddenly appeared in their midst, their reaction was
shocked incredulity. They simply could not believe their own eyes.
Reality
only very slowly began to penetrate their consciousness when Jesus
offers proof of his resurrection. He shows them the wounds on his hands,
his feet, and his side. Jesus even allowed them to touch him. He breaks
bread with them and eats with them. And only then could they admit to
themselves what had seemed absolutely impossible – the one who had truly
died had truly risen! The Crucified now stood before them as their
Risen, glorious, triumphant Lord.
His rising from
the grave was every bit as real as his dying on the cross. The
resurrection was the manifest proof of the invincible power of Almighty
God. The inescapable fact of the resurrection confirmed every word Jesus
had ever spoken and every work Jesus had ever done.
The
Gospel was the truth. Jesus was the Christ, the promised Messiah of
Israel. Jesus was the Savior of the world. Jesus was the very Son of
God.
There is no other explanation for
Christianity. It should have died out and entirely disappeared when
Christ died and was buried, except for the fact that Christ was truly
risen, and that during the 40 days before his Ascension, he interacted
with his Apostles and disciples, and on one occasion even with hundreds
of his followers.
Today’s appointed Gospel
reading for this Saturday in the Octave of Easter is taken from the 16th
Chapter of Mark. It concludes with a command from the lips of Jesus,
given to his disciples, given to the whole Church, given to you and me
assembled here today: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel
to every creature.”
We heard in today’s Second
Reading from the Acts of the Apostles that the same Sanhedrin that had
condemned Jesus was amazed at the boldness of Peter and John. Perceiving
them to be uneducated, ordinary men, they recognized them as companions
of Jesus. They warned them never again to teach, or speak to anyone, in
the name of Jesus.
But the elders and the
scribes might as well have tried to turn back the tide, or hold back an
avalanche. Peter and John had seen the Risen Christ with their own eyes.
Peter and John were filled with the Holy Spirit. They asked whether it
is right “in the sight of God for us to obey you rather than God. It is
impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.”
And
Peter and John and all the Apostles, starting first in Jerusalem in
Judea and Galilee and then to the very ends of the earth, announced the
Resurrection and the Good News to everyone they encountered.
According
to the clear testimony of the Scriptures, these Apostles had once been
rather ordinary men – like you and me. Their faith hadn’t always been
strong. They made mistakes. They committed sins. They were often afraid
and confused.
But meeting the Risen Lord had
changed everything about these first disciples, and knowing the Risen
Lord should also change everything about us.
You
know, it has never been easy to be a Christian and it’s not supposed to
be easy! The world, the flesh, and the devil will always love their own,
and will always hate us. As Jesus once predicted, they hated me, they
will certainly hate you.
But our Faith, when it
is fully lived, is a fighting faith and a fearless faith. Grounded in
the power of the resurrection, there is nothing in this world, and
nothing in hell, that can ultimately defeat God’s one, true, holy,
Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
For 2,000 years
the enemies of Christ have certainly tried their best. But think about
it. The Church survived and even flourished during centuries of terrible
persecution, during the days of the Roman Empire.
The
Church survived barbarian invasions. The Church survived wave after
wave of Jihads. The Church survived the age of revolution. The Church
survived Nazism and Communism.
And in the power
of the resurrection, the Church will survive the hatred of Hollywood,
the malice of the media, and the mendacious wickedness of the abortion
industry.
The Church will survive the entrenched
corruption and sheer incompetence of our Illinois state government, and
even the calculated disdain of the President of the United States, his
appointed bureaucrats in HHS, and of the current majority of the federal
Senate.
May God have mercy on the souls of those
politicians who pretend to be Catholic in church, but in their public
lives, rather like Judas Iscariot, betray Jesus Christ by how they vote
and how they willingly cooperate with intrinsic evil.
As
Christians we must love our enemies and pray for those who persecute
us, but as Christians we must also stand up for what we believe and
always be ready to fight for the Faith. The days in which we live now
require heroic Catholicism, not casual Catholicism. We can no longer be
Catholics by accident, but instead be Catholics by conviction.
In
our own families, in our parishes, where we live and where we work –
like that very first apostolic generation – we must be bold witnesses to
the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We must be a fearless army of Catholic
men, ready to give everything we have for the Lord, who gave everything
for our salvation.
Remember that in past history
other governments have tried to force Christians to huddle and hide only
within the confines of their churches like the first disciples locked
up in the Upper Room.
In the late 19th century,
Bismarck waged his “Kulturkampf,” a Culture War, against the Roman
Catholic Church, closing down every Catholic school and hospital,
convent and monastery in Imperial Germany.
Clemenceau, nicknamed “the priest eater,” tried the same thing in France in the first decade of the 20th Century.
Hitler
and Stalin, at their better moments, would just barely tolerate some
churches remaining open, but would not tolerate any competition with the
state in education, social services, and health care.
In
clear violation of our First Amendment rights, Barack Obama – with his
radical, pro abortion and extreme secularist agenda, now seems intent on
following a similar path.
Now things have come
to such a pass in America that this is a battle that we could lose, but
before the awesome judgement seat of Almighty God this is not a war
where any believing Catholic may remain neutral.
This
fall, every practicing Catholic must vote, and must vote their Catholic
consciences, or by the following fall our Catholic schools, our
Catholic hospitals, our Catholic Newman Centers, all our public
ministries -- only excepting our church buildings – could easily be shut
down. Because no Catholic institution, under any circumstance, can ever
cooperate with the instrinsic evil of killing innocent human life in
the womb.
No Catholic ministry – and yes, Mr.
President, for Catholics our schools and hospitals are ministries – can
remain faithful to the Lordship of the Risen Christ and to his glorious
Gospel of Life if they are forced to pay for abortions.
Now
remember what was the life-changing experience that utterly transformed
those fearful and quaking disciples into fearless, heroic apostles.
They encountered the Risen Christ. They reverenced his sacred wounds.
They ate and drank with him.
Is that not what we do here together, this morning at this annual men’s march Mass?
This
is the Saturday of the Octave of Easter, a solemnity so great and
central to our Catholic faith that Easter Day is celebrated for eight
full days, and the Easter season is joyously observed as the Great 50
Days of Easter. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ – risen
from the grave – is in our midst. His Holy Word teaches us the truth.
His Sacred Body and Blood becomes our food and drink.
The
Risen Christ is our Eternal Lord; the Head of his Body, the Church; our
High Priest; our Teacher; our Captain in the well-fought fight.
We
have nothing to fear, but we have a world to win for him. We have
nothing to fear, for we have an eternal destiny in heaven. We have
nothing to fear, though the earth may quake, kingdoms may rise and fall,
demons may rage, but St. Michael the Archangel, and all the hosts of
heaven, fight on our behalf.
No matter what
happens in this passing moment, at the end of time and history, our God
is God and Jesus is Lord, forever and ever.
Christus vincit! Christus regnat! Christus imperat!
Amen to all that, Your Excellency!
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