This is an ACTION ITEM. I want you all to listen to this. I want you all to act on what you heard.
His Excellency, Bishop Athanasius Schneider recently gave a terrific talk in Rome at the Angelicum entitled:
The Church on Earth and Its Essentially Militant
I captured the audio and “remastered” it a little, to make it a bit easier to understand. I included the Q&A also with Fr. Clovis.
The first two paragraphs:
When there is no battle, there is no Christendom. When there is no battle, there is no true Church of God, no true Catholic Church. The Second Vatican Council teaches us: “The whole of man’s history has been the story of dour combat with the powers of evil, stretching, so our Lord tells us, from the very dawn of history until the last day. Finding himself in the midst of the battlefield man has to struggle to do what is right, and it is at great cost to himself, and aided by God’s grace, that he succeeds in achieving his own inner integrity” (Gaudium et spes, 37). This dramatic situation of “the whole world [which] is in the power of the evil one” (1 Jn 5:19; cf. 1 Pet 5:8) makes man’s life a battle (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 409).
The Word of God teaches us: “Fight the good fight of faith; lay hold on eternal life whereunto thou art called” (1 Tim. 6:12). The Christian life is indeed a warfare. Saint Paul wrote that “we wrestle” against the powers of darkness. “Our battle is not with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).
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The whole text (without digressions) can be found at LifeSite: HERE. They are terrific for providing this. The video (a bit static) is HERE, also through LifeSite.
In my opinion, Bp. Schneider’s talk is important. It might mark a kind of turning point for the battle-weary or the supine. It is certainly an encouragement to those who have been striving to build the wall, swords girt.
Listen to the Q&A, too.
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