Luke 12:35-38 Stay Alert!
(Click here for readings)
Jesus said to his disciples: “…Blessed are those servants whom the master
finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I
say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to
wait on them.”
I have to admit that I no longer find it surprising when the academic
world hides the truth from others; or better yet, when they decide to airbrush
the truth away. Even though the ultimate
purpose of our schools is to teach the truth, more and more are caving into
political correctness and religious intolerance.
Yesterday, I read the following headline: Holy
Photoshop! LSU erased Christian football
fans’ crosses.
Now you may be thinking: With all the important things going on in
the world, why in the world waste a meditation on such a benign subject? The answer should be obvious by to
everyone: Lying is never a benign issue. It
is a growing problem. It is what the
devil does best. He is the prince of
lies, remember?
It turns out that Louisiana State University (LSU) officials published a
photo of “The Painted Posse”, a student
led organization that is very much devoted to LSU football and to our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. At every home game,
these students show their school spirit by painting their bare chests with their
school colors and a small cross. The school
officials loved it and posted a picture of them for all the world to see.
But when these same kids saw it, they were horrified. They couldn’t believe what they were
seeing. Actually, they couldn’t believe what
they were not seeing: the little
cross. It turns out it had been
airbrushed out by school officials.
It seems to me that these same school officials love the Painted Posse’s spirit …but not the Holy
Spirit. They love the fact that these
kids love their school…but not their Savior.
Why did they do it? Officials
responded by saying, “We don’t want to imply
we are making any religious or political statements, so we air-brushed it out.” So…instead of worrying about making a
false statement, they worried more about making a political or religious statement. What a bunch of cowards! How sickening. How pathetic.
What liars. They prefer to
distort the truth than to face reality. These
officials are still lying. They did not have
to make any political or religious statement when they published this picture. All they had to do is describe the picture
and state the facts below it. That’s it.
Atheists would love for believers to believe that our nation is
abandoning God. But since that’s not
true, they resort to sabotage. They try
to airbrush Christians away. But in
reality, they are airbrushing the truth away and painting for us a better
portrait of whom they are and what they will resort to.
Be aware! Be attentive! Stay alert!
History tends to repeat itself.
No God = No Heaven, just Hell on earth.
Where is God? Why doesn’t He
come to our rescue? A week ago,
our seventh grade students at St. Monica finished reading “Night”, the memories of Elie Wiesel’s experience in a Nazi
concentration camp. I asked the kids if
they believed (like Mr. Wiesel) that God had abandoned His people. After all, the evidence seemed to point in
that direction. The kids didn’t
know. So I asked them some difficult questions: Why did
the Holocaust happen in the 1940’s? Why
not centuries before? How in the world
could the Nazis have gained so much power?
Why was it so easy for Hitler to convince the German people that they
were superior to others? Why did all of this
happen in Germany?
They did not know.
I continued: What was going on in the 1900’s? What were people reading back then? What did they believe in?
I then wrote on the board four names:
Darwin, Marx, Feuerbach, and Nietzsche. [It’s amazing how science and philosophy translate
into politics and life.]
Right before Hitler and the Nazis appeared, and the Holocaust and World
War II began, certain theories and philosophies were receiving wide attention
and acceptance in Germany.
People in Germany were beginning to place their faith in man, in science
and atheism. They were beginning to
believe that man should return to the animal kingdom where he belongs; to rule
where there are no rules and where only the strongest survive. They believed in survival of the fittest and
preying on the weakest (Darwin). They
believed that religion was the opium of people (Marx) and that there was no
need to worry about right and wrong because there was no heaven or hell. They believed they had finally succeeded in ridding
the world of the greatest myth: God; of killing
Him (Nietzsche) and replacing him with His rightful owner: man (Feuerbach).
And it was all good; In fact,
it was “very good”.
Did God abandon man or did man
abandon Him? The kids knew the
answer.
God did not abandon man. Man
abandoned Him. And even today, we
continue to airbrush Him out of our lives…out of reality.
"Brothers and sisters: You were at a time without Christ...without hope and without God in the world" (cf. Ephesians 2:12-22).
Wow, a meditation/homily that needs to be given in every single church in the nation and world. Powerful! Thank you Father Alfonse!
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