Septuagesima Sunday
January 31, 2021
Septuagesima Sunday, January 31, 2021
The Straight and Narrow Path (Mt.7:14)***
by Anonymous
How does one survive as a Christian in a society that is in a state of advanced moral and spiritual decay? The season of Septuagesima, which we begin today in preparation for Lent, says to us, “Get sober! It’s time to ‘think upon these things’ with St. Paul. It’s time to abandon the broad road that leads to destruction and find the narrow way that leads to life.”
Faith in Jesus Christ, the “door of the sheep,” is the absolute and necessary beginning of salvation. The “narrow way” begins with Jesus Christ, Who is the door by which we must enter: “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All whoever have come are thieves and robbers; but the sheep have not heard them. I am the door. If anyone enter by me he shall be safe, and shall go in and out, and shall find pastures” (Jn.10:7-9).
But rebellion against God is the rule today, and men risk perishing “at the hands of the destroyer” (1 Cor. 10:10). In their arrogance, they have rejected God’s Divine Son, Jesus Christ, and refuse to hear Him speaking through His Church. “He who hears you, hears me,” Jesus told His Apostles. The Church is God’s voice to the world. Those who will not hear the Church do not hear the voice of God. “If he refuse to hear even the Church,” said Jesus about the wrongdoer, “let him be to thee as the heathen and the publican” (Mt.18:17).
But we are in spiritual battle, and the true Church is in eclipse. And on Septuagesima Sunday we look ahead to the season of Lent, with Ash Wednesday just over two weeks away. This will be our opportunity to engage in the spiritual battle between the forces of good and evil. The devil, especially powerful in these days, is always ready to attack, and he takes advantage of every weakness he can find in our spiritual armor. St. Paul encourages us:
“Take up the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and stand in all things perfect. Stand, therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of justice, and having your feet shod with the readiness of the gospel of peace, in all things taking up the shield of faith, with which you may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, that is, the word of God” (Rom.6:13-17).
This is also the time for us to preach the gospel of salvation, which has scarcely been preached in the Church since the time of John XXIII, who called together the Second Vatican Council, or Vatican II as we call it.
I say the Gospel has scarcely been preached because Catholics have been persuaded to change their way of thinking about salvation. The Jews began to visit the Vatican, not to hear the Gospel, but to change the Church. This would be done through Vatican II and its documents and decrees. John Paul II in particular, would popularize the idea of Universal Salvation. Why, then, go out of your way to preach the Gospel if everyone is saved. Pity the martyrs who died needlessly trying to bring the message of the Gospel to the pagans throughout the world. Why did St. Peter, St. Paul, and the other Apostles except St. John, endure the pains of fire and sword to bring the message of salvation to the nations? Why did our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the King of Martyrs, give this final message to his Apostles:
“Go into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned” (Mk.16:15,16).
St. Paul gave this urgent message to Timothy:
“Preach the word, be urgent in season, out of season; reprove, entreat, rebuke with all patience and teaching. For there will come a time when they will not endure the sound doctrine; but having itching ears, will heap up to themselves teachers according to their own lusts, and they will turn away from hearing the truth and turn aside rather to fables. But do thou be watchful in all things, bear with tribulation patiently, work as a preacher of the gospel, fulfill thy ministry” (2Tim.4:2-5).
John Paul II “fulfilled his ministry” by becoming the most popular “pope” in history, traveling throughout the world, smiling and making friends with everyone, but converting no one. If you believe, as he did, in the doctrine of Universal Salvation, and that no one goes to Hell, there is no urgency to preach the Gospel to the nations. In his gathering of the leaders of the World Religions at Assisi, on two separate occasions, he demonstrated his belief in the validity and equality of all religions.
But it didn’t stop there. Despite his gravely heretical views, John Paul II has been canonized, along with John XXIII and Paul VI. They were canonized by the alleged “pope” Jorge Bergoglio in 2014 and 2018, using the new “quickie” process of canonization left to us by John Paul II himself. The new canonization process requires only one miracle as a testimony to the sanctity of the person. But in the case of John XXIII the reason accepted for his canonization was that he initiated Vatican II. Wonders never cease!
As to the validity and equality of all religions, the Catholic Church stands alone as the only religion founded by God Himself. What is it about Jesus Christ that makes Him different from other men? Jesus Christ is the God-Man, Son of the Father, hence He is God, and Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary, hence he is a man, and one of us.
No other founder of a so-called World Religion can claim to be God’s Divine Son. And without God’s authorization, no sinful human being can be the founder of a religion which is a true and safe way for human beings. St. Peter admonishes us:
“Be sober, be watchful! For your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same suffering befalls your brethren all over the world. But the God of all grace, who has called us unto his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will himself, after we have suffered a little while, perfect, strengthen and establish us. To him is the dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1Pet.5:8-11).
*** The author prefers to remain anonymous.
