A persecuted church = a growing church?

[in_servitude]

In light of the recent HHS ruling requiring that religious institutions pay for contraceptive/abortive drugs, I’ve been praying and trying to get my mind right on this subject.

I look at CCC 324:

The fact that God permits physical and even moral evil is a mystery that God illuminates by his Son Jesus Christ who died and rose to vanquish evil. Faith gives us the certainty that God would not permit an evil if he did not cause a good to come from that very evil, by ways that we shall fully know only in eternal life.

And I combine that with my understanding that the Church tends to expand (rapidly even) while it is persecuted;

And I combine that with the teaching that those that who are “lukewarm” will be spit out of His mouth;

I wonder if this HHS event is not a chance for the Church to stand up for principle, be subject to persecution of the people. Thus, those that are really on fire with the Church will be left behind to witness to its Truth (while the lukewarm folks walk away). Those in search of the truth will witness those “hot” followers - and thus growth of feverish followers will result. Is this just “denial” on my part??

Honestly, I hope I can continue to go to Mass without having to do it in secret. But, if I have to risk everything for the sake of following Him - I’d do it. I feel like I just caught fire with the Catholic Church right as it might be headed into dark times.

 

[Safia]

Your post reminds me of three of my favorite quotes from Jacques Philippe’s Interior Freedom (a life-changing, remarkable, unparalleled book):

“No circumstance in the world can ever prevent us from believing in God, from placing all our trust in him, from loving him with our whole heart, or from loving our neighbor. Faith, hope, and charity are absolutely free, because if they are rooted in us deeply enough, they are able to draw strength from whatever opposes them! If someone sought to prevent us from believing by persecuting us, we always would retain the option of forgiving our enemies and transforming the situation of oppression into one of greater love. If someone tried to silence our faith by killing us, our deaths would be the best possible proclamation of our faith! Love, and only love, can overcome evil by good and draw good out of evil.”

+++

“The highest and most fruitful form of human freedom is found in accepting, even more than in dominating. We show the greatness of our freedom when we transform reality, but still more when we accept it trustingly as it is given to us day after day.

It is natural and easy to go along with pleasant situations that arise without our choosing them. It becomes a problem, obviously, when things are unpleasant, go against us, or make us suffer. But it is precisely then that, in order to become truly free, we are often called to choose to accept what we did not want, and even what we would not have wanted at any price. There is a paradoxical law of human life here: one cannot become truly free unless one accepts not always being free!

To achieve true interior freedom we must train ourselves to accept, peacefully and willingly, plenty of things that seem to contradict our freedom. This means consenting to our personal limitations, our weaknesses, our powerlessness, this or that situation that life imposes on us, and so on. We find it difficult to do this, because we feel a natural revulsion for situations we cannot control. But the fact is that the situations that really make us grow are precisely those we do not control.”

+++

“There are two things to be aware of if the fight against evil inclinations is to have any chance of success. First, our efforts will never be sufficient on their own. Only the grace of Christ can win us the victory. Therefore our chief weapons are prayer, patience, and hope. Second, one passion can only be cured by another - a misplaced love by a greater love, wrong behavior by right behavior that makes provisions for the desire underlying the wrongdoing, recognizes the conscious or unconscious needs that seek fulfillment and either offers them legitimate satisfaction or transfers them to something compatible with the person’s calling.”

–

Indeed, keep praying, keep spending time before Christ, adoring and exalting Him. Nothing matters except for you and your witness. All the rest of this? It’s temporal, and it is fleeting.

God bless!

 

[ThinkingSapien]

In light of the recent HHS ruling requiring that religious institutions pay for contraceptive/abortive drugs, I’ve been praying and trying to get my mind right on this subject…

I had to do a search to see what this was about. For the sake of any one else that may be unfamiliar I figured I would post part of a statement.
Health and Human Services:

In August 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services issued an interim final rule that will require most health insurance plans to cover preventive services for women including recommended contraceptive services without charging a co-pay, co-insurance or a deductible. The rule allows certain non-profit religious employers that offer insurance to their employees the choice of whether or not to cover contraceptive services. Today the department is announcing that the final rule on preventive health services will ensure that women with health insurance coverage will have access to the full range of the Institute of Medicine’s recommended preventive services, including all FDA -approved forms of contraception. Women will not have to forego these services because of expensive co-pays or deductibles, or because an insurance plan doesn’t include contraceptive services. This rule is consistent with the laws in a majority of states which already require contraception coverage in health plans, and includes the exemption in the interim final rule allowing certain religious organizations not to provide contraception coverage. Beginning August 1, 2012, most new and renewed health plans will be required to cover these services without cost sharing for women across the country.

For full statement see this site: hhs.gov/news/press/2012pres/01/20120120a.html

 

[achmafooma]

In light of the recent HHS ruling requiring that religious institutions pay for contraceptive/abortive drugs, I’ve been praying and trying to get my mind right on this subject.

I look at CCC 324:

And I combine that with my understanding that the Church tends to expand (rapidly even) while it is persecuted;

And I combine that with the teaching that those that who are “lukewarm” will be spit out of His mouth;

I wonder if this HHS event is not a chance for the Church to stand up for principle, be subject to persecution of the people. Thus, those that are really on fire with the Church will be left behind to witness to its Truth (while the lukewarm folks walk away). Those in search of the truth will witness those “hot” followers - and thus growth of feverish followers will result. Is this just “denial” on my part??

Honestly, I hope I can continue to go to Mass without having to do it in secret. But, if I have to risk everything for the sake of following Him - I’d do it. I feel like I just caught fire with the Catholic Church right as it might be headed into dark times.

I think you might be right. Although it is clear that there are challenging times ahead for the men and women of the faith, it is possible that we are on the verge of an unprecedented resurgence. A cleansing of the church, maybe even a reunification of the church, in the face of persecution.

One can hope…and pray.