Our hope has gone . We are as good as dead . Everything is falling to ruin

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Rob2

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I exchanged a PM with a member a few hours ago . I was a bit gloomy about the Church , especially relating to the abuse scandals .

Then I started reading “Come , Creator Spirit . Meditations on the Veni Creator” by Father Raniero Cantalamessa .

I have returned to CAF to share what I read with you .
I suggest you read Ezekiel 37:1-14 first .


Father Cantalamessa writes ::

"We are now this “House of Israel” . Among us too in the Church there are those who go about saying , “Our hope has gone . We are as good as dead . Everything is falling to ruin .” The promise of the blowing wind is made to us too : the coming of the Holy Spirit , and the experience of being raised to life again . May we become acutely aware that the “powerful wind” of Pentecost is still blowing , that Jesus is still breathing on his disciples today , that the Upper Room is wide open to us .

"May we resolve to never get tired of joining in this unceasing prayer of invocation that is the constant overtone to the history of the Church , and may we too repeat - - - - - - -

Come , oh Holy Spirit !

Come , power of God and tender sweetness of God !

Come , you who are both motion and rest !

Renew our daring .

Be our companion so that we will not feel lonely in this world .

Create in us an intimacy with God !

We do not say any longer , as the Prophet said ,

“Come from the four winds”

as though we did not yet know where you come from .

We say , "Come , Spirit , from the pierced side of Christ on the Cross !

Come on the breath blowing from the lips of the Risen Jesus .""

(Those words spoke powerfully to me . May they help you ) .
 
When I was in RCIA we were given several ‘checkpoints’ to see if we were comfortable with the process. On the last of these checkpoints we were asked if we wanted to continue. Although I was new to the Sacred Scriptures, I responded with the words of St. Peter, “To whom shall I go?”

This isn’t new territory for me. When I was in RCIA the local child sex abuse scandal was breaking daily and shortly after I was confirmed, my diocese became the first in the US to declare bankruptcy. We’ve cleaned house and generally, my attitude towards the Church and the future is happy and hopeful. Our parishes provide a safe environment for our children.

It hurts and it’s bothersome as new revelations come to light concerning child sex abuse scandal. Personally, I’m glad this is all coming out into the open. Normally, I’m forward thinking and tend not to obsess on the past misdeeds of our spiritual kin, but in times like these I realize that the prayer “Come, O Holy Spirit” is an appropriate prayer for our day.
 
When the Romans were pulling Catholics out of their homes in Rome to feed them the next day to lions I can see getting a bit gloomy for a minute or two.

Remember…NOTHING has changed. God’s love for us comes mainly through the Church in a large number of ways.

Now is a time to rejoice…God is cleaning up His Church and He wants our help and prayer to do it.

No child of God should ever be gloomy for more than a few nanoseconds.

Now is the time to invite fallen away Catholics - many of them - back to the Sacraments, back to Mass and to Confession, back to a life of happy and holy and daily struggle, and to the joy of struggling with Christ.
 
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don’t sweat the load; it is all going to work out OK in the end

stay close to Mother Church & the Sacraments
 
A few years ago when this news was coming to light, I was in RCIA. I remember a comment on one of the Catholic radio programs to the effect that God will clean His house before he cleans the nations. He has dealt with mass sin in the past - Sodom and Gomorrah, the Flood for instance. Perhaps this is a cleansing of some of our Church.
 
St Paul told us we are at war, if anyone thinks that Satan would not try to place some of his own into the church then they are fools, Even Christ had his enemy sit at his table at the last supper!
An old war tactic was always to try to get people on the inside to tear down from within and many have fallen away because of it, but I do believe that anyone grounded in Christ will not be turning because of scandal, Christ himself was a scandal.
It is only a sign of the times
Will there be any faith when I return or and he went to make war on the rest of her children.
We have no reason not to stay strong in our hope.
 
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