Bishop calls England to conversion to Christ. Wherein Fr. Z rants.
Disease with global killing potential is on the rise.
Militant Islamism is on the rise.
Homosexualism is on the rise.
The Dictatorship of Relativism has weakened Western Civilization to the point of collapse so that hostile forces with satanic direction are roaming and devouring at will.
We barely know who we are anymore, even within Holy Church which is the last – teetering – bastion against such forces.
In times of crisis we Catholics have always turned to prayer and popular – public - devotions. For example, the threat of contagion prompted processions and the threat of invasion spurred the development of Forty Hours Devotion.
I saw this encouraging piece at ZENIT.
Bishop Calls for Earnest Prayers for Conversion of England
Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth, England, is marking October, the month of the Rosary, by distributing free recordings of the devotion to every parishioner in his diocese.
The bishop, who is to make the announcement in a pastoral letter due to be released on Sunday, says the CD will contain all the mysteries of the Holy Rosary.
[...]
“The Church in our time is calling us to an evangelisation ‘new in its ardour, new in its methods and new in its expression’,” he says. “This is why we need to pray for enormous creativity.”
Underlining the importance of prayer, Bishop Egan says it takes us “out of ourselves” facilitating “a person-to-Person encounter with God.” He says he hopes that by dedicating oneself to prayer, each person will become “less inward-looking and more outward-looking, that is, people who constantly pray for those in society around us, for their needs and their salvation.”
“We should work and pray earnestly for the evangelisation and conversion of England,” he says, “that all may have the chance to hear the Gospel and be inspired to convert to Christ.”
St. Pius V attributed the victory of the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the prayer of the Holy Rosary.
If the Rosary was effective on the level of nations in their time, why could it not be effective on the level of nations in our time?
It depends on you.
One of the first things you can do is GO TO CONFESSION.
One of the ongoing things you can do is recite the Rosary.
You might start saying the Rosary especially for the intention of your bishop and your priests.
The Enemy of our souls hates bishops and priests with a fury and plotting malice that our limited human minds cannot wholly comprehend. To create a good spiritual zone for our families and personal spiritual health, we must have courageous bishops and priests who can give proper formation to the lay faithful who, in their turn, shape the world. Please designate a bead for me, a poor sinner and priest.
And for the lay faithful of the more traditional type, I say that the Enemy will sow division among us who are faithful and true, pitting one part against another, precisely to prevent us from being leaven and light and salt in our failing societies. The Enemy must keep us all off balance with each other.
GO TO CONFESSION.
Pray the Rosary.
Support and strengthen your priests and bishops.
Finally, I firmly believe that the restoration, renewal, reinvigoration, restitution of our sacred liturgical worship is the sine qua non which must accompany, if not precede, every other initiative that we undertake in the Church at every possible level, whether in the parish, in the diocese, in the nation, or in the Roman Curia. For the family home, which is the domestic Church, the daily common prayer of the Rosary – with specific intentions for the good of bishops and priests, renewal of our sacred worship, safety from harm of disease and the attacks of debased movements – can be the mortar which holds fast the foundation of the Church. We are the Church’s living stones. We must play our role in the building and the defense of the Church. When Nehemiah set about to rebuild the walls of the city, the workers wore their swords in case of attack. Let your Rosaries be your sword and your trowel.
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