"Lord, Save us, we perish."

   On January 28, I added some notes that I already had on disturbing headlines which continued to prove"christianophobia" in general and attacks against the Catholic Church and its members in particular.

1. Seven people killed in their Catholic Church in Nigeria. N.B. 35,000 Christians have fled Nigeria after a new wave of attacks.
2. Extremist Hindus attack Christians in Karnataka. Even the government in India is contaminated by christianophobic Hindus and Muslims. A Catholic and two Protestants were expelled by an islamic tribunal. After the British left, a post colonial secular government took charge and a number of Indian states put limits on freedom of religion.
3. Catholic schools attacked by Muslims in Jakarta, Indonesia.
4. Two Catholic priests abducted by islamists in Khartoum.
5. Violence continues against Copts in Egypt.


and in the western world:
1. Feces thrown at face of Christ in a play
2. Virgin Mary portrayed as a lesbian in a play
3. Christ and the apostles portrayed as homosexuals in a play.
4. Christ statue in front of a church decapitated.
5. Virgin Mary statue desecrated.
6. Demands for crosses to be removed from public property, including military cemeteries.
7. Christians arrested for passing out tracts in a Muslim neighborhood
8. Our own government gives Catholic Church and other like-minded denominations one year to comply with Obamacare's demand that they provide sterilization, abortion, contraception and abortifactants. This even though the Supreme Court has held that government can not meddle in internal affairs of religious institutions.

   We are under attack from not only Muslims and Hindus, but secular humanists and atheists with no regard for religious beliefs.

    A side note: Yesterday was the Feast Day of St. Peter Nolasco who died in 1256 A.D. He spent all the money he had to deliver Christians from Muslim captivity. He founded an order with this object as its reason for being. The religious raised money for the ransom of Christians. If the money ran out, their rule obliged them to deliver themselves to take the place of the captives.

   While Christians need to be extremely concerned with these attacks and to do all they can to fight them, today's Gospel (January 29) for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany, Matthew 8: 23-27, tells us to trust in Our Lord when tempests toss us about.

   In the fisherman's boat, He sleeps while winds and waves threaten to capsize the craft. The apostles wake Him. "Lord, save us, we perish." His response: "Why are ye fearful, o ye of little faith?" He proves His Divinity, as He continues to do in the liturgy chosen for these days after Epiphany, by calming the winds and the sea. As our pastor said this morning, Christ, in the Gospels, shows us that He always notes the requests of those with "Faith." The boat also represents the Church. From the beginning it has been and will continue to be, tossed by the winds and waves of weakness within and attacks from without. Faith though, in Christ, Who sometimes seems to sleep while we are in the midst of difficulties (even our personal ones), His divine plan for our salvation calms the tempests and steadies the way of the Church and its members.

   St. Pio, the Franciscan monk who exhibited the stigmata and had numerous spiritual gifts gave the advice "Pray, hope and don't worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer." And "Pray with perseverance, trust, and a serene and calm mind."

   Also today, January 29, happens to be the Feast of St. Francis de Sales, a Bishop and Doctor of the Church. He brought back 60,000 Calvinists to the Faith. He was full of zeal, but had a gentle holiness and charity that attracted people to him. Some thoughts of his regarding anxiety:
  
"With the single exception of sin, anxiety is the greatest evil that can happen to a soul "(Introduction to the Devout Life, IV,10).  If we, as the apostles in the boat lack confidence, St. Francis de Sales says:

"It is very good to misturst ourselves, but what good will that do unless we place all our confidence in God and await His mercy? And even if we do not feel such confidence, we must not cease to make acts of confidence and say, 'Even though I have no feeling of confidence in You, I know that You are my God, that I am totally Yours and have no hope except in Your goodness; therefore I abandon myself entirely into Your hands'............

A thousand times a day cast your whole heart, your soul, your anxiety on God with great confidence, and say with the psalmist: 'I am Yours, Lord, save me.'

Do not fear future evil in this world, for perhaps it will never come. but in any event, if evil should come, God will strengthen you. If God commands you to walk upon the waves of adversity, do not doubt; do not be afraid. God is with you; have courage and you will be delivered......."

The above three paragraphs were excerpted from Dom Mark Daniel Kirby, OSB's vultus.stblogs.org (Vultus Christi") posting January 29, 2011.  It was included in our weekly bulletin at St. Joseph the Worker Parish, Tyler, Texas.