Spiritual Warfare [Everyday is a 9-11 -- due to abortion]

Catholic Exchange ^ | 09-20-06 | Mark P. Shea

[Salvation]

by Mark P. Shea Bible Study and Truth Tracts Author

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Spiritual Warfare

9/20/2006

		Yesterday, a group of Americans larger than the number killed on 9/11 died.
In This Article... Two Warring Paganisms Where the Battle Is Follow Christ!

Two Warring Paganisms

The day before that it was the same. And the day before that. In fact, every day is 9/11 for America's unborn children. Every day, we cleanly, efficiently, legally and privately dispatch as many children — more in fact — than Osama bin Laden had victims on that horrible day five years ago. When we speak about "post-Christian values" we have to remember that this dedication to the culture of death is one of them: a dedication enshrined in law in much of the West (including our own country) and surrounded by ever more draconian punishments for those who dissent. Increasingly, our culture's devotion to abortion, gay marriage, blasphemy, the harvesting of dead babies for body parts, and the stampede to kill the weak and old is becoming a central component of Why We Fight. More and more, the struggle of the West with Radical Islam looks like a battle, not between Good Guys and Bad Guys, but between pagan Rome and pagan Carthage.

Where the Battle Is

When I point this out, some people ask me if I'm saying that since Western culture is depraved, we have no right to fight radical Islam.

No. I do not say we are too morally bankrupt to fight radical Islam. I say we are too morally bankrupt to trust that our opposition to radical Islam makes us trustworthy. I say that Christians, in particular, have to remember that though we are obliged to the duty of patriotism (which is, after all, simply another way of saying we are obliged to love our neighbor), it does not follow that we are obliged to love our neighbor more than God. When our neighbor tries to get us to defend his sinful acts because they aren’t as nasty as somebody else’s sinful acts, we have a duty to tell him he’s wrong.

The older I get, the more incorrigibly Catholic my outlook gets. I regard the great struggles of our time through the lens of Ephesians 6:12 and following. I do not believe flesh and blood is our ultimate enemy. I also do not believe flesh and blood is our ultimate Friend. I think the projects of demonizing our enemies and the project of making the post-Christian secular West the highest good are both riddled with folly. Our enemies think they are fighting a Holy War. But not a few in the West are promising a secular messianic vision of a world made happy through democracy and capitalism unfettered from the Christian tradition that gave rise to them. Christians have to be very careful in how they respond to that, because the easy temptation, in our revulsion at the brutality and evil of radical Islam, is simply to baptize whatever the post-Christian West wants to do in response.

Christians must indeed fight a Holy War. But that means they must pay attention to St. Paul, who tells us that the weapons of our warfare are primarily spiritual and are ordered toward Christ, not toward earthly power and domination. Therefore, we Christians cannot just fight against radical Islam (which is but one of the enemies of Christ). We must also fight against post-Christian secularism that hates Christ just as much as radical Islam. And we must supremely fight against the sin in the Church (and in our own hearts) that always tempts us to say "I thank you O Lord, that I am not like other men." Yes, sometimes literal arms are necessary in this world. But without the spiritual arms, we are fighting in vain. Indeed, we are fighting against Christ.

Follow Christ!

The temptation of this world is always to lure us with the siren song of believing that we can make this world enough — that one of our little systems of order can stand in for heaven. And one of the best tricks the devil has in his little bag is the trick of sending evils into the world in pairs. That way, he can inflame our hatred of one evil and stampede us into the defense of the opposite evil. The sensible path through all this is to follow Christ, not the winds of this world. For the reality is that a diseased and inflamed spirituality like radical Islam cannot be cured by a diseased and flaccid spirituality like post-Christian secularism and the New-Age goo of the West. Only a healthy spirituality can cure what ails both East and West: and that means the fullness of the Catholic faith.

On the whole, I'm glad pagan Rome defeated pagan Carthage. Rome was about the best there was in paganism. But the very best of paganism still was incapable of looking God in the eye without saying "Crucify Him." We Christians will have to remember that both when radical Islam threatens to kill us and when Caesar seeks to co-opt us.

Mark Shea is Senior Content Editor for Catholic Exchange and a weekly columnist for the National Catholic Register. You may visit his website at www.mark-shea.com check out his blog, Catholic and Enjoying It!, or purchase his books and tapes here.

[Salvation]

End abortion by daily praying the Rosary, attending Daily Mass, and one hour of Adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament each week.

[Salvation]

Ping!

[ventana]

I agree w/mark. V's wife.

[TAdams8591]

Marking.

[Jaded]

Do you still have a ping list?

October 1st is Life Chain Sunday. Check http://lifechain.net/ for a Life Chain near you!

[Salvation]

Thanks for the reminder. I'll ping the list. Totally forgot it this morning.

[Salvation]

Catholic Discussion Ping!

Please notify me via FReepmail if you would like to be added to or taken off the Catholic Discussion Ping List.

Catholic Action Ping!

Please notify me via FReepmail if you would like to be added to or taken off the Catholic Action Ping List.

October 1st is Life Chain Sunday. Check http://lifechain.net/ for a Life Chain near you!

[A CA Guy]

This is the main stain on the United States.

If the parents had to lose ten years of life for every abortion would the numbers be even 1% of what they are now?

Bad choices that effect others are always easier IMO.

[.30Carbine]

I am glad you pinged me to this very worthwhile article. I do not pray the rosary, as you request at #1, but I do pray through Christ Jesus, the Son of God, my Mediator - Crucified! Risen! Glorified! Seated! - and I pray in accord with how Mark P. Shea sees it, because his views align perfectly with Scripture, the Word of God, which is The Truth. Thanks to God for this writing.

[FatherofFive]

This cannot be repeated often enough.

[Salvation]

Thanks, Carbine!

[Salvation]

I don't think many people realize how many children are aborted each day. Somehow that message needs to get out!

[FJ290]

I don't think many people realize how many children are aborted each day. Somehow that message needs to get out!

It's such a sad comment on our times. I remember when one of my kids was a little girl she looked up at me one day and said, "Daddy, what's abortion?"

Her mother and I hadn't talked to her about it yet because she was still such a baby herself, only 7 years old at the time. Guess she heard it on television or maybe even overheard her mother and I talking about it.

Wouldn't it be great if everyone had that innocence about it? Didn't know what it meant or had never heard of it?

Pray the Rosary for life!

International Perpetual Rosary for Life

[Salvation]

Wow! What a website. It deserves another prayer ping. I doubt that you will mind! Do you know if there is a counterpart for the U. S.??

Catholic Prayer Ping!

Please notify me via FReepmail if you would like to be added to or taken off the Catholic Prayer Ping List.

Sign up on the link above to be a part of a Perpetual Rosary for Life!

[Jaded]

I e-mailed Fr. Pavone's site and asked if there was a rosary for America. I'll let you know if they respond. :-)

[Coleus]

National Life Chain, Sunday, October 1, 2006, Can You spare Just one hour in prayer for the Unborn?

 

only 201 views

[Coleus]

It's stated and recorded in the old testament many times: when we stop following the law, we lose God's protection.

[FJ290]

Wow! What a website. It deserves another prayer ping. I doubt that you will mind! Do you know if there is a counterpart for the U. S.??

Don't mind at all. :-)

I haven't noticed on the Priests for Life website in the U.S. if they have it or not. Since the one in Canada is International that might be why they haven't formed one in the U.S. Maybe they expected more response than just the Canadian sign ups?

[FJ290]

I e-mailed Fr. Pavone's site and asked if there was a rosary for America. I'll let you know if they respond. :-)

Thank you for doing that for us.

[FJ290]

only 201 view

I somehow missed that when it was first posted, but did read about it on Priests for Life. Thanks for bringing attention to it again. A much worthy cause!