The Church’s Ultimate Trial

Editor’s Note: The following is the text of a sermon given by the author at a Traditional Latin Mass on August 19, 2018. Catholic Family News thanks Fr. Cizik for his continued public witness, spiritual support, and timely insights during these times of terrible darkness.

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In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

In regard to the current sex-abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, let us reflect upon the following prophetic words:

“Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the ‘mystery of iniquity’ in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of His Messiah come in the flesh.

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The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in His death and Resurrection. The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God’s victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause His Bride to come down from Heaven. God’s triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world.”

The preceding statements seem to be words that would accompany the third part of the secret of Fatima, commonly known as the Third Secret of Fatima. In that Third Secret, the three shepherd children of Fatima beheld a vision of “a big city half in ruins”, which could describe the dreadful condition of our Church today. Perhaps these words were inspired by the Third Secret of Fatima, but they are found in the current Catechism of the Catholic Church under the subheading, “The Church’s Ultimate Trial” (para. 675, 677).

Cardinal Raymond Burke recently stated during a video interview [NB: Beginning at the 13:33 mark]: “I think that we have to recognize…Our Lady warned us at Fatima about an apostasy from the Faith.” He continued: “I believe that there has been a practical apostasy from the Faith with regards to all the questions involving human sexuality; principally, it starts with the idea that there can be legitimate sexual activity outside of marriage, which, of course, is false, completely false.”

The sex-abuse crisis in the Church is primarily due to rampant homosexuality within the ranks of the priests, bishops, and cardinals. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “Sacred Scripture…presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,” and that “tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’ They are contrary to natural law. … Under no circumstances can they be approved” (para. 2357).  The horrific acts described in the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report are abominations that cry out to God for vengeance!

Apostasy from the truth, leading to the Church’s Ultimate Trial, can be found in the disordered teachings of Modernists and homosexuals in the present-day Church who promote active homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle as opposed to a marriage between one man and one woman, and a chaste priesthood, religious life, as well as a single vocation.

During the same interview already mentioned, Cardinal Burke also said: “I do believe in this present time, not only with regard to this crisis of which we are speaking, but with regard to a number of other situations in the Church, that the devil is very active.” Indeed, Pope Paul VI declared after Vatican II (June 29, 1972) that “through some fissure the smoke of satan has entered the temple of God” [NB: In Italian, «da qualche fessura sia entrato il fumo di satana nel tempio di Dio»]. Where there is such putrid smoke, there you will also find the fires of hell.

Just as the three shepherd children of Fatima beheld a terrifying vision of hell in the first part of the Fatima Secret, it appears that we are witnessing a ghastly vision of hell within the Church in the reading of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report, as well as others, of the heinous sins of various other priests, bishops, and cardinals. Our Lady of Fatima said to Jacinta, as the young visionary was dying: “More souls go to hell for sins of the flesh than for any other reason.”

The Third Secret of Fatima tells of a big cross on top of a mountain surrounded by the corpses of Catholic martyrs. The Cross has no Corpus on it, since it represents the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, which is being crucified in our time.

We are now at the First Station of the Cross where the Church is being brought before Pontius Pilate. Further government investigations and continued public outrage are sure to follow. The cry “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” (John 19:6) is being heard already in reference to the Church as a whole. Because of the Judas priests, bishops, and cardinals within the Church, the good will suffer along with the bad. But we have hope.

The Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, once purified of these wolves in shepherd’s clothing, will rise again to its own Resurrection. Hopefully, we will live to see Almighty God’s triumph over this revolt of evil. In the meantime, keep the Faith – the One True Faith founded by Christ!

In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

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Author’s Note: The Knights of Columbus Woodlawn Council 2161 Traditional Latin Mass Guild will sponsor a series of Traditional Latin Masses in a “NOVENA OF REPARATION for the Heinous Sins Detailed in the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report” for nine consecutive Fridays beginning on August 31, 2018. The intention will also include the spiritual and physical well-being of the victims and for God’s Justice. Click the following link to learn more: https://knightsofcolumbuslatinmass.blogspot.com/.