Regarding sainthood and canonization, that's a topic I'll deal with next week as we approach All Saints' Day on November 1st.
Blessed John Paul II's feast day is October 22nd and that and the announcement of his canonization has led me to read some of the things he said and wrote.
I came across the following in this month's Magnificat:
We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has ever experienced. I do not think the wide circle of the American society, or the wide circle of the Christian community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-church, between the Gospel and the anti-gospel, between Christ and the antichrist. This confrontation lies within the plans of Divine Providence. It is, therefore, in God's Plan, and it must be a trial which the Church must take up, and face courageously.
Then Cardinal Karol Wojtyła spoke those words in an address at the Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia in 1976. If some people thought he was exaggerating then, I think subsequent events should clarify the truth of his words.
When Cardinal Wojtyła was elected pope two years later, he would begin his pontificat with the words of Christ, Be not afraid! He would repeat those words often over the following quarter century.
What is it that we are not to be afraid of? Death? Satan and the powers of darkness? Illness, failure and pain?
The Gospel reading for mass last Friday, October 11th, was from Luke 11:15-26. I'll cite the first few verses:
When Jesus had driven out a demon, some of the crowd said: "By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons." Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven. But he knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house. And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons. If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you . . ."
We often hear the line that Satan's greatest accomplishment in this later age is to have convinced people that he doesn't exist. Those who dabble in the occult or Satanism are fools to the nth degree. But I think that those who have comfortably come to the conclusion that the devil is just silly old superstition are the bigger fools.
Jesus said, "I have observed Satan fall
like lightning from the sky." Luke 10:18
Those who grope through the dark forest of Satan's kingdom are at least aware of the realities of the supernatural. They play a fool's game by adoring That which hates them passionately and wishes to deface the image of God in which they were created and works tirelessly to snatch them eternally from the love of God. But I think that those aware of the existence of Satan are also very aware of the existence of God. And therein lies hope for them.
It's those who sleepily deny the existence of Satan and evil who tend to have a dim awareness of God. If they think about God at all, he's simply a vague 'goodness' who is OK with whatever I do since I'm just following my conscience anyway and I'm basically a good person who never hurt anybody, and well cutting corners at work or taking home office supplies isn't so bad since my company's rich and I hate my freak'n boss, and ogling that hot woman in the next cubicle isn't so bad, it's not like my wife knows about it, and though I would never agree to an abortion myself it's no problem to vote for a politician who supports a woman's right to choose, so we don't need to trouble ourselves too much with God. It's all cool . . .
Eternity is now. The Kingdom of God upon us. And so is Satan's kingdom. Our biological death, whether it's in the distant future or today, is but a transition from this time on earth with it's constant hardships and fleeting moments of joy, to the beatific vision of God, or to the full realization of our eternal separation from God. That is Heaven and Hell.
The Marriage Feast at Cana, by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
An anticipation of Heaven
But it begins here and now in our hearts. Either God reigns there, or Satan does, whether we believe in either of them or not. And whether we have heaven or hell in our hearts, we bring heaven or hell into our immediate surroundings, into our daily lives. Cheating and theft, lust and adultery, anger and murder are all signs of the kingdom of Satan. Love, peace, joy, respect for life and good humor are signs of the Kingdom of God.
In which kingdom do we live? Who do we serve?
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