WHY I AM OPTIMISTIC

by Father Bob Bedard, CC


How goes the barque of Peter these days? How is the Catholic Church weathering the storms of the twenty-first century?

Most loyal Catholics would probably agree that, while we’re trying hard, we actually are not doing very well. Our efforts at lobbying politicians against abortion, same-sex marriage, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, compulsory secular sex-ed programs in schools, and a host of other sad developments in our day have not had the success that we’ve prayed they would have.

Many of us feel we’ve been banging our heads against a wall. Discouragement has sunk, I’m afraid, deep roots in our souls. What’s the use, we complain. We’re facing an impossible task.

But is it really impossible? Actually it isn’t. I’m convinced were heading into a powerful move of God.

I think we need more understanding about what really is happening. I don’t think we comprehend well the spiritual warfare that rages around us. In the midst of our disappointment, despite our honest efforts, we do have tremendous admiration for such as our pro-lifers who in their dogged determination continue to work so many hours day in and day out – the people of Campaign Life, Action Life, Human Life International and others. The relentless war goes on. Our mistaken impression often is that we’re in full retreat.

What can we do to stem the tide, we ask ourselves? We have no weapons. The enemy forces have all the money, the support of the government, the courts, the academics, and the media in addition the “world” pours down abuse, particularly on the Church. The world sees everything in political terms – left (their favourites) versus (the unenlightened) The worldlings haven’t got a clue about the spiritual war – just a manner of speaking, they think. They believe we live in a fantasy world of make-believe.

Weapons? We have them all. Every little prayer , every kind word, every bit of fasting, every good deed, every word of encouragement, every little penance, every song in praise of God, every single virtuous act – all of these are strong arrows pointed at the heart of Satan’s empire. Our weapons are a thousand time more powerful than we think they are. They are a steady and constant battering against the forces of evil. And they are taking their toll. Satan and his minions are losing the war and they know it. They’re in panic mode. They’re desperate. That is why so many of their plots are getting more and more extreme and disgusting these days. They’re going to lose their constituency before too long. Their control of things is slipping.

The odd thing is that, although the balance of power is shifting, most of us are not at all aware of it. That’s the way it is with the spiritual war. There may be lots of activity, lots of noise, with the anti-God people claiming victory after victory for their agenda but the Lord’s forces customarily operate in silence. And those who are serious prayer warriors, who have become accustomed to hearing from the Lord, are telling us the tide is turning.

Let God’s people take heart! When the late Pope John Paul II spoke of the “new springtime” that lay ahead for the Church, he may have been talking about the era that is just beginning to dawn in our time.

So…talk to everyone you see about taking up the cause. Explain to all how, with prayers and good works for the Lord’s agenda, the power of the enemy is penetrated and weakened.

If it sounds as if I’m losing it, or engaging in some sort of fantasy gone wild, think, if you will, of the demise of Communism in eastern Europe and the unexpected collapse of the Berlin wall twenty or so years ago. Atheistic Communism in the Soviet Union was, for seventy years, a couple of generations, a brutal heartless regime, with thousands of citizens imprisoned and tortured in the gulags. They exterminated millions of their own (Ukrainian) people. Individual freedoms were trampled upon. Without mercy, tanks had without mercy, put down uprisings in Hungary and Czechoslovakia . The Soviets had engaged in cold war manoevers with the Americans and the west and had threatened to initiate a nuclear holocaust that could wipe out up to a third of the world’s population.

Without much warning, the whole evil empire (President Reagan’s appellation) crumbled, seeming to implode. Communism in eastern Europe fell apart. Several of the Soviet bloc peoples quickly declared their independence from Moscow . We began to hear about newly independent countries like Lithuania , Estonia , Latvia , Croatia , Bosnia-Herzegovina , Romania , Hungary , Slovakia , the Czech Republic , Slovenia , Montenegro , Bulgaria , Serbia , Georgia , Ukraine , Tajikistan , Albania , Kzbekistan , Belarus .

The infamous Berlin Wall, having seen thousands machine-gunned to death as they tried to escape to freedom, almost at an unheard command, collapsed. Why? My take on the principal cause was the weight of the prayers etc, that drove off the forces of the devil and allowed God to get some important things done.

I see the same thing building with regard to the current issues that offend the heart of God and the moral sensibilities of His people and all decent-living folk.

Is the time not coming when the abortion industry will simply be smothered under the weight of its own defiant iniquity? The hideous reality will begin to overtake the so-called “pro-choice” people who will cover their faces for shame. And will not the same type of thing happen to the same-sex movement as it begins to dawn more clearly on supporters just how disgusting sodomy really is. And understanding the tragic damage being done by pornography on the minds of the young and adult men will cause enough outrage in the general population to bring about massive protests demanding a shut-down of the filth that has been warping and destroying men’s integrity. Support for euthanasia will decrease as the Lord’s agenda gathers more and more sympathy and active co-operation.

Cheer up, folks. We’re on the winning side.