In Battle…
Father Patrick Rohen, Chaplain (Captain) U.S. Army was interviewed on EWTN's Journey Home March 5, 2007. Strongly recommending the Wartime Prayer Book by Fulton Sheen now being reprinted and available at the ETWN catalog, Fr. Rohen added, "We soldiers cannot survive spiritually without our chaplains." A caller, Cindy, then asked, "What are the greatest spiritual struggles for our troops?" Fr. Rohen answered, "The importance of coming into contact with one's own suffering. It's very easy not to pray. Ours is a day-to-day battle in simply putting first things first."
A former soldier then called in to say he "prays for the U.S. Army chaplains all of the time." Soon, another caller asked when Fr. (Captain) Rohen first became a soldier, "I'd always been a soldier from the time I was young," revealed Fr. (Captain) Rohen. "Remember, we have the great Archangel Michael looking after us." These last thoughts were reminders many Americans are naturally born and are called to be and, indeed, are annointed as soldiers…
The EWTN interview brought to mind the classic Catholic work, A Fight For God, by H. Daniel Rops. Rops revealed, "The 'death of God', proclaimed by Nietzche, would be found without dispute in Karl Marx." Rops adds, "Scientism, the myth of progress and inevitable evolution were all assumed and extrapolated in Marxism. There the Luciferian optimism of Godless man reached its fulfillment." Today, while we show little concern for traditional Marxism, it is cultural Marxism in the form of “political correctness” needing to be strong addressed locally. While our soldiers are fighting overseas, should we just allow things to decay within the USA? If so, through sins of omission and things we fail to confront, American Catholics make a mockery of the daily sacrifices of soldiers…
Liberalism is any enemy “just taking over” in the USA. Who trusts Jesus Christ enough to address it? Liberalism is the fountain from which all heresies gush its venom. In the form of “political correctness,” Marxism and an infiltrative drive to atheistic world socialism, still is a grave threat to Christianity and to the Church. Look around your neighborhood, your city. While American soldiers are fighting and suffering overseas, is there any Catholic here who does not have at least the courage to conquer the local, ideological battles?
One book I highly recommend is Museum of Heretics available at Lulu.com. While the infiltrative programs of abortion, euthanasia, divorce and more recently samesex marriage have been on the systematic cultural-Marxist “politically correct” agenda – continuing to pervade the USA – such books as Museum of Heretics provides a strong sense of the domestic battles we daily need to be reminded of. I implore each one reading this to come to grips with this question: Are you a Catholic… or an ostrich with your head in Marxist mud? How would you answer this if Bishop Sheen were standing before you? Indeed, if Christ were standing before you? We all need to start being like General Patton who boldly shouted, “The whole world’s at war… and I’m not in it?”
