Gather to Christ

Gospel Reflection For The 7th day of March in the year of Our Lord, 2024

Gospel

Luke 11:14-23

14 And thou shalt be blessed, because they have not wherewith to make thee recompense: for recompense shall be made thee at the resurrection of the just. 15 When one of them that sat at table with him, had heard these things, he said to him: Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

16 But he said to him: A certain man made a great supper, and invited many. 17 And he sent his servant at the hour of supper to say to them that were invited, that they should come, for now all things are ready. 18 And they began all at once to make excuse. The first said to him: I have bought a farm, and I must needs go out and see it: I pray thee, hold me excused. 19 And another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try them: I pray thee, hold me excused. 20 And another said: I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

21 And the servant returning, told these things to his lord. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant: Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the feeble, and the blind, and the lame. 22 And the servant said: Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. 23 And the Lord said to the servant: Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

In today’s first reading, from Jeremiah, we are told:

Thus says the LORD:

This is what I commanded my people:

Listen to my voice;

then I will be your God and you shall be my people.

Walk in all the ways that I command you,

so that you may prosper.

But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed.

They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts

and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.

From the day that your fathers left the land of Egypt even to this day,

I have sent you untiringly all my servants the prophets.

Yet they have not obeyed me nor paid heed;

they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their fathers.

The Psalm is a plea for the people of Israel to turn back to God and to “harden not your hearts.” Yet, in the Gospel we read that they had not heeded this plea. In fact, when the Messiah came they denied Him. The very religious leaders of the Jews, who sat “in the seat of Moses” as Jesus said, rejected God in the from of man, just as they did God in the desert as He led them to the Promised Land and just as they had the prophets. Even worse, they attributed the power of God who drove our demons, healed the sick and rose the dead, to that of Satan. This was the sin against the Holy Spirit that cannot be forgiven because it is the rejection of holiness and the power of God. The heart has become so hardened as to no longer be able to recognize what is holy and discern between good and bad.

While this historic passage is profound on its own, our Lord gives us a very clear message for our time. For nearly 500 years Christianity has been divided by Protestantism. While most Protestants are well meaning Christians who believe in God, it is important to remember that Protestantism is a protest against God’s Church. Protestantism teaches that the Catholic Church is inherently flawed and must be rejected and even be destroyed. Protestantism denies Sacred Tradition, the Priesthood, the Eucharist, Reconciliation, etc. Protestantism teaches “sola scriptura” or the Bible alone as the sole authority and that anyone who reads the Bible will be given full truth by the Holy Spirit. The result of this has been the creation of some 50,000 Protestant denominations (and many lunatic cults) each of which disagrees with the other and all of which hate the Catholic Church.

Despite the warnings of New Testament writers like Saint Paul, that division and schisms divide the Body of Christ, crucify our Lord again and should be absolutely condemned and avoided, most Christians in America and much of the western world today are Protestant. Their churches are the very definition of division. In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us, “every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste,” and in other versions He says, “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” This same Jesus, the living God and our Lord, said that He would found His church as “a shining city set upon a hill, visible for all ages”, and that “the powers of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Following the COVID pandemic, attendance at mainline Protestant churches fell dramatically. It had been declining for the past few decades, mainly due to high divorce rates and the destruction of the American family due to political and cultural forces. Now, on Sunday mornings, I pass churches where the parking lots were once full and overflowing, only to see a few elderly people going inside, unaccompanied by children and grandchildren. Many are just barely hanging on and the doors of these churches will likely close permanently in coming years. It is sad, but America is no longer a mainline Protestant Christian nation. Meanwhile I see evangelical churches that are packed… but, encouragingly, I also see packed Catholic Churches offering multiple masses for Sunday. Evangelical Protestantism has no staying power. The Christianity they offer has no depth. I do not mean to sound harsh, but at least the more traditional Protestant denominations held traditional Christian beliefs that were often more rooted in Catholic tradition than they realize. For instance, they teach about God as the Blessed Trinity, which is a teaching directly from Catholic Sacred Tradition, as it is not explained in the Bible and even recite the Creed as given to them by the Catholic Church. Evangelical Protestantism is very emotional and social, but lacks strong and valid doctrine.

I am afraid that Protestantism is a house that is beginning to fall. That is to be expected, but it means difficult times for America and the western world. Most children who are not raised as Christian never learn about Christ and a secular society unmoored from Christian morals is a violent and evil place. It will be up to each of us to rebuild Protestant America as Catholic America. We must become the “evangelicals” in the sense that it will be upon us to evangelize, to share the Gospel and to lead others to conversion to Christianity. We must be willing to share our faith and invite people to our Church. This will be quite uncomfortable for most and we will face rejection and abuse from a culture opposed to Catholic teaching. But, man needs God, and we are the Church Militant – this is God given our role. It will certainly be painful, but this is what must happen for the reunification of the Body of Christ. We must begin this missionary work today and not wait for the collapse of Protestant Christianity, because if we do many souls will be lost. Now is the time. Jesus said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters."

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Judson Carroll is the author of several books, including his newest, A Daily Catholic Devotional Reflections on the Daily Mass Readings January-June, 2024. It is Available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPD1DC7Q

and

Confirmation, an Autobiography of Faith. It is also Available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47Q1JNK

His new podcast is The Uncensored Catholic https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-uncensored-catholic