Be At Peace

News Flash

VATICAN CITY STATE (CR News) — “Peace on earth and good will to all people.” It’s not just a Christmas slogan any more. It’s a real prayer that calls on the faithful to live their lives as members in good standing of the Kingdom of God.

Let’s talk.

Background

A “dis-ease” (disease) entered the Church as a healthy person. It’s not the first time something like this has happened, of course. And depending upon when the Lord returns, it probably won’t be the last time either. The disease is associated with pride and, perhaps even, arrogance. The disease is most noticeable on social media.

We call this disease the “AAA Plague.” It starts innocently enough when a Catholic falls in love with his/her faith and wants to know more. As they search the Internet, they are drawn to sites and social media accounts getting a lot of traffic. Those are the same channels where there is often a lot of controversy and arguing taking place too.

It’s not long before the unsuspecting, well-intentioned searcher gets involved, and that’s when they get infected.

Symptoms include a sense of “them or us” and an almost-addictive approach to checking the social media conversations to see who responded to their comments.

Though the two are related and the symptoms are similar, the “AAA Plague” should not be confused with the ”BBB Plague.” The “BBB Plague” infects viewers of cable news networks that repeat the same stories again and again throughout the day, delivering partisan perspectives of stories that interest various groups of people. The “BBB Plague” is commonly connected to “fake news” and other practices that quickly become addictive to viewers.

Once hooked, the “dis-eased person” can only be freed by prayer and fasting, and must break away from the unhealthy behavior “cold turkey” (all at once, not incrementally).

But fear not!

The Nitty Gritty

To start with, while you’re important to the Church, it does not belong to you. It belongs to God. Jesus is building it, and it is his job to protect it (Mt 18:18). She (the Church) is the bride of Christ (Eph 5:31-33).

Mary and the Church are the enemies of Satan (Gen 3:15). Satan wants to destroy us.

Our role, individually and collectively, is to prepare ourselves and the Church for the great wedding feast in heaven (Rev 19:7). We do that through prayer, alms giving, and fasting. We do it by loving God and our neighbors. We do it by partaking of the sacraments frequently, especially the Blessed Sacrament.

And we do it by learning to trust Jesus completely (Prov 3:5-6).

Our Story

That’s our story, and we’re sticking to it!

COOL2B

It’s cool to be Catholic. Very COOL2B!

Vivat Jesus!