So, you think you are a Catholic right?

But are you really a Catholic? 
One who lives, eats and breathes the Faith?

We need more than pious expressions

By that I do not mean spending your day with your hands clasped together and an annoyingly pious look on your face.

I mean that, in every action of your working or social day life, do you weigh up responses and actions and words so that you both reflect the light of Christ and convey to those around you that you are one of the Flock, not one of the herd?

It's not easy.

It's going to get tougher.

The pressure on Christians, and on Catholics in particular, is becoming more intense daily.

This is not an 'Apocalypse Now' sort of a post, but, it must be admitted, that the end of times should ever be in our thoughts.

This is a post concerning the downward spiral of morals and morality; the decline of decency and the upsurge of war, terror, famine and pestilence.

Back in the 1970s, the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen was proclaiming that "Christendom is dead.....Christendom is finished" - but he went on to say that Christianity was still alive.

45 years later it may be true to say that Christianity is in its death throes; the Holy Father has said that the Catholic Church could fall like a house of cards. He does not mean (I trust) that it will disappear off the face of the earth, we know that, in the end "my Immaculate Heart will triumph" but we are likely to be flattened and scattered just as a house of cards, when it collapses.

I trust that I will not be around to see Holy Mother Church in extremis.

But the young Catholics of today will have to face....what?

Not just abuse and derision, we have had that ever since Christ trod the earth.

They will have to face actual persecution, imprisonment and, as in Egypt, Syria, Kenya and Pakistan at present - a real and bloody martyrdom.

Persecution, in the western world, will take the form of accusations and trials for those who resist the incoming tide of sewage.

Same Sex "Marriages", collaboration in abortions, opposition to fundamentalist Islam (which will, mark my words, morph into everyday Islam) - in short, any form of opposition to the politically correct agenda, whether outwardly secular or, inwardly, from within the Church, will result in Catholics suffering for the Faith.

Not just Catholic Doctors and Nurses but also clerical and administrative workers, social workers, hoteliers and those in the hospitality industry, pharmacists, the list is endless.

Sooner or later, all will be called to witness their Faith.

What can be done?

Right now we can pray the Rosary, live the Fatima message of penance and reparation.

We can also recognise that apparently minor drift such as allowing Muslim prayer rooms in Catholic Schools and 'Inter faith' visits to the local mosque or temple, are actually far from being 'inter faith' and are purely one sided, encouraging Catholics to participate in idolatry and heresy.

Priests who stray from Canon Law in their dress, behaviour or liturgical abuses need to be brought to account.
Bishops should be reported to the Nuncio or Rome direct.

And our fellow Catholics must be made aware, not by shoving latin texts down their throats but by reasoned, charitable debate - they have a very long journey to make, not having looked in the mirror for quite some time.

We need to make our Faith shine out so that, by our deeds, words and actions, we show that there is opposition to moral decay; that the forces of darkness cannot command the high ground - that ground belongs to us and we will not surrender it.

It may surprise some to learn that the majority of Muslims believe that we church going Christians are a degenerate, immoral bunch of savages.

One small way of rolling back those misconceptions is to say Grace before meals when in mixed company; inaudibly to ourselves (and God) and by making the sign of the Cross.

If you have not done that in public before, it takes a little bit of teeth gritting until you get used to it.

I remember having a coffee at Heathrow Airport a few years back when my attention was caught by a young woman at a nearby table, about to tuck into her meal. She paused for a second, blessed herself, said Grace and then blessed herself again.

That example gave me the courage to start saying Grace before meals in public.

It is the young Catholics who will inspire and enthuse and ensure Our Lady's promise will be fulfilled.

Tomatoes banned from the workplace?

Recently, Fr Tim Finigan posted on an extremist Muslim move to ban the sale of tomatoes on the grounds that, if cut crossways, they reveal the shape of a cross.

Extreme you say?

Well, what is extreme is the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that the wearing of a brooch, necklace or badge featuring a cross in a place of employment is not allowed.

So, Sikhs may wear their turbans, Muslim women their headwear but the poor old Christians are banned from any public display of their faith.

But what happens to the atheist employee who wears a brooch that has a cross motif woven into it?

Or the garage mechanic who has a 'love' cross tattooed on his knuckles?

Or, the French emigre with a cross of Loraine stitched onto his satchel?

It seems to me, that in Cameron's Marxist Britain, all we have to do is state that the crucifix around our neck or on our lapel is 'not a religious statement' - that would render us in compliance with EU legislation.

The only trouble is, it places us in the shoes of St Peter in our denial of Christ and we can't go down that route.

My solution, for what it is worth, is that we should all adopt a slice of tomato as a badge of our Faith - it may be a little messy but at least it leaves our souls pure.

Italy launches an edict marking official persecution of Christians

All seats sold out - The Colisseum
in 303 AD

Not that, Christians had not already suffered liberal bouts of martrydom and torture for hundreds of years but, on 24th February 303, under the Emperor Diocletian, an official edict was announced stating that all Christians (Catholics) were fair game for seizure of their possessions and forfeiture of their lives, generally being ripped apart by savage animals in the arena or crucified or burnt alive.

Have things changed much in the past 1700 years or so?

I think not. Today's persecutors are not Romans but Muslims, or, should I say, Extreme Muslims, Islamists.

Skim around the world taking a flying look at the countries where Christians are still being routinely murdered, restricted, abused....

China, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, Russia, Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, Hungary, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, The Yemen, Bhutan, Somalia, Sudan, The Gambia, Iran, The Maldives...in all over 50 countries worldwide take part....and with the exception of the two or three that are communist, the rest are all Islamic.

Offhand I can't think of any group of humanity that is so presecuted as the Christians.

Of course, it is coming to the UK, and it will be here sooner than you think.

Already, parts of some of our major cities are effectively "no go" areas for non Muslims - what effect would a Corpus Christi procession produce in Hackney or Wood Green?
A riot would result and the likelihood would be that the Christians would be the ones being arrested.

Or, if one walked through those areas wearing a crucifix or saying the Rosary - what would result?

Soon women will not gain entry to parts of our major cities if they are not wearing ankle length dresses and  face veils.

Of course, as Christians we can accept and even relish persecution but we also have responsibilites for the young and those yet to be born.

Perhaps we do need to raise our heads above the parapet a little more and undertake acts of public prayer as do Juventutem London and the Legion of Mary (and, of course, the Pro Life Groups).

What would be really good would be a major Rosary procession through the streets of Birmingham or Manchester to show the world the power of prayer.

Perhaps a few of the Bishops might like to organise such a thing.......whoops, a pig just flew by my window!

Apostasy, heresy, disobedience, war, famine, persecution...it's great to be a Catholic!

Through this arch lies redemption -

it leads to the Coliseum's arena

It was never going to be an easy ride. We never expected anything else. We know, do we not, that redemption comes from sharing the carrying of that very heavy cross? That's why we shrug off serious illness in ourselves and our loved ones, we cope with redundancy and business failure, we pray more when our children leave the faith or suffer hardships, we take casual persecution in our stride and pray even harder when it becomes physical persecution. We know that bereavement is hard to accept but all part of the process.

We do our duty in times of war but hate war nonetheless, we take a stand against abortion, euthanasia, homosexual practices, all serious sin; and when our priests fail us we pray for them and the Church; when our Bishops and Cardinals fail us we write to Rome and keep on praying....we say the Rosary...we go to Mass - nothing in this world can hurt us. God is our Father, Our Lady is our Mother; we have a Guardian Angel and the Communion of Saints behind us!

Bring on the heresy and the apostasy; give us more persecution, if there is schism in the Church we will be on the right side. If the economy of the world should fail we will survive, maybe we will become stronger and better as a result.

And when the brimstone falls from the sky we will be prepared.

You see? These are great times in which to be a member of Christ's one and only true Church.

Easy to be a Catholic when we are all well fed and nothing threatens your existence.

But when times are hard we come into our own....we are one, we are holy, we are apostolic....................we are CATHOLIC!

50 countries you might not wish to live in

H/T to Being is Good for highlighting the following video clip showing the 50 worst countries for the persecution of Christians.
48 of the 50 are Muslim countries with Iran being the most extreme case as far as converts to Christianity are concerned. Conversion carries the death penalty, automatically.
Top of the list is totalitarian North Korea; it must be a challenge enough just to live under that hideous regime but, for Christians it is much, much worse.