During the plagues the Clergy and lay people who nursed the sick and often died as a consequence are perhaps so well remembered because they were very much the exception. Those clergy who nursed lepers and often caught leprosy as result were so few in number but well recalled and sometimes canonised. During the Second World War few there were who spoke out against he Nazis and sheltered the Jews. Those who did so were often murdered. Some things require Heroic virtue. 'Greater love than this no man has, than that he lay down his life for another'. During the Protestant so called Reformation in England I believe there was only one Bishop in the whole of England who stood firm. St John Cardinal Fisher. St John himself said that the fact that he was very old made it a lot easier for him. I suppose we must not be too hard on lay of Clergy who do not stand up to firmly. They fear the price. Also I get the feeling in life most people just get on with it. They don't really think too much about things. They truly are sheep. Whatever the Establishment or Media tells them is the Voice of God. In the Church the ones who understand, who see things as they are are the very ones who pray and attend the Sacraments the most. But as events rack up I expect the eyes of many will be opened and then we will enter a New Age of Revolutions.
Maybe I am wrong but I think the younger generation is much , much more conformist then we were when we were young. They don't ask too many questions.
Smart Phones freeze the brain. You don't do much much thinking if you are constantly glued to a Smart Phone.
I would agree that activity on social media is often knee-jerk, emotional and non-reflective. This is so whether dealing with humor or politics. Could this be why twitter limits the size of entries?
Again, those who make the effort to think things through are considered dangerous by MSM because discernment can better detect fallacies and propaganda. When is the last time you heard a course in logic being offered to high-schoolers?
I’m not that old, but I didn’t have the typical experiences of most people in my generation. Until 2020, when people agreed with everything the government told them to, I would never have suspected people to ever submit to this.
I think only old Catholic schools would. Mine didn’t (modern secular high school). I had to self study it when apologetics interested me.
We know from surveys that Catholic who attend Mass every week or Every Day will generally speaking oppose Abortion, Sexual Perversion, Artificial Contraception, Divorce and believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. (I would guess they are more inclined to ask questions about the goings on of our present Pope too). Whereas those who seldom or ever attend Church basically express the same values as the World around them. The two become indistinguishable. Which it is why it is crazy to turn the Church into some kind of Democracy (the Synodal Path). . Why would we want to ask Catholics who are Apostates and have voted with their feet to leave the Church, what the Church should do and think? Error has no rights.
We got two new priests in our Parish last week. It is so sad to say but I am adopting a wait and see attitude with them. It didn't use to be like that, but it is now. They may be two saints, but it is equally likely that they could be two heretical scoundrels. Hence the wait and see. Sad times. When I was young we just assumed that since someone is a priest or nun they much be very good people. No more. Even in films the priest was assumed to be a very good man. It would be a very unwise Catholic who made that assumption these days.
If they have a Devotion to Mary....I will know it because we speak most of often of those we love the most...
YES IN one sense it's always been the end times.. And no matter the time - we strive to be Ready and Awake in our present time. Jesus, Joseph and Mary and Kin, John Baptist, Apostles (barring Judas Iscariot) and Disciples of the 1st Century AD - Brave, Joyful, UpBeat, Full of Praise and Thanksgiving to God and Believers THEY are our exemplars of folks who are ready for and look forward to Judgement Day We should strive while we're alive to become PURe .. Get to know our Faults.. inner.. secret maybe. NOW! .. Via Asking God. And with God's Assistance- move to continue to become in all those sinny ways - unsinful.. Yet if PURgatory is our lot, we should accept it now b/c that's God's evaluation of what we need to become PURified so as to be acceptible in God's Kingdom Forevermore! Wanting to Become PURE must supersede any angst. +
