The time has come for me to say farewell to the
world of blogging.
For me, it is time now to focus more of my time and attention
on living a life of prayer and penance. That, really, is my “calling”, and I
know it. There are others who are called to blogging; and I know you will all
keep up with the good, orthodox, faithful Catholic bloggers out there! Be sure,
also, to get your daily dose of “The Vortex”, and if you haven’t done so
already, sign up for a Premium
Membership to ChurchMilitant.TV, and learn more about the faith through their
excellent programming.
I have been considering this change for some time now, and on a
recent long drive, I listened once again to Rod Pead’s talk on the “Sword of
Unity” (it is also available in the form of a written article).
I’ve mentioned Mr. Pead’s work before (here and here);
Rod Pead is the editor of Christian Order magazine, and the talk was delivered
at a “Faith of Our Fathers” conference almost 14 years ago. Yet, it makes every bit as much sense
today as it did then. If you haven’t listened to the talk or read the article,
you should.
In
his presentation, Rod Pead notes that many of us know about the problems in the
Church – about the crisis in every measure of Church health (vocations, Mass
attendance, etc.) – but he makes us think again:
If we know this;
if we are really aware of all this;
why do we resist tailoring our prayer
life and our thoughts and our actions accordingly? If we consider ourselves
so aware and savvy about this travesty of truth and unity, then why, as the
Jesuit, Father James Schall states, are Catholics so wimpy?
In
another place, Pead adds:
…It is true that while at the moment we find we can't live
with the bishops, we know, too, that by God's design we can't live without
them, and that there is only so much
we can do. But have we done even that
much? Have we prayed and fasted and done penance and really begged
God on our knees to convert the
hearts and minds of the bishops? Have we consistently pleaded with Him to take the hirelings who will not respond to
His grace to their early reward, and send us real Catholic Shepherds in their
stead?
… Christ Himself told us, in the
parable of the unjust judge, that we should pray continually and never be
discouraged [Lk 18 1:8]. … Our Lord told the people: "will not
God give redress to his elect, when they are crying out to him, day and night?
Will he not be impatient with their wrongs? I tell you, he will give them
redress with all speed." And then Christ immediately adds…, "But
ah, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith left on earth?"
And so…are we really praying for the conversion of the hirelings or their
replacement by strong, solicitous, Catholic Shepherds – as if we believe? Given Christ's
promise, I can't imagine that enough of us are.
And so, because I am called more to prayer and penance than
to blogging, that is what I will do…at least for the time being. God only knows
what the future holds.
I have met many wonderful people through this blog – thank you
for your friendship, your encouragement, and your prayers!
