What followed was nothing short of a miracle, and that's putting it mildly!
In the end, all the Apostles, except St. John, were martyred for the Catholic faith. It should be noted that St. John is considered to have suffered martyrdom because he was thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil, only to come out unharmed. (I would suspect that those involved in the attempt to kill St. John, were petrified to near death when they saw the "results" of their execution, and possibly some were immediately converted to the faith of the Nazarene, while others probably ran away out of shear fear!)
But the question begs: just what did the Apostles do when faced with satanic evil?
Did they run? Did they abandon the faith so they could "live" a while longer, but in so doing, renounce Christ, their Master?
We know that they did not abandon Christ or His holy faith, but went to their end (their earthly life) fighting (praying) for those who persecuted them, and eventually put them to death, some, in the most heinous and painful of ways.
What would we do if faced with barbaric evil staring us right in the face? Would we run, or would we stand and fight to the end? Would we pray for our persecutors, or curse them? After all, we do have a right to self-defense, but we do not -- as Catholics -- have any right whatsoever to hate our enemies, just the contrary! We must "love" our enemies, in other words, we must have true charity for them.
But how?
We pray that they repent and have a true conversion of heart, that's how. Anything less, and we fail our Lord's command to love those that persecute us..
In today's world, it is quite easy (I know!) to lose sight of that-sometimes difficult command. We see death and mayhem all around us; we also see tiny pre-born babies being killed for the convenience of their "mothers." We see widespread weakness and corruption in the new order "Catholic" Church, being commandeered by corrupt and sinful men doing the work of the devil, instead of doing God's holy will. They have forgotten, apparently, that they are to be the shepherds of the faithful, not the Judas goats leading their flocks over the cliff to certain physical death, not to mention the more important spiritual death of soul.
Even our pope, Francis, is sending conflicting signals that does nothing but add to the confusion of those attempting to live out a truly Catholic life. At times, he seems to be diametrically opposed to Church teaching, in some of his writings and teachings (or should I say opinions) and conflicts with the Deposit of Faith: Scripture and Tradition. This also adds to the confusion and chaos in society as well: as the Church goes, so goes society...
His accounting will be enormous and dire, that is, if he continues down the current path. That is why we must resist him to the face, but at the same time, pray for the man that sits in the Chair of Peter...
Pray too, for the strength for what might be coming down the road in our country, and for the future of our cherished families...
Gene DeLalla
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