fortnight-4-freedom-270x140-no-border-animatedIt seemed fitting that his past Sunday’s second reading at Mass was from St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians: Ch 5:1;  “For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not  submit again to the yoke of slavery.”

The defining battle of the American Civil War took place exactly 150 years ago at Gettysburg, PA. The battle began on July 1st and ended on July 3rd. If the South had prevailed, the United States as we know it may have vanished forever. We know that did not happen. It seems ironic that this battle ended on the eve of Independence Day, July4th.  How did a nation, only 87 years old, allow itself to be drawn into such a bloody quagmire?  Was it not the “yoke of slavery” that dragged our forefathers  into this defining moment? And, how much inflated PRIDE led to this?

I see eerie parallels taking place today in America.  New people have been selected to wear the “yoke of slavery”. Those people are Catholics and Christians. We are those people. During the month of June in the year, 2013, we have seen the following: The President of the United States said, “Catholic and  Christian schools are divisive”; Make no mistake, the war on Catholic education has now begun. Obama’s remarks are the Fort Sumter of our war. Now his underlings, including the biased and liberal press, will pound his message. The onslaught is on its way.

The US Supreme Court has now become a group of oxymoronic  secular theologians. They have rejected what the Founding Fathers recognized and accepted without reservation: Natural Law. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were formulated based on Natural Law. The secularists who have managed to schmooze their way into power have debased this Natural Law. Former President Jimmy Carter has declared that “the failure of the Catholic Church to ordain women priests is a ‘human rights abuse’. Jimmy Carter knows nothing about the Catholic Church and should go home and tend to his peanuts. This is the same man who compared Pope John Paul II as a ‘fundamentalist’ comparable to the Ayatollah Khomeini.

The USCCB, under the leadership of Cardinal  Dolan, has now said that “we should be ready for civil disobedience because disobeying some unjust laws is justified.” For me, it is hard to believe that my Catholic faith is being challenged by a government that is sworn to uphold my right to it. But, the fact is, it is. On this 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, and the 237th birthday of our magnificent country, we might remember the words of a man who fought the remaining ‘yokes of slavery’ that are now  being placed with invisible chains around the necks and ankles of Catholics/Christians throughout the land.  Martin Luther King Jr. said, “An unjust law is no law at all”.  God Bless America and please, Lord,watch over us.  Happy Independence Day to you all.

Larry is a Catholic/Christian author and blogger and posts weekly commentary. His work has appeared in such publications as Zenit from Rome, Aleteia, New Evangelists, Top Catholic Blogs, Big Pulpit, Catholic365.com and others. His first children's picture book, "Slippery Willie's Stupid, Ugly Shoes" was published in 2011. In 2012, his full-length novel, "The Priest and the Peaches" was released. His second novel, "The Demons of Abadon", was released in the spring of 2016. Larry’s latest novel, “Horizon Homeless” was released in ebook format in May of 2017 and the paperback followed on July 27, 2017. Larry belongs to the Catholic Writer’s Guild, The Catholic Writer’s Society, The Knights of Columbus, and the St. Vincent de Paul Society. He has been an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion for over twenty years bringing communion to the homebound and hospitalized. He lives in Pinellas Park, Florida and his kids and six grandchildren all live within three miles of each other. His first wife died of cancer in 2003. He remarried four years later and became the primary caregiver for his wife, Martha who came down with Non-Hodgins Lymphoma in 2011. The cancer was in remission when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease in October of 2014. Sadly and unexpectedly, Martha passed away on March 27, 2017. The writer says, "God has me where he needs me and I try my best to make Him proud. Larry’s blog site is http://www.slipperywillie.blogspot.com You can find more at www.larrypeterson-author.com

By Catholic Writing and Publishing4 Comments on We Cannot Submit to the Yoke of Secular Slavery

4 Replies to “We Cannot Submit to the Yoke of Secular Slavery”

  1. We live in NY State, where “Catholic” Gov. Cuomo has attacked unborn life, marriage, 2nd amendment rights as well as religious liberty. I fear the right to home school may be targeted next, so our house in on the market, and will have to be sold at a great loss (we already reduced the price tag to $59,000) just to move out of this liberal state.

    What Catholics need–as we need air to breathe–is to relocate into our own geographic region, where we can be surrounded by others who think & believe as we do. The Amish have done this very well for generations. Currently orthodox Catholics are in isolated pockets, scattered here & there, and with no support system they are largely voiceless & ineffective at influencing society for the better, plus they often lose their own children to the Faith because of the surrounding toxic culture. Relocating is difficult to accomplish with today’s job market, but in recent years strong Catholic communities have grown up around Christendom College in N. Virginia, the Franciscan University at Steubenville, near the Clear Creek Benedictine Monastery in NE Oklahoma, and a Latin Mass community near Cherokee Village in northern Arkansas. Unfortunately, with the HHS mandate and the Supreme Court attack upon marriage, the oppressive tentacles of the government can now reach everywhere. Lone resisters will be squashed like bugs.

    Non-Catholic Christians and patriots have foreseen this, and many have already relocated to New Hampshire (the Free State Project) or followed Protestant Pastor Chuck Baldwin to Montana. They explained that if large groups of conservatives move to underpopulated states, through sheer numbers they could eventually influence state governments enough to resist unethical federal demands. I corresponded with a Christian minister who took this philosophy one step further, and moved with his family to Catholic, pro-life Costa Rica. And I have a Canadian friend who is suggesting we consider moving to the more conservative Canadian Maritime provinces.

    I fear if the liberals win again in the upcoming 2014 elections, persecutions through the hands of government agencies like the IRS, Homeland Security etc. will eventually come. Catholics with children need to seriously consider moving to where they can best and most safely, practice their Faith.

  2. Larry,

    We can see that Atheism or Secular Humanism or Relativism has become the established religion of the USA and much of the world. Their practices mimic those of ancient pagan religions such as the child sacrifices of Baal worship and the fertility rites of Astarte. No one political party has a monopoly on these practices.

    Unfortunately, much of the electorate has forsaken spirituality for materialism. They will continue on this downward path until the faithful demonstrates the joy that accompanies the embrace of spiritual values over the material values of the world. Pope Francis wants us to take the message into the streets. That includes the media and the written word. The CWG has a role in the vocation of Francis: “Francis! Rebuild my church which as you can see has fallen into ruins.”

    God Bless,

    Don

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