What is the greatest line you’ve ever heard in the movies? For me, it comes from the 1992 movie with Al Pacino and Chris O’Donnell in The Scent of a Woman. In this movie Al Pacino is in a public hearing in the Baird School for Boys, defending Chris O’Donnell for some perceived wrong. In a rather stirring speech he says, “Now I have come to the crossroads in my life. I always knew what the right path was. Without exception I knew – but I never took it. You know why? Because it was too d—n hard!”
In today’s society a great majority of my brothers and sisters have simply given up and no longer practice their faith because they find it “too d—n hard.” They have given up on the idea that they are created by and for God and that they have a soul and that there is an afterlife. These former believers have fallen into that age-old trap which has been slowly but effectively laid down by our secular leaders, who have substituted the strangest human absurdities for the highest divine concepts of Our Lord Jesus Christ. And to what end?
I am convinced that the issue today is not so much the Corona Virus as it is the Confusion Virus, which is alive and well in this great land of ours. This confusion virus has infected our hearts and our souls and is causing havoc. Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, is not a god of confusion. We are living with an entire subculture which has been organized to justify a certain way of behaving; a subculture which has not been formed under the banner of Jesus Christ. This subculture says, “that’s the way it is so accept it; you can’t change – because it will be too d—n hard.” Hence, the confusion remains.
C. S. Lewis said, “There is no neutral ground in the universe. Every square inch and every split second are claimed by God and countered by Satan.”
We know that God has a plan for our lives, and we know that this is countered by the plan Satan has for our lives. In this day and age good, solid Christian spirituality is not an option or a luxury – it is a necessity for the salvation of souls – to include our own. Denial only works for a very short time.
For those of you who remain loyal to Jesus as the Savior and Redeemer of the world, I ask you to join with me now to help eradicate this confusion virus by replacing it with the spirits of clarity and purpose and return to the practice of your faith. Whether you are Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, whatever your denomination is – return to church – return to the practice of your faith. Let the Scent of God predominate your senses.
We are a spiritual army united under the divine banner of Jesus Christ to glorify God, save souls, and to up-end the plans Satan has so deliciously devised to lead us astray. There is no neutral ground here. Spiritual warfare is not underground anymore, it’s out in the open and right in our face. Go, now, and reclaim the many spiritual blessings bestowed on you at your baptism and let us “give thanks to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15:57).
Fr. Steve Gallagher
St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church
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