Watching a recurring sin that has become an evil that pulls people away from God

Watching a recurring sin that has become an evil that pulls people away from God.

This particular evil that has confronted those of us who must go to Christ and seek the strength to find the power that will pull these victims back to Christ and his Church.  Of course, the name of this evil is well-known to most of us as pedophilia.  As in the other incidents I have become privy to this latest event, or the exposure to my sense of pain in spiritual adherence, has almost brought tears to my eyes when the announcement that has corrupted someone close to me.  

As the news came to me it was more than just another family being thrown under the bus with no obvious way to get out of its grasp.  My daughter revealed to me that my nephew’s wife was told by her father at an earlier time to have nothing to do with Catholicism, especially priests.  He had gone so far as not wanting to hear about priests or any semblance of their function.  We can only surmise that either he or someone close was abused and his experience, like so many others, has become the impetus to destroy more catholics’ faith.  

We must remember that in order for Satan to really pull souls away from God is to find a way to turn the faithful away from the grace they have, and the Church will feel the chasm that is quickly opening as good catholics are falling into its painful intrusion into our souls.

The answer given to me is not any particular method like solving a deep technological problem, but to seek through very deep prayer and keeping all those in this difficulty as the most essential aspect daily in the intercession of the divine presence.  

Looking at the results of this one more attack by a priest who has fallen to the result of Satanic influence, our prayers and continued reaching through the Holy Spirit is grace for many involved in this one family.  My nephew and his wife were not married in the Catholic Church, two children were not baptized, and any condition that would lead them to a Christian understanding may never occur.  Each flaw that becomes another nail to secure their faith is like a rust covered element that just breaks at every blow of a hammer.  This hammer is a tool that strikes every grace-filled element of God’s grace.  We are looking at another family that has fallen away and the future of their progeny will never know Jesus Christ and the kingdom that they may not know how to reach.

It may be another incident of a continued evil when most people hear of one more event that needs legal attention.  However, this is one more tool that Satan has used to get even with God, and it has proven to be a success in his eyes.  The most devastating result is more than the young men or girls that have been ravaged.  In each instance there are relatives and close friends that have become victimized as well and their pain has also filtered down to more victims continuing like a virus with no known vaccine.  

Continue your prayers, and get closer to Christ through a deep contemplative manner.  Get before the Blessed Sacrament and just let the sense of peace we have through his Body and Blood residing in the tabernacle become the essence of his real presence penetrating our being.

Ralph B. Hathaway