Show Some Evidence

Show some evidence you mean to reform, was the other part of the Baptist’s cry, the main part
being that Jesus is finally here among us! You are my friends if you do what I command you.
Jesus and John ask us to repent, pray and fast. I cannot surmount this, as much as I’d like to at
times; and if I deny Him, he will deny me. There’s no “easy way.” John 15:14, Luke 3:8.
The Church calendar has two repentance periods, mildly and more of a preparation during
Advent, and strenuous repentance during Lent. Advent and Lent are like resounding echoes
between the canyons of our Church calendar feasts and holy days. They are like the finger of
John the Baptizer pointing to Christ. “Prepare ye the way of the Lord!”

During Advent we turn more avidly to confession and ongoing repentance. Jesus asks us to love
Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. What if our beloved Sacraments were not so
readily available as they are in America? Would we just give up? Some countries cannot
celebrate Sunday Mass due to persecution and war. The covid plague gave us all types of
restrictions that spoiled us in ways. Many have altogether stopped going to Mass, don’t go as
often and have resorted to the covid-19 sanction of staying home and watching it on the tube,
while making sure to “stay safe” while going to the grocery or hardware store on Sunday, The
LORD’s day; I confess I have done the same… God asks us to repent and work daily at our
salvation with the grace He provides; essentially, He is looking for a marriage of prayer and
penance with us. We feed on His flesh and blood, which is true food and true drink. We sup
with Our Lord, and we also work for Our Lord.

The Baptizer said to those arrogant religious leaders, “show some evidence you mean to reform.”
Do not begin by telling yourselves, ‘Abraham is our father.’ I tell you, God can raise up
Children to Abraham from these very stones!” John knew their response and swatted it out of
the air like a fly before it could make its way to their lips. Though it’s true any religious leader,
past or present, is held to a higher standard than the average layman, we can be just as arrogant!
We don’t have to wear a Collar or Kittel to fall under the just scrutiny of John’s proclamation!
Essentially, a modern-day Catholic, whatever capacity, who justifies their sins by saying to
themselves “I’m a baptized and confirmed Catholic!” One understanding of St John’s censure
was that the word for children in Hebrew is “abanim,” and the word for stones was “banim.”
John is creating a play on words in a satirical expose. St Jerome relates that hardened hearts are
like stones. Modernly, even though we are “Children of God through baptism,” God can take
those unruly “children of the damned” we can’t stand and make them soar far above us like an
Augustine or Magdalene in no time flat! Indeed, God shows now partiality!

Regarding a common “saved” theme among us Catholics, devotion to the Rosary, St Louis de
Monfort states that anyone who faithfully says the Rosary will be saved; however, he puts the
qualifier “daily” and with intense prayer for a firm purpose of amendment, which is in fact the
fledgling states of a firm purpose of amendment! Following are his words:

If you say the Rosary faithfully until death, I do assure you that, in spite of the gravity of your sins you
shall receive a never fading crown of glory.  Even if you are on the brink of damnation, even if you have
one foot in Hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil as sorcerers do who practice black magic,
and even if you are a heretic as obstinate as a devil, sooner or later you will be converted and will amend
your life and save your soul, if—and mark well what I say—if you say the Holy Rosary devoutly every day
until death for the purpose of knowing the truth and obtaining contrition and pardon for your sins.

The Sacraments and devotions are strength and fervor for the daily cross we are called to carry,
not an excuse to sit back and hope God does all the work… in the words of the late Fr Benedict
Groschel “we want a cross with a foam shoulder pad and wheels.”

Here’s a piece of handy advice for Advent. St Ignatius teaches us to zero in on our “dominant”
defect. This is where seeking a spiritual director or a regular confessor is helpful. The theory is,
if one tackles their dominant sin in life, the rest topple over time like dominos! The devil, being
a clever coward, always goes for our Achilles heel, the dominant defect. There is a phenomenal
book out there available through IVE Press, titled The Particular Examination of Conscience and
the Dominant Defect. One great means to discern our dominant defect was laid out by Venerable
Archbishop Sheen. He asks us whatever sin, vice or habit drives us nuts in others, well, it’s very
likely ours too!