A compromised Gospel is a useless Gospel - Never forget that - It will bear no lasting fruit

Today at Holy Mass we hear in St Luke’s Gospel how the people of Jesus day not only did not believe he was God, but thought he was evil, coming from the devil himself….So what was good, was viewed as evil - Sound familiar?……”When Jesus had driven out a demon, some of the crowd said: “By the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.” Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven. But he knew their thoughts”…….Look around us today - What is good is literally viewed as evil….Marriage exclusively viewed as between one man and one woman - Viewed as evil……Saying there are only two genders - Viewed as evil……Saying that sin is real and mortal sin results in one going to hell - Viewed as evil…….Saying that homosexuality is a sin - Viewed as evil….I could go on and on…Literally, if one espouses these views and has the audacity to say them out loud, they are viewed as an evil person by literally millions of people around the world…And to some, such “people” need to be driven out of society - By the way, that means you and me!…..The Catholic Church has enemies, it always has and it always will…To deny this reality is to deny reality itself…While it is our job to "build bridges", to reach a hand of friendship to everyone…Some will not take that hand…And some will actually intend to do us harm - This is reality - To this very day, all over the world…..Jesus accepted this reality - Do you?……“Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house. And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that it is by Beelzebub that I drive out demons. If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your own people drive them out?”……..While it can be challenging to live our Catholic faith “out loud” in the world today - Know that it was always challenging and that Christ walks beside us no matter what…..We were not put on this earth to “go along to get along”……The door is always open…Our hands are always extended to reach out to others…But we can NEVER compromise our faith…We will NEVER water down what can not be watered down…..If the world does not accept us as we are…There is nothing we can do about it…Except to pray and fast….A compromised Gospel is a useless Gospel - Never forget that

“The prince of this world will now be cast out, and when I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all to myself, says the Lord”

“You will know them by their fruits”…If you ever want to validate a person…An ideology…..An idea….Or a government for that matter…That is the standard - “You will know them by their fruits”……”Tune-out” the rhetoric……And look for “the fruit” - Good or Bad - In the end, "the fruit" it will speak for itself…History has a way of “weeding out” the nonsense and “the cream” always rises to the top in time…….Catholics must teach, preach and most importantly live the unadulterated teachings of the Catholic Church…The Church does not belong to us, it belongs to Christ…We do not “make up” the teachings of the Church as we go long - We simply pass them down…..A lukewarm gospel message does not attract and it sure does not bear fruit that will last…….If you look at the current Catholic religious orders that are thriving…The ones who are getting all the vocations…They are the ones who are faithful to Church teaching…And the ones who are not, they get no vocations and wither and die….The same goes for good Bishops….Good Bishops set the tone for their diocese….And good bishops, the ones who are holy and courageous…They get vocations, their seminaries are full…..Once again - “You will know them by their fruits”………Mother Teresa when she won the acclaimed Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, used the opportunity to tell the world about the harm abortion was doing globally…..Not just to the children aborted but to the women who had abortions…She did this on the world stage…Clearly, not a popular position to hold, never mind to publicly proclaim…But Mother Teresa was not “in the game” for herself…She spoke the Truth, in season and out of season.......You can not say you love someone if you lie to them…Or for that matter, tell them half-truths - Why? - Because a half truth is a whole lie.

“I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will declare all your wondrous deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, Most High”

Today we are reminded at Mass,……When Light is viewed as darkness - How very deep will the darkness be?………The devil is the father of lies….Many times, the devil takes something that is true and inverts it…Twists it ever so slightly…To fool us…..For instance - Saying that to be for abortion is to be - “For women”…….This is a stone-cold lie!….But sadly it has been accepted to be true by so many…..Only through the light of grace can we "see" through the fog of lies….We must accept the fact some people in the world will hate us…But that does not mean we hate them back….As Catholics, our hands are always extended - The “door” is always open…….But true peace cannot be built upon a lie…..We must be courageous enough to love the world on God’s terms and not our own - Even if the world hates us….Because a half truth is a whole lie - And half-truths bear no lasting fruit - A compromised Gospel is a useless Gospel - Never forget that - It will bear no lasting fruit…………..JMJ

https://www.holywaterbooks.com/catholic-men-will-save-america.html