Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. (Catechism of the Catholic Church 675).
What sort of trial must this be, if it causes even many believers to have their faith shaken.
To which Peter replies, “Though all may have their faith in you shaken, mine will never be.” Mt 26:33. We know how that turned out.
Do you think your faith is stronger than Peter’s? Do you think you understand the enemy who is attacking the Church? Because the situation is simultaneously both far better and far, far worse than you think.
Far better because, as always, God is in control and His Merciful plan is being accomplished. And so, of course, we need fear nothing — if we are willing to surrender everything to God.
But only the naive could still think this means that it is going to be “business as usual” as the Church goes forward – by now you’ve heard the comment a thousand times by someone who tries to pooh-pooh the situation: “There have been bad popes before; it’s part of our Catholic faith, you know, that sometimes we have bad popes. Pope so-and-so did such-and-such, and the Church marched on. This has all happened before.”
Such talk reveals a lack of understanding of who the present enemy is. The situation in the Church is far, far worse than most laity and even most clergy begin to imagine. No pessimism here, but unflinching realism.
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