Welcome to the Become who you Are podcast , a production of the John Paul 2 Renewal Center . I'm Jack Rigorger , host . I'm glad you're with me . We live in a time of lies and falsehoods .
How much evil going on in the world , and my heart especially goes out to young people and I pray for their parents , those that haven't woken up yet to the eagles of our day . To get their families back to prayer and the sacraments , find a good , solid pastor in a good church community and put in roots there . That takes me to today's episode .
Jesus Christ is drawing more and more truth seekers to himself , while Joe Biden and Pope Francis so confusion , buckle up and get ready for today's episode .
As evil continues to accelerate to insane levels in this country and in our beloved church too , it can become overwhelming and you begin to notice these seeds being planted , though an increasing number of truth seekers , using their God given reason to guide them , begin to almost innately point to Jesus Christ .
Jesus answered and said Now is the time of judgment on this world . Now the ruler of this world will be driven out , and when I am lifted up from the earth and he's talking about his crucifixion when I am lifted up from the earth . I will draw everyone to myself . That's from John 12 , verses 30 , 32 .
We see people like Tammy Peterson , who's coming into the church now Jordan Peterson's wife and Jordan Peterson himself seems to be closer and closer A Russell brand something happened there and he's talking about Jesus Christ and the prodigal son . Even Joe Rogan mentioned Jesus Christ .
Here's an atheist I think he was an atheist and he begins to realize there's no manmade solutions to this proliferation of evil . It'd be easy to just blame our so-called leaders , like Joe Biden and Pope Francis , who are sowing so much confusion and so directly .
Like Joe Biden , with his executive orders attacking human life itself and , you know , doling out this dualism , this dual form of justice being carried out . Those who support his attack on the human person , on the child and the womb , etc .
In our country itself , are given a pass and even promoted , and those who oppose today's narrative are literally harassed and given jail time , humiliated as much as possible . And this is so clear to see . And what a Pope Francis .
He's repeatedly sowing confusion , most recently with his support of fiducious supplicants on the blessings of same-sex couples , authored by Cardinal Fernandez , a man with a storied background who has promoted the dicastry of the doctrine of the faith , which is a very high-level church office , while those like Raymond B B B B B B , joseph Strickland , these faithful
shepherds of the church with no such storied backgrounds , except the crime of reading out of the catechism of the Catholic Church and proclaiming the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ , this attack , this attack most viciously , is on the Amago Day , and this is very important to remember because sometimes there's so many currents of evil coming at us .
You know , it can , like I said in the opener , it can overwhelm us . It doesn't have to , but we have to put on a certain lens in order to see these attacks coming at us . And the easiest way to see this is the attack on the Amago Day the very image and likeness of God in our creation as male and female , and the child that comes out of that union .
So this is an attack on nature's law and on natural law , the moral law , the natural law being the moral law written on the human heart . Nature's laws . It's clear it takes a man and a woman to procreate , and the life in the womb is a human being . Who best thrives in a home ? This child , then . Who best thrives in a home with who ?
With a loving mother and a loving father . This is clear , this is fact . This is reality that it's been under attack not just in the last couple of decades . We've seen it accelerate , of course , so we've seen it since the late 50s and 60s , with the sexual revolution , continue to get twisted and distorted .
But this is something that's been under attack since Genesis , chapter three , an original sin on marriage and the family . It was the concern . When John Paul II was a young priest , he already saw this coming and wrote this philosophical work like love and responsibility , and then his theology of the body .
Well , when he was Pope , he asked Carnal Kaffara to help him create the Pontifical Institute on Marriage and the Family , to get this teaching on , on theology of the body and help those that are pushing up against these ideologies to have the vocabulary and the understanding , such a rich body of work , and then also to to form his sister organization , the Institute
on Life , to protect all life , from conception to natural death , very , very important to John Paul II .
Well , both of these were both of these institutions the Pontifical Institute on Marriage and the Family and its sister , the Institute of Life were both undermined by Pope Francis early on , and this is when I started to realize myself personally that oh , something's wrong with this pontificate .
I had heard already from a number of different people about his socialist background , some different things , but I was always wanting to give him the benefit of the doubt . But when I saw him do that , I go wow , he's saying one thing and doing another . Very , very sad .
And he exposed his intentions once again , as he's done often with Cardinal Fernandez , with the Fuditius supplicants , and then when he appointed Archbishop Vincenzo Poglia to head best known now Poglia is best known for his homoerotic mural that included him that was painted in his church and then being the head of the church when his diocese was bankrupted .
What you find is , well , let me just finish that . So , again , it was Poglia who was put in charge by Pope Francis of the Pontifical Institute on Marriage and the Family and the Institute of Life , and so you see what happens here .
And then Fernandez once again , I hope you're following me here he was promoted to Cardinal and he had this storied background with these homoerotic books , something about kissing and some other things . It's just sick stuff . This is a twisted and distorted individual in many ways . Look , we're all sinners . Look , I get it , you know .
I mean , if I was promoted as Cardinal , they could look back on my life and say I was not perfect either . So I get it . But at least once we're redeemed and we come into the life of Christ , hopefully you allow him to transform your heart . This is the problem here .
It seems on the surface that these hearts have not been transformed and are actually pushing back the other way . This is the , you know , when you think about , personnel is policy , personnel is policy . So when Pope Francis brings these people like this into the Pontific , it puts them in charge .
He knows what's going to happen and he takes out people that like Cardinal Burke , like I said , and Bishop Strickland , that would bring the faith in its true form into the church , and takes them out . It's very clear what's going on here . Look at , we're not children .
We know what's going to happen and sure enough , poglia comes in , guts the Institute for Marriage and the Family and puts a pro-bort personnel at the Pontifical for life . I mean , you can't make this stuff up .
Yet the solution , that the solution is not only just a new president or a new pope , because we have the deep state in the deep church , full of evil and that exists underneath . You know , remember when President Trump was literally undermined even before he took office back in 2016, .
As John Paul II spoke of the same thing when he became pope of people in the Vatican who sought to put in he would put it in quotes manage him , and he was trying to be nice about it what he saw there . Well , he made a decision early on .
He said I could either spend all of my time and energy fighting those at the Vatican and the evil and the corruption there , which there's plenty to do or I could go out to the people and he made that decision early on to go out to the people with the good news clear and concise .
And the reason I bring this up is because , at the end of the day , it's up to all of us to to be to answer this call to a universal call to holiness , as Vatican II when John Paul pointed out so so often . And then each of us have to take up our cross and follow him .
There's no leader , you know , on a horse that's going to come in , a white knight that's going to come in and just save us all .
The only one that can do that is Jesus Christ , and we all have a part of this , because no matter who you put in the office , you know their hands are going to be tied unless we all stand up and and support them at a very spiritual and also a physical level . John Paul's message ultimately was to you and to I again .
So each of us was the problem and the potential solution to the evil in the world . The problem and the solution begins in the individual human heart and the solution again is this universal call to holiness and then to do good in the world .
What a blessing and a task it is for all of us to be the solution to all the evil in the world , the solution , like GK Chesterton would say I am , I am . And why is that ? Again , because we're the only ones that we can really change . You know , I can't even change my wife . I , you know right , that's up to her to change or not to change .
The only one I can really change is me .
And then we were filled with divine life and love and we take this out into the world , we take up our cross and we battle evil Again , first in the human heart , on the battleground of the human heart , between good and evil , between love and lust , between being a self-giving person and pouring one self self out as a living sacrament for others , or grasping
and taking . And you see these power hungry politicians today money , power , sex , and again we see this attack then , finally , on marriage and the family and on the on the child that comes out of that union , which is the Amago Day , the reflection of trinitarian love .
This is the primordial sacrament , this was the sacrament in the beginning , before sin , the sacrament that brought God's life and love into the world . Were that those first human beings created in the Amago Day ?
And then , of course , in the beginning , we were linked directly to God himself and so , when we turned away and original sin came in , christ comes back into that picture to reunite us with God , to be that bridge that unites us again . So the attack again is going to be on that Amago Day , united with God , which is Christ in the church today .
So you have this dual attack and you see this attack , with someone like Joe Biden pushing these executive orders for same-sex marriage and abortion and making it easier and easier and easier , and then these gender ideologies all coming down to us . And of course he didn't start all this . That's what I'm saying .
This started all the way , even Well , I won't spend a lot of time doing that but 2015 already , where same-sex union was legalized , and in 1973 , when abortion was legalized . So these are legalized in our country . This is a big deal .
So let me get kind of open up that dialogue using Cardinal Caffara's words again , and so I want to tell you the story of the Pontifical Institute , our marriage and the family in Cardinal Caffara , and then you're going to see the roots of this present evil that were under attack .
And again , keep those two things in mind that evil is going going at this final phase of history , of human history . It's gone from all of these currents of evil that you see around us . The most focused attack is on marriage and the family and the child that comes out of it , because that is the sign of God's love , like I said , in the world .
And then , of course , this attack from the inside on Christ and the church . And so this all tells one story In 1981 , so Pope John Paul II became pope in 1978 . So soon after that , and he was already unpacking his theology . The body was about halfway through it , don't forget . He got shot in 1981 .
And he said that our Lady of Fatima had redirected those bullets and saved his life . He felt very strongly about that . In 1981 , john Paul II founded the Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family , and the first years , 1983 and 84 , were very difficult .
The institution was not wanted and so setting this up this is an interview that Cardinal Caffara did right before a talk , so this is in 2017 . He was given a talk organized by the Voice on the Family in May of 2017 . And he was interviewed about that . Why wasn't the Institute wanted ?
It was not wanted , cardinal Caffara said , within and outside the church , because of the vision it was proposing , which is again shoring up and articulating marriage and the families , the primordial sacrament protecting the life and the womb .
And he said and I felt these attacks and I was very concerned , without anyone asking me , I thought I'm going to write the Sister Lucia and the interviewer says well , how did that come to mind ? And Cardinal Caffara said just like that . But as you know , from the beginning , the patroness of the Institute has been our Lady of Fatima .
It is contained in the Apostolic Constitution . There the Pope places the Institute under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin of Fatima . So much so and I hope it's still there that when one enters the Institute , at the end of the quarter there's a statue of our Lady of Fatima and the Chapel of Institute is dedicated to our Lady of Fatima .
And so I thought I'm going to write to her , but simply saying this in my letter the Pope wants this Institute . We're going through a very difficult time and I ask you only to pray . And he said I do not expect a reply . He wrote to her . Her prayers were enough for me .
As you know , in order to have any contact with Sister Lucia , even by letter , one needed to go through her bishop . So I sent the letter to the bishop and he passed it on to Sister Lucia . To my great surprise , after not more than two or three weeks I received a reply . It was a handwritten letter and quite long .
I have given sworn testimony of what that letter said . It says Father , a time will come when the decisive battle between the kingdom of Christ and Satan will be over marriage and a family , and those who will work for the good of the family will experience persecution and tribulation . But do not be afraid , because our Lady has already crushed his head .
Isn't that powerful ? I stopped there , end quote . So the final battle , and this is the time we're in now Karna Kafara made that very , very clear with Sister Lucia this is the time that we're in now , this final , decisive battle between Christ and Satan . It's going to be over marriage and the family .
So just remember that as we go along through here , and anybody that works for the good of marriage and the family , like this institute , but also like the John Paul Tupi Nul Center and those of us , even at school board meetings , that are standing up you're going to experience persecution and tribulation . She'll just remember all of that , but , but .
But do not be afraid , because our Lady has already crushed his head . That means the battle is won . Jesus Christ already came into the world . The battle is already won in eternity . All we're doing is taking our role . This is our time , this is our test in this temporal space . What kind of world will we develop here ? What kind of world will we leave ?
What kind of legacy ? Whether the world ends today or tomorrow or a thousand years from now , we don't know the exact time . In the meantime , we have to stand for what's true , what's good and what's beautiful . It's . It's not that complicated , right . It's hard , though , and so Carnot Kapharis says this . This remained engraved on my heart .
This , these words from Sister Lucia , and amid all the difficulties we encounter and there have been many , many , many these words have always given me strength . And then he goes on to say I began thinking a few years ago , after almost 30 years , so 30 years since 1981 . This again is in 2017 .
Sister Lucia's words are taking place , that the size of battle will be the thesis of my talk today . So now , this was a prelude to the talk that he was given , like I said , and he says that Satan is constructing an anti creation , an anti creation . So this is what we see around us .
Think about the trans movement and the querying movement and anti creation , something that you know . We take the , the actual creation , and we twist and distort it . And he goes on to say if we read the second chapter of Genesis , we see the edifice of creation is founded on two pillars . This is so important right here .
First , man is not something , he is a someone and therefore he deserves absolute respect . The second pillar is the relationship between man and woman , which is sacred between the man and the woman , because creation finds its completion when God's creates the woman . So much so that after he created woman , the Bible says God rested .
Today he says what do we observe ? Two terrible events . First , the legitimization of what Abortion . We put it into law . Look at people , and I'm not quoting him here People have been killing children all the way . We even know . In the Roman days they left babies out to be killed and to die . But it wasn't legitimized , it wasn't put into law .
Now , in the United States , this is why it's such a concern here We've actually legitimized it . That is and I go back to Cardinal Koffarar's words that is , abortion has become a subjective right of women .
Now , subjective right is an ethical category and therefore we are here entering into the world of good and evil and we say that abortion is a good , it's a right . The second thing we see is the attempt to equate homosexual relationships with marriage .
You see that Satan is attempting to threaten and destroy the two pillars so that he can fashion another creation , as if he were provoking the Lord saying to him I will fashion another creation and man and woman will say we like that here better , we like that better . Well , where does that all come from ?
This goes all the way back to Genesis three and again end quote from Cardinal Koffarar . You remember Genesis three , it's so powerful . So the first two chapters are the first story of creation , the objective sign of the primordial sacrament of marriage and the family in the Amago day . The second chapter of Genesis is our experience of that living that sign out .
Now chapter three is this . I'll read part of it the fall of man . Now , the serpent was the most cunning of all animals that the Lord God had made . The serpent said to the woman the God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden ? The woman answered the serpent , we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden .
It is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden . The God said you shall not eat or even touch it , lest you die . But the serpent said to the woman you certainly will not die . No , god knows well that the moment you eat of it , your eyes will be open and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is evil .
And so here's the story . Right , this is the story of the anti-creation . No , you'll be able to form it yourself . You'll be able to do this , you'll be able to be like gods and ignore God . And this is what you see . This is how far we've come to this , even to this trans movement , and then transhumanism . It's amazing , amazing .
So let me just go on to when Cardinal Caffaro was actually giving his his talk now , and so he starts with this talk . Again , this is voice of the family , if you want to look it up , he gave it on May 19 , 2017 . And he starts like this when I am lifted up from the earth , I will draw all people to myself the whole world , he says .
He goes on to say the whole world is under the power of the evil one . So when I'm lifted up from the earth , I will draw all people to myself . That's from John , chapter 12 , verse 32 . And then from the first letter of John , chapter five , verse 19, .
The whole world is under the power of the evil one , and so we have to realize that that the human person , after sin comes into this world , is exploded on the scene .
We need to tell our kids and our grandkids but we need to get this in our own hearts that when we came into the world , we're a body and a soul , but let's just say , even before baptism we're disconnected from God's grace . When we're baptized , we're washed of that original sin , but we still have that pull of concupiscence .
And that pull of concupiscence has to be battled in the human heart . And this is when we open ourselves up to God . This is when the battle really takes form . And this is the battle we're in now , because the whole world , as Saint John would say , is under the power of the evil one .
Reading these divine words Cardinal Kavara goes on gives us perfect awareness of what's happening in the world , within the human story . Considered in its depths , the human story is a confrontation between two forces the force of attraction whose source is in the wounded heart of the crucified risen one , jesus Christ , right as he's lifted up . So you have that force .
This is what I said in the beginning . We have guys like Jordan Peterson , russell Brand , tammy Peterson , many , many others that are certain to look up and say ooh , and they're being attracted by this wounded heart of the crucified one . And then , on the other side , we have the power of Satan , who does not want to be ousted from his kingdom .
And here's the two forces that we come into and the force of attraction is to both of them . And when you choose to walk away from God , you don't have that grace , that Ru'ah , that power of grace that gives you the potential for human freedom , potential for human flourishing . And when you don't have that , what happens ?
We grasp and we take and we're trying to fill the infinite desires of our heart with eternal human beings . Unfortunately , we start to do evil and then , very quickly , we get pulled into evil by this force of attraction . We get stronger and stronger and stronger . That's why these politicians cannot stop Once they get sucked into money , power , control , sex .
You can't stop because you've given yourself over to this power of evil . So the area in which this confrontation , cardinal Kfar , goes on , takes place , is , as I said , in the human heart . It is human liberty and the confrontation is two dimensions an interior dimension , within the heart , and then an exterior dimension .
And he said we will consider briefly one and then the other . So at the trial before Pilate , the governor asked Jesus whether he is king , whether which is the meaning of Pilate's question he has true and sovereign political power over a given territory . Jesus responds you say that I am king .
For this I was born and for this I have come into the world Listen to this , everyone to testify to the truth . What is the truth of things ? Jesus goes on everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice . Isn't that powerful ? And think about what I said earlier . You know these truth seekers , even the agnostics and former atheists .
They're truth seekers , at least , and they're seeking the truth . And some of those truth seekers are going to listen to the voice of Jesus . And you wonder how does this happen ? You see that with Russell Brand . He's just reading the Prodigal Son and all of a sudden he goes oh , something happened . I heard the voice . This happened in my own life .
It may be happened in your life . You hear the truth and something touches your heart and you go yes , I know this story already . See , john Paul II would say so often there's an echo of this story , of this seed in our heart , and when we hear it we're attracted to it . This is that voice of attraction and as Jesus is raised up , he draws us to Him .
He goes on to say that again , everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice . That's John 18 , verse 37 . So Jesus wants us to understand that His kingdom is not of the kings of this world , but consists of the obedience of His subjects to His Word , which is the truth . That's His kingdom , the kingdom of truth , the eternal kingdom of truth .
While he reigns over His subjects , it is not through force or power , but through the truth of which he is the witness , which all who are of the truth receive with faith . Isn't that something All of us who are from the truth receive with faith ? So it's amazing we were given what separates us from the animals . It's our reason and our free will .
Reason is always searching for the truth . So again , but through the truth of which he is witness , which Jesus is witness , which all who are from the truth , all of us that have faith , we receive that truth of Jesus . We receive that with faith that we put into Jesus . So when we walk into the story I hope that makes sense to you that becomes our faith .
Our faith is a response to the human heart who has that echo and we hear the truth . Our faith is a response to those words of Jesus . He says yes , and it starts to touch us , and that's faith . And then we have hope .
Hope is back and stilled in us the second theological virtue , and then we receive this and we become persons of love , and then we go out and bring the gospel into the world and love our neighbor . St Thomas puts the following words into the mouth of the Savior St Thomas Aquinas as I myself manifest truth , so I am preparing a kingdom for myself .
Jesus on the cross attracts everyone to himself because it is on the cross that the truth of which he is witness is resplendent . We see that on the cross . This is the truth . I will pour myself out to you and I will pour the truth out to you . I am the way , the truth and the life .
And so , at the foot of the cross , we look up at Jesus and we know that we need this . And so this is redemption . Jesus already took on the power of the evil one sin and death In eternity . He is already defeated , and our blessed mother has already defeated this evil . That's why we don't have to be afraid of it . But we got to stand for the truth .
We stand at Jesus and then we enter into even salvation . Here , right Coronacophara says . Yet this force of attraction can only take effect on those who are from the truth , that is , on those who are profoundly available to the truth , who love truth , who live in familiarity with it . As Pascal writes , you would not seek me if you had not already found me .
It's the search for the truth . He who holds the entire world under his sway instead dominates through lies . So listen to this , as I'm going to read this and I'll say that line again because it's so important he who holds the entire world under his sway instead dominates through lies . And this is from Ephesians 6 .
If you go back and read that , we're not contending against flesh , but the principalities and the powers of this world ruled by Satan himself . When you see the evil around you , you say look at all these currents of evil . Well , these currents of evil , you say , how could they all seem to be coming at us at once ?
Well , there's an orchestra leader , but here's Jesus and here's what he says .
And when we start to think about murder again of the child and the womb , twisting and distortion of the reality of marriage , robbery , politicians that'll just lie to your face , people in the Vatican , vatican officials who will say one thing and then just turn around and do another one .
And Jesus says of Satan , he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth , because there is no truth in him . When he lies , he speaks according to his own nature , for he is a liar and the father of lies . That's John 8.44 .
This is what I always warn people when they vote for somebody like Joe Biden or anybody on the Democratic platform , because the Democratic platform is what Is pro-abort . This is their sacred sacrament now is to kill the child and the womb , their liars and say this is not a baby . They're telling you a liar and it comes from the father of lies .
The wording Cardinal Cofar says is dramatic . The first proposition he was a murderer from the beginning is explained by the second . And he does not stand in the truth . The murder which the devil performs consists and is not standing in the truth , not dwelling in the truth .
It is murder because he is seeking to extinguish , to kill in the heart of man truth , the desire for truth , by inducing man to unbelief . He wants man to close himself to the light of the divine revelation , which is the word Jesus Christ incarnate . Therefore , these words of Jesus on Satan do not speak of the fall of angels .
They speak of something far more profound , something frightful . Satan constantly refuses the truth and his action within human society consists in opposition to the truth . Satan is this refusal , he is this opposition . Again , this is frightful . Why is it frightful ?
Because when you don't stand in the truth , when you go along with these lies , when you go along with the lie of say trans and you know it's a lie , it's you are lining yourself up with the power , this attractive power , of Satan and you will get pulled into that . The text continues because there is no truth in him .
The words of Jesus go to the deepest root of Satan's work . He is in himself a lie . From this person , truth is completely absent and hence he is , by definition , the one who opposes truth . Jesus adds immediately afterwards when he lies , he speaks according to his own nature , for he is a liar and the father of lies .
When the Lord speaks according to his own nature , he introduces us to the interiority of Satan , to his heart , to Satan's heart , a heart which lives in darkness and shadows , a house without doors , a house without windows . This is terrifying . To summarize this , therefore , is what is happening in the heart of man .
Jesus , the revelation of the Father , exerts a strong attraction to himself . Satan works against this , to neutralize the attractive force of the crucified , risen one , the force of truth which makes us free acts on the heart of man . It is the satanic force of the lie which makes slaves of us .
Yet not being pure spirit , the human person is not solely interiority . We are a body and a soul . Why are we created with a body ? Because we are part of creation . Our interior life , our soul , embodies the . We are in an embodied soul , I should say so .
Our soul is the form of the body which might be a better way to say it that our body makes manifest or makes visible the inside of who we are , our interior life , which is big right and it's connected , hopefully , is the temple of the Holy Spirit to God himself , that we're living in the state of holiness and that we manifest the good in the world .
What happens when that gets twisted and distorted ? Then it's set of going out now into the exterior realm of creation .
Remember right from the beginning , from Genesis 1 , god says to Adam and Eve go out now , multiply , join in Marital Union and fill the earth with my children , and then go and subdue , go until the garden , that all of creation is to be manifested with this beauty and this power . What's all true , good and beautiful , especially the beauty of love .
What kind of love , god's love . God is love . Now , when it's twisted and distorted , what happens Instead ? We go out and build what A culture of death . John Paul II would call it a culture of death . It's a culture of lies and distortions and murders .
Or we go to , we are attracted to , the risen one , we are redeemed , we are filled with divine life and love , and then we build a culture of life . So this is what Cardinal Capara says . Yet , not being pure spirit , the human person is not solely interiority . Human interiority is expressed and manifested how ?
In the construction of the society in which he or she lives . In other words , we take that goodness and we go out and do things , we create things , we bring art and music and buildings and magazines and everything that we do . We're building this culture of life , human interiority .
Cardinal Capara goes on to express and manifest it , as I said just now , in culture as an essential dimension of human life and such . So . Culture is the mode of living which is specifically human . Animals don't go out and create culture . They live by their nature , whatever nature endows them with . That's how they live it out .
It's us that go out into the world and we create something that wasn't there before Really bringing again what's true , what's good and what's beautiful into the world .
Given that man is positioned , then , between these two opposing forces , the condition in which he finds himself must necessarily give rise to these two cultures the culture of truth , which is what John Paul called the culture of life , and the culture of the lie , which is the culture of death . So this is what it all comes down to .
We see this in the book , in the last book of Scripture . The last book is the Apocalypse , or the book of Revelation , which describes the final confrontation between these two kingdoms . Go back and read that . It's amazing . Especially read about the wedding feast at the end , where God shows you where we're going and how .
He's the eternal bridegroom who comes in this world to pour himself out to his bride and bring us back into the story . So in the Apocalypse , in this last book , the attraction of Christ takes the form of triumph over enemy powers commanded by Satan . It's all in there . It's a triumph which comes after a lengthy combat .
The first fruits of the victory are the martyrs . You see this , it says the great dragon serpent of the primal age , he whom we call the devil or Satan , is the seducer of the whole world and he was flung down to earth .
He was the fallen angels , but they , the martyrs , overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of the testimony of their martyrdom . So , the martyrs , you know that you look up at Jesus on the cross , and the martyrs are willing to take that , to carry their cross , even to the point of death .
And so the blood that they shed is an extension , union , a union , a communion of the blood of Christ taken in them and then shed and poured out again . This is amazing power that human beings have . So he's starting to wind up here and I won't even finish this whole thing , but I want to give you just a little bit more .
In this second section he says I would like to respond to the following question In our Western culture , are there developments which reveal with particular clarity the confrontation between the attraction exerted over man by the crucified risen one and the culture of the lie constructed by Satan ? So what's the main sign of this in the world ?
He says my response is affirmative . There are two developments in particular , and I'll close with this . It gets back to the original thing abortion as a right and then legalizing marriage . So he says , the first development is the transformation of a crime , abortion , into a right .
Know well , he says , I am not speaking of abortion as an act perpetrated by one single person . I am speaking of the broader legitimization which can be perpetrated by a judicial system in a single act , to subsume it into the category of the subjective right , which is an ethical category . This signifies calling what is good , evil , what is light , shadow .
And then , when he lies , he speaks according to his own nature , for he is a liar and the father of lies . So what is this ? When we put it into law , cardinal Carfar says it's an attempt to produce an anti-revelation against revelation . What , in fact , is the logic which presides over the ennoblement of abortion ? What's the logic behind it ?
Firstly , it is the profoundest negation of the truth of mankind . As soon as Noah left the flood waters this is in Genesis , chapter 9 , verse 6 , god says to him Whoever sheds the blood of man by a man , shall that person's blood be shed In his own image . God created man . This gets back to the human person created in the image of God .
When you understand this , everything becomes so clear . The reason why man should not shed the blood of man is that man is the image of God . Through man God dwells in his kingdom . Remember , god dwells in his creation . This goes back to Genesis 1 , when God creates man and woman in his divine image to bring his eternal love into this created story .
This creation of man and woman is the temple of the Lord because man inhabits that . He's the one that's given reason again free will , made an image of God , to do what ? To bring the Trinitarian love story into the world and to permeate all of creation with it , to violate the intangibility of the human person .
What you see is the body and the tangible expression . Well , we see that To violate the intangibility of the human person , what you don't see is the soul , created image of God that forms the body itself .
To violate that , to say that the human person is just a clump of cells , say , with no other further meaning , is a sacrilegious act against the sanctity of God . I hope that was clear .
So we say this is just a clump of cells , that there is no soul there , that this is not a child of God , it's just a clump of cells , and so that becomes a sacrilegious act against the sanctity of God . Who knew that baby even in the womb In Jeremiah 1.5, . I knew you before I even formed you in the womb .
See , it's a satanic attempt to generate an anti-creation . By ennobling the killing of persons , satan has laid the foundation , then , for his creation to remove from creation the image of God , to obscure God's presence in the world .
So the two people , man and woman , become one in sexual marital union , and then three , three persons in one , because there's a baby in there . That's a reflection of God's trinitarian love in the world . That's connected with sanctity .
And St Ambrose writes the creation of the world was completed with the formation of the masterpiece which is man , which is in fact the culmination of creation , the supreme beauty of every created being .
At the moment at which the right of man to order the life and the death of another man is affirmed , god is expelled from His creation , from His original presence is denied then , and His original dwelling place within creation , which is the human person , is desecrated . This is why Genesis 3 is so important .
We reject God and we are attracted by the force of Satan , participation in life and death ourselves . Do you see , you will be like God's , you can decide what is good and what is evil . Yes , death has entered the world and Satan will use human beings to bring this about his plan of anti-creation about into the world .
How , through the force of Satan , we become liars and murderers and you see this , and we legislate this into law , right . And now the second , and this is how I'll finish is the ennoblement of homosexuality . And again , this is not against individual people with same sex attraction . These are our brothers and sisters .
These are our brothers and sisters who are what Invited to the power of the cross of the crucified and risen Jesus to bring their all their desires , all their wants , all their needs to him . But again , you have that anti-life right . There's no union between in a homosexual marriage that can bring about life . So this , again , you can see .
When you start to see it through this lens , you can start to see how that act is just lifeless , it doesn't bring life and it becomes sacrilegious again . So this in fact denies entirely the truth of marriage .
The mind of God , the greater , the creator , with regard to marriage , the divine revelation is told us how God thinks of marriage , the lawful union of man and woman , the source of life . In the mind of God , marriage has a permanent structure based on the duality of the human mode of being femininity and masculinity .
These are not two opposing poles , but the one with and for the other , men and women with and for each other . Only then does man escape his original solitude . I've unpacked this many , many times in our theology of the body and , for those of you who are seeking more information , I would encourage you to listen .
Every Wednesday , linda Piper and I unpack theology of the body , the latest one you just get on Wednesdays , but you can go backwards , forward all the way to the beginning , and we continue to unpack this . So one of the fundamental laws through which God governs the universe is that he does not act alone .
This is the law of human cooperation with the divine governance . The union between man and woman , who become one flesh , is human cooperation in a very creative act of God . Every human person is created by God and be gotten by its parents . See this union , the communion again with God , being a reflection of trinitarian love . It's efficacious .
It brings something new to something that was never there before eternal beings with God . And God creates . God celebrates the liturgy of his creative act in the holy temple of conjugal love .
God celebrates the liturgy , this primordial sacrament of marriage between man and woman and his creative act in the holy temple of conjugal love , that when a man and a woman come together , that's a sacrament . John Paul would say to , and he did say to young men , young married men before you make love to your wife , take your shoes off .
You're entering unto holy ground . Every time you make love to your wife and vice versa , you're renewing your wedding vows and the two become one , open to life , become three . This is a powerful thing . So here , in summary , there are two pillars of creation the human persons and its irreducibility to the material universe .
We're not just biology and the conjugal union between a man and a woman , the place in which God creates new human beings in his image and likeness . This axiological elevation of abortion , carnacophoresis , to a subjective right is the demolition of that first pillar . So axiological is a philosophical term for values . We put values on something .
So this value of abortion is now not objective , it's not a human being anymore , it's not a body and a soul that God breathed into it . It is now elevated . Abortion is elevated to a subjective right where I can decide what is good and what is evil .
So that's the demolition of the first pillar , the ennoblement of homosexual relationships , which is equated to marriage , is the destruction of the second pillar , where that life comes from . So at the root of all this is the work of Satan , who wants to build an actual anti-creation , and he does it in and through human beings .
This is an ultimate and terrible challenge which Satan is hurtling at God . He says . I am demonstrating to you , god . Satan says , that I am capable of constructing , here on this earth , an alternative to your creation , and man will even say it's better in the alternative creation than in God's creation . Isn't that something ? This is what's going on today .
Hey , I'll just leave you again , as I do often , with these three-part solution that you can enter into and should be entering into every day . If you can , first thing , before you , look at that phone , get down on your knees and kneel there with our Blessed Mother .
Read the first chapter of Luke , where our Blessed Mother is there and she says to the angel who says that you know . The angel says Behold , you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall name him Jesus . And Mary says to the angel how can this be , since I have no husband ?
And the angel said to her the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you and therefore the child to be born will be called Holy , the Son of God . And Mary says what ? Let it be done to me according to your will , let it be done to me according to your word . And that's what we do .
We kneel there before we look at the phone , and we kneel with our Blessed Mother . And just like our Blessed Mother was impregnated with God , with Jesus Christ , we too are impregnated and become temples of the Holy Spirit , because we say I give my day to you , I want to be impregnated with God , that your will be done .
Second thing that we do temptations will come . Now , satan is going to come after you because he does not want you to walk into the light . So temptation is not a sin . Jesus himself was tempted . So every time you're tempted , use that as an invitation to prayer .
Please take it Just like kneeling there again , I take my temptations and I say , jesus , I can't do anything with this , I don't have the power to overcome Satan and temptations . I give this to you because you have overcome this and over time he will help you .
We're going to be in this battle forever here on this earth , but it will become less and less and less and less , and Jesus will help you overcome all those temptations . Third , we have to , like I said , we are not just in interiority we have to manifest this love into the world .
We have to love our neighbor and then we have to go out and build a culture of life . So we go out , we start being kind to the next person . We see , maybe it's our spouse , our siblings , the people at work , a cashier , whatever .
We start to bring this gospel message of love , filled with divine life and love We've become and manifest this out and into all the work , everything that we do . We start to build this in our own communities . We change the school boards , library boards . We become that person of love and truth , truth , truth , truth , truth .
We become and we bring the truth into the world . This is a battle and it's intensified today .
Look , it's a win-win situation when you are attracted to the crucified and risen one , because the crucified one has given us the power through his redemption and then he saved us through his resurrection and we are entering into the story with him , we aim at him and then we bring this into the world . Hey , god bless you . Thanks for being with me .
Everybody , talk to you again soon . God bless you .