Spiritual Battle? Just Do It! Today!

March 25 - The Feast of the Annunciation

On this date, all Christians of liturgical churches who celebrate Christmas on December 25 will celebrate the point in time when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. On this day, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary, greeting her as κεχαριτομένη - or, as St. Jerome translated it into Latin, gratia plena, full of grace - informing her that she would bear a child who would be the Son of God.

Today, our nation is fast becoming a beacon of Shining Darkness, heralding the Culture of Death of which Pope St. John Paul II warned. This culture is nothing more than a revival of the worship of Molech of which the Holy One of Israel warned His people to have no part. It is nothing more that the human sacrifice practiced by the Maya, the Aztec, and the Inca.

Make no mistake about this. Abortion is a human sacrifice.

What can we do?

In 1571, the Ottoman Turk was bent on conquering all of Europe, thereby subjugating all Christians to Islam, if not wiping it out entirely.

On October 7 of that year, a great naval battle, the Battle of Lepanto, occurred, pitting the Christian fleet (a coalition of Spanish and various Italian forces) against the Ottoman. It didn’t look good for the Christians, just as, in the minds of the world, it doesn’t look good today for the Christian battle against the Culture of Death. Pope St. Pius V called on all Christians to pray the Rosary that the Ottomans be defeated. They were, so decisively that Ottoman expansion into the Mediterranean was permanently turned back.

We can repeat that today - not with seagoing vessels, not with armed warfare, but in prayer.  We are, each of us Christians, called to be prayer warriors.

Join with me, this day, before midnight, in praying that the Culture of Death be turned back.  I’m not saying that all need pray the Rosary – I understand the reservation, even objection, that non-Catholics have against that.  But there are many ways that you can pray, and I urge each of you to pray in any manner which fits your understanding. 

Pray.

As the Epistle of James reminds us, the prayer of a righteous man avails much.