False gods and the trouble we make for ourselves.

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Osoyoos Desert | Photo: Tourism BC

Lent Approacheth

Money, career, power, the need to control - human beings make many altars upon which humanity, dignity and integrity are regularly sacrificed. Baal, Moloch, Ishtar - somehow our unchurched contemporaries manage to unknowingly worship those detestable entities and miss how close to perdition they come to by doing so.

Those who value the Mass of earlier times, the Extraordinary Form, are accused of worshipping the form of Mass rather than the One Who should be the focus of the Liturgy. While the accusation may be undeserved for the most part, the Christian must be mindful that the true focus of our worship must always be God. Jesus said that where two or three are gathered in His Name, He is there in our midst. We must be gathered in His Name to be confident He is there with us.

Father Celebrity?

So then, what of the Ordinary Form of the Mass? Is your typical diocesan Mass oriented entirely to Jesus, or is the preacher or celebrant the primary object of your attention? Or, perhaps the guitars and drums sedate you into your comfort zone? And what of your practice of the Faith? Are you content with a religion of your own making, a weekend distraction from which you seek the solace of a faint consolation?

We do earnestly repent.

Ponder the following prayer from the Penitential Rite of Divine Worship, the Venerable English Mass of the Personal Ordinariates.

ALMIGHTY God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, maker of all things, judge of all men: We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, which we from time to time most grievously have committed, by thought, word, and deed, against thy divine majesty, provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us. We do earnestly repent, and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings; the remembrance of them is grievous unto us, the burden of them is intolerable. Have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us, most merciful Father; for thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, forgive us all that is past; and grant that we may ever hereafter serve and please thee in newness of life, to the honour and glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

With the help of God's grace, we seek to remove the cataracts that blind us to the truth, goodness, beauty and mercy of God in Jesus Christ.  Why do we need God's mercy?  Imaging being deprived of air. We only exist because the Holy Ghost sustains us.  Our lives are a gift of God.  When we embrace a false god, we might as well be choking off the air we need to survive.  Without God's grace, even good things can become a lead weight tied to our souls, dragging us down toward perdition. Money that is hoarded can rot the soul into greed.  Skills or talents that bring us attention and fame, when not offered in service to God and neighbour, can imprison us in false expectations and lull us into egotism if we do not remain vigilant and work to tame our passions.  How many people - politicians, actors, corporate administrators - have succumbed to an inflation of self and used their positions of influence to accrue power for power's sake?

The soul that wanders into a nest of attractions may very well be convinced of the necessity to take refuge in strange gods.   Adversity, desperation, anger, envy, pride, indifference, fear, lust - these are fuel for the imagination seeking satisfaction to dive into relationships with demons who cannot satisfy the deepest longings of the human heart.

Consider the experience of Mosab Hassan Yousef, a convert from Islam to Christianity and the son of Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef.

The root of the problem is Islam itself as an idea, as an idea. And about Hamas as an organization, of course, the Hamas leadership, including my father, they're responsible; they're responsible for all the violence that happened from the organization. [...]  The biggest terrorist is the god of the Quran. I know this is very dangerous and this will offend many people. The more you follow the steps of the prophet of Islam and the god of Islam, the more you get close to being a terrorist.  The god of the Quran is trying to unskin Muslims from their humanity. Muslims are good people. But their god is absolutely bad.  [...]  Islam is not a religion of peace.  Islam is a religion of war, and most Muslims don't understand the true nature of Islam.

Like a tsunami, false religion - be it a secular virus (communism, socialism, wokeism/political correctness) or one claiming a capricious deity such as that described by Yousef  - sweeps away civilizations and leaves destruction in its path.  A tsunami is preceded by an earthquake.  An earthquake occurs when colliding tectonic plates release stored energy. Colliding ungodly ideologies will unleash (are unleashing...) irreconcilable forces to devastate the human landscape.

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