Opinion
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December 24, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – “The darker the night, the brighter the stars. The deeper the grief, the closer is God!” – Fyodor Dostoevsky

“Hold fast that which is good.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:21

During this year of massive attacks on the “fundamental human rights of freedom of movement, freedom of assembly, and freedom of opinion” and restrictions on public worship “unimaginable even during the Third Reich,” as Bishop Athanasius Schneider put it, there have nevertheless been many blessings and graces amidst the darkness.

This past year has been, if nothing else, a year of clarity.

We know who will call government “snitch lines” to report people gathering for “non-essential” activities like tennis and simply walking to the park.

We know which friends we can trust as the darkness spreads and freedom becomes a distant memory.

Moreover, and perhaps most importantly, we know which priests are willing to come to our houses to offer Mass, or secretly give us Holy Communion and hear our Confessions, or say “parking lot” Masses in defiance of weak bishops who caved to the state’s diabolical demands.

Now we know, too, which bishops have abandoned the Catholic faith, and even gone above and beyond what the government asked in terms of closing churches to the faithful ostensibly because of the coronavirus. For many Christians, the betrayal by our religious leaders handing us over to the state hurts, but, again, at least we can see now which shepherds were hirelings all along.

Could it be that God sees a church in ruin, and as punishment is allowing it to be run by priests with as weak a faith as its sheep? (Isaiah 5:5)

Many Catholics I know told me during the “lockdown,” it’s better to die with the Sacraments than to live without them. I say that to myself every day now.

I am thankful that God sent the priests he did to me during the tyrannical shutdown. I was able to receive the Body and Blood of Our Lord when so many other Catholics throughout the world were denied that opportunity.

I’m going into 2021 praying for an end to what seems to be a divine chastisement unleashed on the Church and the world, and for the strength to live out my belief that nothing is more important than the Sacraments and the graces that flow from them.

“The only real sadness, the only real failure, the only great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint,” French author Léon Bloy wrote. The only things we ought to fear are sin and hell; strengthened by the saints and fortified by the Sacraments, however difficult they may be to access, we can fight tyranny and enthrone Christ the King in our hearts. If we do that, we can then bring the light of truth and charity to our own spheres of influence, and ultimately our world will be able to heal.

Please pray for me this Christmas, and be assured of my prayers for all LifeSiteNews readers and in a special way, everyone who is reading this.

Merry Christmas!