Certainly, it is difficult to make the demands of the Gospel understandable to secularized people. But this pastoral difficulty must not lead to compromises with the truth.
To live without faith, without a patrimony to defend, without a steady struggle for truth – that is not living, but existing.
That Christianity gives joy and breadth is also a thread that runs through my whole life. Ultimately someone who is always only in opposition could not endure life at all.
“If you believe what you like in the Gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.”
It is sad that there are what you might call professional Catholics who make a living on their Catholicism, but in whom the spring of faith flows only faintly, in a few scattered drops. We must really make an effort to change this.
With knights like these, no wonder the Church is losing. The Order of Malta was created to fight for the Church, and now they fold like little girls interrupted by rain on their picnic.
Distinctions Matter
Distinctions Matter Forward
Missale Romanum
Pre-1951 Calendar