The Final Battle Will Be Over Marriage and the Family
By Jack Rigert
Two years before his ascendancy to the Chair of Peter in 1978, John Paul II, then Cardinal Karol Wojtyla and a Prophet for our time, spoke these words in an address in Philadelphia:
“I do not think that wide circles of American society or wide circles of the Christian community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel.
“This confrontation lies within the plans of Divine Providence; it is a trial which the whole Church must take up. It is a trial of not only the Church, but, in a sense, a test of 2,000 years of culture and Christian civilization with all its consequences for human dignity, individual rights, human rights and the rights of nations.
“We must be prepared to undergo great trials in the not-too-distant future; trials that will require us to be ready to give up even our lives, and a total gift of self to Christ and for Christ. Through your prayers and mine, it is possible to alleviate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it. How many times has the renewal of the Church been brought about in blood! It will not be different this time.”
What has become increasing clear is that the battle is intensifying. What many fail to realize is that the real battle is not between left or right, or black or white, but between our Lord and Satan. The forces led by Satan have as their primary goal the destruction of humanity.
Fatima visionary Sister Lucia, who met with Pope John Paul ll on numerous occasions, wrote, “A time will come when the decisive battle between the kingdom of Christ and Satan will be over marriage and the family.” This is the time, said Cardinal Caffara, in which we now find ourselves.
Pope John Paul II added “The family is the domestic church, it is the first and vital cell of society. As the family goes, so goes the nation, and so goes the whole world in which we live.” In Letter To Families he continued, “Unfortunately various programs backed by very powerful resources aim at the breakdown of the family. At times it appears that concerted efforts are being made to present as “normal” and attractive, and even to glamorize, situations which are in fact “irregular”. Indeed, they contradict “the truth and love” which should inspire and guide relationships between men and women, thus causing tensions and divisions in families, with grave consequences particularly for children. The moral conscience becomes darkened; what is true, good and beautiful, is deformed; and freedom is replaced by what is actually enslavement. In view of all this, how relevant and though provoking are the words of the Apostle Paul about the freedom for which Christ has set us free, and the slavery which is caused by sin! (cf. LF, No.5, Gal 5:1).
Today Satan is utilizing the global elite along with government leaders, the mass media, large corporations, and some within the Church who align with them, to attack humanity at its very foundation, marriage and the family. Promoting so-called progressive ideologies that simultaneously remove God and promote gender ideologies, same-sex marriage, abortion, and CSE (comprehensive sex education) in the school system. We are now at a moment in history where we are experiencing the most violent attack on marriage and the family, the very foundation of human life, ever seen in history.
“A time will come when the decisive battle between the kingdom of Christ and Satan will be over marriage and the family.” The power of Satan is, nonetheless, not infinite. He is only a creature, powerful from the fact that he is pure spirit, but still a creature. He cannot prevent the building up of God’s reign. (CCC #395).
The problem in our post-Christian western culture is that it is often the human person who is cooperating with Satan to prevent the building up of God’s reign. Although he was made by God in a state of holiness, from the very onset of his history man abused his liberty, at the urging of the evil one. Man set himself against God and sought to attain his goal apart from God. Hence, as an inevitable consequence, while human progress is a great advantage to man, it brings with it a strong temptation. For when the order of values is jumbled and bad is mixed with the good, individuals and groups pay heed solely to their own interests, and not to those of others. Thus it happens that the world ceases to be a place of true brotherhood. In our own day, the magnified power of humanity threatens to destroy the race itself. (Gaudium et specs, no’s 36, 37)
“And it is an illusion to think we can build a true culture of human life if we do not accept and experience sexuality and love and the whole of life according to their true meaning and their close inter-connection. The family is the domestic church, it is the first and vital cell of society. As the family goes, so goes the nation, and so goes the whole world in which we live.” –Saint John Paul Il. (cf. Evangelium Vitae. No. 97)
