We Are At War... For Real! (E.M.: Part II)

Earlier this week I posted about the Ecclesia Militans, or Church Militant. We, the living, are part of the Church, we are the Church Militant. We are the warriors fighting the powers and principalities set on the destruction of as many souls that they can sink their claws into. We wage battles and war against these evil powers through prayer, fasting, and alms giving. We are at war, for real.

There are some that want to downplay this reality for a multitude of reasons. There are some that will say that, "War, battle, an other similar words are an overstatement of what we are really talking about." Some will say that the way of Christ is "a way of peace" and therefore to speak in such terms clouds and distorts the issue in such a way that we actually derail our own efforts. To this, I say nothing but point to the words of Saints, Popes, and Bishops.

A Bishop's Duty

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Bishop Jenky

So don't take my word for it, instead listen to these same sources. Last time I quoted Pope Pius XII, this time I offer a recent message from Bishop Jenky, of Peoria, Illinois:

Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria, Ill. has asked parishes, schools, hospitals and religious houses to insert the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel into the intercessions at Sunday Mass to pray for Catholics’ freedom.

The move comes in response to a new federal requirement that will force many Catholic organizations to provide insurance coverage for sterilizations and contraceptives.
“It is God’s invincible Archangel who commands the heavenly host, and it is the enemies of God who will ultimately be defeated,” the bishop said in a Jan. 24 letter to the Catholics of his diocese.

The prayer should take place in the general intercessions before the concluding prayer, Bishop Jenky said. He asked that the intention of the prayer be announced as “for the freedom of the Catholic Church in America.”

The St. Michael prayer was authored by Pope Leo XIII, and was once commonly said in U.S. Catholic parishes as part of a petition for the freedom of Soviet Russia.

He said it is his duty to summon the local Church into “spiritual and temporal combat in defense of Catholic Christianity.”

Read more: EWTN News: Bishop Jenky

Reality

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COMBAT, DEFENSE, ENEMIES OF GOD...

These sure sound war-like to me. They also don't seem to be overstated, mere-pufferey, or allegorical . This is a war, it is real, and the enemies we face are HELL BENT (literally), on our destruction.

St. Michael, Defend Us In Battle...



NB:
Thomas Peters posted on a similar idea over on American Papist: Swords and Shields at CatholicVote.org.

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