by Faith Central & Steve Welsh
Catholic TV Mass for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sept. 30, 2018, from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. [can take a moment to load] [Click here for Mass Readings]
[featured image is file photo]
“… Archbishop Sheen identifies three characteristics of the diabolic … examining the story of the Gerasene demoniac … Love of Nudity … Violence … Division (split personalities, disjointed minds) … these three characteristics of the diabolic are alive and flourishing in the modern world …. * * * 1. Love of Nudity … Pornography … The overall sexualization of our culture … the utter confusion that celebrates homosexual activity. … as a result of this celebration of darkness and confusion, the even more deeply confused notion of ‘transgenderism’ has taken root. * * * 2. Violence … turn[ing] violence into a form of entertainment. … violent retribution into fun and death [as] a ‘solution.’ * * * … the culture of death. … Violence begins in the womb as the innocent are attacked as we defend ‘choice’ and ‘rights.’ … * * * 3. Division – Satan loves to divide. Archbishop Sheen says that the word ‘diabolic’ comes from two Greek words, dia and ballein, meaning ‘to tear apart.’ Most literally, dia means ‘through’ or ‘between’ and ballein means ‘to throw or to cast.’ * * * Our families are broken. * * * Inwardly, we struggle with many divisive drives … drawn to what is good, true, and beautiful and yet at the same time to what is base, false, and evil. …”