Father Mark Goring – Food for Life –
Excerpts from the Food for Life Program 1818
“If you’re a bit of an agnostic type and if you’re not sure if this Catholicism stuff is real, read about Fatima. Seriously it’ll blow your mind.. She appeared in 1917 and we don’t understand the gravity of that time. This is a time where there was happening a massive extinguishing of the light of faith in people’s hearts.” (Read about Our Lady of Fatima here).
Father Goring talks about how at that time there were many new technologies, sciences, and breakthroughs, many of which were really good. However, a lot of the ‘proclaimed’ intelligent people were teaching that people who believe in Jesus are a bunch of superstitious uneducated peasants, who are silly for believing in religion, Jesus, and Catholicism. For example, Marx taught that religion is the opium of the people.. that needs to be abolished. The understanding what was being proclaimed by so many is that religion is what’s preventing progress.
Marx suggested that they were in a time where the people can create a utopia, a perfect society, a paradise with new ways of governance, medicines and science. They wanted to create new governments with their new ways of thinking and to make everything perfect for everyone, and if you get in their way then you are an enemy of the people because you’re preventing progress. If you try to stop their agenda then you’re evil, and since they don’t believe in God anymore (it’s the opium of the people), they also don’t believe anyone is holy. They don’t believe what Paul said that you are a temple, that’s old-fashioned thinking for peasants, so if anyone gets in the way of the creation of a perfect world then they are killed.
Approximately 90 million people were killed due to communism. Nations that have turned over to atheistic regimes have experienced untold devastation and this is what was happening 1917. “Power to the people but renounce Jesus”, this is what they were offering.
Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you straddle the issue? If the LORD is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him.
1 Kings. 18:21-22
So Elijah said to the people, “I am the only remaining prophet of the LORD, and there are four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal.
Father Goring relates to this passage by asking “Am I the last Catholic who loves Jesus and believes in the Lord and the Church, and is excited about the faith? …sometimes it feels like I’m one in 450”. This is certainly true in our everyday secular culture.
A person who walks with God has peace that this world cannot give. His joy is full and he has life in abundance. We walk in the glory that only God can give.