Did St. Josephat die in vain? by Tantumblogo

Did St. Josephat die in vain?

 

   November 20, 2015

Posted by Tantumblogo

Via reader Skeinster, a really good post from Shameless Popery on St. Josephat and what it means to be Catholic and have Faith. More to the point, with all the ecumania and doctrinal indifference, did St. Josephat and other martyrs to the Faith die in vain?

392 years ago today, Saint Josaphat, an Eastern Catholic bishop in Ukraine, was dragged out of his rectory and murdered by the Eastern Orthodox townspeople that he was trying to lead back into union with the Roman Catholic Church. The Church does not hesitate, in her prayers, to say that he poured out his blood like Christ. He died for the principle that it matterswhether we Christians are Catholics. My question for you today is did he die in vain?

After all, I frequently hear that it doesn’t matter whether or not someone is Catholic, as long as they’re Christian. They’ve got better music down the block, or you like the preaching better. Catholicism becomes just one denomination, just one option. Or perhaps we’ll go further and say that the Church itself doesn’t matter: all that matters is having a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” That personal relationship is obviously vital, but Cardinal Dolan has pointed out the folly of trying to have the Good Shepherd without the flock, trying to have the King of Kings without His Kingdom, trying to have the Head without the Body of Christ. So to answer my initial question, I ask you to consider four more questions:

The first question: Did Jesus intend to inaugurate the Kingdom of God on earth?Yes.

The very first words out of Jesus’ mouth in St. Mark’s Gospel are “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mk. 1:15). And we hear that again in today’s Gospel, when Jesus says that, although it has not yet arrived fully, the Kingdom of God is among us.

The second question: Did Jesus establish this Kingdom in His Church? Yes.

In the famous passage of Matthew 16:18-19, Jesus says to Peter, “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Note, He doesn’t say He’s giving the keys to the Kingdom to everyone, to all believers. Instead, Christ explicitly gives the keys to the Kingdom to St. Peter, the head of the Church, using the singular “you.”……

……….So where do we stand? Do we think the Church is dispensable? That it no longer has the protection of the Holy Spirit, or no longer has the fullness of truth? That Christ’s Church no longer has an earthly head? In short, do we think that St. Josaphat died in vain?

There’s two more questions and answers at the link. You know how I feel. I think lack of charity and faith in the Church has placed tens if not hundreds of millions in grave jeopardy of hellfire.

Moral cowardice carries a very steep price.

 

https://veneremurcernui.wordpress.com/2015/11/20/did-st-josephat-die-in-vain/