“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that cleaveth to me, saith the Lord of hosts: strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn my hand to the little ones,” (Zacharias 13:7).
The signs of the times are evident to anyone awake. But, alas, too few, so very few there are awake enough to see the light of day and true doctrine eclipsed by the moon of apostasy.
Where do we stand, where do we go, we who stumble in this man-made midnight of faith? To God, of course, to the only One. Like scattered sheep we are about the world, here in America, up in Canada, over the ocean in England, France, Germany, and stretching eastward even unto China. We are all searching for greener pastures not polluted by false doctrines of man. We want to taste of the sweet grasses of God, true doctrine taught by the living earthly voice of a true Pastor. But, alas, he has been struck, and the successor of Peter cannot feed God’s sheepfold.
“This passage the Savior Himself applies to His Passion, when the Shepherd was struck and the Apostles were scattered. Yet it is not to be confined to that time only; for as Christ once suffered in His own Body, so He suffers daily in His members. In the last times especially, when iniquity shall abound and charity shall grow cold, many who seemed to stand firm shall be shaken, and the flock shall appear scattered until the Lord again gathers His own,” (St. Jerome, Commentary on Zechariah).
Iniquity abounds and charity is as cold as a north wind. These are related as cause and effect, for iniquity causes charity to diminish. Hence, the striking of the shepherd is the eschatological encore of the first striking of Christ; now the Pastor of Rome is struck, the Vicar of Christ, because the lesser pastors have consented to iniquity.
What that iniquity is, anyone who has eyes to see or ears to hear or is awake knows well enough. The iniquity is man thinking himself God, and standing in the Holy Place as if he were God.
“Although this prophecy was literally fulfilled in Christ, when at His apprehension the disciples fled, it has also a mystical and future sense. For Christ, the supreme Shepherd, suffers again in His Church when pastors are smitten by persecution or error, and then the faithful are dispersed and troubled. In the time of Antichrist this shall be most fully seen, when pastors shall be struck down and many shall fall away, so that the Church shall seem almost overcome, though she cannot perish,” (Cornelius a Lapide, Commentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets).
The Church cannot perish. That is key, and it must be believed though everything of sense and meaning seem contrary to it. Where is the visible hierarchy of the Church? Scattered, fallen away. Where then, the Church? Scattered. If the Church were gathered together, we would see Her, but being scattered, we do not.
“Before the end of the world the Church shall enter into great affliction; pastors shall be persecuted, many shall be seduced, and the faithful shall be diminished. This does not destroy the Church, but manifests her conformity to Christ her Head. For as the Head was struck and His disciples fled, so in the final persecution the Church shall be shaken, though not overthrown,” (St. Robert Bellarmine, On the Church Militant).
CatholicAxis exists so that we faithful scattered about the world may have a place to visit and be reminded we are not alone. That is its only true purpose. The doctrines here are able to be found elsewhere, for they belong to the Deposit of Faith. My own opinions or commentary is to be taken with a grain of salt, even if that salt preserves the savor of truth. but CatholicAxis exists for you. It is an act of charity.
If you benefit from the feeling CatholicAxis gives you, that you are not alone, not crazy, please do your scattered Catholic brother or sister a service, and share this article with them. It would be charity to do so, provided yours hasn’t chilled in the north wind.
