How to handle the coming persecutions

[probablywontmakeit]

I just watch Paul: Apostle of Christ.

It's obvious that soon we will face severe persecution, and it has the potential to be crueler, more violent, and widespread than ever before. What is the correct way to handle it? Is it to let them have their way and pray for them? Or should we organize and fight?

[james03]

OK Fed.

Violence is not talked about or promoted on this site.

The proper way to handle the persecutions is to relocate to a Trad Haven and hide out.

[probablywontmakeit]

OK Fed.

Violence is not talked about or promoted on this site.

The proper way to handle the persecutions is to relocate to a Trad Haven and hide out.

I'm not a fed, it's a totally legit question, Catholics have fought to defend the faith.

Go outside and do something, anything at all. You spend way too much time on the internet.

[Stubborn]

I just watch Paul: Apostle of Christ.

It's obvious that soon we will face severe persecution, and it has the potential to be crueler, more violent, and widespread than ever before. What is the correct way to handle it? Is it to let them have their way and pray for them? Or should we organize and fight?

Timing is everything. When the wrath of V2 hit the Church, many of the faithful believed the world was about to end, literally. For the faithful back then, the first order of business was then as now, is to hide so as to avoid persecution - think catacombs.     

[awkward customer]

"Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains:  And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take any thing out of his house:  And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat.  And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days.  But pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the sabbath."

[TradGranny]

However else we may prepare for coming persecutions, number one is to become detached from earthly things and focus our efforts on prayer and sanctification. We need to focus more on our next address.

[probablywontmakeit]

I appreciate everyone's advice, I was originally leaning toward the examples set by the early christians, but historically I've always been kind of a wimp so I wanted to make sure I wasn't bias-ing myself in the wrong direction

[Innocent Smith]

"Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains:  And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take any thing out of his house:  And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat.  And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days.  But pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the sabbath."

This all happened when Rome sacked Jerusalem.  Those that believe in Christ and have enjoyed the fruits of the Cross don't have to worry about such nonsense. 

Obviously the Holy Trinity requires our own participation and cooperation for our own Salvation.  So I am rather disappointed to see the idea of hiding out as a good one. 

Sitting on the sidelines now by not engaging your neighbor and going into hiding at the first sign of trouble seems pure cowardice to me.  Instead of posting here on the subject why not try and do your part to help insure that a mass persecution does not occur in the immediate, near, or even distant future. 

Silly apparitions such as Fatima has really distorted the Faith.  Because the Pre-Determinism on display here frankly sucks.

You know not the time or the hour.  Period. End of story. 

How many realize the biting satire delivered by our Lord here?  The comment to pray that it does not occur on the Sabbath is as much a razor line as the best delivery by Carlin. 

He's mocking the Jews. 

[TradGranny]

I appreciate everyone's advice, I was originally leaning toward the examples set by the early christians, but historically I've always been kind of a wimp so I wanted to make sure I wasn't bias-ing myself in the wrong direction

A great book for encouragement is "Song of the Scaffold" a novel based on historical facts of Carmelite nuns during the violent anti-Catholic French Revolution. One nun is especially fearful. During these times of being spiritually and emotionially prepared for coming persecution, I found the book extremely helpful.

Another great book for dealing with persecution is "Joy in Suffering" by a Catholic woman imprisoned in Communist China, where the Communist "priests" visited her and tried to get her to renounce her Catholic Faith.

[TradGranny]

Two reviews of Song of the Scaffold:

 The Song at the Scaffold is a short book of about 110 pages, but potentially contains more riches and pleasures than suggested by its length. The book (1931) is what it is, while its potential depends a great deal on the openness of the reader to Le Fort's transcendental message. Ostensibly this is the historically-grounded tale of Carmelite nuns dying at the guillotine during France's Reign of Terror. But Le Fort's story is a timeless one of the struggle for faith, which is portrayed as an interior, personal struggle compounded by that struggle taking place within a culture often hostile to it.

The story is told by means of a letter written subsequent to the events from a French nobleman who remained in Paris to witness those events; the epistle is sent to a pre-revolutionary friend who had emigrated, and therefore did not.

The central events of the tale involve 16 Carmelite nuns, all of whom are based upon fact with the exception of the key character Blanche, who is Le Fort's own creation. Blanche is, in one possible reading, a doeppelgänger of another nun, Constance. The two enter the monastery together as novices (Constance: "Dear little Sister Blanche," she says, "let us always hold together, you and I.." is only one of many such repeated suggestions).

Le Fort wrote the book at the tail-end of the Weimar era, in a Germany being roiled from both the right and the left, National Socialists and Communists. Should she stay, or emigrate? If one stays, how should one conduct oneself? One choice made in the book is made by the First Commissioner, a former sacristan: "... I've got to howl with the wolves!" The Carmelites, of course, make another. And the letter writer who relates the events?

Le Fort's literary style is often referred to as "sacramental realism" or the literary portrayal of dynamic transformations of a transcendent nature, rather than conventional material realism. These depicted transformations reveal an outward conduct that is an expression of a living faith, which in turn holds the potential to resonate and ripple throughout the wider world.

Another book may prove worthwhile: William Rush's  To Quell the Terror: The Mystery of the Vocation of the Sixteen Carmelites of Compiegne Guillotined July 17, 1794  provides a concise, but wonderful history of the actual events (including important parallels between the historical Constance and the fictional Blanche).

If you found this book as a result of opera, to further appreciate Poulenc's 'Dialogues of the Carmelites' (1957), a little extra digging into the background of the multi-step transposition from novella to libretto will also pay-off as there are several alterations from the source (some necessitated by the change in genre). Poulenc's correspondence helps, too, particular regarding the character of Mere Marie.

Individual reaction to the opera will likely range as widely as to that of the book. For some it is a pleasant evening at the opera enjoying Poulenc's craftsman-like score with its emotionally jarring finale; while to others it is a revelation, both affirming and challenging. To that extent, it is absolutely faithful to the source.

and another:



"The point of departure for my creation was not primarily the destiny of the sixteen Carmelites of Compiègne but the figure of the young Blanche. . . . Born in the profound horror of a time darkened by the signs of destiny, this figure arose before me in some way as the embodiment of the mortal agony of an era going totally to its ruin."
-Gertrud von le Fort

Set during the French Revolution, this classic novella is based on the true story of the Carmelite nuns of Compiègne, who offered their lives for the preservation of the Church in France.

The story unfolds around the fictional character of Blanche de la Force, an excessively fearful aristocrat who enters the Carmelite convent in order to flee the dangers of the world. As the Reign of Terror begins, Blanche is no safer in the convent than in the streets of Paris, and some of the sisters begin to doubt her ability to endure persecution and possibly martyrdom.

The fates of Blanche and the other Carmelites take several unexpected turns, leaving the reader with an inspiring witness not only of martyrdom but of God's power being glorified in human weakness.  

[Lynne]

Thank you, @TradGranny

[TradGranny]

You are welcome Lynne.
Here are excerpts from Joy In Suffering

https://www.sspxasia.com/Newsletters/2006/Jul-Dec/Joy_in_Suffering.htm

https://www.sspxasia.com/Newsletters/2008/Apr-Dec/Joy_in_Suffering.htm

[probablywontmakeit]

"Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains:  And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take any thing out of his house:  And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat.  And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days.  But pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the sabbath."

This all happened when Rome sacked Jerusalem.  Those that believe in Christ and have enjoyed the fruits of the Cross don't have to worry about such nonsense. 

Obviously the Holy Trinity requires our own participation and cooperation for our own Salvation.  So I am rather disappointed to see the idea of hiding out as a good one. 

Sitting on the sidelines now by not engaging your neighbor and going into hiding at the first sign of trouble seems pure cowardice to me.  Instead of posting here on the subject why not try and do your part to help insure that a mass persecution does not occur in the immediate, near, or even distant future. 

Silly apparitions such as Fatima has really distorted the Faith.  Because the Pre-Determinism on display here frankly sucks.

You know not the time or the hour.  Period. End of story. 

How many realize the biting satire delivered by our Lord here?  The comment to pray that it does not occur on the Sabbath is as much a razor line as the best delivery by Carlin. 

He's mocking the Jews. 

You're putting words in my mouth. Persecution doesn't automatically equal end times.

You're also completely insane if you think a) the only reason I believe one is coming is because of Fatima, open your eyes and have a look around b) it can be stopped by humans

[james03]

Or if I bring the sword upon that land, and say to the sword: Pass through the land: and I destroy man and beast out of it:  18 And these three men be in the midst thereof: as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they themselves alone shall be delivered.  19 Or if I also send the pestilence upon that land, and pour out my indignation upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:  20 And Noe, and Daniel, and Job be in the midst thereof: as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter: but they shall only deliver their own souls by their justice.

The first rule of survival:  Understand that your standard of living is going to drop.  Make the necessary mindset changes to accept this.

[awkward customer]

"Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains:  And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take any thing out of his house:  And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat.  And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days.  But pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the sabbath."

This all happened when Rome sacked Jerusalem.  Those that believe in Christ and have enjoyed the fruits of the Cross don't have to worry about such nonsense. 

Obviously the Holy Trinity requires our own participation and cooperation for our own Salvation.  So I am rather disappointed to see the idea of hiding out as a good one. 

Sitting on the sidelines now by not engaging your neighbor and going into hiding at the first sign of trouble seems pure cowardice to me.  Instead of posting here on the subject why not try and do your part to help insure that a mass persecution does not occur in the immediate, near, or even distant future. 

Silly apparitions such as Fatima has really distorted the Faith.  Because the Pre-Determinism on display here frankly sucks.

You know not the time or the hour.  Period. End of story. 

How many realize the biting satire delivered by our Lord here?  The comment to pray that it does not occur on the Sabbath is as much a razor line as the best delivery by Carlin. 

He's mocking the Jews. 

I thought it was good advice nevertheless.  The aristocrats who left Russia when the Bolsheviks took over lived.  Those who stayed were killed.

What would you suggest as a way of ensuring that mass persecutions don't take place? Are you ready to face the murderous hate that inspires such persecutions?  How do you know you wouldn't quake with fear?  When was the last time you came face to face with human evil? 

And what has Fatima got to do with it?