Apostasy, heresy, disobedience, war, famine, persecution...it's great to be a Catholic!

Through this arch lies redemption -

it leads to the Coliseum's arena

It was never going to be an easy ride. We never expected anything else. We know, do we not, that redemption comes from sharing the carrying of that very heavy cross? That's why we shrug off serious illness in ourselves and our loved ones, we cope with redundancy and business failure, we pray more when our children leave the faith or suffer hardships, we take casual persecution in our stride and pray even harder when it becomes physical persecution. We know that bereavement is hard to accept but all part of the process.

We do our duty in times of war but hate war nonetheless, we take a stand against abortion, euthanasia, homosexual practices, all serious sin; and when our priests fail us we pray for them and the Church; when our Bishops and Cardinals fail us we write to Rome and keep on praying....we say the Rosary...we go to Mass - nothing in this world can hurt us. God is our Father, Our Lady is our Mother; we have a Guardian Angel and the Communion of Saints behind us!

Bring on the heresy and the apostasy; give us more persecution, if there is schism in the Church we will be on the right side. If the economy of the world should fail we will survive, maybe we will become stronger and better as a result.

And when the brimstone falls from the sky we will be prepared.

You see? These are great times in which to be a member of Christ's one and only true Church.

Easy to be a Catholic when we are all well fed and nothing threatens your existence.

But when times are hard we come into our own....we are one, we are holy, we are apostolic....................we are CATHOLIC!