It all began with a recent discussion with a mutual on social media about the merits of liberal democracies vs catholic monarchies. It got me curious about the merits of any sort of Catholic influence in government, so I began to dig until I found this book.
A catchy title, straight to the point, and no doubt full of wisdom because it is written by one of our most ferocious saints. The story behind this book only feeds into the saying that history repeats itself. However, before I jump in, I'm going to fill you in on a little back story.
At the time of this writing, Columbia was going through what was known as the Thousand Days War. A liberal faction of Columbia was seeking an armed coup of the nationalist, later conservative government. In this rebellion, one of the missions was to overthrow the catholic church as well. Catholic missionaries had been set up many years prior to the war and had been active in serving the destitute communities like those in Casanare. Now, the very existence of the Catholic church was in peril as these rebels sought to burn to the ground what the church had toiled so hard to build and further destabilize an already troubled country. Today, I see we are. . . have been experiencing the same thing.
Something I must make clear, when I speak of liberalism, I do not speak of what Americans refer to as "the left" in American politics. Whether conservatives on the right realize it, they too are liberals - hence many comments in recent years by right wing mouthpieces they are "classical liberals"; the dogs finally showing their true colors, but I digress. No, I'm speaking to liberalism as a whole, as an ideology which runs much deeper than what most Americans think is as simple as left vs right (whatever that means anymore).
When we first take a look at the word liberal, let us look at its etymology. It's roots come from the Latin word liber meaning free. As the Online Etymology Dictionary defines liberalism:
Liberal was used 16c.-17c. as a term of reproach with the meaning "free from restraint in speech or action." The Enlightenment revived it in a positive sense "free from prejudice, tolerant, not bigoted or narrow," which emerged 1776-88. In 19c. often theological rather than political, opposed to orthodox, used of Unitarians, Universalists, etc.
On the surface, especially as Americans, we see this and think nothing is wrong. We see freedom as a good, which is it, but we are blind to this all encompassing question: "Free to do what?". Based on our definition above, do we question what or who it was that was restraining us in the first place? What kind of restraints were being cast off? Freedom without restraint is slavery to passions in disguise.
It's not easy to tell just by reading a history textbook but for many centuries, the sole entity civilizing and educating the world was the Catholic church. The raising up of human dignity was being spread in many forms: ending child sacrifice, better treatment of women, educating the ignorant, treating the sick, serving the destitute, and ushering virtues like mercy and compassion - yes, we take those two virtues for granted but they were not common in a pagan world. Set aside what theological or rhetorical grievances you have with the Catholic church, but you can't deny Western Civilization and even other parts of the world owe an undying gratitude for the charitable works of the Catholic church. To help connect the dots here, what is it that makes liberalism so afraid, to down right hate, the Catholic church? Simple: the Catholic church represents obedience, obedience to a higher power, not just any higher power, but the Supreme Power of the universe. For any ideology which is founded on freedom from restraint, it is the antithesis of a body like the Catholic church which preaches and practices prudence.
The Liberalism which Americans are most familiar with was brought about through the Enlightenment and it places reason above all else, but it is inherently flawed because the "reason" it touts is human reason. In real time and even looking to the not so distant past, we have seen how that actually plays out: people are capable of reasoning anything for their own personal gain. Liberalism divorced faith and reason by force and without faith, which is connected to The Truth (God), man is collectively left to scramble to figure out what is real, ushering in subjectivity.
You might see this while debating online pseudo-intellectuals when you ask them for a source and they cite their own reason and intellect. The wisdom passed down from God, through faith, guides reason if only that reason is subjugated to it. Liberalism is man's way of replacing divine wisdom with his own.
How ironic that it was called the Enlightenment, but by separating reason from faith, it has only man intellectually dim. How ironic it's called liberalism, when it only enslaves those it captivates into sin.
We have thrown God out of our government buildings, our schools, and even our churches. This liberalization of reason has killed God in people's hearts and has caused His abandonment in countless communities. How are we surprised the old pagan practices have come back in full force? We are undeniably in a time of punishment, where God is allowing us to have our sins so we may eat its fruits. The world is so out of control, it's enough to make a man, insane.
So what do we do?
St. Ezequiel Moreno faced a similar problem as us. The leviathan of liberalism has been unleashed and it seeks to devour us as it did his people during Columbia's time of internal strife. The only solution is to throw ourselves into the arms of the church. Holy Mother Church who has stood for over 2000 years through scandal, invasion, and persecution.
. . . upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matt 16:18)
For those Catholics out there, who feel all hope is lost, fear not, as Christ has commanded us so many times "Be not afraid.". He is the Light, the Truth, and the Way. Place your anxieties at his feet and He will give you His Graces. We may not be able to fix the world around us, it may very well be too late to turn this ship around. That's fine, burden yourself not with that responsibility because it was always God's responsibility. Your responsibility is to nurture your soul and see it makes safe passage through this life into heaven.
Christians (especially Catholics), must realize liberalism is our enemy and has been since the dawn of time. The Bible recognizes this and we don't see a literal word for it, but it shows up early in the Bible. Here's a hint. . .
Our fore-parents used their free will to replace the divine wisdom of God with their own human wisdom. This was liberalism first experienced by humans. They rationalized they were being oppressed by God and sought to become His equal, so they ate of the fruit.
How about another example?
Satan was the first to rebel. He is the master of liberalism. He seduces you with freedom at the cost of your relationship with God. Adam and Eve felt this consequence too when they were banished from the garden. Now Satan rules hell, while we as humans at least have a shot at heaven thanks to Christ's ultimate sacrifice. Satan denied God's Will and Wisdom and paid the price for it.
Here's my last example to drive the point home as to how liberalism can and has poisoned the minds of God's flock:
Martin Luther. I'm not here to argue the historical semantics of the Protestant Reformation on either side of the conflict, but I see this also as another great example of liberalism at work. Liberalism is all about breaking free from subjugation of a supreme authority and replacing that higher wisdom with your own with the attitude that "I know better". This attitude has carried through the centuries. It's not difficult to see this is true because we have over 10,000 denominations of Christianity. A real life anecdote I can give you is, I've never heard a single catholic say "I don't like the church I'm going to, I'm going to break away and start a new one." however the opposite is true for many protestants I know. When something goes awry, they abandon ship to form a new church or find a new denomination. This is something that has always perplexed me, but as I got older, I could only make the assumption it's because Catholicism was created (by Christ) with a unifying attitude while non-catholic faiths were first and foremost founded on rebellion and separation, thus a catholic is more likely to handle troubles in their church more than a protestant. To my protestant brothers and sisters out there reading this, I'm open to hear further insight into this phenomenon, I love learning about your side of the faith.
As for the merits of a Catholic influence in government, I think there's a case to be made that Catholicism does a better job at seeing Christian values are carried out in places of government. To give an example of recent relevance: America is a predominantly Protestant nation which allowed abortion to be legal for decades because the consensus isn't unified on the topic, meanwhile when Catholics took the Supreme Court it was struck down because it has and always will be a consensus that abortion is evil.
Come what may, we must seek refuge in God's church. With all the chaos in the world, I don't think going to Mass on Sunday is going to cut it. Evil is out there in full force and we need all the grace we can get. Do more: go to more than one Mass a week, participate in the sacraments as much as possible, read scripture, make time daily for prayer, etc.
God be willing, we will be the wheat at the harvest, and the chaff plaguing this world will justly be dealt with. St. Ezequiel Moreno y Diaz, pray for us.
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