Johann’s Perspective

Brothers and Sisters in Christ. We need to step up. Someone needs to step up. 

There is a time for being reserved and not being seen in pious act and behavior, and we still shouldn’t do this ‘to be seen by others’ in a prideful or vain sense. But I believe we need to display piety, as well as the longstanding traditions of Christianity in every way possible, and hope that people notice, to the glory of God and for their conversion.This is because the culture is lost, the world is increasingly lost, churches are lost, the faith is in confusion. As true devout Christianity increasingly falls out of the societal norms, every individual needs to radically, and extremely, practice their faith. Those who truly believe in their religion are in modernity called religiously extreme. This should not offend you. Image what the world today would have called the Saints of old! Do not cave in to the false lie of the devil that to live your life for the glory of God is extreme. The devil has perpetrated a horrible lie that your faith and your life are two separate bubbles, as if God is some sort of side hobby. Saint Stephen the first martyr pray for us!

We know that these things will continue to happen as the return of Christ gets nearer and nearer. But we need to serve God, and be a vessel for the Holy Spirit, as he is always working to save as many souls as possible. Continue to take courage in sharing the gospel, being bold and not worrying about the opinion of men. Wear your cross with power and confidence, never forgetting why you wear it, and He who gave us the power behind this symbol. Boast in the love of God, boast in the mercy of God. Bow and prostrate before images of the saints and of Our Lord, be prepared to kiss the feet of those who you may see as beneath you in this false paradigm of a social order. Wear Christian clothing, speak only about Christian things, listen only to Christian music. Find Gregorian chant, Byzantine Chant, Ambrosian Chant, find deeply penitential hymns and learn the languages, letting the reverential music of Holy souls penetrate the desires of the flesh.

We need to fast, we need to pray for long hours. We need to have impenetrable faith. Call out sin, in love and with great intention and care, no pride, pride is evil. Plant the seed of the Gospel, of love for Christ, of repentance with everyone you talk to. Boldly make the sign of the cross in public. Proclaim your faith boldly on social media, bear witness to Christ in all you do. Take great care in listening to others, displaying the fruits of the Spirit born out of faith and prayer in all words and actions. Let your light shine before others to the Glory of your Father in Heaven. Seek beauty, create beauty, magnify beauty. Do not give in to the false promises of a secular world. Remember death.

Resist idle talk, but give leniency to all types of listening. Listening can hardly be idle if our focus is intentional and on God, and as St. James says we must be quick to do it. But if your listening is causing or may spiritual damage to you or to the speaker, change the direction of the conversation or politely excuse yourself. Display the great mystery of silence before others, and when God tells us to speak do so with great courage and faith in Our Lord. Do not speak without the mention of God, with deep reverence, fear and devotion. 

We must sincerely commune with God through the sacraments. Seek, pursue understanding of the fullness of the Christian faith. The Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ, as we have drifted away from the appreciation, faith, and love of this amazing divine gift we have lost ourselves. There is no debate that this is the case, this is what was passed on by the Apostles, this is what Our Savior Himself told us. Go to Confession, with a contrite heart and the resolve to repent from our sin, then approach the marriage supper of the lamb with the greatest reverence. No one deserves to miss the Blessed Sacrament, our Lord Jesus Christ. Run towards the altar of the Lord.

We must commune with God through prayer, even when we don’t want to pray; as this is the best time to do so. We must commune with God through the Scriptures, fully receptive and in submission to His written Word and revelation. We must commune with God through the recognition of His natural order in nature. In doing so we must focus on recognizing the praises that the birds constantly sing to the Almighty Lord of Heaven and Earth, and take inspiration from this; the birds never miss a day of singing praises to Our God, they labor strenuously until death in ecstatic psalmody. 

We must commune with God through listening closely to His voice through whomever is His chosen vessel. 

We must not take our own worldviews or our own opinions,  which can very quickly be recognized as simply desires, as the only way. We must submit. Obedience, submission, courage, faith, and most of all love. 

We must at all times display Christian love. Not for the sake of anything else but the command of the Lord. Not for the sake of anything else but the fact that He first loved us. Not for the sake of anything else but for the Glory of God, the love of God, and the love of Neighbor. We must display this great mystical and transcendent love of God as a witness to the Ultimate Truth of the Word Incarnate. We foster this love through practicing the presence of God. Constantly thinking of God. A moment should not go by where we forget that God is with us. A moment should not go by that we stop remembering the majesty of The Lord Our God. We foster this love by our religious devotion in prayer, by Spiritual sacrifices and offerings to God, by participation in Mass, by reading the Scriptures, by deep contemplation and reflection on the reality of natural death. 

We must forsake the passions and our affection and love for sin; hate sin. We are made in the image of God, who hates sin, so we should hate our sin all the more. God have mercy. We must do this through great prayer and focus on Christ. Christ on the cross, and Christ Risen. Christ died, freeing us from our sin on the cross, achieving victory over sin, death, and the devil. Reconciling mankind to God the Father.

Emulate the Saints, read the lives of the Saints, get to know the Saints, talk to the Saints. Follow the Saints to Christ, as that is where they lead us.

Love the Virgin Mary. As we speak to her she is speaking to Our Lord about us, as the New Eve, the first Christian, she is ever close to Our Lord. They speak about us as our mothers spoke to us about what friends we should be around, how they admired our friends and suggested them to us. The Christian love for Mary is hard to understand sometimes due to the great depth, and a decent grasp on theology is needed, but in today’s age this doesn’t take much effort! She is the perfect representation of womanhood. Magnify Mary, as Mary magnifies the Lord in all His might! In all His love for humankind! Do not be afraid of promoting the Virgin Mary, as in doing so we promote Christ, we promote the Church. Charge forward with the Blessed Mother on your mind, sanctifying the disgusting sexual degeneracy in our society that continues to lead many to spiritual blindness and despair. When you think disgraceful thoughts leading to lust and a lack of chastity, think of Our Mother Mary and Joseph her spouse. Pray that we all may deeply repent and convert, even the most holy among us. St Joseph most chaste pray fervently for us!

Spread the faith, do not be afraid to evangelize! Do not fear!!! Do not be afraid!!! Do not be discouraged!!! Fight! be a warrior for the Kingdom of God. Not with swords, not with weapons, not with anger or judgement and condemnation; but with prayer and holy speech and piety. Keep in mind your status, as an unworthy servant, only fulfilling the obligation to God, out of love. And if this offends us, we need to sit in reflection on our dispositions, and in contemplation of divine truth.

Hand the homeless an icon, a cross, a prayer card, a religious image, a Bible, a directory to Church. If safe, and with great discernment for your own safety, give them a ride to where they are headed. If appropriate and wise, give them your phone number so they may call you when they are in great need. Give your last to the homeless and to the poor and disabled, in doing so you give your last to Christ Himself! 

Take courage that God is our Judge, and not mere mortal men. Do nothing for vanity, do nothing at all if you sense that your desire is praise and false worship. Do nothing to become an idol, but instead become an icon. An icon magnifying the glorious Lord Jesus Christ. 

Offer up prayers for all those whom you know. Do not neglect praying for others. Do not neglect prayer for those who have no one else to pray for them. Pray for the Church. Pray for the Holy Christian Faith, beg God to keep us from error. 

Battle against evil, no matter which political ‘side’ evil comes from. Rebuke and battle it with the strength of Christ. Know that angels, saints and martyrs accompany you in your fight. We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Keep in mind this great army of God. 

Study history and theology to be able to provide a good defense of the faith. Being able to resist heresy is a duty and not a hobby. Defending the truth is not a game, it is an obligation as a servant of the Lord. But we cannot let ourselves be puffed up on wisdom. Read the Scriptures, the Saints, and edifying spiritual books with urgency. Defend the faith in your actions primarily. Give the faithless workers of inequity no reason to reproach you. Stay close to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, humble and meek. 

I write this because we have been blessed. God has blessed us to live in a time where we are needed. God has given us all the opportunity to become Saints with the capital S. We are called to martyrdom. All of us. If the moment to choose death or apostasy we must let our brains be splattered on the cement. In reality, we have this choice every day. We can choose martyrdom by detaching ourselves from this life for the sake of the Gospel. We must lay down our lives for God after Christ, we must lay down our lives for our fellow Christians, we must lay down our lives for our friends and our families, we must lay down our lives for our spouses and our children (well, one of us), we must lay down our lives for our new life in Christ. 

And this laying down of our lives is the denial of self. ‘If you wish to be my disciple, you must deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me’. We must do this in EVERY moment and with EVERY opportunity. And if we cannot find those opportunities blatantly in front of us, we seek them. Take great hope, get back up when you fall, as Christ rose, so do we.

We battle not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities. 

Angels of the Lord Gaurd us. 

Body and Blood of Christ heal us and dwell in us to everlasting life. 

Cross of Christ strengthen us, passion of Christ captivate us. 

Love of God be with us. 

Christ be with us. 

Sancte Maria, Mater Dolorosa, ora pro nobis. 

Saint John the Baptist 

Saint Joseph most chaste 

Saint Peter

Saint Paul 

Saint Basil

Saint Gregory’s

Saint Ignatius 

Saint Chrysostom

Saint Thomas Aquinas 

Saint Romanus 

Saint Francis 

Saint Nicholas 

Saint Therese 

Saint Victoria 

Saint Catherine 

Saint Anastasia 

Saint Sebastian 

Saint Patrick 

Saint Ambrose

Saint Augustine 

Saint Jerome

Saint Maximos

Saint Cosmas 

Saint Athanasius 

Saint Elizabeth 

Saint Andrew 

Saint Stephen 

Saint John 

Saint Cecilia 

Saint Carlo 

Saint Benedict 

Saint Martin 

Saint Jude 

St Joan of Arc

Saint Padre Pio

St Dominic 

St Kolbe 

St Faustina 

St Hilary 

St Bede 

St Hildegard

St John of the Cross

St Justin Martyr 

St Cyril 

St Cyprian 

St John Climacus 

St Pope Leo

St John Newman

St Pope Pius X

St Bellarmine 

St Scholastica 

St Vincent De Paul

St Polycarp

St Clement of Rome

St Josephine Balkatta 

St Charbel 

St Josaphat Kuntsevych 

St Jaun Diego of La Virgin De Guadalupe

St Ephrem the Syrian

St Andrew of Crete 

St Louis De Montfort 

St Dionysius the humble

St Pope John Paul ll 

St Francis De Sales

St Mary Magdalene 

St Lucia 

St Luke 

St Mark 

St Moses

St Abraham 

St Jacob 

St Isaiah the Prophet 

St Jeremiah the Prophet

St Simeon 

St Amos the Prophet 

St Hosea the Prophet 

St King David 

St King Solomon 

Saints and martyrs of Japan, Ireland, Africa

Holy Apostles and Martyrs 

Holy Prophets and Patriarchs 

Holy Virgins and Widows 

Holy Deacons, Priests, Bishops, Monks, Nuns, Popes

Holy Fathers of the Church 

All those in Heaven

Pray for us to Almighty God, sing praises to Him. Help us in our battle against evil.

Glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit 

Amen.