Yes, we grow in our knowledge of things, but we do not genuinely "change" who we are; truth and holiness are eternal. Yet today we are experiencing a massively growing tide of people (many of them Catholic) who want to refashion the Church into something she never was, and is never supposed to be. This leads not only to an attempt to change doctrine, but morality as well. The general term for this is "apostasy". I do not know whether this is actually The Great Apostasy spoken of in Scripture and prophecy, but what we are going through is certainly a great apostasy.
How do we as Catholics respond to times like these? There are four basic responses:
1) Stick our heads in the sand, deny the problem, and wait to see what happensAnyone want to guess which I am going to suggest?
2) Run away from the problem by trying to surround ourselves with distractions
3) Attack the problem with our own personal wisdom of what to do
4) Deal with the problem in the way that our forefathers did for the last 2000 years
How did the Catholics of ages past deal with periods of great defection from the faith? The Blessed Virgin at Fatima gave a clear reminder to us. She told us to do acts of reparation. Many today have spoken about this with various directions and suggestions, but we have not seen much in the way of application. This is not to say that no one is doing anything (I am not omniscient), but one would expect that if there were "acts of reparation" in at least a majority of people, we would also see an impact on the Church. I know that I have not done enough in this regard; have you?
We have all experienced a trial or difficulty in our lives where someone said to us "offer it up". The purpose of that is to ask God to apply the merit of our endurance to whatever need He sees fit. Yet, acts of reparation are not supposed to be done only in response to a personal experience. They are supposed to be done intentionally, with the very purpose of sacrificing something of ourselves in order to make a "compensation" for the evil deeds done by others (this is the term used by Pope Pius XI in his encouragement for acts of reparation).
Certainly, many things could be done by individuals in various ways. When, however, a larger group gathers to do acts of reparation with a single purpose, the value and merit of this unified action is always of greater spiritual impact. I would like to see something done in every parish in the world, but of course, I can only influence the parishes that I minister to. I wish to begin at St. George in Republic, Missouri--my primary parish--with a monthly act of reparation that all can be a part of. I plan on celebrating a Mass of reparation followed by a time of Eucharistic adoration on every first Friday of the month for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which God is offended every day.
I pray that everyone in my parishes will seek to be a part of this (even inviting faithful Catholics from other parishes), and that it will eventually spread far and wide. Will you be a part of this? It is certainly easier to ignore the problem and expect someone else to do something about it. Some will likely read this (or just hear about it) and say they are too busy and decide not to work it into their schedule. These choices are the path of compromise (and they are the very things that got us into the problems we are currently suffering under). If we take to heart Jesus' words that there are many who say "Lord, Lord" but will not enter Heaven, then we cannot just sit idly by and wait for someone else to do something; Jesus calls us serve Him today.
