A Crack in the Mirror - Unity is Broken

Woe to the shepherds
who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture,  says the LORD. 
Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who shepherd my people:
You have scattered my sheep and driven them away.  You have not cared for them,
but I will take care to punish your evil deeds.  I myself will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands to which I have driven them and bring them back to their meadow; there they shall increase and multiply. I will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them so that they need no longer fear and tremble, and none shall be missing, says the LORD

It was the worst day ever.  A day that should never have been but one that came anyway.  It was a day that proved beyond a reasonable doubt that things could always get worse.  This day is celebrated each year as Reformation Day on October 31st. On this day the unity prayed for by Christ at the Last Supper was broken and the church was splintered and unity was lost.  On this day a man filled with pride and novel ideas began to preach a new gospel, one not written by the apostles and this man named the new pseudo church for himself and the Lutheran Church was born. With the birth of this inferior system of belief, countless millions of people have been led astray away from the shepherd that built His church upon the Rock of Peter.  It was a sad day for humanity.  30,000 versions of Christianity all claiming to be true is a testimony to this fact. 

But why is unity so important?  Unity is important because there can only be one truth.  There can only be one source for that truth and that source is named Christ.  But surely those that are following their faith outside of the Catholic Church are beloved by God?  Of course, they are!  Every one of them who call Christ Lord and walks the path of Christ faithfully is my brother and that is what the Catholic Church teaches.   Well then, it does not matter if they are Catholic or not then does it? Yes, it does. Even though they are brothers and sisters in the faith, they follow strange interpretations of the Scripture because every one of them is thought to be able to interpret correctly the Holy Scripture. They say they follow the Bible but if a portion of the Bible inconveniently goes against what they want to believe they gloss over it or change it to fit their teaching.  Martin Luther himself changed scripture and even wanted to delete the book of James because it taught things that went against his novel and incorrect view of faith and works.  

But what do you think the fate of people like Luther, Calvin, Knox were?  I don't pretend to know for sure but our reading today is a sobering look at what could happen to those that get in the way of Christian Unity and I think that you might be able to agree that it seems that there will be repercussions for those guilty of carving up the Church.  But I think that it goes further than that.  What about the Catholics that were Catholics in name only.  What was the fate of the bad popes, who never taught heresy because they were too busy getting rich using their office?  What about the Catholic clergy that participated in sexual misdeeds of all kinds?  What about priests, bishops, and cardinals that stole or failed to remain celibate in accordance with the promises they made to God?  Their example probably chased people from the Catholic Church and into the perilous waters of Protestant theology with its many dangerous rocky shores.  They will have to answer for what they have done as we all will.  

Jesus is the founder of the Church, the Catholic Church and scripture says that He built HIS church on the rock of Peter and it was his desire that there would be one flock and one shepherd. The Lord will one day come and heal all of the divisions and bring all into unity again under the flag of His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.  That day will erase the divisions between Christians and once again we all will be one.  I apologize if I seem to be a very right-wing soldier in my views about unity in the Church but I believe that Jesus did not want separation of his followers.  I would challenge those who say otherwise to find my a quote in Holy Scripture where it says that when people disagree about the doctrine that they are free to split from the Church Christ began and start a church in their name.  Search for it how you will, you will never find it for Jesus wanted us to be one as He and the Father are one. 

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Please pray for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.  You will make a forever friend if you do.