Love God above all else, and love your neighbor as yourself.
The great apostasy is a terrible trial through which the Church must pass. It is a relatively brief time period in which most Catholics depart from the one true holy Catholic Church. There will be many false teachers sowing great confusion among the members (and former members) of the Church. Many conservatives and many more liberals will leave the Church. Some will attempt to set up their own competing Church. Many persons will be confused as to which one is the true Pope. Many false teachers will spread numerous grave doctrinal errors among the poor and weak flock of Jesus Christ.
[Matthew]
{24:11} And many false prophets will arise, and they will lead many astray.
{24:12} And because iniquity has abounded, the charity of many will grow cold.
This is the first in a series of posts advising my readers as to how they might persevere in the true Faith during the great apostasy.
The first consideration is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the path to eternal life in Heaven is always the Way of charity: the love of God above all else and the love of your neighbor as yourself.
Do not allow contentions about doctrine and discipline, and about the changes that will be occurring in society and in the Church, to distract you from the love of God and neighbor.
The entire moral law is based on the love of God and neighbor, and so you do well to keep that love in all your words and deeds. But many persons will use a false version of the idea of love to justify grave sin. Beware of false teachers, who use the language of love of God and neighbor to justify sin.
If you truly love God and neighbor, then you will also be humble before the teachings of Christ and His Church. But it is so common today for my fellow Catholics to be arrogant, exalting their every thought on faith and morals and salvation above the teachings of the Church.
During the time of the great apostasy, the Magisterium will clarify past teachings and will answer questions on faith, morals, and salvation. Some answers might not be what you imagined or thought to be true. If you love Jesus and His Church, you will realize that the Church has a greater understanding than you, and you will submit your will and intellect to magisterial teaching.
Some of your favorite teachers of the faith will go astray from the Faith. They will reject the teachings of the Magisterium because those teachings do not agree with their own interpretation of Tradition and Scripture and past magisterial teachings. But the only authoritative interpreter of Tradition, Scripture, Magisterium is the Magisterium itself. So when some of your favorite authors or teachers depart from Church teaching, do not join them. And if your own interpretation cannot be reconciled with the Magisterium’s interpretation, you should change your mind.
If you truly love God, then you will have faith in the teachings of God’s Church. For the teachings of the Roman Catholic Magisterium are guided by the Holy Spirit.
— I intend to write more on this topic in subsequent posts. The posts will be short and to the point.
by
Ronald L. Conte Jr.
Roman Catholic theologian and
translator of the Catholic Public Domain Version of the Bible.
the reproach of Christ 