Things Are Not Always What They Seem

I do not really know what is going on in Rome. Yes, there are news reports, but they are well known to be unreliable. Yes, there is the official Vatican News, but someone pointed out recently that the people in charge are not necessarily any more reliable than the news media (sickening as that may be!). Therefore, no matter what I read, or how many pictures I see, I am still not really sure what is going on in Rome. It is kind of like living one thousand years ago (!).

Sometimes people come to me and say, "Father, did you hear what just happened in Rome?" If I know them well enough I can say, "No, I didn't, and you probably didn't either". I mean no disrespect, but I hope that the faithful people of God will not presume to have more knowledge than they do or give too much trust to news sources. Jesus once said, " if any one says to you, ‘Lo, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it." In other words, you should not believe everything that people say about religion. There are liars out there who want to misrepresent things, and the devil wants you to believe anything that will weaken your faith.

St Paul once told his people, "we beg you, brethren, not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word, or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come." Sometimes things even appear to be directly from the Church authorities, but it is not always so. In a day and age like the one we live in, we must recognize if it happened before, and it can happen again, it certainly can happen to us. Lies, manipulations, and confusion; our presumption that they cannot happen to us because we have technology is a serious error.

Is that news report correct? Maybe; pray about it. Did Pope Leo really say that? Maybe; pray about it. Did nothing really happen in response to that sinful behavior? Maybe; pray about it. I am not telling you to doubt everything you hear, but I am saying that you should not be gullible about every piece of bad news that is published. Christ came to give us the good news and no matter what bad stuff happens here on Earth, He always brings about good. Trust Him, trust Him fully; and trust Him alone!