Deliver us from evil! Feast of St Josephat, Bishop and Martyr

Today, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops are meeting in Baltimore Maryland. Dominating the meeting will be the sexual abuse crisis which continues to rock the Church (see "Rocked to the Core").

The root of this crisis is evil. In this case evil is a noun and not an adjective. It is an attack on the Mystical Body of Christ. The bad news is that left to our own devices it is beyond human capacity to fix. The good news it hat while we cannot fix it, it is fixable!

The Church is made up of people and we are all sinners (notable exception is the Holy Family). Therefore, it should be no surprise that some priests and bishops have gravely fallen. Even among the first 12 apostles, Judas turned out to be a very bad actor and others were notable sinners as well. So Jesus, from the very beginning showed us what to expect; there will be corruption and sin in the Church. Let us not be dismayed by this reality. There is hope

Wherever evil exists, it is for us to root it out. While bishops have the powers of exorcism, all of us have the power of prayer and begging for Our Lady's intercession. Because of the graces and authority given by Her Son Jesus, she can accomplish more than any other intercessor.

Our Lady of America, The Immaculate Virgin has come with a very powerful intercessory prayer that is perfectly suited to our time and the crisis in the Church: "By thy Holy and Immaculate Conception O Mary, deliver us from evil." In this devotion she has promised the graces necessary to deal with this crisis. Dare I say, any other way will prove to be folly!

In this devotion Our Lady has put special emphasis on spiritual healings and the graces necessary to seek purity. In this case, purity to overcome corruption and sin along with healing for those who have been spiritually injured by its effects. Our Lady knows what we need and she desperately wants to grant our needs, but we must accept her gift.

Please pray! First that our Bishops will come to understand the reality of what is facing the Church and second that they recognize, seek and accept the graces of Our Lady of America, the Immaculate Virgin by responding to her requests and accepting the graces

Our part is to spread this devotion, to pray for her intercession and to live a life of purity as called for by Our Lady. Most importantly, pray for our bishops and priests!

A note of caution! It is so easy to be angry at the bishops for allowing this to happen. Please don't be angry. Please pray for them. Encourage them. For those bishops that are complicit in this evil, pray they seek forgiveness, reconciliation, conversion and purity. For the other bishops that are left cleaning up this mess, pray that they have faith, courage and graces to see the reality of this situation and that the intercession and graces already promised by Our Lady of America are the (only?) answer.