Saving The Soul of Ireland
Ireland is in bad shape. A sea of apostasy is sweeping over our island nation. Many live for pleasure with little awareness of the seriousness of mortal sin and that souls are falling into hell like snowflakes. Facebook is the new tabernacle of Ireland. Truth has been turned upside down; good is perceived as evil and evil as good. People speak of being spiritual but not religious and believing in an “energy”.
How did we get here? The devil has raged against Irish souls for decades: years of violence with no regard for human life, the child abuse scandals, breakdown in sexual morality, the Celtic tiger, Lisbon treaties, a viral growth in new age and occult practices, election of political leaders with no Christian values, election of a President who makes no reference to Christ, even at Christmas. The strong anti-catholic undercurrent in the media continues to drag us close to the rocks. Ireland, so deeply rooted in Christ for centuries, is in serious trouble. Governments and leaders have untied our moorings to Him and cast us adrift. Legalisation of abortion in the south has left a gaping hole in our starboard, with furious attempts in the North to do the same to our port side. At times, it seems that we are losing all power and drifting into a valley of death, under a rainbow flag. What future then for our children and their souls?
Storms continue to rage against us and we lack all important leadership from our church hierarchy. Pope Francis tells us “The devil is trying to destroy the family because that is where children are born and learn to love”. Families have stopped going to mass, only some families pray the rosary or even say grace before meals. We all have relatives searching for meaning in the wrong places, bringing the wrong spirits into our homes. And as the family goes, so goes the nation”.
The hearts of Jesus and Mary are beating with love for the very soul of Ireland. God’s mercy continues never ending, like the ebb and flow of the waves that lap our shores. We need to plead for His mercy and ask Him to send His Holy Spirit to heal our families and our nation. We must make reparation for those in our families and society who rebel against Him and re-evangelise Irish culture. We need to invite Christ back into every family.
It is time to take responsibility. It is time for ordinary people who make up the body of Christ to unite under His standard. All people of prayer and action need to come together from N, S, E and W and reclaim the faith of our fathers. We cannot do it on our own, only with the strength of Christ and guided by the Immaculate Heart of Mary and Her beloved spouse. Across the world, large corporates are uniting, and the enemies of Christ recognise that their strength is also in unity. To fight the good fight, we must unite too.
This is not about forming a new prayer group, or duplicating the great work of existing prayer groups. This is a national lay initiative – a faith portal into which all practising catholics can link, with our own national database. We need to evangelise in our families, schools, parishes, workplaces and social groups and to do so we need to be organised. Local prayer warriors with natural leadership skills are needed; people of compassion who are steeped in prayer and in the word of God and who love our country. This is about every practising catholic pledging their loyalty to Christ, putting Him first in all things and claiming victory in His name. Each one of us has a number of souls to save. Time is short and we have a lot of work to do. However, “we must not despair, we are Easter people and our song is Alleluia”. Those who have the courage to stand up for their faith, let them come now. “The future starts today, not tomorrow”.
Let us start by praying the rosary in our homes and take ownership of educating our children and grandchildren in their faith. Let us restore Our Lady, Queen of Ireland, to her rightful place and give more public witness to Her. Let us make the Holy Family our sovereign family and invoke their prayers for every family in Ireland. Let us, like St Faustina, offer novenas for our homeland. Let us call on Irish missionaries abroad to offer masses for Ireland. Let us encourage our families living abroad, who face the same challenges as we do, to unite with us in prayer.
It is time to kindle the paschal fire of St Patrick and evangelise with the missionary zeal of all our Irish saints. Let us invoke St John Paul and make his vision for our nation a reality. “May the light of Christ, the light of faith continue always to shine out from Ireland”. Be not afraid. These are the times we are called to give witness.
Veni Sancte Spiritus
