{"id":23651,"date":"2016-03-25T16:32:01","date_gmt":"2016-03-25T22:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=23651"},"modified":"2017-07-19T16:28:20","modified_gmt":"2017-07-19T20:28:20","slug":"the-night-of-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/the-night-of-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"The Night of Faith","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

LENTEN RETREAT
\n Day 40<\/p>\n

\"balloon-at-night2\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

AND <\/strong>so, we have come to the end of our retreat… but I assure you, it is just the beginning<\/em>: the beginning of the great battle of our times. It is the beginning of what St. John Paul II called…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

…the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel. This confrontation lies within the plans of divine Providence; it is a trial which the whole Church, and the Polish Church in particular, must take up. It is a trial of not only our nation and the Church, but in a sense a test of 2000 years of culture and Christian civilization, with all of its consequences for human dignity, individual rights, human rights and the rights of nations. <\/span><\/strong>\u2014Cardinal Karol Wojtyla (JOHN PAUL II ), at the Eucharistic Congress, Philadelphia, PA; August 13, 1976; cf. reprinted November 9, 1978, issue of The Wall Street Journal<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And yet, just as the Cross stands as “a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,” [1]<\/sup><\/a>1 Cor 1:23<\/span><\/span>