Red Mass Sermon—Spiritual Warfare in
the Modern World
Our Lady of Victory Church, Diocese of Rochester
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, Human Life International
September 16, 2005

Dear Friends and Colleagues in Christ:

It is my honor to be with you at the invitation of Mr. Ciaccio and the Thomas More Lawyer’s Guild for this Red Mass. I have been privileged to work with many fine men and women in your professions, and I truly believe that this is a time when your particular gifts and talents are needed more than ever in the fight for life, for traditional moral values and even for basic sanity. I propose to speak to you today out of an abundance of concern for the very moral survival of our society, something about which you are all undoubtedly concerned as well. I am not a lawyer nor even a canon lawyer so I won’t give you a legal opinion on anything! But as a priest, I will give you a sermon on the spiritual roots of this wickedness and then call you to spiritual as well as temporal action.

The ‘Specter’ of abortion stares us in the face
A few days ago the whole world witnessed a very powerful member of the U.S. Senate stand up in front of a candidate for the highest judicial office of our land and show him a very large, television-friendly, chart listing the 38 judicial re-affirmations of the most heinous Supreme Court decision ever to be handed down. His purpose was essentially to taunt and intimidate the candidate by boasting to him how strong the fortress is surrounding that alleged “right” to kill babies. In doing so, Mr. Specter typified the arrogance and brutality of the ones who conquered the legal battlefield three decades ago and refuse to yield an inch of ground. In making a display of his chart he was in effect saying to Judge Roberts: “I dare you to challenge this. Look at this impenetrable fortress that we have built block by block for the past 32 years. We will not surrender it willingly.” His charade was accompanied by a panoply of howling hyenas who echoed the threats and insults that always attend a defense of any stronghold of that sort.

The irony of this whole matter is that, at the same time as our judicial system tears the Ten Commandments out of public buildings and declares the Pledge of Allegiance to be unconstitutional, the same powers are raising on high a placard of the “38 precedents” of Roe. In place of law written in stone we are subject to the mockery of 38 names written on a piece of foam board—and that is exactly how substantial these decisions are. What we are witnessing is not the attempt to compete with divine law, but a very real and aggressive attempt to mock it, to supplant it, to exterminate it, just as an army commander will not be content to just conquer a territory but will also plant his flag and substitute his government for theirs, etc.

But from another perspective I believe that Arlen Specter is essentially correct on his assessment of the strength of their position. Humanly speaking there is very little chance that we will tear down that fortress. I have hope for the future but not for a wise and dispassionate re-evaluation of Roe, that’s for sure. Although there are undoubtedly many servants of God and God’s plan for this country, nevertheless, I am afraid that we are too few to make the necessary changes and that as a culture we lack sufficient conviction, resources, manpower, popular support—or all of the above—to do anything but chip away at the foundation of this fortress. Or worse yet, it is entirely possible that we as a society could end up in an unholy compromise with evil that settles begrudgingly but “realistically” into an accommodation with evil on matters that are moral absolutes.

I do not believe that we want to tear down those walls as much as Reagan wanted to tear down the Berlin Wall. It was personal for him, so personal that he thought the Wall had Gorbachev’s name on it! The fortress of abortion and all other evils in our society are regretfully not as personal as that for us. We have been too co-opted by the slick liars who captured the culture decades ago as insidiously as they captured the judiciary while our parents were busy raising families or getting prosperous. We as a culture don’t want to tear the walls down as much as they want to keep them up because to do so would mean literally tearing away much of our own lifestyles. All this evil is now woven into the fabric of modern society and to try to uproot it would be to do damage to the present state of affairs. Most Americans are just unwilling to do that. Who wants to voluntarily undergo the equivalent of a moral and social Hurricane Katrina in order to re-build from scratch a new society founded upon truth and justice? We are much more likely to just rail against the fortress and its hellish occupants and then go back home to take our rest in the shadow of the temples of death and destruction as long as we can feel sufficiently indignant about them. No one really wants to put this “New World Order” back to God’s World Order because to do so is just too much change.

“The gates of hell shall not prevail”
We did not just wake up one day and find ourselves in the midst of the culture of death. This was a long and patient campaign for change that is more the subject of a college course than a sermon, but the spiritual dimension of the change is important to note: remember that it is of the nature of evil to build fortresses, to wall up evil practices far away from any accountability to God or man. Evil always shuts itself off from the influence of the good, and it always attempts to isolate that spiritually vulnerable creature made of flesh and blood so that he can take the one thing that really matters to that creature and to the God who created him: his soul. The demonic forces of the world, be they the abortion industry, the pornography industry, or the corrupt power brokers of any spiritual stronghold of evil, all attempt to isolate the soul from her God and enslave her for all eternity. That is why Jesus is the Liberator of the soul from the power of the devil as the Gospel of John states. Let me illustrate:

Some time ago I was authorized to perform a solemn exorcism on a man who had been infested with what I found out to be at least 15 distinct demons. His malady was the result of close family members practicing the occult and targeting him from his teenage years for destruction. It was said by one of the demons in the exorcism that the family members had made a pact with the devil to betray this man’s soul and to win incredible worldly riches for themselves.

In the course of one of the exorcisms a distinct voice and personality spoke out of the man and several times in a supremely frustrated voice said: “Why did you have to come? We were making such progress building our walls around him and you have destroyed all our work!” It is not an exaggeration to say that the voice, representing multiple demons, were in complete disarray and despair that all their handiwork had been destroyed by one exorcism. I hated to tell them that the awesome firepower that came against them that day consisted of just one little priest, a retired Episcopalian couple and the Church’s exorcism ritual that I had printed out from the Internet! However, the key to their demise was profound: it was the holiness of that wonderful couple, the fasting, loads of prayer support, and the unstoppable power of the Church. Those demons were literally powerless against the onslaught of good that came against them that day dressed up in all its simplicity and obedience, and they eventually had to leave on orders of the Church. I am happy to report that the man was eventually delivered of all fifteen demons and completely free of the power of evil. He is now like the rest of us who take our souls in our hands each day by the decisions we make for or against God.

In any case, the purpose of the story is only to reiterate a basic truth that we have heard many times and which needs to be reiterated time and again so that we will understand the full implication of its meaning for our lives. The Lord said that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church.” This is as true today as it was when He first uttered these words to St. Peter as Caeserea Philippi, if only we would listen and learn to live up to our vocation as the Church militant.

Ecclesia Militante
This is not to say that the Church walls itself up and has its walls battered down during an assault. That’s what happens to evil. The gates are the gates of hell, not the gates of the Church! And that is another way of saying that the Church, not any individual, is the prevailing force against the gates of death. The Church has the Lord’s promise of indefectibility and guidance by the Holy Spirit. But the Church has a vocation to fight evil and in order to actually prevail against evil, the Church has to go out to the gates, it has to engage them in battle! This is what we used to call the Church Militant engaging in spiritual warfare. (Keep in mind that nothing I say about spiritual warfare is to be interpreted as advocating violence in any form. Our work is strictly spiritual.)

The gates of hell can stand very tall and haughty like that proud Senator with his flimsy list of new immutable commandments standing in front of the American public and arrogating to himself the authority over life and death. Yes, the gates of hell are intimidating and strong, but if the Church were to really decide to exorcise that evil from our midst, there would be no contest. The gates of hell would have to give way.

What I am saying is that the Church is the only institution that can actually defeat the culture of death and the institutions of such great evil in our midst because the Church is perfectly equipped for battle. It may not seem like that at times, but I can assure you it is only because of that “accommodation” with the world that I spoke about earlier. However that may be, the Church is the only source of real hope against a seemingly impenetrable, impregnable fortress of evil.

Your vocation as men and women in the legal, political and law enforcement professions is to form part of that Church Militant and to work for God through your strict union with the Church. What I mean can be perfectly illustrated by a look at Chapters 5 and 6 of the Book of Joshua which describes the Battle of Jericho in some detail. It is almost the perfect image of how the Church Militant is supposed to operate.

The Battle of Jericho
At the end of Joshua 5 he receives a visit from an angel who describes himself as the “Captain of the Host of the Lord.” Yes, St. Michael—who happens to be the patron saint of Law Enforcement officers. It is interesting that the angelic “Host of the Lord” is represented by Michael almost as if they were going into battle with the Israelites. This is literally true whenever the Church engages in battle: the Church is not just the visible body of believers on earth but the Mystical Body of Christ encompassing heaven, purgatory and earth. It also encompasses those awesome spirit creatures, the angels, who assist us on our way to salvation and assist us in battle itself.

Joshua is then ordered to have the people form a phalanx of distinct groups, and the order of the groups is meant to strengthen their power against the enemy: after Joshua is placed at the head of the phalanx as their leader, the “picked troops” follow in the front and rear guards since they are trained for battle and will be most equipped for direct engagement with the enemy, the priests blowing rams horns come next, then more priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy of Holies, and finally the entire people of Israel falls in behind the Presence of the Lord carried by the priests. This lineup is not exactly your standard military formation since civilians and clerics are not usually on the front lines of a battle. However, in spiritual warfare, all are needed and all must be united. It was the union of the whole people of Israel in strict obedience to their commander and to God that made this battle formation strong.

As we know from the story Joshua ordered the people to walk in this formation around the city for six days in silence except for the blowing of the horns, and then on the seventh day they were to walk seven times around and then shout at Joshua’s command. No one, not even Joshua, knew at that point that the effect of their action would be to take down the entire walled city; they may have thought that Yahweh would help them win an actual battle like He did against Amalek. However, they knew that God was fighting for them and the key to their success was their obedience to God and their union with their commander and each other. God did the rest and to Him belonged the glory of the victory.

As a side note, some years ago archeological evidence was unearthed of the skeletons of babies in jars several layers down in the ruins of the City of Jericho, and by this evidence it is highly likely that child sacrifice was practiced in the City of Jericho, an utter abomination to the Lord. The Lord never remains neutral when His children are being mercilessly offered in demon worship.

Spiritual warfare in modern times
The Church Militant also defends the rights of God and man but can only be effective in spiritual warfare if we are united in obedience and unity as a people of God. We are bound up in the same desire of God to destroy the strongholds of evil that are such an abomination to the Lord.

It goes without saying that you are the “picked troops” in this modern Jericho story. Professionals, men and women serving the common good, are the ones who are prepared for the confrontation with evil, and this is not a task to be taken lightly. You are both the front guard engaging in direct conflict with the enemy and the rear guard staving off any assaults from behind. It is a vocation to be part of this corps of picked troops but without a strong spiritual life you cannot engage in battle. St. Paul says to the Ephesians that “we are not fighting flesh and blood but the principalities and powers of darkness” and spiritually immature people are not equipped for that battle no matter how intelligent or talented they may be. No human being is more intelligent or talented than an archangel.

In addition to a strong spiritual life nurtured by the Sacraments, I exhort you to remain strictly faithful to the teachings of the Church in union of mind and heart whether or not any of your colleagues approve. Joshua’s strength was his obedience, and the people’s strength was their cooperation with him. In just the same way it is impossible to win this battle without fidelity to the Church. We have not been promised the keys of the Kingdom. Peter has and we must remain faithful to his teaching if we are to be successful in transforming our society and restoring God’s World Order.

The priests of the Church have two functions in this scenario. The first is the blowing of horns and the second is the carrying of the Holy of Holies into battle. The people of Jericho heard that warning horn for six days and had a chance to repent of their evil and/or to leave the city before its demise. The people of God heard the horns and assembled for battle. That is the function of preaching. We priests are to admonish the sinner and encourage the faithful. Then we are to give strong leadership to the people and rally them for the battle. This is primarily done by bringing them together around the Ark of the Covenant variously interpreted as the Sacramental Life of the Church, the Eucharist or the Virgin Mary. It is no wonder that at pro-life rallies you always see large and beautiful images of the Virgin Mary. She was often referred to by the Fathers of the Church under the title of “Ark of the Covenant.”

You know and I know that the lack of leadership on the part of the clergy and hierarchy and the lack of authentic preaching of the Gospel of Life from our pulpits is the main (but not the only) reason why our Church is not assaulting the culture of death effectively. When I was in parish ministry in Florida years ago, I remember looking in the Catholic Directory to find out how many priests were actually working in ministry the State. There were over a thousand. But of all those priests I could count on maybe two hands the number of them who had ever led a prayer vigil, gone to counsel at an abortion mill or rallied the troops in any significant way against the 80,000+ abortions that were being committed every year against their own parishioners.

We must pray regularly for a renewal of the heart of the clergy that they may blow the prophetic horn of the Gospel in our culture, that they may be personally holy and that they may give us authentic leadership in the spiritual battle.

I am convinced that the picked troops will take direction and inspiration from that leadership and also that the people of God will follow that leadership in spirit and truth. Everyone knows how degrading it is to have that fortress of evil in our backyards and no one believes that it can be defeated by individual effort. It must be a communal effort of the only force that is powerful enough to tumble the walls of the modern day Jericho. The Church is our only real hope for that total victory and for that total transformation of society. We have not only biblical precedents for this type of united efforts of the Church against evil, but we have historical evidence of the effect of a Church united against institutionalized evil, even in our own day. The Saracens were defeated at Lepanto in 1571 by a Jericho formation. The Turks were turned back at the gates of Vienna in 1683 by a Jericho formation. The walls of the communist state for all practical purposes were shattered by a Jericho formation that began in Poland under the leadership of a Polish Joshua who did more than anyone I know to sound the horn and rally the troops for battle. We have hope if we continue to pray and remain united with our Church.

Conclusion
To conclude: in the Gospel reading today we are told that the Holy Spirit will flow out of those who believe in Jesus. It is a Spirit that is not imposed from the outside but one that comes from the heart of the believer. This Spirit overflows. It washes clean. It purifies and strengthens and prepares us for the work of the Church Militant. It consoles us when we are discouraged and enlightens us when we are confused. The Holy Spirit heals us when we are wounded and gives us the strength to persevere in this battle to the very end.

Let us enter more deeply into this Mystery today in this Mass and all days. Let us invite into our personal and professional lives the Holy Spirit of prayer and fidelity and ask Him to bind us together as a Church so that the gates of hell will not prevail against our conscientious actions and so that we may transform this culture of death totally and completely into culture that welcomes and protects all life at all times.

 

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