FOCUS: City of man vs City of God Global One World Order vs Christendom

City of man vs City of God

GLOBAL ONE WORLD ORDER VS CHRISTENDOM

WAY OF SALVATION (1365-68). ANDREA DI BONAIUTO. SPANISH CHAPEL, SANTA MARIA NOVELLA, FLORENCE

The sixth annual Rome Life Forum, the fi fth organised by Voice of the Family, took place from 16 -17 May 2019 at the Pontifi cal University of St Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. The theme of the Forum this year was “City of Man vs City of God – Global world order vs Christendom.”

Pope Leo XIII summarised the eternal confrontation between the two cities in his encyclical Humanum Genus (1884) as follows:

“The race of man, after its miserable fall from God, the Creator and the Giver of heavenly gifts, ‘through the envy of the devil’, separated into two diverse and opposite parts, of which the one steadfastly contends for truth and virtue, the other for those things which are contrary to virtue and to truth. The one is the kingdom of God on earth, namely, the true Church of Jesus Christ; and those who desire from their heart to be united with it, so as to gain salvation, must of necessity serve God and His only-begotten Son with their whole mind and with an entire will. The other is the kingdom of Satan, in whose possession and control are all whosoever follow the fatal example of their leader and of our fi rst parents, those who refuse to obey the divine and eternal law, and who have many aims of their own in contempt of God, and many aims also against God. This twofold kingdom St Augustine keenly discerned and described after the manner of two cities, contrary in their laws because striving for contrary objects; and with a subtle brevity he expressed the

effi cient cause of each in these words: ‘Two loves formed two cities: the love of self, reaching even to contempt of God, an earthly city; and the love of God, reaching to contempt of self, a heavenly one.’ At every period of time, each has been in confl ict with the other, with a variety and multiplicity of weapons and of warfare, although not always with equal ardour and assault.”

Being the children of our time, it may be diffi cult for us to judge the intensity of warfare between the two cities at this period of history. However, we must consider an important feature that characterises this perennial warfare today. This is the widespread idea that there is no real confl ict. Some may also suggest that it is “un-Christian” to act as if there was a confl ict; that such warfare belongs to the past, while in our era a harmonious coexistence of the city of man and the City of God has been established and that the notions of sin and sacrifi ce have been reformed to this end.

Such denial of the eternal confl ict between the City of God and the city of man has the most serious consequences because it is the denial of the tremendous difference between truth and falsehood, self-sacrifi ce and self-love, our eternal destiny in Heaven or in Hell. Such denial forces retreat upon the Church Militant while the enemy vigorously continues to advance his attacks on the greatest gifts that humanity has received from God – life, family, Church.

The global new world order today seeks to enthrone man, preach human rights and reform the Church’s teaching according to man’s passions and desires. Such “order” is in fact disorder, another manifestation of the ancient fall of man. Christian people of all ages have sought deliverance from it through the merits of Jesus Christ, forming a new community of the redeemed, that City which gives glory to God in all things.

Our advocacy in defence of life and the family today is a real opportunity to rebuild our Christian civilisation by perseverance in witness to the intrinsically related sanctity of human life hidden in the womb and the Divine Life hidden in the tabernacle. Our fi ght for natural goods, for the right to life and the wellbeing of the family, can only be fruitful if we acknowledge and affi rm the rights of Christ, the Author of Life. As pro-life and pro-family advocates we are committed to defending the sanctity of human life. However, as Catholics, we are also called to counter the attacks on the Divine Life and defend the reverence and adoration due to Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist.

The Rome Life Forum, followed by the Italian March for Life, is a unique opportunity for leaders within the pro-life and pro-family movement, and leaders of lay movements concerned with the defence and diff usion of Catholic moral and social teaching, to strengthen one another in fi delity to the truth, while working for the restoration of a truly Christian civilisation with Christ acknowledged as king over individuals, families and societies. But the Forum can only bear fruit if our pledge of allegiance with the heavenly city is put into practice at home persistently and faithfully for the greater glory of God.

This FOCUS contains a selection of talks and highlights from the recent Forum to help us all to renew our commitment to the rebuilding of Christendom, while we make our pilgrimage to the “new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Rev. 21:2) Let us draw courage and fortitude from considering the beauty of the Heavenly City to undertake our service with ever greater love. Truly, “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard: neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1 Cor. 2:9)

St Augustine proclaimed the City of God to the pagans in Rome in a manner that well resonates in our times saturated with the view of the man-centred global government:

“It is to this country that we invite you, and exhort you to add yourself to the number of our citizens. The refuge we off er is the true remission of sins. Do not listen to those degenerate sons of yours who disparage Christ and the Christians, and criticize these times as an unhappy age, when the kind of period they would like is one which off ers not a life of tranquillity but security for their vicious pursuits. Such satisfactions have never been enough for you, even in respect of your earthly country. Now take possession of the Heavenly Country, for which you will have to endure but little hardship; and you will reign there in truth and forever. There you will fi nd no Vestal hearth, no Capitoline stone, but the one true God, who fi xes no bounds for you of space or time but will bestow an empire without end.”

The Rome Life Forum was co-sponsored by Associazione Famiglia Domani (Italy), Family Life International New Zealand, LifeSiteNews, Population Research Institute (USA) and the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (UK).