It’s sometimes easy for us to get so caught up in the scandals and crises of the day that we lead ourselves into believing that, throughout the course of history, nothing like this has ever happened. Case in point: the maneuverings of special-interest groups from within and without to get the Church to modify its teaching on the family, the sacraments and sin.

Since the days of the apostles, the Church has been rife with the failings of its members and leaders: Peter denied Christ, the Arians denied Jesus’ true nature, the first Protestants (among them a large percentage of Europe’s Catholic bishops) denied Church teaching on salvation and the Eucharist, and, most recently, clergy were involved in the sex-abuse scandal.

We can’t allow our eyes to lose sight of the prize. As Catholics, we are in this for the long haul. These are times we were created for.

So ignore the many doomsayers that pervade our society. Instead, remain “steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

The Church will succeed, in whatever size and form, because Jesus Christ promised us it would.

God bless you!