Bring a Double Edged Sword to the Satanic Black Mass

Over the past couple of weeks, the threat of a reenactment of a Satanic mass rocked the Christian, especially Catholic, websites and blogosphere. I won’t rehash the story here but if you’ve been in the dark you can read about it here: Satanic Black Mass

I think the response from the Catholic world was spectacular. Churches, universities, groups around the country mobilized for Masses and Holy Hours. I got into a conversation online about how we should respond. One person in the conversations said that since she can’t directly do anything she has to let go because God can take care of himself.

Now while I do agree that God can take care of himself and does take care of us, I believe there is a right response we should have. Now in defense of the person I was speaking with, the person was in agreement of the abhorrent actions being taken by those wanting to “reenact” the black mass. Although the group claimed they weren’t using a consecrated host, Satan IS the father of lies. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith. It is the most precious sacrament we have. We should defend it. I began to think about the careful actions we take to prevent harm coming to Jesus in the consecrated bread and wine: In mass the extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist aren’t supposed to let people proceed if they don’t consume the host (due to people doing what the satanic group claimed they weren’t), when purificators and corporals get stained or old we burn or bury them, we create special sinks to make sure that the fragments of the host that are cleaned out of the vessels goes into the ground and not into the sewage system, some parishes still utilize patens to place under people’s mouths when they receive on the tongue, and there are procedures for when the host or blood is dropped.

When Peter realized that Jesus was going to be taken prisoner he chose to physically defend Jesus and used his sword to attack the servant Malchus John 18:10 . Now, I am not condoning violence, but I wouldn’t have been surprised nor upset if someone infiltrated the “reenactment” and attempted to take the Eucharist away.

The righteous anger that brewed in the Catholic community initiated the great action of prayer. Truth will always win out. John speaks of a double edged sword coming out of Jesus’ mouth during one of his apocalyptic visions. This double edged sword is the Gospel. ( Revelation 1:16 , Revelation 19:15, ) During this time of Satan  making the headlines (he's always in the headlines, just this time he's there in name) I’ve been able to learn about some of the people he lost to the double edged sword. The very man (Joris Karl Huysmans) that wrote the book the Satanic Temple was going to use to “reenact” the black mass, a year after its being published, returned to Catholicism and died as a Benedictine oblate. And Bartolo Longo , a man from a devout Catholic family, went from leaving his faith to being ordained a satanic priest, to coming back to his faith and becoming a Third Order Dominican.

Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. – Hebrews 4:12