We Are All Called to Be God’s Shock Troops!

by Fr Richard Heilman | June 6, 2021 2:45 PM

Sacrifice – Sacrum Facere, means “to make holy.”

When someone consciously sacrifices himself, this is the most substantial move toward making himself holy. Sacrificing his self means letting go of his attachment to personality (ego), his lower self, his base wants and desires. The lower self can thus make room for the higher self, the soul – the I AM Presence. The lower self is said to have been sacrificed for the higher self. Now the soul, the essence of man, his God’s spark, can “Act” with determination and without limits.

Instead of sacrifice, the term service is often used. The servant withdraws himself and his own needs and devotes himself to the problems of others. We are talking here about service to humanity. This selfless “sacrificial” service is genuine and, therefore, blessed by God, when there are no strings attached; no seeking of reward or gain or profit. As St. Thomas Aquinas taught, “Real” Love is identified by willing the good of the other “just” for the sake of the other.

 

It was Pope St. Pius X who said:

“The most necessary thing of all, at this time, is for every parish to possess a group of laymen who will be at the same time virtuous, enlightened, resolute, and truly apostolic.”

Jean-Baptiste Chautard comments on this:

“Further details enable us to assert that this holy pope at the end of his life saw no hope for the salvation of the world unless the clergy could use their zeal to form faithful Christians full of apostolic ardor, preaching by word and example, but especially by example. In the diocese where he served before being elevated to the papacy, he attached less importance to the (count) of parishioners than to the list of Christians capable of radiating an apostolate. It was his opinion that shock troops could be formed in any environment.”

“Shock troops” (or assault troops) is actually a military term that refers to infantry formations, along with supporting units, created to lead an attack. Consider the Allied Forces of World War II moving toward the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944. That first wave of men knew full well that their chances were extremely poor of ever leaving that beach alive, but they knew somebody needed to go first. It is no less than profound that the holy Pope St. Pius X would use a military term, shock troops, to describe the most necessary need of our times. The pope is resolute in acknowledging we are in spiritual warfare as he calls for an uncommon valor willing to be the tip of the spear, the vanguard, warrior saints.

I believe, with all my heart, mind, soul and strength that the time is now for us to UNITE, one evening a week, to get us all “plugged in” to the Divine Life. We need to talk about the STRENGTH OF GRACE! We need to understand what that is, and how very necessary it is. In fact, without grace, the devil easily manipulates us, and fills our lives with grief and chaos. With grace, we discover a life of blessing and amazing “order,” and renewed resolve to ACT!

Please see more information HERE[1].

I highly recommend we all make the Suscipe Prayer of St. Ignatius a part of our daily prayer:

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.
You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.

Source URL: https://usgraceforce.com/we-are-all-called-to-be-gods-shock-troops/

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