“De Oppresso Liber”
By Deacon Rod Knight
The United States Army Special Forces “Green Berets” are a special operations unit that specializes in unconventional warfare and counterterrorism. The Green Berets are trained to operate in any environment, behind enemy lines, and to live off the land. The Unit’s motto is De Oppresso Liber; To Free the Oppressed. The main fighting force within the unit is a twelve-man Alpha Team (A Team) which can conduct direct combat operations or be a force multiplier. An A Team can enter a theater of operation and build an army from the ground up.
About now you are asking yourself why is this in our bulletin? Is it Veterans Day? Bear with me. First, every day is Veteran’s Day. Second, the Gospel reading has triggered me. Within the Gospel of Luke 4:14-21 is Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free”. This is the motto and mission of the Special Forces. Consider this your call to arms, time to lose any lukewarm Catholicism and enter the fight. What fight? We are not in heaven (the Church Triumphant), we are not in purgatory (the Church suffering), but we are in the Church Militant. Militant means combative and aggressive in support of a cause and typically favoring extreme, or confrontational methods. It is not called the Church Apathetic! Jesus had an A-Team, “The Twelve”. They also were force multipliers. Don’t think so? From the twelve Apostles of Christ, we now have 2.38 BILLION Christians worldwide of which 1.39 BILLION are baptized Catholics. DO NOT TELL ME YOU CAN NOT MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Yes, you enlisted in this Army of God, at your baptism. You were anointed at baptism and the word “Ephphatha” (meaning be opened) spoke as your ears and mouth were touched and the celebrant said “May the Lord Jesus, who made the deaf to hear and the mute to speak, grant that you may soon receive His word with your ears and profess the faith with your lips, to the glory and praise of God the Father. Called by name to conduct a mission, the Great Commission. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matthew 28:18–20).
You are sent into battle at the end of every Mass, “Go”. We are called to free those oppressed and enslaved by sin and the evil one. Oppression is the state of being subject to unjust treatment or control, unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power. And to liberate is to set (someone) free from a situation, especially imprisonment or slavery, in which their liberty is severely restricted. Oppression takes many forms, even demonic. If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem. Don’t know how to get in the fight, ask our priests, Director of Religious Education, God. Pick up a weapon, your Rosary. Be a prayer warrior. Afraid of being a casualty of this spiritual war? Ask for protection and pray the St. Michael Prayer, the Guardian Angel Prayer, or the Auxilium Christianorum. See website:https://auxiliumchristianorum.org/. Spend time in Adoration, embrace the sacraments, and pray like our eternal lives depend on it. “Do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph in the world is that good men do nothing”- Edmund Burke.