The Letter From Jude
Chapter One: Verses 3-4

3. I was doing my best to write to you about the salvation we share in common, when I felt the need of writing at once to encourage you to fight on for your faith which once and for all God has given to his people. 4. For some godless people have slipped in unnoticed among us, persons who distort the message about the grace of our God in order to excuse their immoral ways, and who reject Jesus Christ, our only master and Lord. Long ago, the scriptures predicted the condemnation they have received.

My thoughts on these verses:

The verses remind me of the situation in which we find ourselves today as Catholics. We have been given a  lot of trouble lately for the moral stands the church has taken, particularly with the HHS mandate.  And with the election having gone the way it did, I get the feeling that there are a lot of people getting angry or just a little bit depressed.

The thing I find cool about these verses is that Saint Jude is right off the bat encouraging us to fight on for our faith. He also warns us that godless people have “slipped in unnoticed”, distorting the message about the grace of God. It is very interesting to me how well this describes our current problem in the Church with people who want to water down the Church’s teachings.

I personally don’t think it does much good to be so frustrated. I know that if we just keep trusting God, defending our faith, and making sure more people understand what the church teaches and why, then we will have at least done that much to help make things better, and we’ll know we are being faithful as we are called to be.

What we need most right now is prayer. Urgent prayer for every single Christian in the world to stay strong in their belief. Without prayer, we cannot hope to succeed in changing hearts or building Christ’s Church.

Prayer to St. Raphael:
Patron of Travelers & Bearers of the Good News

St. Raphael, archangel, you protected young Tobiah as he journeyed to a distant land.
Protect all travelers and most especially those who go about near and far preaching the Gospel.
Guide and inspire modern apostles who use the communications media to bring the Good News of Christ to many souls.
You also brought healing and joy to all you met.
Help those who bring the Word of God to souls, that they may be as instruments in God’s Hands to draw many to lives of Christian holiness.
We ask this through Christ, Our Lord.
Amen.