DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL

PERSECUTION IS ONE OF THE EVER-PRESENT MARKS ON CHRISTIANITY IN GENERAL AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN PARTICULAR. WESTERN CIVILIZATION’S RISE HAS PERENNIALLY BEEN CHALLENGED BY THE MUSLIMS OF THE EAST. GIVEN THE FACT THAT IN 2006, THE FOLLOWERS OF MOHAMMED HAVE A GREATER NUMBER OF JIHADISTS WILLING TO DIE FOR THEIR FAITH THAN THEIR OPPOSING WESTERN DEFENDERS, WHO WILL SURVIVE?

5 YEARS AFTER 9/11, AN IMAN OF ALLAH STILL PREACHES DEATH AS THE MEANS TO RESTORE THE ANCIENT CALIPHATE. YET, IN A WAR OF IDEOLOGIES THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE VICTOR, THE ONE WITH THE CORRECT, WINNING, UNWAVERING, MORAL POSITION.

HAD THE MUSLIMS TURKS NOT BEEN DEFEATED AT THE BATTLE OF LEPANTO IN 1571, WESTERN CHRISTIANITY WOULD NOT HAVE SURVIVED. HAD SAINT PIUS V, POPE GIVEN IN TO APPEASEMENT OF HERETICS IN HIS 16TH CENTURY COUNTER REVOLUTION, NO ROCK OF CHRISTIANITY WOULD HAVE BEEN LEFT STANDING TO WITHSTAND FUTURE ASSAULTS. HAD DEFENDERS NOT FOUGHT AGAINST COMMUNISM, BIRTHED IN THE 20'S, REGNANT IN THE 50'S AND ENTRENCHED IN THE 80'S, IT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DEFEATED BY WARRIORS STEADFAST IN 1989. HAD RONALD REAGAN AND POPE JOHN PAUL II, NOT PRACTICED G.K. CHESTERTON'S "EXALTED EXCITEMENT OF CONSISTENCY," THE SOVIET UNION WOULD NOT HAVE COLLAPSED. HAD GEORGE W. BUSH'S NOT MAINTAINED HIS STANCE AGAINST FASCIST JIHADISM SINCE 9/11, WHERE WOULD AMERICA BE TODAY?

THE 16TH CENTURY MYSTIC ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS WHO EXPERIENCED HIS "DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL" WHEN IMPRISONED AND ABUSED, WAS WILLING TO DIE WITHOUT DEFENDING HIMSELF, TO SUFFER IN THE SANCTITY OF DEATH. ANNIHILATION THROUGH SAINTHOOD COULD BE THE INEVITABLE END OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION IF MURDEROUS AGGRESSION IS MET WITH RESIGNATION WILL THE UNITED STATES FIGHT OR WILLINGLY DIE AT THE HANDS OF MUSLIM ENEMY OF THE 21ST MILLENNIUM? THAT IS THE QUESTION.
DONALD RUMSFELD'S RECOLLECTION OF 9/11 REFERRED TO A "GRIEF THAT HARDENED INTO RESOLVE" AFTER THE TRADE CENTER'S ATTACK. IN CONTRAST, ACCOMMODATION AND APPEASEMENT OF TERRORISM DISSOLVE GRIEF INTO RETREAT.

THE WRITER D.B. WYNDHAM LEWIS CALL ON ST. PIUS V WITH PRESCIENT WORDS APPLIED TO TRYING TIMES AFTER WORLD WAR II: "NERVE US FUMBLERS AND WEAKLINGS, PIUS, WHEN THE STORM BREAKS HERE."

HOW WILL AMERICA HANDLE ITS "DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL?"