This indifference to persons can be seen in “our closing our eyes and hearts to the poor and vulnerable, and, in a very despicable way, in how we discard the unborn and the elderly,” he continued.
The greatest challenges, however, he said, are the challenges facing the family. Quoting Pope Francis, Cardinal Sarah reminded the crowd that proposing less than what the Church teaches on marriage proposes less than what Christ offers the human person.
“This is why the Holy Father openly and vigorously defends Church teaching on contraception, abortion, homosexuality, reproductive technologies, the education of children and much more.” These and other injuries to the family, Cardinal Sarah elaborated, can turn the family from a place of flourishing and love into “a place where human beings can be humanly and spiritually wounded.”
Protecting the family is also linked to the preservation of religious freedom, Cardinal Sarah said as he urged the Americans to protect their history of religious freedom. While many Christians across the world are suffering from violence due to persecution from governments or groups like Islamic State, “ violence against Christians is not just physical, it is also political, ideological and cultural,” the cardinal said.
“This form of religious persecution is equally damaging, yet more hidden. It does not destroy physically but spiritually.” The 'violence' of cultural and ideological pressure seeks to separate the Christian from his or her conscience and blend them into society.
The Church’s teachings on marriage, sexuality and the family are under extreme pressure, Cardinal Sarah said.
“In the name of 'tolerance,' the Church’s teachings on marriage, sexuality and the human person are dismantled,” he said, citing the legalization of same-sex marriage, the contraception mandate, and a mandates that bathroom access be based on gender identity.
In the face of such threats to the free exercise of religion and conscience, Cardinal Sarah called on Catholics to be prophetic, faithful, and prayerful.
A prophetic approach requires careful discernment of how “in your lives, your homes, your workplaces – how, in your nation, God is being eroded, eclipsed, liquidated,” he said. Faithfulness requires Catholics to be courageous in speaking the truth. And prayer, he said, is essential to discerning God’s will and to avoid discouragement.
“That is why I came to this prayer breakfast, to encourage you: be prophetic, be faithful, and above all, pray,” Cardinal Sarah told the crowd.
“These three suggestions make present that the battle for the soul of America, and the soul of the world, is primarily spiritual. They show that the battle is fought firstly with our own conversion to God’s will every day.”
He hoped that the response to the spiritual problems facing the United States would result in a “spiritual awakening,” and would help to stop problems spreading throughout the rest of the world, particularly those facing human life, the family, and religious freedom.
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“In the end, it is God or nothing,” Cardinal Sarah concluded.
