Episode 3155: By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them: The Parallel Decay of Church & State

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Book Recommendation of the Day
"The Life of St. Christina, Virgin and Martyr of Bolsena"
• Author: Unknown (often compiled from traditional hagiographies and Roman Martyrology)
• Available through: Reprints on sites like Forgotten Books or Internet Archive, or occasionally rare copies through used book vendors.
• Content: A classic retelling of her life, tortures, miracles, and death, taken from traditional sources including the Roman Breviary and Butler's Lives of the Saints.
“By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them: The Parallel Decay of Church and State”
Returning to Truth in a Time of Confusion. takes us into the heart of a very difficult yet necessary topic the striking parallels between our modern liberal government under the Biden administration and our modern liberal Catholic Church hierarchy. These two institutions one secular, one sacred were meant to protect truth, uphold justice, and foster order. Yet today, they both seem to be propagating lies, moral confusion, and the decay of everything they were meant to defend.
Our Lord said in the Gospel of St. Matthew 7:15-20:
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves... By their fruits you shall know them... Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire.”
Today, we examine the fruits of our current government and our modern Church leadership and what those fruits reveal.
Segment 1: The Fruits of a Liberal Government
The Biden administration has consistently portrayed itself as compassionate, inclusive, and progressive. But what has it actually borne?
• An explosion in the promotion and funding of abortion not just nationally, but exported abroad.
• The normalization and legal protection of grave moral evils: transgenderism in children, mutilating surgeries, drag shows for minors, and a redefinition of the family.
• A growing surveillance state, censorship, and a clear targeting of people of faith, particularly traditional Catholics, who have been labeled as “potential extremists” by our own FBI.
• Lies at every turn from the border crisis being “under control” to denying inflation, recession, and the destruction of American energy independence.
• And perhaps most dangerous, the weaponization of compassion, where any resistance to this moral rot is painted as “hate.”
This is no longer a political issue it is a moral issue. A regime that calls evil good and good evil, that sows confusion and punishes virtue, is not neutral. It is destructive.
Segment 2: The Fruits of a Liberal Church
Now let’s turn to the Church.
For decades, but especially in recent pontificates, the Church’s leadership has adopted the language and priorities of the world social justice over supernatural justice, ecology over eternal salvation, dialogue over doctrine.
• Bishops speak more about climate change and immigration than about sin, repentance, or the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
• The Vatican partners with globalist organizations like the UN and promotes ambiguous language in synods that leaves faithful Catholics confused or scandalized.
• Objective moral truths are obscured by “pastoral” exceptions. This is nothing but a smokescreen for relativism.
• Bishops rarely preach against abortion, contraception, or sodomy from the pulpit.
• Worse, dissenters, heretics, and even blasphemers are praised and given platforms while traditional priests and orders are punished or suppressed.
Just as our government has abandoned the U.S. Constitution, so too has much of the Church's hierarchy abandoned Sacred Tradition.
In both cases, the faithful whether citizens or Catholics are left bewildered, misled, and spiritually starved.

Segment 3: The Root of the Crisis: Rebellion Against Truth
At the heart of both crises lies the same rebellion: a rejection of objective truth.
Truth has been replaced with feelings, slogans, and manufactured narratives. But Scripture tells us:
“For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace” (1 Cor 14:33).
Confusion, deception, and moral anarchy do not come from God. They are the fingerprints of the enemy.
The Biden administration and the modern Church hierarchy have both cloaked themselves in the language of mercy and reform but it is a false mercy, one that tolerates sin and destroys souls.
As Our Lady warned at La Salette and Fatima, Rome will lose the faith. And we are witnessing what happens when leaders cease to lead in truth and instead follow the world.
Segment 4: What Must the Faithful Do?
What can we do in the face of this parallel collapse?
1. Cling to Truth. Study Sacred Scripture, the traditional Catechism, the writings of the saints, and authentic Catholic doctrine. Know your Faith.
2. Live the Faith publicly. Be unapologetically Catholic. Speak up when lies are told. Refuse to go along with the language of the culture or the modernist Church.
3. Pray and Fast. Heaven responds to repentance. Just as Nineveh was spared, so too can our nation and Church experience renewal but only if we humble ourselves before God.
4. Support good priests and leaders. Traditional orders, reverent liturgy, and faithful bishops must be supported financially, spiritually, and vocally.
5. Reject the false shepherds. As Our Lord says in John 10:5:
“But a stranger they follow not, but fly from him, because they know not the voice of strangers.”
Do not follow those who do not speak with the voice of Christ.
6. Take Courage from the Saints of Old.
This is not the first time the Church and the world have fallen into darkness. The saints of old faced similar and in many cases, worse corruption and moral chaos.
• St. Athanasius stood nearly alone against the Arian heresy, when most bishops had fallen into error. He was exiled five times but never gave in.
• St. Catherine of Siena boldly rebuked corrupt popes and pleaded for the Church’s renewal during the Great Western Schism.
• St. John Fisher, the lone bishop in England to resist King Henry VIII’s destruction of the Church, gave his life in martyrdom.
• St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross reformed the Carmelites during a time of spiritual laxity and worldliness in the religious life.
• St. Pius V restored reverence and discipline after the chaos of the Reformation and gave us the Traditional Latin Mass in its solemn beauty and clarity.
These saints did not run. They fought. They prayed. And through grace, they prevailed.

Conclusion: A Call to Restoration
Our nation and our Church are both in crisis because they have rejected their foundations natural law and divine truth. But hope is not lost. God is purifying His Church and His people.
The great saints have always risen up in times of moral collapse. We are being called to do the same. We are not the first to suffer this battle but we must not be the first to abandon the field.
Let us pray for courage to resist, wisdom to discern, and strength to persevere. We are not alone. Our Lady is with us. The saints are with us. And above all, Christ reigns.
“The Hidden Treasure of Wisdom: St. Christina and the Pursuit of Heaven”
Let us begin by diving into today’s Epistle and Gospel, followed by a reflection and concluding prayer.
Epistle: Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 51:13–17
“When I was yet young, before I wandered about, I sought wisdom openly in my prayer. I prayed for her before the temple, and unto the very end I will seek her out. From the flower of my youth, even to my old age, she shall be the delight of my heart. My foot hath walked in the right way, from my youth up I have sought after her. I bowed down my ear a little and received her. I found much wisdom in myself, and I profited much therein.”
Reflection on the Epistle:
This passage reveals the soul’s pursuit of heavenly wisdom a theme that defined the saints, including our martyr of the day, St. Christina. She did not seek the empty knowledge of the world, but the eternal wisdom of God, which guided her to embrace martyrdom at a young age rather than deny the faith. True wisdom, says Ecclesiasticus, is acquired through prayer, humility, and perseverance. It is not merely intellectual, but spiritual transforming the soul, ordering the passions, and making the will conform to God.
In our own day, we are flooded with information, opinions, and worldly education. But how many seek divine wisdom the wisdom of the Cross, the wisdom of the saints? Let us follow the example of St. Christina and the inspired words of this Scripture, dedicating our youth and energy not to worldly gain, but to growing in wisdom that prepares us for eternity.

Gospel: Matthew 13:44–52
“The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field. The man that finds it hides it again, and in his joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking good pearls, who, when he has found one pearl of great price, sells all he has and buys it…”
Reflection on the Gospel:
Our Lord gives us three short but powerful parables: the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price, and the net cast into the sea. Each parable unveils the urgency, value, and finality of the Kingdom of Heaven. To gain Heaven, a soul must be willing to give up everything possessions, relationships, comforts, even life itself. It is no surprise, then, that the Church commemorates today the martyrdom of a young girl who did precisely that.
St. Christina discovered the treasure of Christ in her youth. In an age when she could have pursued earthly pleasures, she gave up all for Christ. Her persecutors, including her own pagan father, subjected her to tortures so severe that she is called one of the “most tormented virgin martyrs” of the early Church. Yet her love for the Kingdom sustained her through flames, arrows, and the millstone. She reminds us that Heaven is not won cheaply but it is worth everything.
Saint of the Day: St. Christina of Bolsena
Born in the third century and martyred at the tender age of eleven or twelve, St. Christina was a nobleman’s daughter who converted to Christianity, enraging her pagan father. After destroying her father's idols and giving her wealth to the poor, she was arrested and subjected to horrific tortures. Though many attempts to kill her failed miraculously, she eventually gave her life to Christ in a final act of martyrdom. Her relics were venerated at Bolsena, and her story has inspired centuries of devotion to the power of youthful sanctity and unyielding fidelity.
She is a patroness for the youth, those suffering from mental illnesses, and the persecuted faithful.
Conclusion & Prayer:
Dear listener, the message of today’s readings is clear: to gain Heaven, we must be willing to give up everything—and we must seek wisdom with all our strength. Whether we are young or old, rich or poor, the Kingdom of Heaven is offered to us, but only at the cost of all that is not of God.
Let us close with a traditional prayer asking for the intercession of today’s glorious martyr:
Prayer:
O glorious virgin and martyr, St. Christina, who by your heroic constancy in suffering drew down from Heaven the grace to endure the torments of your persecutors, obtain for us a like love of our heavenly treasure, that we may count all else as loss for the sake of Christ. Through your intercession, may we be made strong in faith, rich in virtue, and ready to suffer all things for the sake of the Kingdom.
We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Until next time, stay rooted in Tradition, grounded in Scripture, and always faithful to Christ and His Church.
God bless you all, and may St. Christina pray for us!