Judith 16:23 "She became more and more famous, and grew old in her husband's house, until she was one hundred and five years old. She set her maid free. She died in Bethulia, and they buried her in the cave of her husband Manasseh". I am a huge Judith fan! Her fame has certainly grown more and more in my eyes, as well! I blogged about this passage before, with more detail about her deeds, in Girl (with God) Power. Read the Book of Judith for the full story, it is great!

In a lot of discussions lately, I have heard people bemoaning the fact that we hear so much anymore about people doing bad things, and bad things happening. I have been thinking about how, in large part, we don't hear too much about truly good people, because they are usually working under the radar, especially an evil times. When you think about it, it really has to be this way! When the times are evil, if what good people were doing was known, they wouldn't actually be able to do it!

As an example, during COVID a group from my parish pro-life group made a meal and served it to families at another parish in a struggling neighborhood. The hall of that parish is open to all, and the parish hosts a community family meal once a month. In that hall, the host parish has a laundry area with free to use washers and dryers; a computer/playroom for parents with small children looking for work; a "take what you need" clothing and baby item area; and many other helpful services for the people of the community. It is amazing! I was telling someone about this afterwards and she said "I'm so glad to hear about that, because it seems like pro-life people are just about fighting abortion, but not helping after the baby is born." First of all, this really gets under my skin because it is completely untrue, but I know it is the narrative that our culture of death has developed and spread, so I understand why she thought it seemed that way. (Again, evil times!) But this made me think - what if it was well known that pro-life people were doing things like this, would we be able to keep doing them? In this case, the meal that I had helped with would not have been able to happen, and the hall that was open to all in the community would not have been able to stay open.

This was during the time when COVID "vaccines" had become available and many "powers that be," and the culture in general, were requiring proof of vaccination for any social interaction. I am not vaccinated against COVID, so I would not have been able to go to the meal. Many others in my group are not vaccinated either (many pro-lifers had a problem with the vaccine). I am certain not all the people who came for the meal were vaccinated, I don't even think there was a vaccine for children at that point. So if this meal had been well publicized, it would most likely have been shut down.

That is the way things work in evil times. If anyone but a few knew what Judith was doing when she was doing it, she would not have been able to save her people. There has to be a fame lag! Look at the saints - it is not known that they are saints, for the most part, when they die. It takes a long time for their stories and their fame to spread and for the Church to verify their good deeds and life stories. If all eyes had been on Mary during her life, she would not have been able to be Jesus' mother, or, if she was, Jesus would have been killed immediately!

We are living in very evil times, so let's remember that the people being held up by our culture as deserving of our praise and honor are most likely not the ones doing true good. (In fact, many, though certainly not all, are fostering evil portrayed as good!) The people doing real good are keeping a low profile in order to keep doing it. In time, their fame will spread, but for now they have to work under the radar. Never doubt that they are there, though. In times of great evil, God raises up great saints! We can certainly trust that they are here, working among us, and the fruits of their work will be just as surprising and amazing as Judith's when revealed!