It bothers me that those who don't feel their vocation is to have a family are accused of a lack of faith. If that is true, then you'd have to accuse the celibate saints of a lack of faith.
Who is critiquing you for not having children? If you're unmarried, than obviously it's not your vacation to be a father. Nothing wrong with that.
But you're right in a way. If I were to have a family now, I'd certainly do so with gusto. Irish Catholics during the Potato famine had large families and DID have to watch their children starve.
It's not the bodies, but the souls of our children ( and ourselves ) that we should be concerned with at all times. If we are, if we keep that foremost in our minds, we will be safe, even if we have to make gruelling decisions.
But to the Catholics who are ALL about large families at ALL times, answer me this: Why did Christ say "And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days!" Even going so far as to say there would be WRATH upon the people. Is this not proof that there will be a time when it is better not to have children? Or is He just commiserating with those who have children?
Christ was prophesying about the people of Israel in 70 A.D., regarding the destruction of Jerusalem, the city that had rejected Him. The word "woe" is "used to express grief, regret, or distress".
I think Our Lord is commiserating, and warning people to get out of the city when these things occur. Do you really think our Lord is saying, "don't have children" in this passage, because there will be too much suffering? That would be a contradiction of everything else that is written regarding children in the bible. Because in the bible, children are always a blessing. Yes, it's true that people who have children will have to suffer much more in hard times than people without children. But whoever said that as Catholics we're to avoid suffering? As you said, "It's not the bodies, but the souls of our children ( and ourselves ) that we should be concerned with at all times". Our Lord had to suffer, so do we, and so do people without children. We bring children into this world for eternity, not just for a good and fun time here and now. Even children must suffer because this is a fallen world.
Certainly there is reason to believe we are in those times, or nearly enough. I don't know about you, but my alarm bells are ringing. When I walk outside it looks like hell on earth is going to explode into full bloom at any second. Everything is hyper-acclerated like some kind of gyro whirring out of control.
I feel my vocation is not that of a father, and I perhaps see things a little too intensely for my own good, making it better for me to be a simple, celibate penitent. But if, while praying, I felt that God was telling me to be a father, I would try to obey -- if I didn't, I would suffer hellfire. Right now I think He's telling me to get a job or at least volunteer somewhere, and stop posting so much, but so far I continue to rebel, making excuses...
P.S It is definitely probable that America will break up, and many prophecies of the beginning of the end of the world talk about the fall of republics around the world, and cινιℓ ωαrs. Not to mention I think there is clear reference in the Apocalypse to the fallen Babylon -- what do you think that could be?
I won't get into the predictions of just HOW America will break apart because to be honest I don't care and I'm more interested in the cινιℓ ωαrs that would take place in Europe, as those may be Catholic in nature. Here they would be libertarian/constitutional, carried out by the kind of people who think the dollar has some kind of integrity the "Amero" does not... The people who are called, in conspiracy circles, "truthers" and rather crudely, "patriotards." The real truth is, however, that this country has never been "free," unless to the word "free" you add the suffix "-masonic." And some more truth is that for a war to be just, it must be Catholic in nature.
This country is not Catholic in nature and is unlikely to become so, though we can pray.
But I personally think the final fall will be around 2030, and that it will not be just an economic collapse but that perhaps most of the continent will sink under the ocean, a la Atlantis. This may seem far-fetched, but I have heard whisperings that various Illuminati types are planning to set off the fault lines under the ocean floor through bombs, that something of that nature -- controlled genocide -- is being prepared. The devastation wreaked by tsunamis on the coasts would upset the infrastructure, supply and transport, and lead to plagues throughout the country. Though this evil is brought by man, God allows it, and works His punishment through these evil men that we allow to gain power through our various sins and betrayals of His Church ( such as the separation of Church and state ).
This is NOT prophecy, just a "feeling." Admittedly, I go back and forth with these feelings. All I know is, it's gonna get ugly.
And when a nation experiences the wrath of God, everyone feels the penalty usually: the God fearing and the Godless. Our Lord also said in:
Matthew 5:45 That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust.