Innocent Confidence

Innocent people are joyful. The unhappy world hates and aborts children, who are entirely innocent.

They have poured out the blood of the Saints as water, round about Jerusalem. And there was none to bury them. Avenge, O Lord, the blood of Thy saints, which has been shed upon the earth.
- Tract for the Mass of the Holy Innocents (Psalm 78: 3, 10)
 
“Flowers of the martyrs! Pray for us, that we may obtain child-like simplicity of heart, whence comes that unreserved confidence in God, which leads man to the perfect accomplishment of His holy will. May we bear the cross with patience, when He sends it, and desire nothing but His holy will.”
- Dom Guéranger

Matthew 2:13-18
As soon as they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, and said, Rise up, take with thee the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt; there remain, until I give thee word. For Herod will soon be making search for the child, to destroy him.
He rose up, therefore, while it was still night, and took the child and his mother with him, and withdrew into Egypt, where he remained until the death of Herod,
in fulfilment of the word which the Lord spoke by his prophet, I called my son out of Egypt.
Meanwhile, when he found that the wise men had played him false, Herod was angry beyond measure; he sent and made away with all the male children in Bethlehem and in all its neighbourhood, of two years old and less, reckoning the time by the careful enquiry which he had made of the wise men.
It was then that the word spoken by the prophet Jeremy was fulfilled:
A voice was heard in Rama, lamentation and great mourning; it was Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be comforted, because none is left.

Mary, the Mother of God

Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The premier station in the epic catalog of saints named in the canon of the Mass is given to Mary most pure, ever a virgin, the seat of wisdom, the Ark of the Covenant and help of Christians, the queen of angels who was immaculately preserved from all sin and assumed body and soul into Heaven where she was “clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Apocalypse 12:1).

The daughter of Sts. Joachim and Ann, the Blessed Virgin Mary was of the house and family and David, and her coming was prophesied repeatedly in the Old Testament (Genesis 3:15; Isaias 7:1-17; Micheas 5:2-3; Jeremias 31:22). Because of her immaculate purity the angel Gabriel saluted her at the Annunciation with “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women” (Luke 1:28). So necessary is her intervention, so pervasive is her empery, that she holds dozens of patronages, and the calendar is replete with feasts in her honor. It was at her request that our Lord performed His first miracle at Cana. Just as Eve was our race’s physical mother because she is the origin of our natural life, so Mary as the new Eve became our spiritual mother because she is the origin of our supernatural life. St. Bernardine of Siena wrote, “She is the neck of Our Head by which He communicates to His mystical body all spiritual gifts.”

From Mary alone our Lord took His flesh, dwelling nine months in her womb that was a temple more splendid that Solomon’s, maturing in stature near her heart that was endowed with an unspeakable treasury of resplendent virtues. It was Mary who stood at our Lord’s feet when His own heart was pierced with a Roman lance, piercing her heart through as well with the sword of sorrow. Yet joyfully did she offer her Son with her own hands for the salvation of the world, for her sorrow was not the grief of despair, but the source of pity, of perseverance in hope, and of repentance unto salvation. To her children who remember her at her Divine Son’s sacrificial celebration she bestows strength of spirit, turns grief to wisdom, and beautifies their acts of penance so that they acquire greater merit. In Mary most holy is an example of how to unite one’s self with the perfect sacrifice offered to Almighty God upon the altar. In loving Mary, we love what God Himself loved. “Mary was the most perfect among the saints only because she was always perfectly united to the will of God” (St. Alphonsus de Ligouri).

Sermon of Abp. Lefebvre in St. Mary's

The Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin
Sermon by His Grace Abp. Marcel Lefebvre
August 15, 1979
    
My dear brethren,
When I came to Saint Mary’s College for the first time two years ago, I was amazed and stupefied by the magnificence of the chapel, of the chapel dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. And when those who were showing me around this magnificent chapel told me that it was a shrine venerated throughout America, and particularly in this area, I thought at once that, if God permitted us to have this property, and especially this chapel, we would make of it a center of pilgrimage, a center of devotion to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary for all America. People would come from the North, from the South, from the East, from the West, to this center which lies in the geographical center of America, so as to manifest their devotion to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, and to discover at her feet the line of conduct to follow in this terrible period that the Church is passing through today.
And already I was promising Father Bolduc that I would come for the feast of August 15, to meet all those who would desire to come pray at the feet of the Most Blessed Virgin, and to encourage them to preserve the Catholic faith in union with the Virgin Mary. But by the decision of Providence, the chapel caught fire. This was a great trial for us. It was indeed a disaster. Our hearts were in anguish. But since God had decided thus, we still thought that we should maintain this date for the pilgrimage, and that, since it had become necessary, we would reconstruct the chapel.
And what we did just a little while ago - the blessing of the cornerstone - is proof that you are determined to rebuild the chapel for the glory of the Most Blessed Virgin. I am convinced that all of you will help to make of this shrine a shrine as beautiful, if not more beautiful, than that which was there before. And I am happy to see that you have come - despite the destruction, you have come from all parts of America. I also thank the priests who are present, and especially Msgr. Donahue, who has come from Los Angeles, to celebrate with us this Feast of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.
In a few words I would like to show you how much the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, in this painful crisis that the Church is going through, should be our guide and our model. With her we are certain not to go astray. We shall look to her, we shall ask her what she did during the course of her life, what she has to teach us, and we shall see that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary teaches us just what the Church has taught us ever since, in the course of twenty centuries.
The first element that concerns the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, and that announces her, is found in the protogospel, in Genesis, where already Mary is presented as a queen going forth to battle, as the queen of hosts, queen of armies who gathers about herself all the forces of God, all the graces of God, and this to fight. To fight whom? To fight what? To fight the devil!
It is God Himself who announces this to the devil: “I shall place between thee - the devil, Satan - and the Virgin Mary an enmity.” So the Virgin has an enemy. And not only an enmity between the Virgin Mary and Satan, but an enmity between the progeny of Satan and the progeny of Mary; between the world, between everything represented by those who are the children of Satan, but those who struggle against God, who detest God, and the Son of Mary, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and all those who will be the children of the Virgin Mary.
There are then, by the will of God, two armies in the world: an army of the children of the Virgin Mary, and an army of the children of Satan. And between them, God has placed an enmity, an enmity that will last until the end of time, until the end of the world. Consequently, the Virgin Mary, already, before being born, promised by God, draws us into a combat, into her combat, into the combat that will lead her to victory. A combat, however, which, alas, will often be waged in painful, in difficult, and in trying periods. But if we follow the Virgin Mary we are sure with her to achieve victory.
This victory that the Virgin Mary desires is a victory against Satan and, consequently, against sin. The Virgin Mary is the symbol of those who do not want to sin, who do not want to disobey God. This is the battle that the Virgin Mary is going to wage through the ages. So it is a great lesson that God gives us in announcing the birth of His Mother, in announcing that we shall have a Mother, a heavenly Mother, a Mother who will do battle. So we shall do battle with her and we must do battle against the common enemy who is Satan, and all those who with Satan are against God.
Perhaps you have observed nowadays in modern ecclesiastical literature that they no longer want to talk about the enemies of the Church, they no longer want to talk about the enemies of God, the enemies of Our Lord Jesus Christ. They would like these enemies to become brothers. Instead of combating sin in them, the sin that removes them from God, by loving them, by seeking to convert them, it now seems that those who believe in the Virgin Mary, that the children of the Virgin Mary and those who are not children of the Virgin Mary, are all brothers.
Well, this is not true. We must strive to bring them to become children of Mary, but we cannot recognize them as children of God if they are not children of Mary.
The second lesson that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary gives us, when she was visited by the Angel Gabriel, is her faith. The first act noted for us in the Gospel on the occasion of the Annunciation is the faith of Mary. And her cousin Elizabeth congratulates her: “Beata quae credidisti: blessed art thou who hast believed.” Yes, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary believed. She believed in whom, in what? She believed that the Son who was to be born of her was the Son of God; she believed in the Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ; she believed in the Divinity of her divine Son.
This is the great lesson that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary gives us. Henceforth, she lives only for the Reign of her Son, for the glory of her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. In the greatest humility - she says herself that she was chosen because of her humility.
Saint Elizabeth did not hesitate to praise her precisely for this: “Blessed art thou, O Mary, because thou hast believed.” This should also be our own first conviction: We must believe; we must believe that Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We must believe all our Credo, the whole faith that the Most Blessed Virgin had transmitted, that the Most Blessed Virgin manifested to the Apostles and that the Apostles transmitted. We must keep this faith intact. Let us ask the Virgin Mary to have faith like hers - to have faith as deep, as firm, as courageous as that of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.
The third event in the life of the Virgin Mary that shows us how we should behave is what took place at the wedding feast of Cana. You remember that they ran out of wine during the wedding feast of Cana. The servants came to tell Mary that there was no more wine. And what did Mary tell the servants? “Do all that He tells you; do all that my divine Son tells you.” This is the Gospel of Mary. All is summarized in this phrase: “Do what Jesus tells you.”
Mary addresses these words to us as well, not only to the servants of Cana. At the very beginning of the period of evangelization of Our Lord, the Most Blessed Virgin is already speaking to us, is already speaking to those who will be the disciples of Our Lord. And when we appeal to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary to ask her what we should do in the difficult circumstances of our lives, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary will answer us just as she answered the servants at the wedding feast of Cana: “Do all that He tells you. Do the will of Our Lord. Observe the commandments of Our Lord Jesus Christ. If you do the will of Our Lord, if you do the will of my divine Son, then you will be saved. Then your soul, which is perhaps like water, will be changed into wine, a generous wine. Your soul will be filled with the grace of the Lord. Your soul will be filled with all that is necessary for you to fulfill the commandments of God. This is the third lesson that our heavenly Mother gives us.
The fourth lesson that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary gives us is her presence on Calvary. Her presence on Calvary, where she is not the priest who offers the sacrifice - the priest who offers the sacrifice is Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself - but the Most Blessed Virgin Mary is there, present. The Apostles are absent; only Saint John is with her.
By this presence on Calvary, the Virgin Mary shows us the importance of the Sacrifice of Calvary, and, consequently, the importance of the Sacrifice of the Mass. She is the Mother of priests. She is the Mother of all the faithful. And by this presence, standing before her divine Son, who is covered with blood, whose blood was poured forth for our sins, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary shows Him to us, and says to us, “See the love He has for you: my divine Son has given all His blood, this blood that I myself gave Him in my womb, this blood that is now all over His body. His heart is open. His head is pierced with thorns. His hands are pierced; His feet pierced - all that by love for you.” And this will continue until the end of time through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Thus the Most Blessed Virgin Mary teaches us the great mystery of the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ, realized in the Sacrifice of Calvary, in the Sacrifice of the Mass, and in the Eucharist. For the Sacrifice of the Mass also gives us the Eucharist; this Flesh and Blood of the Victim that we must eat and drink to obtain eternal life. It is Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself who said so; “If you do not eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will not have eternal life.” So Our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished this unimaginable, the incredible miracle of really giving us His body and His blood to eat and drink. This is what the great love of Our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished, and this is the lesson that the Virgin Mary gives us by her presence at the feet of her divine Son on Calvary.
Finally, the last lesson that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary gives us is that of her presence in the midst of the Apostles the day of Pentecost. It is through her that the graces will be given to the Apostles and that the Holy Ghost will descend upon the Apostles. The Church teaches us so. The Apostles were sanctified on that day by the Holy Ghost through the intercession of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, through the mediation of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.
She no longer needed to receive the Holy Ghost. She was filled with the Holy Ghost. The Angel Gabriel had told her so: “Thou art filled with the Holy Ghost.” She no longer needed to receive Him. But if she was present, it is because she wanted to communicate the Holy Ghost to the Apostles, and because Our Lord wanted Him to be communicated to them through her - to them and, consequently, to the Church. There she truly became the Mother of the Church, because it was she who by her mediation gave the Holy Ghost to the Apostles.
So the Most Blessed Virgin teaches us to love the Church, to love the Holy Ghost - the Holy Ghost, who is given to us by all the Sacraments instituted by Our Lord, and especially by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and by the Eucharist. This is what the Most Blessed Virgin Mary teaches us.
Therefore, we must be attached to the Church, and it is because we are attached to the Church that we defend our holy Mother the Church. The Roman Catholic Church is our mother. And it is because we are the devoted sons of the Church, because we love the Church, because we love Rome, because we love all those who truly represent the Holy Catholic Church, that we defend our faith, that we defend what the Virgin Mary has given us.
We do not want them to change our Church. We want no other Church. We want the Roman Catholic Church, that which the Most Blessed Virgin Mary communicated to the Apostles in the Holy Ghost. This is the Church that we want. This is the Church that we love - the Church of the Mother of Jesus, the Church of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, the Church of the Immaculate Conception, the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption. This is the Church that we want. This is the Church that we venerate, the Church to which we wish forever to remain subject. So we beg those who have posts of authority in the Church not to change our Church, to remain faithful to the Church of Mary, to remain faithful to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, to all the lessons that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary has given us.
And I beg you, my dear brethren, to be the leaven - the leaven of the Catholic Church, of this love for the Catholic Church, in all your regions, in all your families, in all your homes. Remain children of Mary. Pray to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. Meditate on the lessons that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary gives you. Then you will be true Catholics. You cannot be children of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, in a full and holy manner, without being the best children of the Catholic Church. This is what reassures us that we are indeed true sons of the Catholic Church.
So I am convinced that when you return home you will be true representatives of the Catholic Church, and that you will do all you can so that she continues, despite the difficulties, despite the trials, despite the contradictions. We must all pray together today for you to be witnesses. Just as the Apostles received the Holy Ghost through the Virgin Mary, and went forth to give witness to the Gospel throughout the world, so you also must be the witnesses of the Virgin Mary, of the Holy Ghost that you have received through her, and give witness to your faith in God, of your faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ, of your love for the Church, wherever you may be. This is what God desires.
You are the Church! You are the Church! You are the Catholic Church! So let us remain in this Church of the Virgin Mary. Let us confide in her. Let us confide to her our families, especially our children, who so need the help of the Virgin Mary to remain in the true Catholic faith.
I congratulate you with all my heart for preserving this faith. I also congratulate you with all my heart to see that you have so many children. We observe that half of the assembly here is composed of persons less than twenty years old. This is a sign, a sign of your fidelity to the Catholic Church, a sign  of your fidelity to the commandments of God. I congratulate you, and I am sure that God's blessings are upon you.
I hope that next year, or perhaps in two years, I do not know, if, of course, God gives me life, that I shall be able again, with you to say Mass, no longer here, but to say it in our beautiful basilica, which will be rebuilt, by the grace of God. And we shall be able to sing the praises of the Virgin Mary, as we are doing today, but perhaps with still greater beauty and a still greater number of pilgrims.
May God bless you, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Amen.

Oblige Them to be Fair

This week I received a survey from a Catholic organization asking what I thought about how the Catholic Church and Faith are treated by certain institutions in contemporary society. The questions were in the vein of whether the Church was being given a fair shake - e.g. is the news media fair, is the arts community fair, is the government fair, is the business community fair, are colleges and universities fair.

Those questions are fine as a conversation starter, but the survey doesn't go past them; as a result, it risks being nothing so much as a means for harvesting a list of grievances. Nobody but the aggrieved care about that.

I replied to the survey, and added the following response:

Our society has never been Catholic, and it has always been opposed to the Catholic faith. In the days when the Church was better respected, it was because Catholics were unabashedly Catholic. Today’s Catholics, however, have turned their back on their own faith and culture; small wonder that society at large shows no respect for the Catholic Church: her own children act embarrassed about her. Let Catholics shake off their lethargy, vigorously embrace their faith and religious heritage, and so oblige the Church’s opponents and critics to respect the spotless Bride of Christ.

Himself and the Tin Man

About 16 years back I arrived at work one morning to discover a suit of armor at my desk. The Tin Man belonged to my boss, who wanted to recognize me for my heroic and gallant efforts on behalf of the team and the company during a demanding and difficult project. Though just a temporary loan, the knight-in-miniature was a welcome token of appreciation.

Himself and the Tin Man

The Tin Man and I enjoyed several days of diversion together, and he was a popular conversation piece with colleagues. I did put him to work here and there, but for the most part he was just eye candy.

 

Tin Man at work: not just a pretty face

A couple of months later my celebrity status came crashing to a halt when I declined to work on an objectionable project. We were handling publications for a state agency that sponsored what was euphemistically dubbed women's reproductive health initiatives, but was really a means to promote birth control and abortion. The assignment hit my inbox, and I immediately replied to my boss that I would not work on it; I wouldn't even facilitate the work by passing it down the line to a colleague. Ah, I was the unwelcome black sheep after that; my time with the company ended in less than a year.

Did I save the lives of any unborn children through my non-participation in a shabby assignment? I can't say, but I doubt it. More importantly, I did not lose my soul over the matter.

Where is the Tin Man today?