Christ the King

Christ the King Sunday

The last Sunday of October is Christ the King Sunday. This is the day where we especially call to mind and honor the royalty of Christ, which rests upon a twofold basis -- He is our King (1) by right of birth and (2) by right of conquest.

The first refers us to the personality of the Son of God, whereby, in His divine nature as God and by virtue of the hypostatic union, He is the sovereign Lord and Master.

The second places before us the God-Man coming down on earth to rescue fallen man from the slavery of Satan, and by the labors and sufferings of His life, and passion, and death, to win a glorious victory for us over sin and hell.

With credentials such as that, it is fitting that we publicly honor Christ as King not just of individual lives, but of all society. Thus, in addition to Mass this morning, then, we had a public procession to an outdoor altar, and then concluded the day's ceremonies in the main chapel with Benediction.

Making Religion Irrelevant

This Thursday, October 27, at the chapel of St. Michael's, SSPX, in Roswell, GA, beginning at 11:00 am, we are having a Mass of reparation for the nonsense going on at Assisi in Italy. Mass will be followed by exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and then Benediction. You're all invited.

At Sunday Mass this morning our pastor's sermon was on this topic. He pointed out that if the sede vacantists were right and the chair of Peter sat empty, this inter-religious prayer meeting would be a non-event. The truth, however, is far different, and far more terrible: it is the Pope himself, under color of authority as St. Peter's successor and the vicar of Christ, who will be guilty of this abomination that causes millions of people to regard religion with indifference and so end up in Hell.

Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison.

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Mass and Exposition in Reparation for the Ecumenical Meeting of World Religions in Assisi

St. Michael’s SSPX, Thursday, October 27, 2011

IT'S WORSE THAN WE IMAGINED. On October 27, 2011, the Pope will preside over a prayer meeting of world religions in Assisi. He called this event to commemorate the 25th anniversary of John Paul II’s first Assisi meeting of 1986. Some prelates in Rome gave empty promises that relativism and syncretism would be avoided, but the official press releases now contradict this, and the Assisi event remains a grave scandal for the Church. The Holy See has even described the meeting as "a search for truth[1]" and a common prayer service is scheduled. The Vicar of Christ will place himself side-by-side, again, with false teachers, Rabbis, Brahmins, Islamic clerics, Buddhists, African voodoo practitioners, New-Age cultists, heretics, imposters, even a representative of the Communist Party...the official list goes on and on[2]...all of whom publicly reject Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Triune Godhead, and who fight directly against Him and His Church. It is a direct attack against the first Commandment of God: "Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me." This is the rotten fruit of Vatican II. It is without doubt that these acts will push many souls to hell. This offense is additionally grave due to the fact that the Pontiff responsible for this truly occupies the Chair of Peter and has been truly entrusted with the Power of the Keys. Can we even imagine how much this grieves the Immaculate Heart of Our Blessed Mother?

In a spirit of reparation, on October 27th a Mass Pro Fidei Propagatione (For the Propagation of the Faith) will be publicly offered at St. Michael’s at 11:00 AM. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed after Mass until 12:30 PM to be adored in a spirit of reparation for this public and grave offense. The Mass and Exposition in Reparation are taking place throughout all chapels of the Society of Saint Pius X.

[1] Press Office of the Holy See, Oct. 18, 2011.

[2] Delegations: Eastern Orthodox: 17 including the Ecumenical Patriarch; Protestants: 13 including the Archbishop of Canterbury, the World Lutheran Federation, Baptist World Alliance, Methodist World Council and others; Judaism: 3 from Chief Rabbinate of Israel, Chief Rabbinate of Rome, ICIC and other international Jewish organizations; African, Caribbean and Indian voodoo and animist religions: 4; Hinduism: 7; Jainism: 3; Sikhs: 5; Zoroastrians: 1; Baha’i: 1; Buddhism: 67; Confucianism: 1; Shintoism: 2; Taoism: 1; New-Age religions of Japan: 4; Islam: 60, from Mecca, the Middle East, America, and Asia; Austrian Communist Party: 1 delegation. Atheists will also be represented by various delegates, including a militant feminist sociologist, Dr. Julia Kristeva, who will deliver a lecture to the Holy Father and the assembly. (Dr. Kristeva has been a frequent lecturer at the Grand Orient Lodge of France and has published essays to make Freud blush.) Participants will watch a commemorative video of Assisi 1986 together. All participants will then light a peace candle and engage together in a para-liturgy of "Solemn Renewal" of the vows to pacifism, with the participation of various religious choirs and liturgical dancers. The Holy Father will participate in all events. The event is titled "Pilgrims of Truth, Pilgrims of Peace: Day of Reflection, Dialogue, and Prayer for Peace and Justice in the World."
Sources: (1) Press Office of the Holy See, Oct. 18, 2011; (2) official website of Dr. Kristeva; (3) numerous official programs of Grand Orient salons searchable online.

Eternity Described

I believe in life everlasting.

This sentence is from the last article in the Apostle's Creed. The statement references eternity, which is not an unending succession of time (that would be boring), but like a point, a lasting moment. It is a continual "now."

The past, you see, is dead. The future, meanwhile, doesn't exist. As far as time is concerned, the only thing that is real is the present instant.

I'm not paving the way for modernist claptrap about needing to escape that past like it is something that infringes on modern personalities. I'm reminded of Gabe, who was pontificating over dinner one night -- he literally had one finger in the air as he lectured us -- that the world is divided between those who are stuck in the past and those who look to the future, "No," I interrupted him mid-diatribe, "the world is divided between those who look for the truth and those who don't care." But Gabe was a materialist and an atheist, and the counter-point was just brushed it off without comment.

Such is the dilemma for the materialist: he is trapped inside of time, which is an illusion, or even a mystery if you will. Unable or unwilling to consider spiritual causes, the materialist has rendered himself incapable of factoring eternity into his ruminations. He says the religious man is fooled by false notions of the hereafter, when in fact it is the person who places his hopes in a future that never arrives that operates by wishful thinking.

The happiness of eternal life, meanwhile, is an exemption from all evil, an enjoyment of all good. In our own limited way we will know God -- who infinite Truth, Beauty, and Goodness -- as He actually is.

Healing Spiritual Wounds

Excerpted from The Mass of All Time by Abp. Marcel Lefebvre:

The wounds of original sin remain even after Baptism. Consider the effects of the injury done to the four cardinal virtues, and the consequences of the vice opposed to each virtue.

Virtue: Justice
Meaning: to render to everyone what belongs to them
Contrary vice: Malice
Consequence: prevents us from rendering to God and our neighbor what is his due

Virtue: Prudence
Meaning: right reason applied in practice
Contrary vice: Ignorance
Consequence: blinds us

Virtue: Fortitude
Meaning: moral courage and endurance in trials and suffering
Contrary vice: Weakness
Consequence: characterized by inconstancy

Virtue: Temperance
Meaning: the use of pleasures of the senses in accordance with the norm prescribed by reason
Contrary vice: Concupiscence
Consequence: disorders the measure we must exercise in using the goods of this world

These deep wounds can be closed only by sacrifice and renunciation. The return to order requires sacrifice. That is why Our Lord vanquished the devil, destroyed sin, and re-established order by His Cross. And the Cross is the Mass. The Mass reminds Christians every day that they must live a life of sacrifice.

Christian Civilization

From Our Apostolic Mandate of St. Pius X, August 25, 1910:

No, civilization is not something yet to be found, nor is the New City to be built on hazy notions; it has been in existence and still is: it is Christian civilization, it is the Catholic city. It has only to be set up and restored continually against the unremitting attacks of insane dreamers, rebels and miscreants. Omnia in instaurare in Christo.

Occupied

I've noticed that the occupy crowd -- aside from the late-arriving communists and their ilk -- is having trouble coming up with the reason for what they want or why they are there.

In a spirit of fraternal helpfulness, I’ve compiled a list of starter ideas (only the first one is mine). Feel free to add your own.
* Occupy Here and There, Now and Then, This and That
* Students Wildly Indignant About Nearly Everything (SWINE)
* The Flea Party

Photos from the New Seminary

Last Thursday -- on the anniversary of the 1916 Marian apparition at the Cova da Iria in Fatima -- the SSPX broke ground on a new seminary in Virginia. I was on a retreat in Phoenix and so could not attend, but my pal Allen snapped a few photos while he was at the event.

Model of the New Seminary

Grounds of the New Seminary

Say a few prayers for the success of the new enterprise.