Thursday 15 November 2012

Sacrifice in the Christian life continued


…. The understanding of sacrifice in daily life and of Christian suffering are paramount.  We must reach the point of no longer considering suffering as an evil,  as an unbearable sorrow; we must unite our sufferings and illnesses to the sufferings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by looking at the crucifix and by assisting at holy Mass, which is the continuation of Our Lord’s Passion on Calvary.

When suffering is understood, then it becomes a joy; suffering becomes a treasure.  Our sufferings united to those of Our Lord, united to those of all the martyrs, of all the saints, of all the Catholics, of all the faithful who suffer throughout the world united to the Cross of Our Lord become an ineffable treasure.  They possess an extraordinary  efficacy for the conversion of souls and for the salvation of our own soul.  Many holy  Christian souls have even desired suffering in order to unite themselves better to the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  That is Christian civilization.



The Blessed virgin participated in the sacrifice of the Cross. She suffered a real martyrdom by her compassion, since the old man Simeon told her during the presentation of Jesus in the Temple. “Thy own soul a sword shall pierce” (Lk. 2:35)  You too,  if you suffer, if you have trials in your life, let the sword pierce your heart out of compassion for Our Lord.  Have this desire to suffer with Our Lord and with the Blessed Virgin for your soul and for the salvation of all souls.

Thursday 13 September 2012

Sacrifice in the Christian life

The notion of sacrifice is profoundly Christian and profoundly Catholic. Our life cannot be spent without sacrifice since Our Lord Jesus Christ, God Himself, willed to take a body like our own and say to us: “Follow Me. Take up your cross and follows Me if you will be saved.” And He gave us the example of His death upon the Cross; He shed His blood. Would we then dare, we, His poor creatures, sinners that we are, not to follow Our Lord? To follow Our Lord carrying His Cross: such is the mystery of Christian civilisation; this is the root of Catholic civilization.

 Everyone has problems: personal problems, health problems… We would not be able to understand these trials if we did not think of the holy Victim who offers Himself on the altar.

 The whole Catholic religion is founded on the fact that our actions can be meritorious. We repeat it constantly. When you are confined to your sickbed in the hospital and have been suffering for months, you know that if you offer your sufferings with those of Our Lord, you share Calvary; and so doing, you distribute all the merits you earn to the world and to yourself for your conversion and redemption. This is what sustains the Catholic. On the contrary the Protestants do not believe that our actions can be meritorious because they claim that everything was merited by Our Lord on the Cross on Calvary. Consequently according to the Protestants, we can no longer merit anything. You see the difference: If someone were to tell us, “All your actions are useless for your salvation; they are not meritorious”, then of what use would it be to live, suffer and work?


This is what the father and mother of a family are told: “In your family life you suffer, you have difficulties, you go through hard times. Remember to unite your sufferings to those of Our Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary, to those of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the holy sacrifice of the Mass. Go to Mass; there you will find the mainstay of your life, the help that will give you strength to bear your trials.” Then the father and mother of a family who follow this counsel will say to themselves inwardly: “Indeed, Our Lord is in me by His grace, and I unite myself to His sufferings, so suffering is worthwhile.” How many of those who were locked in concentration camps or prisons, or who suffered martyrdom or who are suffering it now, were only able to endure it with that thought in mind? This is what supports them: the thought that they unite their sufferings to those of Our Lord on Calvary.

 After that will you then say that the Mass has no power to take away sins, that the Mass is not a meritorious act, or that there are no meritorious works, under the pretext that Our Lord accomplished everything on Calvary, which is completely contrary to what Jesus Christ taught us: “Take up your cross and follow me.” Why carry the cross and follow Him if it is not meritorious? Why did Our Lord tell us that? To unite us to Hiss Cross.

 “Do penance” Why should we do penance if it is of no use for our salvation? This is what St Peter said to the crowd that had gathered at Jerusalem and asked him: “What should we do? You tell us that we have crucified Our Lord and that we must make reparation. What must we do? “Pray, do penance, and be baptised” (Acts 2:37-40), Peter told them. Penance is nothing else than uniting our sufferings to those of Our Lord, without which our life no longer has any meaning. This is what makes the depth and the beauty of our Catholic Faith. As a consequence, even in trials, even in suffering, Catholics have a smile on their lips. They have joy in their hearts because they know that their suffering serves some purpose. Whereas if someone comes and tells you, “that is pointless, you know; you can suffer all you want, but it serves no good purpose whatsoever, “ it causes you to withdraw into yourself; it puts a void in your life that can destroy you.

 When faced with some trial, we know what we must do. If tomorrow we find ourselves bedridden in hospital, if we go into a clinic, if our parents die or we are abandoned, the Cross of Jesus is always before our eyes. “Bear your sufferings! Carry your cross! Follow Me! Don’t let go of your cross! Don’t throw away the cross I give you to carry! Carry it on your shoulders! Follow Me! By following Me, you will have everlasting life and you will save the whole world!” Little St Theresa of the Child Jesus in her Carmel saved millions of souls! How beautiful is our holy Catholic religion!





 All these generations of holy fathers and mothers of families who suffered in a Christian manner, who accepted their sufferings with joy, who were an example for their children, understood very well what the Christian life is. They endured their sufferings and sorrows with Our Lord Jesus Christ. And these generations of Christian families gave vocations. The vocations were born of the parents’ example. They saw their parents live with Our Lord Jesus Christ, assist at the holy sacrifice of the Mass with this faith, with this piety, offering themselves as victims with Our Lord Jesus Christ.

To be continued .....

From The Mass of All Time, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, Angelus Press 2007

Thursday 17 May 2012

TROUBLED TIMES



The defense of his faith is the first duty of every Christian, more especially of every priest and bishop. Wherever an order carries with it the danger of corrupting Faith and morals, "disobedience" becomes a grave duty.




It is because we belive that our whole faith is endangered by the post-conciliar reforms and changes that it is our duty to "disobey", and to maintain Traditions. The greatest service we can render the Catholic Church, the successor of Peter the salvation of souls and of our own, is to say NO to the reformed liberal Church, because we believe in Our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God made man, who is neither liberal nor reformable.

... We do not see how, in conscience a Catholic layman, priest or bishop can adopt any other attitude towards the grievious crisis the Church is going through. 

"Nihil innovetur nisi quod traditum est" - innovate nothing, but hand down Tradition.

May Jesus and Mary help us to remain faithful to our episcopal promises!

"Call not true what is false, call not good what is evil"

That is what we were told at our conseccration.  statement from the feast of St. Pius X 1975.

Wednesday 4 April 2012

SERMON ON THE FEAST OF OUR LADY OF COMPASSION




In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.


Our Lady at the Foot of the Cross

It is written in the Holy Gospel that a sword shall pierce the Heart of the Virgin. This Heart, pierced by a sword, of course, means nothing else than her association with the Passion of her Divine Son. The Gospel also says that the Blessed Virgin Mary was standing beside Our Lord Jesus Christ during His Passion and at the moment of His death: "Stabat Mater iuxta Crucem."

Therefore we must not deny that Divine Providence wanted to associate the Blessed Virgin Mary not only with His birth, to His coming on earth and to His infancy, to His hidden life and to His public life, but above all to His Passion. Indeed, if the most important moment - "the hour" of Our Lord Jesus Christ - was the moment of His death on the cross, the hour of His Passion, that of the Blessed Virgin Mary was that of her Compassion, of her intimate union with the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Devotion to the Sorrows of Our Lady




This devotion is very old in the Church. We do not know exactly when the feasts of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady and of the Compassion of the Blessed Virgin began. However, in the Church, some religious societies were founded through the direct intervention of the Virgin Mary herself, in order to meditate on her sorrows and especially on her compassion. The Servites of Mary are a good example, established by the Seven Founders upon a request of the Blessed Virgin Mary herself; they are particularly dedicated to meditation on her sufferings, to union with the Sorrowful Virgin.

Another society dedicated to this contemplation is that of the Passionists of St. Paul of the Cross. The Passionists have had many saints in their congregation. It was a most fervent congregation. One of their saints, St. Gabriel of the Addolorata, took the name of " Addolorata" precisely because he wanted to spend his life meditating on the sufferings of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

To Associate Ourselves with Jesus Suffering

Why this meditation? Why this union with the Blessed Virgin Mary in her Compassion, in her suffering, in her transfixion? In order to associate ourselves more intimately with the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ!

Indeed, if there were ever a Heart, which suffered with the Heart of Jesus pierced on the cross, if ever there were a soul whose thoughts were united with those of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, it was the Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary! She had never sinned, and like Our Lord, she did not need to make reparation for herself. Yet both wanted to suffer, to suffer horribly, to suffer deeply, to suffer in their bodies.

Two Hearts Burning with Charity

Let us then try to penetrate the sentiments of these two Hearts, the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. It is obvious that both the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Compassion of the Blessed Virgin Mary were profoundly motivated by Charity.

Their Hearts were devoured by charity, burning with love of the Holy Ghost. Our Lord, Word of God, one substance with the Holy Ghost, was devoured by the love of the Holy Ghost, by this Holy Spirit who set on fire all His Being. The person of the Word but also His Soul, His Body, His Heart of flesh, were inflamed by the Holy Ghost. The Virgin Mary imitated her Divine Son and she too tried to model her sentiments on those of her Divine Son. She too was filled with the Holy Ghost. This was so for her whole life but without any doubt, in a very particular way during the Passion.

To Restore the Honour of the Father

We must never forget that the first and main goal of these two Hearts inflamed by the Holy Ghost was the love of the Father.

Indeed, love of the Holy Ghost, this "Consuming Fire," leads to the Father. It is none other than the love of God: "God is Charity." Therefore, the Holy Ghost can do nothing other than lead us to God, to lead us to the Father. Thus Jesus was suffering first of all in order to restore the honour of God the Father. The Virgin Mary, too, was united with the sufferings of her Divine Son in order to restore the honour of the Father.

The Father receives infinite glory, really infinite, from His Divine Son. And He also receives the greatest created glory from a privileged creature. This creature was the Blessed Virgin Mary, united with her Divine Son. She was the first to be truly redeemed. She was perfectly redeemed, in the sense that she has not even known sin. It was in consideration of the Incarnation of Our Lord that she was Immaculate in her Conception and thus has never known sin.

At the foot of the Cross, she sang the glory of the Father in suffering; in sorrow she sang the glory of God; she wanted to restore the honor and the glory of God upon earth.

Merciful Love

This love, which devoured both of them, made them full of mercy. Indeed, the immediate consequence of a great love, of a great charity, is mercy. For this love these Hearts possessed wants to be spread about, wants to be communicated to those who do not have it, to all those who are lacking it.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, seeing all sinful mankind since Adam and Eve, all men who were to be born in this world - Our Lord Jesus Christ had a clear vision and full knowledge of this by His Divinity because He is the Creator and Redeemer of mankind - He knew all this misery, all these men far from God who don't think of the Father, of their Creator and Redeemer. Our Lord saw all this and His Heart was filled with mercy. This mercy leads to sacrifice. Mercy is a source of sacrifice. It leads all the way to sacrifice because it is ready to give itself totally so that charity be re-established in the hearts of men.

Thus Our Lord suffered; He suffered in His Body - in the Garden of the Agony drops of blood were dripping from His forehead. Our Lord was filled with mercy. And the Blessed Virgin wanted to share the sufferings of Our Lord precisely for the same reason. She too thought of all these souls. Both of them suffered together and wanted to suffer, even unto death, unto martyrdom.



And if Our Lord Jesus Christ truly gave His last breath for the glory of His Father and for the redemption of souls so that the Holy Ghost may inflame all hearts and all souls with the love of the Most Holy Trinity, the Blessed Virgin Mary did not die herself at that moment, but she offered her life and she suffered martyrdom. She is truly called the Queen of Martyrs. She too gave herself, all her blood, all her life, all that she had and, in particular, her Divine Son. She gave all to the Good Lord for the redemption of souls. Mother of Mercy, Mater Misericordiae. Such are the origins of the Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Suffering with Peace and Joy

Far from us to think that in the Passion there is sadness leading to despair and that this sadness would have put Jesus and Mary's souls in a certain kind of despair. No, not at all! Since it was precisely charity which was the origin of these sufferings, charity produced in their Hearts peace and joy: Though it might seem unbelievable to unite passion, suffering and mercy with a profound joy, yet the Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ was filled with joy indeed; and so was the Heart of the Virgin Mary, united with that of Our Lord.

They were filled with the joy of the Most Holy Trinity, the joy given by a great Charity; the peace, which Charity produces in souls, is an ineffable peace. Jesus and Mary were not in a torture like many souls who suffer in their bodies, and who have feelings of deep sorrow and despair. No, Jesus and Mary did not suffer in this way. They suffered, but their Hearts were truly in serenity, in peace, which allowed the Blessed Virgin to remain standing at the foot of the Cross. If she had not had this peace, if she had not had this Charity, if she had not had this intimate and profound joy of associating herself with the sufferings of her Divine Son, of associating herself with His Charity, of being filled with the Holy Ghost, she could not have remained standing and the Gospel would not have said “Stabat Mater." The persons who surrounded the Blessed Virgin most likely showed

more than the Blessed Virgin their exterior suffering - through tears and exterior feelings. The Virgin remained calm, in peace.

Patroness of the Oblates of the Society of St. Pius X


Here you have your patroness, my most dear Sisters. And you chose to come here to unite yourselves with us, you chose to come here particularly to this house of Econe where almost all the Oblates, have come or with which they are at least all united; you came to associate yourself with the priests, because the priest is another Christ. The priest must associate himself with the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ particularly through the Sacrifice that he offers; he must thereby espouse the feelings of the Heart of Jesus, and also the feelings of Mary; he must ask the Virgin to make him understand these feelings in order to feel them more and to espouse them better.

Thus be helpers of the priests, not only helping them with your hands, but with your soul and with your spirit, helping in the Priesthood, in the spirit of sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in His Cross for the extension of His reign, for the extension of His love.

In this way you will unite yourselves in a very special way with the Blessed Virgin Mary as she was united with her Divine Son, and you will share His sufferings. You shall contribute in a very powerful way to the redemption of souls, according to the measure in which you are able, to the measure, which Divine Providence shall give to you. You will associate yourselves in a more profound way to the priesthood, praying for the priests, for the seminarians whom you serve, that they may become true priests, that they may become truly other Christs, that they may associate themselves in an even more profound and more perfect way to the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

You will ask the Blessed Virgin Mary for this grace. Then offer your sufferings, offer your sacrifices for this intention, so that the Reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ may be extended.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Given at Econe 10 April 1981

Tuesday 10 January 2012

Pastoral Lenten Letter

Archbishop emeritus of Tulle, Founder of the Society of St. Pius X


EcĂ´ne, 25th January 1987,   Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul



It was in the past an excellent custom that the Diocesan Bishop send a letter to all his faithful for the forthcoming Lent.

Indeed, as the Epistle of the First Sunday of Lent says: "Brothers, we do exhort you, that you receive not the grace of God in vain... behold now is the acceptable time; behold now is the day of salvation." (11 Cor. VI 1 sqq).

My very dear faithful, read again and again the notes in your old missals which explain the time of Lent. They will remind you of the origin and signification of these forty days of prayer and fasting, which prepare us for Holy Week, for the great mystery of the Cross in order to arrive at the Resurrection.

The Church wants to lead us into the practice of a more perfect Christian life. She gives us the example of Christ and by true fasting and penance unites us to His sufferings in order to give us a share in His redemption.

All along these forty holy days, She reminds us that we are sinners, tempted by "the concupiscence of the flesh and the concupiscence of the eyes and the pride of life" (1 Jn II 16), and She puts on our lips these moving supplications: "Lord, repay us not according to our sins, chastise us not according to our iniquities... Let Thy Mercies speedily prevent us"! (Tract of Ash Wednesday).


Blessed are you, dear faithful, who have kept the spirit of Faith, and who prepare yourselves for this period of prayer and penance with devotion, convinced that you will sanctify yourselves by a more frequent assistance at Holy Mass, by frequent Communion, by the sacrament of Penance, by fasting and abstinence, by alms, by a more fervent practice of the Christian virtues of humility, meekness, patience, gentleness, mercy; and if possible by a holy retreat, which will help you to detach yourself more and more from sin and from all attachment to this world, to find the intimacy of the love of Jesus and Mary and thus to transform your life.



But in order to believe in this revivifying of grace in your souls one must have not only faith but the spirit of faith, i.e. a living faith animated by the Holy Ghost who leads our souls in the ways of perfection, in a greater and greater charity towards God and our neighbor.



Unfortunately, we notice that the spirit of Faith, believing in and living of the baptismal grace, has disappeared even in the highest levels of the hierarchy. The principles that lead and direct the spirit of the Pope and of the Bishops are no longer. the true principles of faith but the false principles of human reason, as those who are at the origin of the Protestant liberalism, of modernism, of Americanism, of Sillonism, principles which have all been condemned by the Council of Trent and by all the Popes until Pope Pius XII included.



The last Popes have departed from the heritage of twenty centuries of the Church to make themselves the heirs of the Liberals and Modernists. All what they say or do is but the echo of what was said and done by those who for the last four centuries have been imbued with these false principles. (the meeting of) Assisi is the clearest fruit of this liberal Catholicism condemned by all the Popes before Vatican II.

Thus we find ourselves in front of an ecclesiastical world fully incoherent, illogical, searching for compromises between truth and error, between good and evil, between light and darkness, God and Belial.


This shaking of faith truly seems to prepare for the coming of the Antichrist according to the predictions of St. Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians and the commentaries of the Fathers of the Church.

When Our Lord describes the end of times and after Him the Apostles in their letters, they speak to those who shall remain faithful saying: vigilate, vigilate - watch and be ready! "Thus Brothers, St. Paul says, stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned."(II Thess II 14)

"But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, St. Peter says in his 2nd Epistle, in which the heavens shall pass with great violence... and the earth shall be burnt up (...) Wherefore, dearly beloved, waiting for these things, be diligent that you may be found before Him unspotted and blameless in peace." (II Pet III 10-14).

May our prayers and fasts be for us a source of sanctification and a supplication for the return of the shepherds to the truth of the Traditional Magisterium of the Church, for the honor our Lord, for His universal reign and for the reign of Mary, His Holy Mother. Amen



+ Marcel Lefebvre