Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Post-Election: Children of the Light

The presidential election is over. As we continue to pray and work for the future of this nation and the world, realizing afresh that Heaven still awaits the Collegial Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, may we all be reminded of the following counsel of the Church, given to us, Her children, for our instruction and sanctification:

"Certainly there is the greatest need now of such valiant soldiers of Christ who will work with all their strength to keep the human family safe from the dire ruin into which it would be plunged were the teachings of the Gospel to be flouted, and that order of things permitted to prevail which tramples underfoot no less the laws of nature than those of God. The Church of Christ, built upon an unshakable rock, has nothing to fear for herself, as she knows for a certainty that the gates of hell shall never prevail against her..."


"Venerable Brethren and Beloved Sons, let us not permit the children of this world to appear wiser in their generation than we who by the Divine Goodness are the children of the light. We find them, indeed, selecting and training with the greatest shrewdness alert and resolute devotees who spread their errors ever wider day by day through all classes of men and in every part of the world. And whenever they undertake to attack the Church of Christ more violently, We see them put aside their internal quarrels, assembling in fully harmony in a single battle line with a completely united effort, and work to achieve their common purpose."


"Surely there is not one that does not know how many and how great are the works that the tireless zeal of Catholics is striving everywhere to carry out, both for social and economic welfare as well as in the fields of education and religion. But this admirable and unremitting activity not infrequently shows less effectiveness because of the dispersion of its energies in too many different directions. Therefore, let all men of good will stand united, all who under the Shepherds of the Church wish to fight this good and peaceful battle of Christ; and under the leadership and teaching guidance of the Church let all strive according to the talent, powers, and position of each to contribute something to the Christian reconstruction of human society which Leo XIII inaugurated through his immortal Encyclical, On the Condition of Workers, seeking not themselves and their own interests, but those of Jesus Christ, not trying to press at all costs their own counsels, but ready to sacrifice them, however excellent, if the greater common good should seem to require it, so that in all and above all Christ may reign, Christ may command to Whom be "honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." (1)

To all men and women of good will: Is the time not overdue for we, who are children of the Light, to put aside our internal differences, assemble in full harmony in a single battle line with a completely united effort, and work together to achieve one common purpose? Please join us in praying and sacrificing for the Collegial Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary!
At Fatima, what Our Lady asked the faithful to do was very simple:
-To pray the Rosary every day and make all we do a sacrifice for the conversion of sinners. (At this point in history, it is not remiss to remember that, as we pray the Rosary, our first petition should always be the Collegial Consecration.)
-To practice the Five First Saturday devotions, in reparation to Immaculate Heart of Mary.
-To stop offending the Lord our God, for He is already deeply offended.
-Our Lady showed by Her actions that the faithful should wear the Scapular of Mt. Carmel and live chastely, according to our state in life. (The Scapular of Mt Carmel is commonly known as the Brown Scapular; the person wearing it should either be enrolled in the Brown Scapular Confraternity by a priest or else have the Scapular blessed by a priest.)
Finally, although the following devotion was not explicitly mentioned by Our Lady of Fatima, we can also practice the Nine First Fridays in reparation to the Sacred Heart (a devotion asked by Our Lord through St. Margaret Mary.)



Footnote
(1) Pope Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno (Reconstruction of the Social Order, May 15, 1931): para. 144, 146-147

No comments:

Post a Comment