Silence Is Not Always So Golden
by
Thomas A. Droleskey
The old proverb that silence is golden is certainly true in many instances of our lives, especially in our dealings with others. It is very frequently the case that conflicts with our relatives and friends become veritable exercises in sins against the Eighth Commandment, each person vying to talk to someone as soon as possible so as to put the best "spin" possible on their side of a particular story or event. People blab, blab, blab in order to justify themselves before others, seeking to find reassurance from the sympathy offered them that they are the victim of someone else's many injustices against them. This leads to even more sins against the Eighth Commandment as people gossip about themselves, quite possibly shading the truth about their own faults and exaggerating the alleged faults of others so as to make themselves look good in the eyes of others.
Silence is indeed quite golden when it comes to seeking to justify ourselves before others. Yes, true, there are times when the keeping of our good name may demand a measured response given after consultation with a spiritual director and/or confessor. Even in these instances, however, the example of Our Lord Himself, prophesied by Isaias, should come to mind:
All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way: and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was offered because it was his own will, and he opened not his mouth: he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth. He was taken away from distress, and from judgment: who shall declare his generation? because he is cut off out of the land of the living: for the wickedness of my people have I struck him. And he shall give the ungodly for his burial, and the rich for his death: because he hath done no iniquity, neither was there deceit in his mouth. And the Lord was pleased to bruise him in infirmity: if he shall lay down his life for sin, he shall see a long-lived seed, and the will of the Lord shall be prosperous in his hand.
Because his soul hath laboured, he shall see and be filled: by his knowledge shall this my just servant justify many, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I distribute to him very many, and he shall divide the spoils of the strong, because he hath delivered his soul unto death, and was reputed with the wicked: and he hath borne the sins of many, and hath prayed for the transgressors.(Is. 53: 6-12)
So what if others think badly of us? So what? The parents of Saint Francis of Assisi thought for a very long day that their son was insane for embracing a life of austere penance, poverty, prayer and bodily mortification. The in-laws of one of Saint Francis's earliest disciples, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, believed that she was insane for giving away all of her goods and living so austerely herself. Saint John of the Cross's own fellow Carmelites locked him up until he was delivered miraculously from his captivity because they believed him to be mad. The mother of Saint Thomas Aquinas had his two brothers kidnapd him so that she could hold him prisoner for two years because she did not want him to join the Order of Preachers founded by Saint Dominic.
So what if any of our relatives and friends and acquaintances believe that we are insane or intolerant or judgmental or bigoted or hard-hearted for adhering to the fullness of the Church's authentic patrimony, no less for coming to the conclusion that the Catholic Church cannot be the author of the errors of the past forty years and that the officials of the conciliar church are illegitimate pretenders, veritable spiritual robber barons who are threats to the good of souls, both individually and collectively? So what if people cut us off or gossip about us or come to rash judgments about us? So what? What exactly did Our Lord have to say during His sham trial before the Sanhedrin following his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Lives?
And they said: This man said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and after three days to rebuild it. And the high priest rising up, said to him: Answerest thou nothing to the things which these witness against thee? But Jesus held his peace. (Mt. 26: 61-63)
Yes, Our Lord held His peace, answering the high priest Caiphas only when He was asked the direct question as to whether He was indeed the Son of God:
Jesus saith to him: Thou hast said it. Nevertheless I say to you, hereafter you shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the power of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven. (Mt. 26: 64)
Saint Gerard Majella was accused of a sin against the Sixth Commandment by a woman who sought to justify herself after leaving a convent. This account of his heroic witness to the silence of innocent Lamb of God Who taketh away the sins of the world should inspire us all when we are calumniated by others, especially by those who are seeking to justify themselves and their misbehavior by making us look bad in the eyes of others:
True sanctity must always be tested by the cross, and it was in 1754 that Gerard had to undergo a great trial, one that may well have merited for him the special power to assist mothers and their children. One of his works of zeal was that of encouraging and assisting girls who wanted to enter the convent. Often he would even secure the necessary dowry for some poor girl who could not otherwise be admitted into a religious order.
Neria Caggiano was one of the girls thus assisted by Gerard. However, she found convent life distasteful and within three weeks had returned home. To explain her action, Neria began to circulate falsehoods about the lives of the nuns, and when the good people of Muro refused to believe such stories about a convent recommended by Gerard, she determined to save her reputation by destroying the good name of her benefactor. Accordingly, in a letter to Saint Alphonsus, the superior of Gerard, she accused the latter of sins of impurity with the young daughter of a family at whose house Gerard often stayed on his missionary journeys.
Gerard was called by Saint Alphonsus to answer the accusation. Instead of defending himself, however, he remained silent, following the example of his divine Master. In the face of his silence, Saint Alphonsus could do nothing but impose a severe penance on the young religious. Gerard was denied the privilege of receiving holy Communion, and forbidden all contact with outsiders.
It was not easy for Gerard to give up his labors in behalf of souls, but this was a small penance compared with being deprived of holy Communion. He felt this so keenly that he even asked to be freed from the privilege of serving Mass for fear that the vehemence of his desire to receive would make him seize the consecrated host from the very hands of the priest at the altar.
Some time later Neria fell dangerously ill and wrote a letter to Saint Alphonsus confessing that her charges against Gerard had been sheer fabrication and calumny. The saint was filled with joy by the news of the innocence of his son. But Gerard, who had not been depressed in the time of his trial, was not unduly elated in the hour of his vindication. In both cases he felt that the will of God had been fulfilled, and that was sufficient for him. (Saint Gerard Majella)
As is well known, Saint John Nepumocene refused to violate the seal of the confessional and reveal the queen's confession to King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia. He is a martyr of the Sacrament of Penance for keeping his lips sealed. There are thus times when silence is indeed golden and in full imitation of the King of Kings Who refused to defend Himself. These times involve principally those moments in which Our Lord expects us to bear some injustice or humiliation or misunderstanding and offer these up to Him in complete silence as the consecrated slaves of His Most Blessed Mother's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. Remember this and remember it well: there is nothing--and I mean nothing--that anyone does to us, says about us or thinks about us that is the equal of what one of our least venial sins caused Our Lord to suffer in His Sacred Humanity during His Passion and Death. Who are we to deny to others that unconditional forgiveness that He offered to us from the gibbet of the Holy Cross and is extended to us time and time again by an alter Christus in the Sacrament of Penance. We must bear injustices with patience and forgive those who injure us as Our Lord bore our sins in His very Flesh to redeem us on the wood of the Holy Cross.
When Silence is Not so Golden
There are other times, however, when silence is not golden. Indeed, there are times when silence is a sin. These times involve silence about the Faith when we must speak out in its defense or against some error or blasphemy or sacrilege (see The Energizer Benny and His Enablers). And these involve opportunities to call to correction those who are steeped in unrepentant sins, especially those that cry out to Heaven for vengeance (see A Welcome Mat for Prodigal Sons). There are times when we must speak out lest we become an accessory to the sins of others.
There are nine ways by which we can be accessories to the sins of others:
1. By counsel.
2. By command.
3. By consent.
4. By provocation.
5. By praise or flattery.
6. By concealment.
7. By partaking.
8. By silence.
9. By defense of the ill done.
The sin of human respect is used by the adversary to silence our tongues when they should be used to utter words, chosen with prudence and after prayer to the Holy Ghost and to the Mother of God and to the Guardian Angel of the person who is steeped in some particular sin, of fraternal correction. One who refuses to try to correct another in serious matters because he was not want to appear "judgment" or "Pharisaical" will never find the "right moment" to speak to that person. An excuse will always be found to rationalize away the silence and/or to convince oneself that "another, more opportune" moment will come at some later point. We do not know, however, when we ourselves will be called to the moment of our Particular Judgments. We do not know if we will have that other, "more opportune" moment to engage in a true act of Charity by exhorting a sinner to quit his sins.
This subject was broached to me recently by someone in the midst of a travels who has a relative in the medical profession who dispenses prescriptions for pills and devices that frustration the natural fruit of human conjugal relations. Such pills and devices kill innocent preborn human beings shortly after their fertilization. Anyone who dispenses such pills and devices is a killer, whether or not he recognizes it. Such a person has the blood of the innocent on his hands. Worse yet, the person who spoke to me said that his relative also refers patients to surgical baby-killers, not wanting to do such a gruesome thing himself, you understand. The person asked me could he remain silent about such behavior for the sake of "family peace" and/or the sake of "converting him by his own family's good, kindly example."
The answer, of course, is an unequivocal "No!"
No, it is not permissible to remain silent about one who kills babies. While making it clear that we condemn no one and that we ourselves are sinners in need of God's ineffable Mercy in the Sacred Tribunal of Penance, we cannot sit down with one who kills babies, whether chemically or surgically, and refuse to offer a word of correction, condemning the actions of such a person in no uncertain terms, explaining that the binding precepts of the Fifth Commandment prohibit all direct attacks on the inviolability of innocent human life. We must also explain to such that person that the binding precepts of the Sixth Commandment forbid absolutely all efforts to frustrate the natural end of human conjugal relations, thereby denying the Sovereignty of God over the sanctity of such relations, meant to be used only by a man and a woman in a sacramentally valid marriage to welcome as many--or as few--children as God chooses fit to send them for their education unto eternity as members of the Catholic Church.
Our word of correction, watered with prayer and penance and sacrifices as the consecrated slave of Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, could save the physical life of a child and, more importantly, the spiritual lives of many souls.And we wait to say anything because we fear "driving the person" away? We fear the reaction of others more than we trust in the power of God's Holy Truths to attract souls? We fear being rejected more than we trust in the intercessory power of Our Lady to stop an evil-doer from doing any more evil sooner rather than later? We are not thinking with the Mind of God if we think such things.
Those who wait for the "right" time to say such things will never say them. The "right" time is the next time we have an opportunity to speak with such a person, preparing ourselves by praying before the Blessed Sacrament and beseeching the Mother of God for help in defending the truths her Divine Son has revealed, truths that exist in the nature of things, and have been entrusted solely to the Catholic Church for their safekeeping and infallible explication. A failure to speak out in such serious matters as contraception or abortion or perversity makes one an accessory to the sin of another by silence.The blood of the innocent is thus on the hands of those who prefer silence rather than to upset the "tender sensibilities" of someone and/or rather than upset the delicate balance of "peace" in a family.
A family "peace," however, that is premised upon silence in the face of grave sins against God and man is a false peace. It is cowardice writ large, often justified and rationalized in the name of a false "compassion." It is one thing to sin and to be sorry and to seek out the Mercy of the Divine Redeemer in the Sacrament of Penance. It is quite another to persist in sin unrepentantly, especially those four sins that cry out to Heaven for vengeance (willful murder, oppression of the poor, widows and orphans, defrauding a laborer of his wages, the sin of Sodom). Our Lord warned sinners to reform their lives. He reaffirmed no one in their lives of sin, either by omission or commission. Sin is the very thing that caused Him to suffer unspeakable horror during His Passion and Death. Sin is what caused His Most Blessed Mother's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart to be thrust through with seven swords of sorrow. We cannot be indifferent about serious sins in our own lives and in the lives of others. We must offer a word of correction, which if not heeded over time may have to result in a period of separation lest we give the impression that a "mere difference of opinion" should not get in the way of a ties of blood or friendship.
Saint Paul had something to say about this in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians:
Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever?
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God saith: I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, Go out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing: And I will receive you; and I will be a Father to you; and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.(2 Cor. 6: 14-18).
Saint John the Beloved said much the same thing in Second Epistle:
Whosoever revolteth, and continueth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that continueth in the doctrine, the same hath both the Father and the Son. If any man come to you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into the house nor say to him, God speed you.(2 Jn. 1: 9)
Some might protest and say that this is too severe, that it is necessary to "keep the channels of grace" open by maintaining some form of communication. Granted, each situation calls for different measures, taken, as mentioned before, after consultation with a spiritual director or confessor. Fine. However, maintaining a blithe, if not cavalier, relationship with one steeped in serious sins could very well communicate that one is not truly concerned about the matter, that one is willing to "live and let live" despite all of the harsh-sounding rhetoric. Is is therefore necessary to cut ties in order to communicate the severity of the crimes that another is committing against God and man. Such severity could be misinterpreted, in which case it is offered up for the good of the individual in question. It could, however, also be seen as the proverbial "wake-up" call to reconsider an uncritical acceptance of that which is objectively sinful and thus offensive to God and harmful to souls. We might not see the blood of the innocent on our own hands by our being an accessory to the sin of others by means of silence. God certainly sees that blood, doesn't He?
As I have noted in several articles in the past few years, an elderly Jesuit at the cathedral in Seattle in May of 2000, "The most loving thing we can do for others in some cases is turn our backs on them." Yes, it is an act of true love to speak the words of correct and to refuse to be an accessory to the sins of others, especially those that cry out to Heaven for vengeance. We must remember that we can do more by means of our unseen prayers before the Blessed Sacrament and to the Mother of God, especially through her Most Holy Rosary, which we must recite prayerfully every day, and by our patient endurance of the humiliations that may come our way for taking a firm stand against Mortal Sins than we could by maintaining physical contact with those steeped in such sins and who do not want to reform their lives. Let people think what they want about you. If they die as Catholics after your years of prayer and suffering and sacrifices, offered to the Blessed Trinity through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary as her consecrated salves, then they will see in eternity that you were their best friend, not a "meanie" who thought yourself better then themselves.
After all, is it not the case that the Church herself is being held up in this time of crisis and apostasy by the unseen prayers of those dedicated religious in traditional monasteries and convents, by the Masses being offered by the true bishops and the true priests in the underground that is so calumniated by so many Catholics in the conciliar structures? We will only see in eternity, please God each of us dies in a state of Sanctifying Grace, whose prayers and whose Masses helped us to avoid Mortal Sins and to scale the heights of sanctity. We will only see in eternity whose prayers and whose Masses helped us to embrace the fullness of the Church's authentic Tradition and to see that Holy Mother Church cannot be the author of the errors of the past forty years. And those we seek to correct in this life by our truly loving words of fraternal correction may not realize until eternity that we have been their best friends through our years and fervent, regular and ceaseless prayers for them each and every single day.
Yes, you see, there are times when silence is golden. There are also times when it is not only not so golden but a sin that makes us an accessory to the sins of others. While there are a variety of ways to offer the words of correction (conversations, letters, asking others to read good Catholic materials; my dear wife, for example, wrote numerous letters in the past few years to her parents to try to convince them to come back to the Faith), we must try to do what we can while we ourselves have the breathe of our life in our mortal bodies to help those who participate in the evils of our day, including the evil of the slaughter of the innocent preborn, whether by chemical or surgical means. We must try to help others to know the authentic liberation from sin and the selfishness it engenders by leading them to the baptismal font or to the confessional so that their immortal souls can be regenerated and refreshed in the truly vivifying waters of Sanctifying Grace, the only foundation for happiness in individual souls and for order in the world.
The Collect for Septuagesima Sunday five days ago reminded us of our own need to repent of our sins. It is something we can use to pray for others--and to give to others so that they can pray it themselves:
Preces populi tui, quaesumus Domine, clementer exaudi: ut, qui juste pro pecatis nostris affligimur, pro tui nominis gloria misericorditer liberemur.
Do Thou, we beseech Thee, O Lord, graciously hear the prayers of Thy people, that we, who are justly afflicted for our sins, may be mercifully delivered for the glory of Thy name.
Consider also the Collect from Quinquagesima Sunday, which occurs on Sunday, February 18, 2007, this year:
Preces nostras, quaesumus, Domine clementer exaudi: atque a peccatorum vinculis absolutos, ab omni nos adversitate custodi.
Of thy clemency hearken unto our prayers, O Lord, loose us from the bonds of sin, and keep us from all adversity.
The prayers at the blessing of the ashes on Ash Wednesday remind us of the necessity that each person has to reform his life:
Oremus, Deus, qui non mortem, sed penitentiam desideas peccatorum: fragilitatem conditionis humanae benignissima respice; et hos cineres, quos causa proferendae humilitatis, atque promerandae veniae, capitibus nostris imponi decernimus, benedicere pro tua pietate, dignare: ut, qui cinerem esse, et ob pravitatis nostrae demeritum in pulverem reversuroscognoscimus; peccatorum omnium veniam, et praenia paenitentibus repromissa, misericorditer consequi meramur. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen."
O God, Who desirest not the death of sinners, but their repentance, most graciously regard the frailty of human nature; and, of Thy loving-kindness, deign to bless these ashes, which we intend to put upon our heads to express our lowliness and win Thy pardon, that we, who know that we are but ashes and for the guilt of our fall shall return to dust, may be worthy to obtain, through Thy mercy, the forgiveness of all our sins and the rewards promised to the penitent. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Consider one of the Collects to be said in Votive Masses in honor of the Seven Dolors of Our Lady:
Cordibus nostris, quaesumus, Domine, gratiam tuam beningus infude: ut peccata nostra catsitgatione voluntaria cohibentes, temporaliter, potius maceremur, quam supplicis deputemur aeternis.
Of Thy goodness pour Thy grace into our hearts, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that, bridling our sinful appetites with voluntary discipline, we may suffer temporal mortifications rather than be condemned to eternal punishments.
These words from Saint Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews should remind us of the necessity of rooting our sin in our own lives and thus being better able to help others to do so:
For if we sin wilfully after having the knowledge of the truth, there is now left no sacrifice for sins, But a certain dreadful expectation of judgment, and the rage of a fire which shall consume the adversaries. A man making void the law of Moses, dieth without any mercy under two or three witnesses: How much more, do you think he deserveth worse punishments, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath esteemed the blood of the testament unclean, by which he was sanctified, and hath offered an affront to the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said: Vengeance belongeth to me, and I will repay. And again: The Lord shall judge his people.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But call to mind the former days, wherein, being illuminated, you endured a great fight of afflictions. And on the one hand indeed, by reproaches and tribulations, were made a gazingstock; and on the other, became companions of them that were used in such sort. For you both had compassion on them that were in bands, and took with joy the being stripped of your own goods, knowing that you have a better and a lasting substance. Do not therefore lose your confidence, which hath a great reward.
For patience is necessary for you; that, doing the will of God, you may receive the promise. For yet a little and a very little while, and he that is to come, will come, and will not delay. But my just man liveth by faith; but if he withdraw himself, he shall not please my soul. But we are not the children of withdrawing unto perdition, but of faith to the saving of the soul. (Heb.10: 26-39)
May Our Lady help us to not "to sin willfully" by silence, by our refusal to tell people that it is indeed "a fearful thing to fall into the hand of the living God," by our refusal to exhort people to the joys of Heaven that await the souls of those who die in states of Sanctifying Grace as members of the Catholic Church, outside of which there is no salvation. May we be willing to endure "a great fight of afflictions" and "reproaches and tribulations" in order to plant the seeds for the conversion of all God puts into our paths into the true Church.
The restoration of Christendom is founded on the building up of the Kingship of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in our own souls and those of others. May we not be slow in effecting this by recognizing that Our Lady wants to use all of our efforts we offer her, including our silence in the face of sufferings and humiliations and our rejection when we speak out as we must against sin and its effects on human souls and the world, as the consecrated slaves of her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart for the Reign of her Divine Son in each soul and in each nation.
Vivat Christus Rex!
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.
Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.
Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.
Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.
Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.
Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.
Saint Romuald, pray for us.
Saint John Bosco, pray for us.
Saint Dominic Savio, pray for us.
Saint Francis de Sales, pray for us.
Saint Peter Nolasco, pray for us.
Saint Agnes, pray for us.
Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, pray for us.
Saint Lucy, pray for us.
Saint Monica, pray for us.
Saint Andrew Corsini, pray for us.
Saint Agatha, pray for us.
Saint Philomena, pray for us.
Saint Cecilia, pray for us.
Saint John Mary Vianney, pray for us.
Saint Vincent de Paul, pray for us.
Saint Vincent Ferrer, pray for us.
Saint Athanasius, pray for us.
Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, pray for us.
Saint Isaac Jogues, pray for us.
Saint Rene Goupil, pray for us.
Saint John Lalonde, pray for us.
Saint Gabriel Lalemont, pray for us.
Saint Noel Chabanel, pray for us.
Saint Charles Garnier, pray for us.
Saint Anthony Daniel, pray for us.
Saint John DeBrebeuf, pray for us.
Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, pray for us.
Saint Dominic, pray for us.
Saint Hyacinth, pray for us.
Saint Basil, pray for us.
Saint Augustine, pray for us.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.
Saint Vincent Ferrer, pray for us.
Saint Sebastian, pray for us.
Saint Tarcisius, pray for us.
Saint Bridget of Sweden, pray for us.
Saint Gerard Majella, pray for us.
Saint John of the Cross, pray for us.
Saint Teresa of Avila, pray for us.
Saint Bernadette Soubirous, pray for us.
Pope Saint Pius X, pray for us
Pope Saint Pius V, pray for us.
Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich, pray for us.
Venerable Pauline Jaricot, pray for us.
Father Miguel Augustin Pro, pray for us.
Francisco Marto, pray for us.
Jacinta Marto, pray for us.
Juan Diego, pray for us.
The Longer Version of the Saint Michael the Archangel Prayer, composed by Pope Leo XIII, 1888
O glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil. Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil. Fight this day the battle of our Lord, together with the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in heaven. That cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels. Behold this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage. Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the Name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay, and cast into eternal perdition, souls destined for the crown of eternal glory. That wicked dragon pours out. as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity. These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on Her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck the sheep may be scattered. Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory. They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious powers of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude. Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church. Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly conciliate the mercies of the Lord; and beating down the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations. Amen.
Verse: Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered ye hostile powers.
Response: The Lion of the Tribe of Juda has conquered the root of David.
Verse: Let Thy mercies be upon us, O Lord.
Response: As we have hoped in Thee.
Verse: O Lord hear my prayer.
Response: And let my cry come unto Thee.
Verse: Let us pray. O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Thy holy Name, and as suppliants, we implore Thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin, immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all other unclean spirits, who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of our souls.
Response: Amen.
