Today and Every Day, Viva Cristo Rey!

by Thomas A. Droleskey

To Jesus Christ, our sov'reign King,
Who is the world's salvation,
All praise and homage do we bring
And thanks and adoration.

R. Christ Jesus, Victor!
Christ Jesus, Ruler!
Christ Jesus, Lord and Redeemer!

Thy reign extend, O King benign,
To ev'ry land and nation;
For in Thy Kingdom, Lord divine,
Alone we find salvation. R.

To Thee, and to Thy church, great King,
We pledge our heart's oblation;
Until before your throne we sing
In endless jubilation. R.

The King Whose Universal Sovereignty over us we celebrate today was not chosen in an election of any kind. Indeed, the King of Kings, He Who is the King of both men and nations, was roundly rejected in a plebiscite taken by Pontius Pilate on Good Friday. Our sins, having transcended time, motivated the crowd to cry out for the release of Barabbas, the insurrectionist who was promising the Jewish people liberation from the cruelty of their Roman oppressors by the force of the sword:

Pilate therefore went into the hall again, and called Jesus, and said to him: Art thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered: Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or have others told it thee of me? Pilate answered: Am I a Jew? Thy own nation, and the chief priests, have delivered thee up to me: what hast thou done?

Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now my kingdom is not from hence. Pilate therefore said to him: Art thou a king then? Jesus answered: Thou sayest that I am a king. For this was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should give testimony to the truth. Every one that is of the truth, heareth my voice. Pilate saith to him: What is truth? And when he said this, he went out again to the Jews, and saith to them: I find no cause in him. But you have a custom that I should release one unto you at the pasch: will you, therefore, that I release unto you the king of the Jews? Then cried they all again, saying: Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. (John 18: 37-40.)

 

So much for elections, huh? The crowd voted for what they believed to be the "lesser of the two evils" on Good Friday. They were even bribed to do so. And Pontius Pilate, much like the careerist Catholic politicians today, washed his hands of the decision of the "majority," taking refuge in the "vote" of the "people."

It is not for nothing that a true champion of the Social Reign of Christ the King, Pope Pius IX, observed the following concerning the nature of the "universal franchise" that had come into vogue during his pontificate:

To allow the masses, invariably uninformed and impulsive, to make decisions on the most serious matters, is this not to hand oneself over to chance and deliberately run towards the abyss? Yes, it would be more appropriate to call universal suffrage universal madness and, when the secret societies have taken control of it as is all too often the case, universal falsehood." (Pope Pius IX, Statement to French pilgrims, May 5, 1874, cited by Abbe Georges de Nantes, CCR # 333, p. 24.)

 

Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is not an constitutional monarch. He is monarch of men and their nations by Divine and acquired rights, as Pope Pius XI explained in Quas Primas, December 11, 1925, the encyclical letter that instituted this annual Feast the Universal Kingship of Jesus Christ to stress His Social Kingship as the antidote to all of the secular, nationalistic and anti-clerical ideologies that had sprung forth by that time, one quarter of the way through the Twentieth Century:

This same doctrine of the Kingship of Christ which we have found in the Old Testament is even more clearly taught and confirmed in the New. The Archangel, announcing to the Virgin that she should bear a Son, says that "the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father, and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end."

Moreover, Christ himself speaks of his own kingly authority: in his last discourse, speaking of the rewards and punishments that will be the eternal lot of the just and the damned; in his reply to the Roman magistrate, who asked him publicly whether he were a king or not; after his resurrection, when giving to his Apostles the mission of teaching and baptizing all nations, he took the opportunity to call himself king, confirming the title publicly, and solemnly proclaimed that all power was given him in heaven and on earth. These words can only be taken to indicate the greatness of his power, the infinite extent of his kingdom. What wonder, then, that he whom St. John calls the "prince of the kings of the earth" appears in the Apostle's vision of the future as he who "hath on his garment and on his thigh written 'King of kings and Lord of lords!'." It is Christ whom the Father "hath appointed heir of all things";"for he must reign until at the end of the world he hath put all his enemies under the feet of God and the Father."

It was surely right, then, in view of the common teaching of the sacred books, that the Catholic Church, which is the kingdom of Christ on earth, destined to be spread among all men and all nations, should with every token of veneration salute her Author and Founder in her annual liturgy as King and Lord, and as King of Kings. And, in fact, she used these titles, giving expression with wonderful variety of language to one and the same concept, both in ancient psalmody and in the Sacramentaries. She uses them daily now in the prayers publicly offered to God, and in offering the Immaculate Victim. The perfect harmony of the Eastern liturgies with our own in this continual praise of Christ the King shows once more the truth of the axiom: Legem credendi lex statuit supplicandi. The rule of faith is indicated by the law of our worship.

The foundation of this power and dignity of Our Lord is rightly indicated by Cyril of Alexandria. "Christ," he says, "has dominion over all creatures, a dominion not seized by violence nor usurped, but his by essence and by nature." His kingship is founded upon the ineffable hypostatic union. From this it follows not only that Christ is to be adored by angels and men, but that to him as man angels and men are subject, and must recognize his empire; by reason of the hypostatic union Christ has power over all creatures. But a thought that must give us even greater joy and consolation is this that Christ is our King by acquired, as well as by natural right, for he is our Redeemer. Would that they who forget what they have cost their Savior might recall the words: "You were not redeemed with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled." We are no longer our own property, for Christ has purchased us "with a great price"; our very bodies are the "members of Christ."

Let Us explain briefly the nature and meaning of this lordship of Christ. It consists, We need scarcely say, in a threefold power which is essential to lordship. This is sufficiently clear from the scriptural testimony already adduced concerning the universal dominion of our Redeemer, and moreover it is a dogma of faith that Jesus Christ was given to man, not only as our Redeemer, but also as a law-giver, to whom obedience is due. Not only do the gospels tell us that he made laws, but they present him to us in the act of making them. Those who keep them show their love for their Divine Master, and he promises that they shall remain in his love. He claimed judicial power as received from his Father, when the Jews accused him of breaking the Sabbath by the miraculous cure of a sick man. "For neither doth the Father judge any man; but hath given all judgment to the Son." In this power is included the right of rewarding and punishing all men living, for this right is inseparable from that of judging. Executive power, too, belongs to Christ, for all must obey his commands; none may escape them, nor the sanctions he has imposed.

This kingdom is spiritual and is concerned with spiritual things. That this is so the above quotations from Scripture amply prove, and Christ by his own action confirms it. On many occasions, when the Jews and even the Apostles wrongly supposed that the Messiah would restore the liberties and the kingdom of Israel, he repelled and denied such a suggestion. When the populace thronged around him in admiration and would have acclaimed him King, he shrank from the honor and sought safety in flight. Before the Roman magistrate he declared that his kingdom was not of this world. The gospels present this kingdom as one which men prepare to enter by penance, and cannot actually enter except by faith and by baptism, which, though an external rite, signifies and produces an interior regeneration. This kingdom is opposed to none other than to that of Satan and to the power of darkness. It demands of its subjects a spirit of detachment from riches and earthly things, and a spirit of gentleness. They must hunger and thirst after justice, and more than this, they must deny themselves and carry the cross.

Christ as our Redeemer purchased the Church at the price of his own blood; as priest he offered himself, and continues to offer himself as a victim for our sins. Is it not evident, then, that his kingly dignity partakes in a manner of both these offices? (Pope Pius XI, Quas Primas, December 11, 1925.)

 

Yes, Our King, Christ the King, is King by Divine and acquired rights. His empire, as Pope Pius XI went on to quote Pope Leo XIII's Annum Sacram, May 25, 1899, extends to nations as well as to men:

It would be a grave error, on the other hand, to say that Christ has no authority whatever in civil affairs, since, by virtue of the absolute empire over all creatures committed to him by the Father, all things are in his power. Nevertheless, during his life on earth he refrained from the exercise of such authority, and although he himself disdained to possess or to care for earthly goods, he did not, nor does he today, interfere with those who possess them. Non eripit mortalia qui regna dat caelestia.

Thus the empire of our Redeemer embraces all men. To use the words of Our immortal predecessor, Pope Leo XIII: "His empire includes not only Catholic nations, not only baptized persons who, though of right belonging to the Church, have been led astray by error, or have been cut off from her by schism, but also all those who are outside the Christian faith; so that truly the whole of mankind is subject to the power of Jesus Christ." Nor is there any difference in this matter between the individual and the family or the State; for all men, whether collectively or individually, are under the dominion of Christ. In him is the salvation of the individual, in him is the salvation of society. "Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved." He is the author of happiness and true prosperity for every man and for every nation. "For a nation is happy when its citizens are happy. What else is a nation but a number of men living in concord?" If, therefore, the rulers of nations wish to preserve their authority, to promote and increase the prosperity of their countries, they will not neglect the public duty of reverence and obedience to the rule of Christ. What We said at the beginning of Our Pontificate concerning the decline of public authority, and the lack of respect for the same, is equally true at the present day. "With God and Jesus Christ," we said, "excluded from political life, with authority derived not from God but from man, the very basis of that authority has been taken away, because the chief reason of the distinction between ruler and subject has been eliminated. The result is that human society is tottering to its fall, because it has no longer a secure and solid foundation."

When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony. Our Lord's regal office invests the human authority of princes and rulers with a religious significance; it ennobles the citizen's duty of obedience. It is for this reason that St. Paul, while bidding wives revere Christ in their husbands, and slaves respect Christ in their masters, warns them to give obedience to them not as men, but as the vicegerents of Christ; for it is not meet that men redeemed by Christ should serve their fellow-men. "You are bought with a price; be not made the bond-slaves of men." If princes and magistrates duly elected are filled with the persuasion that they rule, not by their own right, but by the mandate and in the place of the Divine King, they will exercise their authority piously and wisely, and they will make laws and administer them, having in view the common good and also the human dignity of their subjects. The result will be a stable peace and tranquillity, for there will be no longer any cause of discontent. Men will see in their king or in their rulers men like themselves, perhaps unworthy or open to criticism, but they will not on that account refuse obedience if they see reflected in them the authority of Christ God and Man. Peace and harmony, too, will result; for with the spread and the universal extent of the kingdom of Christ men will become more and more conscious of the link that binds them together, and thus many conflicts will be either prevented entirely or at least their bitterness will be diminished.

If the kingdom of Christ, then, receives, as it should, all nations under its way, there seems no reason why we should despair of seeing that peace which the King of Peace came to bring on earth -- he who came to reconcile all things, who came not to be ministered unto but to minister, who, though Lord of all, gave himself to us as a model of humility, and with his principal law united the precept of charity; who said also: "My yoke is sweet and my burden light." Oh, what happiness would be Ours if all men, individuals, families, and nations, would but let themselves be governed by Christ! "Then at length," to use the words addressed by our predecessor, Pope Leo XIII, twenty-five years ago to the bishops of the Universal Church, "then at length will many evils be cured; then will the law regain its former authority; peace with all its blessings be restored. Men will sheathe their swords and lay down their arms when all freely acknowledge and obey the authority of Christ, and every tongue confesses that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father." (Pope Pius XI, Quas Primas, December 11, 1925.)

 

The hideous lecher, drunk and theological revolutionary, Father Martin Luther, O.S.A., rejected these truths because he could not live in accord with the binding precepts of the Divine Positive Law an the Natural Law, preferring a life of wanton sin and debauchery to a simple cooperation with the graces won for us on the wood of the Holy Cross by Our King, Christ the King, on Good Friday and that flow into the hearts of souls of human beings through the loving hands of Our Lady, Mary our Immaculate Queen, she who is the Mediatrix of All Graces. Martin Luther projected his own abject refusal to reform his life onto the entirety of the Catholic Faith, refusing to accept the fact that he was solely responsible for his wanton life of sin and debauchery and for refusing to undertake the hard work to root out his sins in the Sacred Tribunal of Penance to scale the heights of personal sanctity.

To reaffirm himself in his life of sin, therefore, Martin Luther, the revolutionary tool of the devil, had to invent an entire theology designed to make it appear as though it was not necessary for man to humble himself before the true God of Divine Revelation by reforming one's life in cooperation with Sanctifying Grace, by undertaking penances to make reparation for one's sins, by being willing at all times and in all places to subordinate one's mind and will to that of the Divine Redeemer, Christ the King, in all that pertains to the good of his immortal soul.

Martin Luther thus dispensed with the truth that Christ the King established a visible, hierarchical community that is the Catholic Church.

Martin Luther thus dispensed with Sacred (or Apostolic) Tradition as one of the two sources of Divine Revelation.

Martin Luther thus helped to deify man by making him the sole interpreter of Sacred Scripture, meaning that men could come to mutually contradictory conclusions concerning the meaning of what was contained in Holy Writ, thus making a mockery of the work of God the Holy Ghost, Who inspired the writing of Sacred Scripture and Who has always guided the Catholic Church with the charism of infallibility as she has pronounced what books are indeed inspired (and thus part of the Bible) and the meaning of various passages.

Martin Luther's radical egalitarianism had to dispense with the concept of the Social Reign of Christ the King as there could be no visible, external check on the abuse of governmental authority if Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ did not establish His Holy Catholic Church as a visible, hierarchical community with the authority to intervene with civil officials as a last resort after discharging her Indirect Power of teaching, preaching and exhortation when the good of souls demands her motherly intervention. This is why some princes of German states gave the hideous, lecherous drunk Martin Luther their protection. They wanted to be free to govern in a purely Machiavellian manner without the "interference" of the Sovereign Pontiff in Rome or his duly appointed bishops.

Martin Luther told us in his own words that there must be a "separation of Church and State," that leaders may be Christians but it is not as Christians that they are to rule:

"Assuredly," said Luther, "a prince can be a Christian, but it is not as a Christian that he ought to govern. As a ruler, he is not called a Christian, but a prince. The man is Christian, but his function does not concern his religion."  (as quoted in Father Denis Fahey in The Mystical City of Christ in the Modern World.)

Martin Luther is the one who thus set the world on a course of the utter madness in which we find ourselves at the present time, a world in which most Catholics froth at the mouth when they hear that Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is meant to reign as the King of both men and their nations.

It is with Martin Luther's revolution against the Social Reign of Christ the King that Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI and his counterfeit church of conciliarism have made their reconciliation, embracing the heresy, termed as such by Pope Pius VII in Post Tam Diuturnas, April 29, 1814, of religious liberty and the thesis termed absolutely false by Pope Saint Pius X in Vehementer Nos, February 11, 1906, that of "separation of Church and State."

Pope Pius XI, the great apostle of the Social Reign of Christ King, the Sovereign Pontiff whose very motto was "The Peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ," instituted the Feast of Christ the King in his encyclical letter Quas Primas, December 11, 1925, placing it on the last Sunday of October, the very Sunday that Protestants commemorate "World Protestant Day" to observe the hideous Luther's posting of his ninety-five theses on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31, 1517, just four days shy of four hundred ninety-six years ago today, which happens to make the the eighty-seventh anniversary of the first celebration of this feast day. . Pope Pius XI wanted to remind everyone, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, that Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is indeed the King of both men and their nations.

The lords of the counterfeit church of conciliarism, rejecting as they do the Social Reign of Christ the King, have removed the Feast of Christ the King from last Sunday of October, placing it on the last Sunday of its liturgical year, which is called the "thirty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time." This is no accident as the conciliarists, having rejected the Social Reign of Christ the King, emphasize His eschatological Kingship at the end of time, not His Social Kingship over men and their nations before then.

Pope Pius XI placed this great Feast on the last Sunday of October not only to serve as a counterpoint to "World Protestant Day." He did so as there are four weeks left in the Church's liturgical calendar after the last Sunday in October prior to the beginning of a new liturgical year on the First Sunday of Advent. This signifies the simple fact that just as there is time left in the liturgical calendar so is there time left before the Second Coming of Christ the King at the end of time to judge the living and the dead. Our King, Christ the King is meant to reign now--in this life before His Second Coming in glory--as the King of men and their nations without any exception whatsoever.

Michael Davies, one of our great contemporary apostles of the Social Reign of Christ the King, noted how the conciliarists removed a number of readings derived from Quas Primas in their "revised" "Office of Readings." The late Mr. Davies also explained how Archbishop Annibale Bugnini changed the texts of the Mass of Christ the King as found in the Protestant and Masonic Novus Ordo liturgical service to signify the eschatological, not the social, Kingship of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ:

A number of readings from Quas primas itself were included in the Office, and they explained the traditional teaching on Church and State with great clarity. They have all been removed, showing how blatantly the compilers of the new Breviary went about their task of eliminating liturgical references to the Social Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The removal of these readings from Quas primas must certainly be seen as an affront to the memory and the teaching of Pope Pius XI, at whose behest the Office had been composed only forty years earlier, with the specific aim of reminding rulers that they are bound to give public honour and obedience to Our Lord. Could this great Pope possibly have imagined that within four decades he would have a successor who would totally mutilate the Office that he had approved so recently, and that this mutilation would have the objective of removing any suggestion that rulers are bound to give honour and obedience to Our Lord? Pope Paul VI stated explicitly to the rulers of the world that the Church asked no more of them than freedom to pursue its mission

The thoroughness with which Archbishop Bugnini's Consilium expunged every specific expression of Our Lord's Social Kingship from the liturgy can hardly be denied. Its members did not even miss a reference to Our Lord's Social Kingship in the Good Friday liturgy. The first of the Solemn Collects, the one for the Church, read:

Let us pray, dearly beloved, for the holy Church of God: that our God and Lord may be pleased to give it peace, keep its unity and preserve it throughout the world: subjecting to it principalities and powers, and may He grant us, while we live in peace and tranquillity, grace to glorify God the Father almighty. {my emphasis]

This prayer has been replaced by the following:

Let us pray, dear friends, for the holy Church of God throughout the World, that God, the almighty Father guide it, and gather it together so that we may worship him in peace and tranquillity.

Lest anyone should imagine that an undue significance has been placed upon changes in the Breviary and Missal relating to the doctrine of Christ the King, a comment by Archbishop A. Bugnini, Great Architect of the Liturgical Revolution, should prove very illuminating.

In the ecumenical climate of Vatican II, some expressions in the Orationes sollemnes of the Good Friday service had a bad ring to them. There were urgent requests to tone down some of the wording. It is always unpleasant to have to alter venerable texts that for centuries have effectively nourished Christian devotion and have about them the spiritual fragrance of the heroic age of the Church's beginnings. Above all, it is difficult to revise literary masterpieces that are unsurpassed for their pithy form. It was nevertheless thought necessary to face up to the task, lest anyone find reason for spiritual discomfort in the prayer of the Church. The revisions, limited to what was absolutely necessary, were prepared by study group l8 bis. In Intercession 1: "For the Church," the phrase subiciens ei principatus et potestates ("subjecting principalities and powers to it [the Church]") was omitted: even though this was inspired by what St. Paul says about the "angelic powers" (Col. 2:15), it could be misinterpreted as referring to a temporal role which the Church did indeed have in other periods of history but which is anachronistic today.[7]

So there we have it. The social kingship of Christ is an anachronism.

In my book The Second Vatican Council and Religious Liberty, I have documented in great detail the manner in which Dignitatis humanae abandoned the traditional concept of a Catholic state as taught by the Popes. The term "Catholic State" is not so much as mentioned throughout the entire Declaration. Article 6 accepts the possibility of a religious body being given "special legal recognition," but insists that "it is at the same time imperative that the right of all citizens and religious bodies to religious freedom should be recognized and made effective in practice." This hardly corresponds with the insistence of Pope Leo XIII: "Justice therefore forbids, and reason itself forbids, the State to be godless; or to adopt a line of action which would end in godlessness— namely, to treat the various religions (as they call them) alike, and to bestow upon them promiscuously equal rights and privileges. (The Reign of Christ the King.)

 

We proclaim anew what the lords of Modernity and the lords of Modernism in the conciliar church alike reject: the Social Reign of Christ the King. No Catholic can reject the doctrine of the Social Reign of Christ the King without finding himself condemned by these very words of Pope Pius XI, contained in his first encyclical letter, Ubi Arcano Dei Consilio, December 23, 1922:

Many believe in or claim that they believe in and hold fast to Catholic doctrine on such questions as social authority, the right of owning private property, on the relations between capital and labor, on the rights of the laboring man, on the relations between Church and State, religion and country, on the relations between the different social classes, on international relations, on the rights of the Holy See and the prerogatives of the Roman Pontiff and the Episcopate, on the social rights of Jesus Christ, Who is the Creator, Redeemer, and Lord not only of individuals but of nations. In spite of these protestations, they speak, write, and, what is more, act as if it were not necessary any longer to follow, or that they did not remain still in full force, the teachings and solemn pronouncements which may be found in so many documents of the Holy See, and particularly in those written by Leo XIII, Pius X, and Benedict XV.

There is a species of moral, legal, and social modernism which We condemn, no less decidedly than We condemn theological modernism.

It is necessary ever to keep in mind these teachings and pronouncements which We have made; it is no less necessary to reawaken that spirit of faith, of supernatural love, and of Christian discipline which alone can bring to these principles correct understanding, and can lead to their observance. This is particularly important in the case of youth, and especially those who aspire to the priesthood, so that in the almost universal confusion in which we live they at least, as the Apostle writes, will not be "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the wickedness of men, by cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive." (Ephesians iv, 14) (Pope Pius XI, Ubi Arcano Dei Consilio, December 23, 1922.)

 

We must celebrate this feast with great joy.

Pope Pius XI hoped that this great feast, that of Christ the King, might arouse Catholics from their lethargy and to serve as champions of Christ the King so that both men and nations will rally to the cause of the King who became Man for us in His Most Blessed Mother's Virginal and Immaculate Womb by the power of God the Holy Ghost so as to show forth the fullness of His love by paying back on the gibbet of the Holy Cross the debt that we owed to Him in His Infinity a God for our sins. Pope Pius XI knew that very few people read encyclical letters, that the Church's feasts, commemorated liturgically, speak to the hearts of men more effectually than encyclical letters. It was his hope that the annual celebration of the Feast of the Universal Kingship of Jesus Christ would "reach" men and inspire them to be champions of Christ the King, for whom so many Mexicans were dying as he issued the encyclical letter and for whom so many Spaniards would die a decade later:

That these blessings may be abundant and lasting in Christian society, it is necessary that the kingship of our Savior should be as widely as possible recognized and understood, and to the end nothing would serve better than the institution of a special feast in honor of the Kingship of Christ. For people are instructed in the truths of faith, and brought to appreciate the inner joys of religion far more effectually by the annual celebration of our sacred mysteries than by any official pronouncement of the teaching of the Church. Such pronouncements usually reach only a few and the more learned among the faithful; feasts reach them all; the former speak but once, the latter speak every year -- in fact, forever. The church's teaching affects the mind primarily; her feasts affect both mind and heart, and have a salutary effect upon the whole of man's nature. Man is composed of body and soul, and he needs these external festivities so that the sacred rites, in all their beauty and variety, may stimulate him to drink more deeply of the fountain of God's teaching, that he may make it a part of himself, and use it with profit for his spiritual life.

History, in fact, tells us that in the course of ages these festivals have been instituted one after another according as the needs or the advantage of the people of Christ seemed to demand: as when they needed strength to face a common danger, when they were attacked by insidious heresies, when they needed to be urged to the pious consideration of some mystery of faith or of some divine blessing. Thus in the earliest days of the Christian era, when the people of Christ were suffering cruel persecution, the cult of the martyrs was begun in order, says St. Augustine, "that the feasts of the martyrs might incite men to martyrdom." The liturgical honors paid to confessors, virgins and widows produced wonderful results in an increased zest for virtue, necessary even in times of peace. But more fruitful still were the feasts instituted in honor of the Blessed Virgin. As a result of these men grew not only in their devotion to the Mother of God as an ever-present advocate, but also in their love of her as a mother bequeathed to them by their Redeemer. Not least among the blessings which have resulted from the public and legitimate honor paid to the Blessed Virgin and the saints is the perfect and perpetual immunity of the Church from error and heresy. We may well admire in this the admirable wisdom of the Providence of God, who, ever bringing good out of evil, has from time to time suffered the faith and piety of men to grow weak, and allowed Catholic truth to be attacked by false doctrines, but always with the result that truth has afterwards shone out with greater splendor, and that men's faith, aroused from its lethargy, has shown itself more vigorous than before.

The festivals that have been introduced into the liturgy in more recent years have had a similar origin, and have been attended with similar results. When reverence and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament had grown cold, the feast of Corpus Christi was instituted, so that by means of solemn processions and prayer of eight days' duration, men might be brought once more to render public homage to Christ. So, too, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was instituted at a time when men were oppressed by the sad and gloomy severity of Jansenism, which had made their hearts grow cold, and shut them out from the love of God and the hope of salvation.

If We ordain that the whole Catholic world shall revere Christ as King, We shall minister to the need of the present day, and at the same time provide an excellent remedy for the plague which now infects society. We refer to the plague of anti-clericalism, its errors and impious activities. This evil spirit, as you are well aware, Venerable Brethren, has not come into being in one day; it has long lurked beneath the surface. The empire of Christ over all nations was rejected. The right which the Church has from Christ himself, to teach mankind, to make laws, to govern peoples in all that pertains to their eternal salvation, that right was denied. Then gradually the religion of Christ came to be likened to false religions and to be placed ignominiously on the same level with them. It was then put under the power of the state and tolerated more or less at the whim of princes and rulers. Some men went even further, and wished to set up in the place of God's religion a natural religion consisting in some instinctive affection of the heart. There were even some nations who thought they could dispense with God, and that their religion should consist in impiety and the neglect of God. The rebellion of individuals and states against the authority of Christ has produced deplorable consequences. We lamented these in the Encyclical Ubi arcano; we lament them today: the seeds of discord sown far and wide; those bitter enmities and rivalries between nations, which still hinder so much the cause of peace; that insatiable greed which is so often hidden under a pretense of public spirit and patriotism, and gives rise to so many private quarrels; a blind and immoderate selfishness, making men seek nothing but their own comfort and advantage, and measure everything by these; no peace in the home, because men have forgotten or neglect their duty; the unity and stability of the family undermined; society in a word, shaken to its foundations and on the way to ruin. We firmly hope, however, that the feast of the Kingship of Christ, which in future will be yearly observed, may hasten the return of society to our loving Savior. It would be the duty of Catholics to do all they can to bring about this happy result. Many of these, however, have neither the station in society nor the authority which should belong to those who bear the torch of truth. This state of things may perhaps be attributed to a certain slowness and timidity in good people, who are reluctant to engage in conflict or oppose but a weak resistance; thus the enemies of the Church become bolder in their attacks. But if the faithful were generally to understand that it behooves them ever to fight courageously under the banner of Christ their King, then, fired with apostolic zeal, they would strive to win over to their Lord those hearts that are bitter and estranged from him, and would valiantly defend his rights.

Moreover, the annual and universal celebration of the feast of the Kingship of Christ will draw attention to the evils which anticlericalism has brought upon society in drawing men away from Christ, and will also do much to remedy them. While nations insult the beloved name of our Redeemer by suppressing all mention of it in their conferences and parliaments, we must all the more loudly proclaim his kingly dignity and power, all the more universally affirm his rights. (Pope Pius XI, Quas Primas, December 11, 1925.)

 

We will advance the cause of Christ the King by promoting the fulfillment of His Most Blessed Mother's Fatima Message, offering our acts of reparation for our sins and those of the whole world to His Most Sacred Heart through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.

We will advance the cause of Christ the King with every Rosary we pray.

We will advance the cause of Christ the King with every act of mortification we offer up to Him through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, every bit of humiliation and ostracism and ridicule that we suffer for Him as His totally consecrated slaves through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, every effort we make to form ourselves and our children in the crucible of love that is the Holy Cross as we spend time before Our King in His Real Presence in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

We will advance the cause of Christ the King with the Enthroning of our homes to His Most Sacred Heart and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and by refusing to participate in our culture of naturalism thereafter, getting rid of the television once and for all.

We will advance the cause of Christ the King by refusing to enable the careers of naturalists who hate Him and His Holy Church just as much as the Masons in Mexico and the Communists in Spain did as they put thousands upon thousands of Catholics to death as those brave martyrs exclaimed the glorious words made famous the Cristeros (see Then, Now and Always: Viva Cristo Rey!, part one, Then, Now and Always: Viva Cristo Rey!, part two, Then, Now and Always: Viva Cristo Rey!, part three, Then, Now And Always: Viva Cristo Rey!, part four and Then, Now And Always: Viva Cristo Rey!, part five) that were exclaimed by Father Miguel Augustin Pro, S.J., as the bullets pierced his flesh on November 23, 1927:

Viva Cristo Rey!

Yes, today the Feast of Christ the King, and every day, may we proclaim anew with every beat of our hearts, consecrated as they must be to His Most Sacred Heart through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, Viva Cristo Rey!

We must remember these words that Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Our King, spoke to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque:

"I will reign in spite of all who oppose Me." (quoted in: The Right Reverend Emile Bougaud. The Life of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, reprinted by TAN Books and Publishers in 1990, p. 361.)

 

Yes, Viva Cristo Rey!

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!

 

Saint Joseph, Patron of Departing Souls, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.

Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, pray for us.

See also: A Litany of Saints

Isn't it time to pray a Rosary now?

 

Act of Consecration of the Human Race to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus  (Pope Leo XIII, 1899)

 

Most sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, look down upon us humbly prostrate before Thine altar.  We are Thine, and Thine we wish to be; but to be more surely united with Thee, behold, each one of us freely consecrates himself today to Thy most Sacred Heart.

Many indeed have never known Thee;  many too, despising Thy precepts, have rejected Thee.  Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw them to Thy Sacred Heart.

Be Thou King, O Lord, not only of the faithful who have never forsaken Thee, but also of the prodigal children who have abandoned Thee;  grant that they may quickly return to their Father's house lest they die of wretchedness and hunger.

Be Thou King of those who are deceived by erroneous opinion, or whom discord keeps aloof, and call them back to the harbor of truth and the unity of faith, so that soon there may be but one flock and one Shepherd.

Be Thou King of all those who are still involved in the darkness of idolatry or of Islamism, and refuse not to draw them all into the light and kingdom of God. 

Turn Thine eyes of mercy towards the children of that race, once Thy chosen people.  Of old, they called down upon themselves the Blood of the Savior;  may It now descend upon them as a laver of redemption and of life.

Grant , O Lord,  to Thy Church assurance of freedom and immunity from harm;  give peace and order to all nations, and make the earth resound from pole to pole with one cry:  Praise be to the Divine Heart that wrought our salvation;  to It be glory and honor forever.  Amen.

Act of Reparation to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (1928)

O sweetest Jesus, whose overflowing charity towards men is most ungratefully repaid by such great forgetfulness, neglect and contempt, see, prostrate before Thy altars, we strive by special honor to make amends for the wicked coldness of men and the contumely with which Thy most loving Heart is everywhere treated.

At the same time, mindful of the fact that we too have sometimes not been free from unworthiness, and moved therefore with most vehement sorrow, in the first place we implore Thy mercy on us, being prepared by voluntary expiation to make amends for the sins we have ourselves committed, and also for the sins of those who wander far from the way of salvation, whether because, being obstinate in their unbelief, they refuse to follow Thee as their shepherd and leader, or because, spurning the promises of their Baptism, they have cast off the most sweet yoke of Thy law. We now endeavor to expiate all these lamentable crimes together, and it is also our purpose to make amends for each one of them severally: for the want of modesty in life and dress, for impurities, for so many snares set for the minds of the innocent, for the violation of feast days, for the horrid blasphemies against Thee and Thy saints, for the insults offered to Thy Vicar and to the priestly order, for the neglect of the Sacrament of Divine love or its profanation by horrible sacrileges, and lastly for the public sins of nations which resist the rights and the teaching authority of the Church which Thou hast instituted. Would that we could wash away these crimes with our own blood! And now, to make amends for the outrage offered to the Divine honor, we offer to Thee the same satisfaction which Thou didst once offer to Thy Father on the Cross and which Thou dost continually renew on our altars, we offer this conjoined with the expiations of the Virgin Mother and of all the Saints, and of all pious Christians, promising from our heart that so far as in us lies, with the help of Thy grace, we will make amends for our own past sins, and for the sins of others, and for the neglect of Thy boundless love, by firm faith, by a pure way of life, and by a perfect observance of the Gospel law, especially that of charity; we will also strive with all our strength to prevent injuries being offered to Thee, and gather as many as we can to become Thy followers. Receive, we beseech Thee, O most benign Jesus, by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Reparatress, the voluntary homage of this expiation, and vouchsafe, by that great gift of final perseverance, to keep us most faithful until death in our duty and in Thy service, so that at length we may all come to that fatherland, where Thou with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest God for ever and ever. Amen.