by
Thomas A. Droleskey
Do you realize that there are entire websites in the Novus Ordo world dedicated to "explaining" the "proper" meaning of the prayers contained in the texts of the Protestant and Masonic Novus Ordo service as found in that Novus Ordo's Latin editio typica? Yes, we need entire websites to "correct" the mistranslation of the Novus Ordo texts from the Latin editio typica into English by the International Committee for English in the Liturgy (I.C.E.L.). Oh, to be sure, my friends, I used to fight these battles myself in my "conservative" days, believing that we could "fix" the problems in the Novus Ordo without realizing that it itself is the liturgical abuse par excellence, something that I came to accept once and for all following decision by Karol Wojtyla/John Paul in April of 1994 to permit female altar servers. (And for those who contend that John Paul did not grant such permission, I would like to remind one and all that the false pontiff's own spokesman, Dr. Joaquin Navarro-Valls, defended the decision and said that it was opposed only by "a few extremists.") Thus it is that I know all about trying to "correct" the I.C.E.L. translations and trying to "fix" the problems in the Novus Ordo service
We are supposed to learn from our mistakes. I mean, how stupid and blind was I not to recognize that there is no need for any priest or layman to have to "interpret" the prayers contained in the Sacred Liturgy of the Catholic Church? The Immemorial Mass of Tradition is redolent with the unchanging beauties of the Catholic Faith, of the very unchanging glories of the true God Who has revealed to us these truths of the Faith. Illiterate peasants in the Middle Ages understood the truths of the Faith contained in the Sacred Liturgy by the fact that they were immersed in its glories day in and day out, year in and year out. The daily routine of life revolved around the liturgical schedule of the nearby parish or the monastery. These illiterate peasants knew the Faith and the meaning of the ancient prayers that were chanted on earth and echoed so gloriously in Heaven. The constant language of the Church taught these Catholics about the glories of the Mass without distortion.
The ethos of the Protestant and Masonic Novus Ordo service, however, has bred novelty after novelty that has nothing to do with the Catholic Faith. The offering of what purports to be the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the vernacular has led to a veritable cottage industry of the translation of what is called the Sacramentary (the ordinary, common and proper parts of the Novus Ordo service) and the various Lectionaries (the book containing the three year cycle of Sunday readings and the two year cycles of daily readings--with at least one the additional book containing readings for "Masses" of Our Lady). Countless, "Pier Six," known-down, drag-out pitched battles have been fought over the "proper" translation of the Novus Ordo texts, fueled in large measure by the ideological work of the staff of I.C.E.L., whose former secretary, Dr. John Page, told me in an interview conducted in his office in Washington, District of Columbia, for The Wanderer in 1993, that it was I.C.E.L.'s mission to "push the envelope" on the liturgy so as to "move" it into the Twenty-first Century.
Obviously, each of these battles, some of which are still being fought between the ultra-revolutionaries and the "conservatives" in the conciliar structures, were all totally unnecessary as the thing over which these battles have been fought, the Novus Ordo service, is an abomination that offends God and is harmful to the souls for whom He shed every single drop of His Most Precious Blood on the wood of the Holy Cross. Invalid in most instances, the Novus Ordo has spawned a whole array of equally invalid or deficient liturgical rites and has robbed most Catholics in the world today of true bishops and true priests. This has denied glory to God and grace to countless hundreds of millions of Catholics, most of whom have become most accustomed to the novelties and innovations that they have experienced in the context of what purports to be offerings of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and who have come to believe that is not at all important to hold the Catholic Faith, whole and entire, in exactly the way that it was been transmitted throughout the centuries without one iota of dissent or reformulation in any way that could lead to a different interpretation.
As those who read this regularly will recognize, the attack on the nature of dogmatic truth is at the foundation of Modernism and its contemporary progeny, conciliarism. Can a Catholic live his life as a "High Anglican" without at all being concerned about the integrity of each article of the Catholic Faith, to which he must give his complete and total assent? Listen to what a unnamed defender of the Novus Ordo service wrote recently on his website about the ultimatum that the conciliar Vatican has given to the Society of Saint Pius X:
Most people want a reverent Mass and sound preaching. They care little for the loftier theological arguments."
This is a true statement, as far as it goes, of course. That is, yes, most people do not care for what this conciliar priest calls the "loftier theological arguments." However, one of the chief reasons that most Catholics do not care for the complete integrity of the Catholic Faith precisely because a lot of conciliar "conservatives" use rank positivism to dismiss this integrity as being nothing more than "loftier theological arguments." In other words, Catholics have been programmed by the the revolutionaries not to accept anathematized propositions in the name of "obedience" to "Church authority" and they have had this programming reinforced by "conservative" "apologists" who suspend the the use of their rational faculties to justify every doctrinal aberration and ecumenical outrage imaginable, especially those that carry with them a "papal" imprimatur.
Why wouldn't most Catholics have their understanding of the Catholic Faith "dumbed down" when they are fed a steady diet of lies concerning the very nature of what constitutes the integrity of the Catholic Faith and when they are led by "priests" in the conciliar structures who have no care for the honor and glory and majesty of the Most Blessed Trinity to denounce in the most uncompromising terms possible Joseph Ratzinger for his shameful, abominable esteeming of the symbols of false religions, each of which is hated by God. How can Catholics not come to accept that acts contrary to the First Commandment are nothing more than "loftier theological arguments" when clerics concerned about currying favor with the conciliar revolutionaries in Rome keep their mouths shut when God is blasphemed by a man who denies the very nature of dogmatic truth?
There is no need to reargue yet again points made in recent months on this site (Singing the Old Songs,
Defending the Truth is Never Any Kind of Game,
"Connecting" with Betrayal,
Calling Poison Health Food Doesn't Make It So,
Mainstreaming the Oldies,
Missing a Millennium, among many others, including those written during Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI's visit to the United States of America from April 15-20, 2008). I do want to point once again that what some dismiss as "loftier theological arguments" are nothing other than essential component parts of the Catholic Faith from which no one may dissent and remain a member of the Catholic Church in good standing and for which many millions of Catholics feared not for one instant to give up their lives rather than even to given the appearance of betraying any point of the Faith.
Consider the examples of Saints John and Paul, whose liturgical feast was observed yesterday, June 26, 2008, who could have easily keep quiet about the apostasies of Emperor Julian the Apostate in exchange for being "close" him in order to try to "influence" him by serving as his counsellors. Saints John and Paul did not consider silence in the face of apostasy to be a virtue. They did not try to justify the apostasy of the emperor by the use of various semantic tricks or mental reservations or outright distortions of the truth. They did not believe that to oppose the worship of idols was some kind of "loftier theological argument." They did not resort to emotion or illogic or sentimentality or convoluted, self-contradictory arguments to justify silence in the face of apostasy and betrayal. They wanted to keep the Catholic Faith whole and inviolate, being willing to give up their very lives in Its defense.
Dom Prosper Gueranger explained this in The Liturgical Year:
Amidst the numerous sanctuaries which adorn the capital of the Christian universe, the church of Saints John and Paul has remained from the early date of its origin one of the chief centres of Roman piety. From the summit of the Coelian Hill it towers over the Coliseum, the dependencies of which stretch subterraneously even as far as the as the cellerage of the house once inhabited by our saints. They, the last of the martyrs, completed the glorious crown offered to Christ by Rome, the chosen seat of his power. The conflict in which their blood was split consummated the triumph whose hour was sounded under Constantine, but which an offensive retaliation on the part of hell seemed about to compromise.
No attack could be conceived more odious for the Church than that devised by the apostate Caesar. Nero and Diocletian had violently and with hatred declared against the Incarnate God a war of sword and torture; and without recrimination, Christians by thousands had died, knowing that the testimony thus demanded was merely the order of things, just as it had been in the case of their august Head before Pontius Pilate and upon the cross. But with the clever astuteness of a traitor, and the affected disdain of a false philosopher, Julian proposed to stifle Christianity by a progressive oppression, respectfully abhorrent of human blood. Merely to preclude Christians from public offices, and to prohibit them from holding chairs for the teaching of youth, that was all the apostate aimed at! However, the blood which he wanted to avoid shedding must flow, even though a hypocrite's hands be dyed therewith; for, according to the divine plan, bloodshed alone can bring extreme situations to an issue, and never was holy Church menaced with greater peril. They would now make a slave of her whom they had beheld still holding her royal liberty in face of executioners. They would now await the moment when, once enslaved, she would at least disappear of herself, in powerlessness and degradation. For this reason the bishops of that time found vent for their indignation in accents such as their predecessors had spared to princes whose brute violence was then inundating the empire with Christian blood. They now retorted upon the tyrant scorn for scorn; and the manifestations of contempt that consequently came showering in from every quarter upon the crowned fool completely unmasked at last his feigned moderation. Julian was now shown up as nothing but a common persecutor of the usual kind; blood flowed, the Church was rescued.
Thus is explained the gratitude which this noble bride of the Son of God has never ceased to manifest to the glorious martyrs we are celebrating to-day: for amidst the many generous Christians whose outspoken indignation brought about the solution of this terrible crisis, none is more illustrious than theirs. Julian was most anxious to count them amongst his confidants: with this view, he made use of every entreaty, as we learn from the breviary lessons; nor does it appear that he even made the renouncing of Jesus Christ a condition. Well, then, it may be retorted, why not yield to the imperial whim? Surely too much stiffness would be calculated to ill-dispose the prince, perhaps even fatally: whereas to listen to him would very likely have a soothing effect upon him; and might even bring him around to relax somewhat of those administrative trammels unfortunately imposed upon the Church by his prejudiced government. For aught one knew, the possible conversion of his soul, the return of so many of the misled who have followed him in his fall, might be the result! Should not such things as these deserve some consideration? Should not they impose, as a duty, some gentle handling?
The highlighted sentences in bold in this last paragraph describe most perfectly the belief of those who have convinced themselves that it is a "virtue" to be silent about such abominations as the esteeming of false religions and the sacrileges caused by "inter-religious prayer services" and the denial of the immutable doctrine of the Social Reign of Christ the King and attacks upon the very nature of dogmatic truth. After all, we can "work from within," ever so quietly, you understand, to get "reverence" "back" into what purports to be Holy Mass. We don't need to speak out and risk our clerical careers or our reputations, now do we? We don't have to risk friendships and "good standing" with the apostates, do we? We can be silent and just pray that things will get better, right?
Silence in the face of esteem being paid to the symbols of false religions? For a Catholic? Silence? Never.
Silence in the face of the the denial of the "ecumenism of the return"? For a Catholic? Silence? Never.
Silence in the face of the exaltation of the separation of Church and State that was termed a thesis absolutely false by Pope Saint Pius X in Vehementer Nos, February 11, 1906? For a Catholic? Silence? Never.
Silence in the face of calling Mount Hiei in Japan "sacred"? For a Catholic? Silence? Never.
Silence in the face of treating the non-ordained "ministers" of false religions as though they legitimate representatives of God? For a Catholic? Silence? Never?
Silence in the face of claims asserting that false religions have a right from God to propagate themselves in civil society and that their false beliefs contribute to domestic order and international peace? For a Catholic? Silence? Never.
Silence in the face of attacks upon the nature of dogmatic truth, dismissed as nothing more than :loftier theological arguments?" Never. Catholic truth, about which no one is free to compromise, requires us a readiness to be to lose everything in Its defense.
The [First[ Vatican Council put the matter this way:
Hence, that meaning of the sacred dogmata is ever to be maintained which has once been declared by Holy Mother Church, and there must never be an abandonment of this sense under the pretext or in the name of a more profound understanding.... If anyone says that it is possible that at some given time, given the advancement of knowledge, a sense may be assigned to the dogmata propounded by the Church which is different from that which the Church has always understood and understands: let him be anathema. [Vatican Council, 1870.]
Joseph Ratzinger has felt free throughout his priesthood to thumb his nose at this simple reaffirmation of Catholic truth, thereby defying an anathematized proposition and defying even the dictates of natural reason in the process by turning the principle of non-contradiction on its head. See for yourselves:
The text [of the Second Vatican Council] also presents the various forms of bonds that rise from the different degrees of magisterial teaching. It affirms -- perhaps for the first time with this clarity -- that there are decisions of the Magisterium that cannot be a last word on the matter as such, but are, in a substantial fixation of the problem, above all an expression of pastoral prudence, a kind of provisional disposition. Its nucleus remains valid, but the particulars, which the circumstances of the times have influenced, may need further ramifications.
“In this regard, one may think of the declarations of Popes in the last century about religious liberty, as well as the anti-Modernist decisions at the beginning of this century, above all, the decisions of the Biblical Commission of the time. As a cry of alarm in the face of hasty and superficial adaptations, they will remain fully justified. A personage such as Johann Baptist Metz said, for example, that the Church's anti-Modernist decisions render the great service of preserving her from immersion in the liberal-bourgeois world. But in the details of the determinations they contain, they become obsolete after having fulfilled their pastoral mission at the proper moment.” (L'Osservatore Romano, July 2, 1990)
Alas, contradiction and paradox are at the very foundation of the New Theology, whose tenets were condemned by Pope Pius XII in Humani Generis, August 12, 1950, to which Joseph Ratzinger has dedicated himself throughout this priesthood and with with he is attempting to make the Fathers of the Church witnesses for conciliarism. Joseph Ratzinger is using these "loftier theological arguments" to make short work of those dogmatic decrees and papal encyclical letters that he believes have been distorted by the Scholasticism that he rejects so completely
No Catholic who loves God can be silent about any of this for any reason. If silence is called for now, then silence would have been acceptable in the wake of the apostasies of Julian the Apostate. Saints John and Paul knew better, as Dom Prosper Gueranger informs us:
Such preoccupation for the apostate's salvation could easily had nothing in it but what was inspired by zeal for the Church and for souls; and indeed the most exacting casuist could not find it a crime for John and Paul to dwell in a court where nothing was demanded of them contrary to the divine precepts. Nevertheless the two brothers resolved otherwise: to the course of soothing and reserve-making, they preferred that of the frank expression of their sentiments, and this boldness infuriated the tyrant and brought about their death. The Church has judged their case, and she considers they did well; hence it is unlikely that the former path would have led them to a like degree of sanctity in God's sight.
The names of John and Paul inscribed on the sacred diptychs show well enough their credit in the eyes of the divine Victim, who never offers himself to God Thrice-Holy without blending their memory with that of his own immolation. The enthusiasm excited by the noble attitude of these two valiant witnesses of the Lord still re-echoes in the antiphons and responsories proper to the feat. It was formerly preceded by a vigil and a fast; together with the sanctuary which encloses their tomb, it may be said to date back to the time of their martyrdom. By a singular privilege mentioned in the Leonine Sacramentary, whilst so many other martyrs slept their sleep of peace outside the walls of the holy city. John and Paul reposed in Rome itself, the definitive conquest of which had been won for the God of armies by their gallant combat. The very same day of the year immediately succeeding their victorious death, Julian fell dead, uttering against Heaven his cry of rage: "Galilean, thou has conquered!"
From the queen city of the universe their renown, passing beyond the mountains, shone forth almost as soon and with nearly equal splendour in Gaul. On his return from the scene of his own struggle in the cause of the divinity of Jesus Christ, Hilary of Poitiers at once propagated their cultus. The great bishop was called to Our Lord scarcely five years after their martyrdom; but he head already found time to consecrate to their name the church in which his loving hands had laid his daughter Abra and her mother, and in which he too was to await with them the day of the resurrection. It was from the church of the Saints John and Paul, name later on after St. Hilary the Great, that Clovis on the eve of the battle of Vouille beheld streaming towards him a mysterious light, presage of the victory which would result in the expulsion of Arianism form Gaul, and in the foundation of monarchical unity. These holy martyrs continued in after years to show the interest they took in the advancement of the kingdom by the Franks. When the disastrous issue of the Second Crusade was filling the soul of St. Bernard with bitterness, who had preached it, they appeared to him, revived his courage, and manifested by what secrets the King of heaven had known how to draw his own glory out of events in which man saw only failure and disaster.
Yes, my friends, saints gave up their lives for what is being dismissed today as "loftier theological principles." Oh, but how easy it is for fallen man to convince himself that it is virtuous to keep silent in the face of apostasy and betrayal. Is this not what so many did during Arianism? Is this not what so many did in England during the Protestant Revolt there as they convinced themselves that the Catholic Faith was not at sake, that their king was simply having a "jurisdictional dispute" with the pope over the extent of the latter's temporal powers? Is not fallen man capable of rationalizing his silence in the face of apostasy and betrayal by wrapping such silence up in the mantle of the virtue of prudence?
Consider this prayer that Dom Prosper Gueranger wrote to honor Saints John and Paul:
Twofold is the triumph that thrills through heaven and twofold the gladness re-echoed on earth this day, whilst your outpoured blood proclaims the victory of the Son of God! Verily, by thy martyrdom of the faithful does Christ triumph. The effusion of his Blood of the prince of this world; the blood of his mystical members possess, alone and always, the power of establishing his reign. Contest has never been an evil for the Church militant; the noble bride of the God of armies delights in combat; for she knows her Spouse came upon earth to bring not peace but the sword. Therefore, to the end of time she will hold up as an example to her sons your chivalrous courage and your bold frankness, which scorned to dissimulate your utter contempt for an apostate tyrant, or to suffer you to dwell for a moment on such considerations as might perhaps, had you listened to him at the first, have just saved your conscience together with your life. Woe to the day wherein the deceptive mirage of guileful peace misleads minds; wherein, merely because sin does not stare them in the face, Christian souls stoop from the lofty standpoint of their Baptism, to compromises which even a pagan world would avoid. Glorious brethren! make the children of holy Church then turn aside from that fatal error which would lead them to misconceptions of sacred traditions received by them in heritage. Maintain the sons of God at the full height of the noble sentiments demanded by their heavenly origin, by the throne that awaits them, by the divine Blood they daily drink; far from them be all such base notions as would be calculated to excite against their heavenly Father the blasphemies of the accursed city! Nowadays there has arisen a persecution not dissimilar to that in which you gained the crown; Julian's plan of action is once more in vogue; if these mimics of the apostate do not equal him in intelligence, they at least surpass him in hatred and hypocrisy. But God is no more wanting to his Church now than he was then; obtain for us the grace to do our part in resistance, as was done by you, and the victory will be the same.
Your very names, O John and Paul, remind us of the friend of the Bridegroom whose octave we are keeping; and of Paul of the Cross who received, in the last century, heroism of sanctity in your very house on Mount Coelio. Vouchsafe to unite your powerful protection to that which the Precursor exercises over the mother and mistress of all Churches, become by the very fact of her primacy the chief butt of the enemies' attack; uphold the new militia raised by the necessity of the times, and entrusted with the guardianship both of your sacred remains and of those of its glorious founder. Remember the power which the Church specially attributes to you, that of opening or shutting the floodgates of heaven, be pleased to bless our harvest nearly ripe for the sickle. Be propitious to our reapers and assuage their painful labour. Preserve from lightning man and his possessions, the home that shelters him, the beasts that serve him. Too often, ungrateful and forgetful man would indeed deserve to incur your wrath; but prove yourselves children of him who maketh his sun to rise upon the wicked as well as upon the good, and giveth his rain to fall alike upon the just and upon sinners.
Loftier theological arguments? This is what the Catholic Faith really teaches:
Woe to the day wherein the deceptive mirage of guileful peace misleads minds; wherein, merely because sin does not stare them in the face, Christian souls stoop from the lofty standpoint of their Baptism, to compromises which even a pagan world would avoid. Glorious brethren! make the children of holy Church then turn aside from that fatal error which would lead them to misconceptions of sacred traditions received by them in heritage.
Loftier theological arguments? The Mother of God herself, Mary our Immaculate Queen, cared enough about "loftier theological arguments" to give Saint Dominic de Guzman her Most Holy Rosary with which to fight the Albigensian heresy.
Loftier theological arguments? The Mother of God herself, Mary our Immaculate Queen, cared about the soul of a apostate Catholic turned Calvinist to seek his return to the true Faith, the sort of return which Joseph Ratzinger rejects by disparaging it as the "ecumenism of the return." Compare and contrast the words of the Mother of God with those of Benedict XVI:
Then the Lady said, "Where does that heretic live who cut the willow tree? Does he not want to be converted?"
Pierre mumbled an answer. The Lady became more serious, "Do you think that I do not know that you are the heretic? Realize that your end is at hand. If you do not return to the True Faith, you will be cast into Hell! But if you change your beliefs, I shall protect you before God. Tell people to pray that they may gain the good graces which, God in His mercy has offered to them."
Pierre was filled with sorrow and shame and moved away from the Lady. Suddenly realizing that he was being rude, Pierre stepped closer to her, but she had moved away and was already near the little hill. He ran after her begging, "Please stop and listen to me. I want to apologize to you and I want you to help me!"
The Lady stopped and turned. By the time Pierre caught up to her, she was floating in the air and was already disappearing from sight. Suddenly, Pierre realized that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary had appeared to him! He fell to his knees and cried buckets of tears, "Jesus and Mary I promise you that I will change my life and become a good Catholic. I am sorry for what I have done and I beg you please, to help me change my life…"
On August 14, 1656, Pierre became very sick. An Augustinian priest came to hear his confession and accepted him back into the Catholic Church. Pierre received Holy Communion the next day on the Feast of the Assumption. After Pierre returned to the Catholic Faith, many others followed him. His son and five daughters came back to the Catholic Church as well as many Calvinists and Protestants. Five weeks later on September 8, 1656, Pierre died and was buried under the miraculous willow tree, just as he had asked. (See:
If You Do Not Return to the True Faith, You Will Be Cast Into Hell!)
We all know there are numerous models of unity and you know that the Catholic Church also has as her goal the full visible unity of the disciples of Christ, as defined by the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council in its various Documents (cf. Lumen Gentium, nn. 8, 13; Unitatis Redintegratio, nn. 2, 4, etc.). This unity, we are convinced, indeed subsists in the Catholic Church, without the possibility of ever being lost (cf. Unitatis Redintegratio, n. 4); the Church in fact has not totally disappeared from the world.
On the other hand, this unity does not mean what could be called ecumenism of the return: that is, to deny and to reject one's own faith history. Absolutely not!
It does not mean uniformity in all expressions of theology and spirituality, in liturgical forms and in discipline. Unity in multiplicity, and multiplicity in unity: in my Homily for the Solemnity of Sts Peter and Paul on 29 June last, I insisted that full unity and true catholicity in the original sense of the word go together. As a necessary condition for the achievement of this coexistence, the commitment to unity must be constantly purified and renewed; it must constantly grow and mature. Benedict XVI, Ecumenical meeting at the Archbishopric of Cologne English
Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI has gone into two synagogues and into one mosque, participating also in "inter-religious prayer services." Did Bishop George Hay misrepresent the eternal principles of Catholic truth when he wrote the following over two hundred years ago now:
The spirit of Christ, which dictated the Holy Scriptures, and the spirit which animates and guides the Church of Christ, and teaches her all truth, is the same; and therefore in all ages her conduct on this point has been uniformly the same as what the Holy Scripture teaches. She has constantly forbidden her children to hold any communication, in religious matters, with those who are separated from her communion; and this she has sometimes done under the most severe penalties. In the apostolical canons, which are of very ancient standing, and for the most part handed down from the apostolical age, it is thus decreed: "If any bishop, or priest, or deacon, shall join in prayers with heretics, let him be suspended from Communion". (Can. 44)
Also, "If any clergyman or laic shall go into the synagogue of the Jews, or the meetings of heretics, to join in prayer with them, let him be deposed, and deprived of communion". (Can. 63) (Bishop George Hay, (The Laws of God Forbidding All Communication in Religion With Those of a False Religion.)
Bishop George Hay was simply stating the perennial truths of the Catholic Faith. He was not lost in "loftier theological arguments" but committed to the defense of the very Revealed Truths for which millions of Catholics have laid down their lives. No honest, rational human being can possibly assert with a straight face and with an absolutely clear conscience that the conduct of the countefeit church of conciliarism has been same as the Catholic Church in the forbidding of inter-religious prayer services.
Once again, my friends, this is what the Catholic Faith really teaches:
Woe to the day wherein the deceptive mirage of guileful peace misleads minds; wherein, merely because sin does not stare them in the face, Christian souls stoop from the lofty standpoint of their Baptism, to compromises which even a pagan world would avoid. Glorious brethren! make the children of holy Church then turn aside from that fatal error which would lead them to misconceptions of sacred traditions received by them in heritage.
We must accept nothing else than the totality of Catholic truth, which is found without compromise in the catacombs where no concessions at all are made to conciliarism or to the nonexistent legitimacy of its apostate leaders who dare to defy the anathematized propositions that are as binding now as they were when they were issued.
Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help! We turn, as always, to Our Lady in our days of trouble. She will indeed help us during this time of the Mystical Passion, Death and Burial of the Church Militant on earth. We must offer to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through her own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart all of prayers and sufferings and penances and mortifications and calumnies and humiliations in reparation for our sins and those of the whole world, making sure to pray as many Rosaries each day as our freely chosen states in life permit.
Remember always these words of Our Lady to Juan Diego in 1531:
Know for certain that I am the perfect and perpetual Virgin Mary, Mother of the True God. . . . Here I will show and offer my love, my compassion, my help and my protection to the people. I am your merciful Mother, the Mother of all those who love me, of those who cry to me, of those who have confidence in me. Here I will hear their weeping and their sorrows and will remedy and alleviate their suffering, necessities and misfortunes. . . . Listen and let it penetrate into your heart. . . . Do not be troubled or weighed down with grief. So not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain. Am I not here who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the folds of my mantle? In the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else that you need?
Our Lady of Perpetual Help, pray for us!
Isn't it time to pray a Rosary now?
Viva Cristo Rey!
Saint Joseph, 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.
Saints John and Paul, pray for us.
See also: A Litany of Saints
