We cannot remain neutral in this battle — if we delude ourselves into thinking that we have managed to do so, we will have likely enlisted ourselves in Satan’s army. This has always been the case, and it is even more so today as the battle has become more heated.
St. Ignatius described the designs and promises of each of the two captains, Jesus and Lucifer:
“Their design. That of Jesus Christ is to make you a sharer in His labors and then in His glory; that of Lucifer is to make you first the accomplice of his crimes, and then the companion of his punishment. Their promises. Jesus Christ promises you possessions honorable, unfailing, infinite, eternal. Ask the elect; all render homage to the truth of His promises; all confess that they have only been surprised in being rendered happier even beyond their hopes. Lucifer promises you things unworthy of you, uncertain, which will leave a void in your heart, which will only add to your disgusts and agitations, which will soon pass away and will end in everlasting punishments.”
It is clear that we must choose to fight in Our Lord’s army, but Satan has great power to deceive fallen humans into serving him instead. And, at this particular moment in the spiritual battle, it appears that God has permitted Satan to have exceptional power to deceive souls and attack the Catholic Church.
Every week we witness new ways in which Francis and his collaborators deliberately attempt to mock the Church: from the endless apologies for the Church’s “sins,” to embracing the latest manifestations of the godless woke agenda.
When we look at the specific ways in which Satan is using his power today, we can see a definite resemblance to the ways in which Our Lord was tortured during His Passion. In his Letter to Friends and Benefactors from the Feast of St. Joseph in 1978, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre wrote of the “great mystery” of the Church’s crisis, which he called the passion of the Church:
“Providence has allowed this painful crisis in the Church for our sanctification and in order to give more brightness to the pure gold of its doctrine and its means of redemption. This passion of the Church is a great mystery, for it reaches chiefly its hierarchy, its scholars, who seem to no longer know who they are and the reasons of their being appointed.”
In the decades since Archbishop Lefebvre wrote these words, the “passion of the Church” has intensified, so that today we can see Satan and his minions unmistakably trying to replicate Our Lord’s tortures in their torment of the Mystical Body of Christ:
Humiliation of the Church. Just as Our Lord’s tormenters purposefully humiliated Him, virtually every news story from the Vatican adds to the humiliation of the Church. Every week we witness new ways in which Francis and his collaborators deliberately attempt to mock the Church: from the endless apologies for the Church’s “sins,” to embracing the latest manifestations of the godless woke agenda. If we imagine that this is accidental, we will be perpetually mystified; once we realize this is all intentional, it makes perfect sense — they want to humiliate the Church just as Our Lord’s torturers humiliated Him.
Persecution of Catholics. Those who remain faithful to what the Church has always taught are being persecuted by Rome’s false shepherds in various ways. While this has been the case ever since the close of Vatican II and promulgation of the Novus Ordo, it is now more open and hostile than ever. Through Francis’s posturing on the LGBTQ agenda and the FBI’s apparent targeting of Traditional Catholics, we can see the real possibility that our woke leaders will soon consider Traditional Catholicism as a “hateful” religion that can no longer be tolerated.
We will all suffer, but these sufferings will be meritless, and more unbearable, when we fail to unite those sufferings to the Cross of Our Lord.
Embrace of Heresy. Just as Our Lord’s enemies chose Barabbas over Him, today’s false shepherds embrace heresy and wickedness as they are denouncing what the Church has always taught. The Synod on Synodality’s documents literally favor those in polygamous relationships over those who practice what the Church has always taught. And, as we have seen in recent years, Francis is far more likely to embrace the most corrupt leaders in the world (and even the Pachamama) than he is to welcome Traditional Catholics.
False Witness Against the Church. Francis and his collaborators continually bear false witness against the Church by smearing its immutable teachings as “rigid,” “backwards,” and no longer binding on Catholics. This is an offense of itself and also encourages the persecution of Catholics who adhere to what the Church has always taught.
Disfiguring of Catholicism. In his The Revelations of the Holy Face of Jesus, John Vennari wrote of the way in which the Vatican II revolution has disfigured Catholicism, just as Our Lord’s enemies disfigured His Holy Face:
“And we have seen the results of ecumenism. It disfigures and eclipses Catholicism, because it strives to accommodate Catholic truth with the errors of heretics. The New Mass, which was fabricated according to the principles of ecumenism, and which is praised by many Protestants as being acceptable to them, is probably the most striking example of how ecumenism disfigures the Catholic Faith.” (p. 37)
Satan uses all of this to torture the Mystical Body of Christ but also to cause as many faithful Catholics as possible to betray Our Lord and His Church.
God is permitting all of this for a reason, just as He permitted the tortures of the Passion and Crucifixion. As St. Ignatius told us, Our Lord wants to make us a “sharer in His labors and then in His glory,” and so we must see the passion of the Church in that light. Moreover, during this passion of the Church we can follow the example of those who honored Our Lord during His Passion and Crucifixion:
We Must Remain Close to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Just as St. John remained faithful during the Crucifixion by standing by Our Lady, we must remain with the Blessed Virgin Mary during this passion of the Church. As St. Louis de Montfort described in his Treatise on the True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, she is the one who will lead God’s faithful servants in battle:
“In these latter times Mary must shine forth more than ever in mercy, power and grace; in mercy, to bring back and welcome lovingly the poor sinners and wanderers who are to be converted and return to the Catholic Church; in power, to combat the enemies of God who will rise up menacingly to seduce and crush by promises and threats all those who oppose them; finally, she must shine forth in grace to inspire and support the valiant soldiers and loyal servants of Jesus Christ who are fighting for His cause.”
God is permitting all of this for a reason, just as He permitted the tortures of the Passion and Crucifixion.
St. Louis de Montfort also explained why Satan has intensified his efforts in our time:
“Mary must become as terrible as an army in battle array to the devil and his followers, especially in these latter times. For Satan, knowing that he has little time — even less now than ever — to destroy souls, intensifies his efforts and his onslaughts every day. He will not hesitate to stir up savage persecutions and set treacherous snares for Mary's faithful servants and children whom he finds more difficult to overcome than others.”
We will suffer, but we can use that suffering to honor God and win souls for Heaven if we remain with Our Lady, who always seeks to keep us near Jesus.
We Can More Faithfully Carry Our Crosses. In his The School of Jesus Crucified, Father Ignatius of the Side of Jesus reflected on Simon of Cyrene:
“My soul, if thou hadst been in the place of Simon of Cyrene, and hadst known who and what Jesus was, as thou knowest now, wouldst thou not most willingly have assisted Him to carry His Cross? Wouldst thou not have considered it a happiness to bear that heavy Cross upon thy own shoulders, to relieve the agonizing Son of God? Most certainly thou wouldst. Well, if thou bearest thy trials patiently, if thou dost struggle generously against thy temptations, thou wilt enjoy an honor similar to that of the Cyrenean. All our sufferings are portions of the Cross of Jesus. They have all in the first instance afflicted His blessed Soul and Body. He has experienced all the sufferings which you now endure. He has borne the sorrows which afflict you. You will diminish the burden laid on Jesus, you will relieve His sufferings, if you bear your Cross willingly and joyfully for love of Him. Promise our sweet Jesus that you will do so from this moment.”
We will all suffer, but these sufferings will be meritless, and more unbearable, when we fail to unite those sufferings to the Cross of Our Lord:
“How many persons bear the Cross, feel all its weight, and faint from fatigue, but derive no advantage from it to their souls, because it is not the Cross of Jesus that they are bearing. They suffer, but for the world; they suffer, but to content their own whims; they make the most painful sacrifices, but for anything rather than the love of Jesus. No merit will you ever have in your sufferings unless you suffer for the sake of Jesus. Neither will your sufferings ever be rewarded if you persevere not to the end in suffering for Jesus. You must follow Jesus even to the summit of Mount Calvary, that is to say, with fidelity even unto death.”
In this time of the Church’s passion, our sufferings will likely multiply, as will our opportunities to honor God and gain merit by bearing our crosses as faithfully as possible.
If we make use of the spiritual weapons God has given us — prayer, penance, and pursing holiness through the many ways the Church gives us — we will help lead souls to Heaven and do our part in contributing to God’s ultimate victory.
We Should Honor the Holy Face and Holy Name of Jesus. In his pamphlet on The Revelations of the Holy Face of Jesus, John Vennari related the words of Sister Saint-Pierre from October 27, 1845, as she “felt herself carried in spirit to the road leading to Calvary”:
“‘There’ she relates ‘Our Lord vividly portrayed before me the pious and charitable act of Veronica who, with her veil, had wiped His most Holy Face covered with spittle, dust, sweat and blood. The Divine Savior made me understand that, at present, the impious, by their blasphemies, renewed the outrages and indignities offered His Holy Face: all the blasphemies now hurled against the Divinity, Whom they cannot reach, falling back, like the spittle of the Jews upon the Face of Our Lord, Who offered Himself a Victim for sinners. He now told me that He wished me to imitate the zeal of the pious Veronica, who had so courageously braved the crowd of His enemies to reach Him, and that He presented her to me as my protectress and model; that we render Him the same services as this heroic Jewish woman when we promote the Reparation for Blasphemy, and that He regards those who do so with the same complacent eyes as He gazed upon her when on His road to Calvary.’” (pp. 20-21)
By making reparation for the blasphemies hurled at Our Lord and His Church today, we can follow the pious St. Veronica in consoling Jesus. Our Lord gave Sister Saint-Pierre the “Golden Arrow” prayer specifically for purposes of making reparation for the many blasphemies wounding His Divine Heart:
“May the Most Holy, Most Sacred, Most Adorable, Most Mysterious and Unutterable Name of God be praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified, in Heaven, on earth, and in the hells, by all God’s creatures, and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen.”
Mr. Vennari also saw the revelations of Sister Saint-Pierre as especially vital in this phase of the spiritual battle:
“As Saint Vincent Lerins, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Saint Robert Bellarmine, and other Saints teach, Catholics have a duty to resist novelties that distort the Faith and disfigure the Church, even if these novelties come from the highest Church authorities. But without prayer and reparation, our resistance will be in vain. It is fitting then to close with special mention of the prayer given by Our Lord to Sister Saint-Pierre for the protection of the Church.” (p. 47)
Here are Sister Saint-Pierre’s words about the prayer for protection of the Church:
“He taught me the prayer I must use to protect His Church by the virtue of the most Holy Name of God – the one He Himself when leaving earth, offered His Eternal Father, for His Apostles and all the Church: ‘Holy Father, keep them in Thy Name, Whom Thou has given Me.’ This prayer is more efficacious than any I might compose myself.” (p.47)
Mr. Vennari closed with words of great consolation, which should inspire us to dedicate ourselves entirely to fighting for Jesus in this spiritual battle:
“Our hope lies in the fact that the troubled times our Church now experiences have not come to us without a warning, nor without the promise of Heaven’s final victory. Our Lord foretold that Communists, Secret Societies and other revolutionary men may cause great havoc, yet in the end, they will not win. ‘But their machinations are vain,’ Our Lord assured, ‘their designs shall be foiled!’” (pp. 47-48)
God would not be permitting Satan to have such power in this spiritual battle if He did not intend to draw great good from it. If we make use of the spiritual weapons God has given us — prayer, penance, and pursing holiness through the many ways the Church gives us — we will help lead souls to Heaven and do our part in contributing to God’s ultimate victory. Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
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