December 2006 - Stopping at Bethlehem

Peace is a sign of the action of God; its absence is evidence of satanic action. God acts witfh measure, calm, order, as the sovereign Master from whom nothing escapes. The devil, blinded by his rebellion and enslaved by his pride, breathes hatred and revenge, and in each one of his interventions intends only to spread his venom.

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

Peace is a sign of the action of God; its absence is evidence of satanic action. God acts witfh measure, calm, order, as the sovereign Master from whom nothing escapes. The devil, blinded by his rebellion and enslaved by his pride, breathes hatred and revenge, and in each one of his interventions intends only to spread his venom.

All this becomes clear when we consider the psychological aspect of temptations. The devil draws us into his snare, exercising upon us such pressure that it is extremely difficult for us to back out of it. We are drawn into acting as quickly as possible, into possessing and enjoying. Taken up in the whirlwind of our passions, we are unable to think; the only thing that we perceive is the call of our sensual appetites. Pleasure must come without delay to satisfy our desire for gratification. In our eyes, nothing else exists, only this sudden and intense frenzy that soon becomes an obsession. The devil insists, tirelessly repeating: now, now, now. He cannot let us have time to consider coldly the situation, thus goading us into the abandonment of the order established by God.

Temptation is nothing more than the turmoil of our lower appetites anesthetizing our intelli-gence and leading our will to move in the direction pointed out by our unbridled passions. But intel-ligence, being the highest faculty of man, is not so easily overcome. That turmoil must be very intense to render the anesthesia effective, making us fall into the trap set for us. The devil has to create a favorable environment for this turmoil and make it appear as something normal, natural.

If we analyze the present state of the world, we will understand the profound motive for its perpetual agitation, for its multiple and urgent appointments, its constant worries, its anxiety on ac-count of the uncertainties of the future, for the amazing speed of the means of so-called “communi-cation” that excite the imagination and slow down the intelligence, etc. In this constant agitation, the diabolic seed finds a favorable ground to bring forth its poisoned fruits.

It seems to us that the frenzy for information, which is a very particular characteristic of our times, is a telling example that underlines the emptiness of our age. It points the way for us to de-nounce the programmed death of the intelligence and to expose the diabolic trap that it contains. Today, being up to date seems to be the only important thing - to know what is happening, to know even the smallest details of current events, and to be able to follow their course. Even more, thanks to this sudden and unrealistic power offered by the new drug that is the Internet, man feels himself invested with unrestricted power and confuses what he thinks with what is. Thanks to this new medium, he is even able to create an event! For that, it is enough for him to enter into any “forum” or to open any “blog,” and then to pour onto the “web” the furious bitterness of his pride - contradicted for too long a time for his liking - and to write in a peremptory tone, with that pretentious assurance that is characteristic of fools. The Internet having now acquired the authority of the Gospel, the fool's gratuitous assertions, abusive and very often distorted, become the poisoned source of information. What is important is not the truth, but to be the center of attention and, thus, to be able to admire the image of ourselves that the screen mirrors back to us. The quantity of unverifiable information that circulates on the Internet and is spread out in newspapers and conversations is an obvious and pitiful sign of the emptiness of our age.

Because of this “overdose of information,” by an understandable reflex of survival, the intelligence prudently withdraws from this unhealthy game. It has become impossible for it to consider these industrial quantities of facts, assumptions and lies, and to analyze them all. Thus, the intelligence leaves the place to the imagination, which, on the contrary, thrives in this world of fantasy! We should not be surprised by the hypertrophy of the imagination, nourished with the “informatic hormones,” and, on the other hand, by the atrophy of the intelligence, which cannot find any more an object upon which to be exercised. We are witnessing today the triumph of what the French revolutionaries of May, 1968 wrote all over the walls of their universities: “Imagination in power!” And thus, man has become an irrational animal.

The conductor of this ghoulish opera gathers souls for an eternity in hell, with a diabolic pleasure that is not difficult to imagine. Indeed, where else can a man who no longer follows the rules of his intelligence go? "Imagination in power" is much more than a revolutionary slogan. It is a diabolic invitation to overturn the order created by God, with the aim of giving free rein to our passions, which quickly enslave us. If man has become an irrational animal, he is nothing else than a damned soul in potency.

The agitation of this world is not neutral and it does not come from God.

Happily for us, the feast of Christmas shines forth as a divine invitation to collect ourselves, to silence the vain noises that continue to spread those lies which hurt us so much. It is time to stop and admire the divine goodness towards men. Let us ask for the grace to find, before the silent spec-tacle of the Manger, which speaks so loudly to our souls, this interior glance which will give us back the sense of God and of man. There is still time – it is time – to believe in the Merciful Love of God for us and to receive Him by adoring the Child-God already delivered to the wood of the manger and to the cold of the night as a divine Introit of His sacrifice, which will be consummated upon the wood of the Cross because of the cold indifference of men - men whose habitual agitation holds them back from God...

It is sufficient to adore and to love: let us stop at Bethlehem.

In Christo Sacerdote et Maria,

Fr. Yves le Roux

NEWS FROM THE SEMINARY

• Dear friends and benefactors, very many thanks for seeing the Seminary through another calen-dar year. We live by your generosity for which we as rarely need to ask as we are always grate-ful. To express this gratitude is the purpose of these letters, even if they do not always say so.

• We have at present 73 seminarians, including 10 who became members of the Society of St. Pius X on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. All of us, professors and seminarians, will be praying for you to have a most holy Christmas and a happy New Year.