Holy Mother Church never ceases to invite us to turn our eyes towards Our Lord Jesus Christ, in order to know Him, to love Him, to follow Him and to be like Him by participating in His grace. Nonetheless, dazzled by our own excellence, we like to let our gaze linger upon ourselves and contemplate our own importance. As long as we do not radically change our object of contemplation, we will not be able to answer this maternal invitation favorably.
Dear Friends and Benefactors,
Holy Mother Church never ceases to invite us to turn our eyes towards Our Lord Jesus Christ, in order to know Him, to love Him, to follow Him and to be like Him by participating in His grace. Nonetheless, dazzled by our own excellence, we like to let our gaze linger upon ourselves and contemplate our own importance. As long as we do not radically change our object of contemplation, we will not be able to answer this maternal invitation favorably.
We are wounded by original sin that has left such dire consequences in our souls and we are equally wounded by our own sins. We repeatedly inflame our wounds by this glance which always manifests a secret complacency in ourselves, in the same way as a child infects a wound by constantly touching it with dirty hands. Our pride exercises upon us its powerful tyranny. As we cannot pretend to be acknowledged as the best, as we cannot hold the first place in spite of our constant efforts, we find a perverse satisfaction in claiming eagerly the last.
Humility, a most necessary virtue, cannot be acquired by looking at ourselves, but only by contemplating Our Lord Jesus Christ and thus entering into His intimacy. Then, we are able to understand that His life cannot be understood but by the light of Calvary, the summit and key of His whole existence. He has come among us only to offer His life in a holocaust to the Father in order to restore the glory of God and to take souls away from the dominion of Satan. The soul that enters into the secrets of divine Charity cannot but follow St. Paul, wanting only one thing: "to know Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ Crucified."
Jesus Christ on the Cross gives Himself totally and receives from us in return only a legalistic, routine answer and not a total, indisputable commitment. Certainly, we are Christians. But are we His disciples, ready to follow Him and to share in His abandonment? Do we take His demands with the seriousness which they deserve? Do we even take the time to reflect upon His sufferings?
Our Lord was totally alone when He suffered on the Cross and, unfortunately, this solitude has barely changed after twenty centuries. There are few, even among the baptized, who accept the participation in the sufferings of the Savior. There are few who hear and answer the appeal of the Crucified Christ: Sitio.
This word expresses the violent thirst provoked by the beatings, the loss of blood from His many wounds, the pains of the way of the Cross, the piercing of His hands and feet, the unbearable agony of asphyxiation - a physical, cruel thirst. But it is nothing in comparison with the spiritual thirst that affects our dying Lord. His divine glance embraces all souls, each one, but ours in particular because we are sinners and He, burning with intense thirst, expects that we go to Him to confess our misery and to receive the fruits of His mercy.
Sitio. This appeal must resound constantly in our souls to protect us from the furious assault of temptations, to keep us awake and vigilant in the combat of every moment, to keep us in the humility of our condition as sinners, to overcome the secret resistance that separates us from God because we oppose our wills to His Will.
Sitio. With this word, Our Lord reveals to us the depths of His soul. The thirst that devours Him is the love that consumes His divine Heart. The suffering that affects Him is our indifference in answering love for love. It is by devious plans that we try to avoid the unavoidable gift of ourselves to His crucified Love, this divine identification which is proposed to us, which frightens us, which we refuse.
Sitio. Our prevarication stresses our cowardice but is not an answer. And Our Lord, "in agony until the end of the world," to use the famous expression of Blaise Pascal, requires an answer. Will we continue to rudely express our refusal by our repeated evasions? Our silence is an answer that condemns us.
Let us demand the grace of not being counted among those souls who, repeating the gesture of the Roman soldier, offer a sponge soaked in vinegar to the dying Christ. A sentimental compassion is not sufficient. When the drama of our Redemption is being played out, it is not permissible to be content with some sensible devotions. We must engage ourselves totally in the following of Our Lord, abandoning our will into His hands to serve Him in the fidelity of our duty of state, which in the end is no more than the expression of His crucifying love.
Let the beautiful reflection of the famous liturgist, Dom Gaspard Lefebvre, become our prayer: "May the Most Precious Blood of Our Blessed Lord shower us with His divine blessings because God loves the souls empurpled by this divine Blood and fills them with His love, uniting them to His beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased."
In Christo Sacerdote et Maria,
Fr. Yves le Roux
NEWS FROM THE SEMINARY
Since 1991, St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary has hosted the annual Priests' Meeting for the districts of the United States and Canada. The priests enjoy the meeting as an opportunity to regain vigor and acquire new "ammunition" to fight against Modernism. Old friendships are renewed and zeal enkindled by contact with comrades in the apostolate and by remembrances of days as students of the Seminary.
This year, from February 21st- 25th, the Seminary was pleased to welcome fifty-seven priests, including nine priests friends of the Society. Attendees were able to profit from conferences on topics relevant to their apostolic work in the chapels and missions. Among the guests was Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, who presented three conferences on the relationship between Church and State. His Excellency spoke of liberalism's rejection of Catholic teaching on the Social Kingship of Christ and showed the influence that heresy has had on the constitutions of modern states, including those of Spain, Ireland, Italy, and Colombia.
Fr. Marie-Dominique, O.P. of the Convent of La Haye-aux-Bonshommes in Avrille, France, gave two conferences on the subject of marriage, while the Seminary's own Fr. Juan Carlos Iscara spoke of contemporary moral questions in three lectures. Fr. Timothy Pfeiffer, Novice Master of the Brothers' Novitiate in El Paso, Texas gave a conference on the religious vocation in today's world and the Society's vocations to the brotherhood in particular. Fr. Thomas Blute from the Society's missionary apostolate in India graced the Seminary with his surprise appearance at the beginning of the week. At the request of the Seminary Rector, Fr. Blute gave a short talk to the seminarians on the necessity of study and prayer based on his long experiences in the missionary field. The Meeting ended with an address by Fr. John Fullerton, District Superior of the United States.
Close to 40 seminarians gladly surrendered their rooms to the visiting priests, camping out for the week in the farmhouse, barber shop, library, bookstore and other such places. The affluence of priests meant that the Seminary's permanent altars and extra ones erected for the occasion saw much use, as over 60 priests were daily calling down many graces from Heaven by offering their Mass.
The priests are to be congratulated for finally winning the Winona Cup that, for the fourteenth year, opposed STAS seminarians and priests of the Society. This first win ever for the priests was the occasion of great rejoicing amongst the Flyin' Fathers.
It was a busy week for all - priests, lecturers, and seminarians - but one full of graces and fraternal charity. The Seminary hopes to be able to host the Priests' Meeting for many years to come.