+Feast of Christ the King+

The Month of November, the Poor Souls in Purgatory

Prayer Society Intention

“O blessed souls, pray for us poor miserable sinners who are in danger of being damned and losing God forever!”

When I first began to explore the traditionalist or LibTrad movement, I started out with studying prophecy and quickly realized that it gave me many possible scenarios but no concrete answers. And while I was in that phase of my development I spoke and corresponded with many starry-eyed LibTrad-type men and women who spoke as though it was almost a given that despite the chaos that had engulfed the Church, in the end everything would be fine: Christ would come to destroy his enemies and we would return to the late Middle Ages.  What I couldn’t understand and was puzzled about even then was how was the Church going to go on without a true Pope?

The belief that prevailed then and still prevails runs like this: after the coming of Antichrist a great monarch would pair with a holy Pope and between the two of them they would battle to recapture the Vatican and restore the Church. But unfortunately this is now impossible because we have no pope, and no cardinals OR bishops to elect a pope. LibTrads accuse those praying at home of denying the Church’s indefectibility and making the restoration of the Church impossible. But they fail to appreciate the fact that the only individual truly indefectible and capable of guaranteeing that indefectibility was the last canonically elected Roman Pontiff, Pope Pius XII, and that the clock has now run out on electing his successor. And if that vacant and unopposed See in Rome can never be filled, and Pope Pius XII and Canon Law says it cannot, then we are on the brink of the final events in world history.

The Israeli war

U.S. support for Israel in undertaking this recent war is justified by government officials as necessary because they’re one of our primary allies. And of course this is true. But I would like to see what would happen if the shoe was on the other foot and it was a Catholic king somehow associated with the United States who needed the same type of assistance. Of course long ago secret societies made certain that there were no longer any Catholic monarchies left, or if left, that such individuals were only impotent figureheads lacking any real power. Protestants support Israel’s right to establish or defend their country in anticipation of what they believe will be the rebuilding of the Jewish temple, which a good number of Protestants teach will happen in the latter days, and perhaps even now.

While these Protestants believe that the sacrifice that will be taken away is the Jewish sacrifice, Catholics know, of course, that it was the Continual Sacrifice of the Mass that would cease, not the Jewish sacrifice. So what these Protestants anticipate according to online reports is basically: the Rapture, the coming of the Jewish Messiah/Antichrist who will reign for 3 1/2 years and halt the sacrifices, the destruction of Antichrist by Christ, the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem and the restoration of Israel during a 1,000-year peace. The basis for these prophecies is found primarily in the Old Testament. But if they would only listen to and obey their Bible, teaching them about their “Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” to whom they pretend such devotion, they would understand that:

“For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things; by the selfsame sacrifices which they offer continually every year, can never make the comers there unto perfect: For then they would have ceased to be offered: because the worshippers once cleansed should have no conscience of sin any longer: But in them there is made a commemoration of sins every year. For it is impossible that with the blood of oxen and goats sin should be taken away. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith: Sacrifice and oblation thou wouldest not: but a body thou hast fitted to me: Holocausts for sin did not please thee. Then said I: Behold I come: in the head of the book it is written of me: that I should do thy will, O God. In saying before, Sacrifices, and oblations, and holocausts for sin thou wouldest not, neither are they pleasing to thee, which are offered according to the law. Then said I: Behold, I come to do thy will, O God: he taketh away the first, that he may establish that which followeth. In the which will, we are sanctified by the oblation of the body of Jesus Christ once.

“And every priest indeed standeth daily ministering, and often offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man offering one sacrifice for sins, forever sitteth on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting, until his enemies be made his footstool. For by one oblation he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. And the Holy Ghost also doth testify this to us. For after that he said: And this is the testament which I will make unto them after those days, saith the Lord. I will give my laws in their hearts, and on their minds will I write them: And their sins and iniquities I will remember no more. Now where there is a remission of these, there is no more an oblation for sin. Having therefore, brethren, a confidence in the entering into the holies by the blood of Christ; A new and living way which he hath dedicated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, And a high priest over the house of God” (Hebrews, Ch. 10: v. 1-21). And it is the renewal of Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross alone in His one and only true Church which from that time on satisfied for sins.

Thoughts on Christ’s Kingship

In his work, The Kingship pf Christ, Father Denis Fahey quotes as follows from the Communist Lenin: “The United states (of the world) and not only of Europe: that is the state formula of the union until the day when the complete victory of communism will bring about the definite disappearance of every state, even purely democratic.” That pretty much explains where we are today. Fahey goes on to comment, quoting from Pere Lavaud O.P., who was summarizing Thomistic principles:

“Two extreme errors are to be avoided in this question of national relations. The first is imperialism, according to which a particular nation would have the right, if it were strong enough, to lord it over the others and to realize absolute unity of temporal power on earth. From this excessive pretension there necessarily follows the ambition to dominate and enslave the spiritual power of the Church which opposes and condemns these excesses. The second extreme is internationalism which denies nations the right to distinct national life within their own frontiers and proclaims the necessity of setting up an immense world Republic. This idea is just as absurd as that of the Communists… According to the Communist doctrine, everything in the bosom of the nation must be in common amongst individuals; the family must cease to be. According to internationalism, everything in the world must be in common amongst men; nations must disappear. Communism and internationalism complete one another. That the temporal plane of a world Republic… can exist only on the spiritual plane is not less hostile to the Church than imperialism.”

Pope Benedict XV also taught: “The advent of the universal Republic which is longed for by all the worst elements of disorder and confidently expected by them is an idea which is now ripe for execution. From this Republic, based on the principles of absolute equality of men and common community of possessions, would be banished all natural distinctions nor in it would the authority of the father over his children or of the public power over the citizens or of God over human society be any longer acknowledged. If these ideas are put into practice there will inevitably follow a reign of unheard of terror” (Motu proprio Bonum sane, July 25th 1920).

Fahey explains that Christ has direct spiritual power over the faithful and indirect power over the temporal sphere. Quoting St. Thomas he writes: “Now St. Thomas distinguishes a twofold function of the grace of headship analogous to the double role exercised by the head with regard to the members of the body. ‘The head ,’ St. Thomas says, ‘has a twofold influence upon the members: an interior influence because the head transmits to the other members the power of moving and feeling; and an exterior influence of government, because by the sense of sight and the other senses which reside in it the head directs a man in his exterior actions’ (Summa III, question 8 answer 6). We must distinguish between the spiritual and the temporal kingship of Christ or between His primacy and the supernatural order and His primacy in the natural order. That this Kingdom is in a special manner spiritual and concerned with things spiritual is quite plain from the extracts from Scripture… and Christ’s own line of action confirms this view.

“To Jesus Christ then as King, Spiritual Ruler, appertains to set before the faithful the common end that they should attain and to point out to them the means of attaining it, thus guiding the exterior and visible movement of the whole Mystical Body to eternal happiness. To Jesus Christ, King, it belongs also to determine the proper sanctification for the precepts He imposes to reward and punish His subjects according to their desserts. Finally it is for Jesus Christ as King, in virtue of the work of redemption which He must accomplish to conquer His Kingdom and defend His faithful subjects against the enemies who strive to overthrow his reign here below. Christ’s spiritual Kingship is militant and the struggle against moral evil must go on as long as men remain here below exposed to suffering and death to corruption and sin. Only in eternity shall the triumph be complete by the victory of the good and the defeat of the wicked.” And Rev. Leo Haydock says the same:  Christ will truly reign as King only in heaven.

Of course we know what happened that led to everything we’re seeing today regarding the dissolution of nations and the destruction of the monarchies in the past. We know from whence it came and that this was always the aim of the secret societies and has been for centuries. Not only that, but there are other forces that join themselves with the secret societies to make sure that this is accomplished; forces that have always hated the Church and will hate Her until the very last day the earth exists. And when it comes to governments, it is that fatal error that there must be this toleration of all religions which is nothing more that Liberal creed of religious indifference. In his encyclical Tametsi, Pope Leo XIII said on Nov. 1, 1900 concerning Christ our Redeemer:

“About the rights of man as they are called, the people have heard enough. It is time they should hear of the rights of God… There is no one who does not see it. Liberty as it is now understood is to say a liberty granted indiscriminately to truth and error, to good and to evil and it ends only in destroying all that is noble, generous and holy, opening the gate still wider to crime, suicide and to a multitude of the most degrading passions. When an organism perishes and corrupts it is because it had ceased to be under this action of the causes which had given it its form and constitution. To make it healthy and flourishing again it is necessary to restore it to the beautifying action of those same causes.”

And this from his encyclical letter on Human Liberty: “As to tolerance, it is surprising how far removed from the equity and prudence of the Church are those who profess what is called Liberalism. For in allowing that boundless license on which We have spoken they exceed all limits and end at last by making no apparent distinction between truth and error, honesty and dishonesty.”  It is necessary to point out here as we have in recent blogs the ravages of this liberalism and how it began just like Modernism began: in the heart of the Church herself. Because there were actually people who called themselves Catholic liberals and they did even more damage than Protestant liberals could ever have thought of doing. They struck from within and they continue to strike from within, which is why we now have assigned them the name LibTrads. It should never be forgotten that the ultimate goal of tolerance was to make certain that the entire playing field was leveled in this country and loyal members of the clergy fought against this for decades.

Most important in this fight were Rev. Francis J Connell and Msgr. Joseph C. Fenton who opposed all of the attempts to have religious liberty installed within the documents of the false Vatican 2 council. But they failed to move “innocent” cardinals and bishops who were promoting this even at the first session of the council, and in the end the teaching of John Courtney Murray on religious tolerance was incorporated into official council documents, complementing the promulgation of ecumenism. This meant that in America as well as other countries, no one had the right to stand up and oppose anyone who condemned Catholic teaching. It also affected the right to evangelize others and to bring them into the Catholic fold. Certain LibTrads continue this tradition by trying to inject it into the spiritual sphere by challenging the apostasy of the bishops which they say occurred in 1965  instead of on Pope Pius XII’s death in 1958. That they could find it in themselves to tolerate the very errors that led millions of people astray can be explained only by the long-entrenched error of “Catholic” liberalism.

Establishment of the Feast of Christ the King

Excerpts from Pope Pius XI’s encyclical Quas Primas, 1922, fixing the Feast of Christ the King for the last Sunday in October, condemns the same errors noted above.

“It has long been a common custom to give to Christ the metaphorical title of “King,” because of the high degree of perfection whereby He excels all creatures. So He is said to reign “in the hearts of men,” both by reason of the keenness of His intellect and the extent of His knowledge, and also because He is very truth, and it is from Him that truth must be obediently received by all mankind. He reigns, too, in the wills of men, for in Him the human will was perfectly and entirely obedient to the Holy Will of God, and further by his grace and inspiration He so subjects our free-will as to incite us to the most noble endeavors. He is King of hearts, too, by reason of His “charity which exceedeth all knowledge.” And His mercy and kindness which draw all men to Him, for never has it been known, nor will it ever be, that man be loved so much and so universally as Jesus Christ.

“But if we ponder this matter more deeply, we cannot but see that the title and the power of King belongs to Christ as man in the strict and proper sense too. For it is only as man that He may be said to have received from the Father “power and glory and a kingdom,” since the Word of God, as consubstantial with the Father, has all things in common with Him, and therefore has necessarily supreme and absolute dominion over all things created.

“Do we not read throughout the Scriptures that Christ is the King? He it is that shall come out of Jacob to rule, who has been set by the Father as king over Sion, His holy mount, and shall have the Gentiles for His inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for His possession. In the nuptial hymn, where the future King of Israel is hailed as a most rich and powerful monarch, we read: “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; the scepter of Thy kingdom is a scepter of righteousness.”

“There are many similar passages, but there is one in which Christ is even more clearly indicated. Here it is foretold that His kingdom will have no limits, and will be enriched with justice and peace: “In His days shall justice spring up, and abundance of peace… And He shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.”

“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… 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… All must obey His commands; none may escape them, nor the sanctions He has imposed.

“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…

“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.”

“Nations will be reminded by the annual celebration of this feast that not only private individuals but also rulers and princes are bound to give public honor and obedience to Christ. It will call to their minds the thought of the Last Judgment, wherein Christ, who has been cast out of public life, despised, neglected and ignored, will most severely avenge these insults; for His kingly dignity demands that the State should take account of the commandments of God and of Christian principles, both in making laws and in administering justice, and also in providing for the young a sound moral education.

“He must reign in our minds, which should assent with perfect submission and firm belief to revealed truths and to the doctrines of Christ. He must reign in our wills, which should obey the laws and precepts of God. He must reign in our hearts, which should spurn natural desires and love God above all things and cleave to him alone. He must reign in our bodies and in our members, which should serve as instruments for the interior sanctification of our souls, or to use the words of the Apostle Paul, as instruments of justice unto God.” (End of Quas Primas quotes)

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“Christ … has been set by the Father as King over Sion, His holy mount… All must obey His commands; none may escape them, nor the sanctions He has imposed… Also rulers and princes are bound to give public honor and obedience to Christ. [The establishment of this feast] will call to their minds the thought of the Last Judgment, wherein Christ, who has been cast out of public life, despised, neglected and ignored, will most severely avenge these insults… 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…” 

Protestants and others ignorant of their faith would make a mockery of Christ’s very mission to suffer and die for sinners and open the gates of heaven. They would make of Him once again a worldly king, by presuming that a peace following the death of Antichrist could see a restored papacy and more or less Catholic world government. That Christ will reign as king only in heaven is something that should be apparent simply from what He Himself said. Catholic Bible commentators have opined that the destruction of the Temple described in Dan. Ch. 10:27 indicates the temple shall never be rebuilt. And the two attempts that have been made to rebuild it have resulted in the deaths of construction workers, voices sounding from heaven and all sorts of other portents indicating that it was never intended to be rebuilt. In an address to Belgian pilgrims on Sept. 6, 1938, Pius XI said: “Abraham is called our patriarch, our ancestor. Through Christ and in Christ we are the spiritual descendants of Abraham… No, it is not possible for Christians to take part in anti-Semitism… [For] spiritually, we are Semites.”

Yes, WE are heirs to the promise made to the Jews who forfeited it in denying the true Messiah. WE are the obedient and loyal subjects of Christ, the King over Sion, and will ever profess the right to His Kingship. “Behold, I come to do thy will, O God: he taketh away the first, that he may establish that which followeth. In the which will, we are sanctified by the oblation of the body of Jesus Christ once… The selfsame sacrifices which they offer continually every year, can never make the comers there unto perfect… For it is impossible that with the blood of oxen and goats sin should be taken away.” Our Christ, King; Our Holy Sacrifice — this is what they have attempted to take away from us. But He shall reign forever and ever, and in the end He will come as a thief, sword in hand and crowned by His Father, to claim His earthly throne, deliver the faithful and avenge the blood of the saints and martyrs. Please join us in the consecration today to the Sacred Heart, blessed with a plenary indulgence.

Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart

(Taken from Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Annum sacrum, 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 most 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 opinions, or whom discord keeps aloof and call them back to the harbour of truth and unity of faith, so that soon there may be but one flock and one shepherd.

Be Thou King of all those who even now sit in the shadow of idolatry or Islam, and refuse not Thou to bring them into the light of Thy kingdom. Look, finally, with eyes of pity upon the children of that race, which was for so long a time Thy chosen people; and let Thy Blood, which was once invoked upon them in vengeance, now descend upon them also in a cleansing flood of redemption and eternal life.

Viva Cristo Rey!