A Prophecy That Has Largely Come True - God Helps Us All

"Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection."

"Finally, careful consideration should be given to the danger of this power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempt to resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family difficulty? Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone. It could well happen, therefore, that when people, either individually or in family or social life, experience the inherent difficulties of the divine law and are determined to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife."

-Pope Paul VI, Encyclical Humanae Vitae, 25 July 1968, Paragraph 17

The Martyrdom of Blessed Elias Nieves

Painting of Blessed Elias Nieves,
taken from Blessed Elia del Soccorso (Matteo Nieves), March 10
(The following is excerpted from Chapter III of "Mexican Martyrdom," by Father Wilfrid Parsons, S.J., reprinted in 1987 by TAN Books.)

"...Father Elias Nieves, an Augustinian...stuck to his post as parish priest [in the town of La Cañada de Caracheo]...he moved out of the rectory to the hut of a native. On March 8 [1928] a company of soldiers arrived and asked for the priest. His house [the rectory] was locked and silent. They began to break down the door. The news spread like wildfire in the vicinity and in no time a crowd...had made a solid phalanx around the church, for fear it, too, would be destroyed....someone tipped off the soldiers....and Father Nieves was dragged forth. Two...made a hopeless effort to protect him, and they, too, were taken along....The Captain [Manuel Marquez Cervantes]...offered the two...their liberty, even urged it upon them. They stolidly refused to leave their pastor, and the Captain shrugged his shoulders...."

"Father Nieves and the others were called early [the morning of March 10], and the troops kept the villagers cowed. The two...knelt down for Confession and absolution, and they stepped forward together. 'We are ready,' they announced. One after the other they took the hail of bullets without flinching."

"It was the priest's turn. As he walked to the wall beside the two motionless bodies, he turned and asked for a few moments to recollect himself. He knelt a long while, and then standing, said: 'I am ready.' But at the moment that the soldiers lifted their rifles, he raised his hand."

"'Kneel down,' he said, 'I will give you the blessing of a priest - and along with it my pardon for what you are about to do.'"

"Every one of the simple soldiers knelt down and piously received the blessing of the priest, making the Sign of the Cross on their bodies. The Captain laughed."

"'Even for you there is a blessing and my pardon,' said Father Nieves. For answer the Captain drew his revolver and shot him dead. [Another account of the martyrdom adds that "The Father had time to shout too, clearly: 'Long live Christ the King!'" Of course, that slogan is ¡Viva Cristo Rey! in Spanish.] Then, to make sure, he stepped forward and gave him the coup de grace in the temple, blowing his brains out."

"His funeral the next day was a triumph for the countryside, and his body was laid beside those of his two faithful companions."

[Father Nieves was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 12 October 1997.]

Every priest who preaches the Word of God in times of persecution has no escape; he will die like Jesus on the Cross, with arms tied. -Blessed Elias Nieves

Alleluia Chant for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception

"Alleluia. alleluia. Thou art all fair, O Mary, and the original stain is not in thee. Alleluia." (taken from the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal)

Last Sunday in October - Feast of Christ the King

[Image of Christ the King, taken from Pius XI: The Kingship of Christ]
(The following is excerpted from the supplement in Volume XIV of the 1983 Marian House edition of the English translation of Dom Prosper Guéranger's 'The Liturgical Year' by the Benedictines of Stanbrook. As the feast of Christ the King wasn't instituted until the 1920s, Dom Guéranger likely didn't write this entry, but a later Benedictine religious.)

"The Kingdom of Heaven - Holy Church - is seen bringing forth out of her treature 'things new and old.'....Hence, guided by the Holy Spirit, of [H]im who has promised to be with her not merely for a few centuries but unto the end of the world, she defines or emphasizes certain points of doctrine as she sees fit, considering the needs of the times. We have an example in the institution of the feast of the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ by the Sovereign Pontiff, Pope Pius XI, in the jubilee year 1925, and explained to the faithful in the Encyclical Quas Primas."

"Christians have ever hailed our divine Lord as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It was as a King that the representatives of the Eastern world came to adore [H]im in a manger; it was as a King, albeit not knowing what he did, that the official representative of the Western world lifted [H]im up upon the Cross. The patriarchs and prophets of the old dispensation foretold [H]is royalty; [H]e spoke constantly of [H]is kingdom: when asked plainly whether [He] were in truth a king by the representative of Caesar, [H]e acknowledged that such indeed [H]e was, though of a kingdom not of this world...."

"Yet though [H]is is a spiritual kingdom, opposed to no just earthly polity, 'it would be a grave error to say that Christ has no authority whatever in civil affairs, since by virtue of the absolute empire over all creatures committed to [H]im by the Father, all things are in [H]is power. All men, whether collectively or individually, are under the dominion of Christ. In [H]im is the salvation of the individual, in [H]im is the salvation of society.'"

"To-day, we sadly behold 'a world undone,' largely paganized in principles and outlook, and, in recent years, in one country even glorying in the name 'pagan.' At the best, governments mostly ignore God; and at the worst, openly fight against [H]im, as we of to-day are witnessing in the Old World and in the New. Even the statesmen's well-meant efforts to find a remedy for present ills and, above all, to secure world peace, prove futile because, whereas peace is from Christ, and possibly only in the Kingdom of Christ, [H]is [N]ame is never mentioned throughout their deliberations or their documents. Christ is kept out of the State schools and seats of higher education; and the rising generations seem to be taught anything and everything save to know, love, and serve [H]im. Art and literature all too frequently reflect the same tendencies."

"And since the spirit of evil reigns inevitably wherever the spirit of Christ has ceased to reign, in public and in private men are flouting the moral laws of God, and some of the worst abominations of ancient paganism are becoming matters of every-day life. Moreover, be it remembered, modern paganism is worse than that of the ancient world, in that the former knows what ides as the latter did not. There is now an intense, positive hatred of Jesus Christ in the militant atheist, which differs in kind from the attitude of the fiercest Roman or Eastern persecutor: 'If I had not come and spoken to them... if I had not done among them the works that no other man hath done, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father' [John 25: 22, 24]."

"Ever as practical as she is supernatural, the Church is not content with merely deploring the evil, nor even with counteracting it by sound teaching. She would also make definite reparation to the divine majesty thus denied and defied; to [H]im whose royalty is slighted and insulted. Something must be done by those who, in a measure, understand and love, in order to atone for those who do not. 'To repair the crime...which denies God's rights over the human society whose author [H]e is, we must exalt Jesus Christ as King over all individuals, families, and peoples. If [H]is universal royalty be proclaimed and [H]is reign in society recognized, one of the principal evils of the modern world - the secularizing of public and private life - will be attacked at its roots' [quoted from L'Amour de Dieu et de la Croix de Jesus, P. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.]. Hence we have the special exhortation of the Vicar of Christ, and the institution of the feast of this divine Kingship...."

Prayer For the Reign of the Sacred Heart (On the Feast of Holy Michael the Archangel)

(The above video was found on the Rorate Caeli blog: Crisis? What Crisis? The beast was slain)
"O Mary Immaculate, great Queen of Heaven and earth and our gentle advocate, deign, we beseech thee, to intercede for us. Ask God to send St. Michael and the holy Angels to war of all the obstacles contrary to the reign of the Sacred Heart in our souls, our families, our country, and in the whole world. And thou, O holy Michael, Prince of the Heavenly Hosts, from our hearts we beg thee to come to our aid. Defend us against the rage of Satan, and through the divine power bestowed upon thee by God, after securing victory for the Church here below, guide souls to our eternal home. Amen."

"St. Michael, First Champion of the Kingship of Christ, pray for us!"

Martyrology for August 31

The above image is taken from All Saints blog.
[The following is the entry for the Thirty-First Day of August from the English translation of the 1962 edition of The Roman Martyrology, edited by Canon J.B. O'Connell.]

"St. Raymund Nonnatus, of the Order of our Lady of Random for the Redemption of Captives, Cardinal and Confessor. His birthday [in heaven] is commemorated on August 26."

"In Tuscany at Monte Senario, the birthday of St. Bonajuncta, Confessor, and one of the seven founders of the Order of the Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary; while he was preaching to the brethren about the Lord's Passion, he gave up his soul into the hands of the Lord. His festival with that of his companions is kept on February 12."

"At Trier, the birthday of St. Paulinus, Bishop; in the time of the Arian heresy he was exiled by the Arian Emperor Constantius on account of the Catholic faith. Wearied out by constantly changing the place of his exile until the day of his death, in places far beyond the Christian lands, he finally received from the Lord the crown of such blessed suffering, and died in Phrygia."

"At Trassaco on Lake Fucino in the Abruzzi, the birthday of the holy martyrs [Sts.] Caesidius, Priest, and his companions, who were crowned with martyrdom in the persecution of Maximin."

"Likewise, SS. Robustian and Mark, Martyrs."

"At Caesarea in Cappadocia, SS. Theodotus, Rufina and Ammia; the first two of these were the parents of St. Mamas the Martyr, to whom Rufina gave birth in prison and whom Amnia educated."

"At Auxerre, St. Optatus, Bishop and Confessor."

"In England, St. Aidan, Bishop of Landisfarne; St. Cuthbert (of whom mention is made on March 20), who was then a shepherd-boy, saw his soul being borne up into heaven. He forthwith left his flock and became a monk."

"At Nusco, St. Amatus, Bishop."

"At Athens, St. Aristides, a man most renowned in faith and wisdom; he offered a book on the Christian religion, which set forth the grounds for our beliefs, to the Emperor Hadrian, and, in the presence of the emperor himself, he maintained with great eloquence that Jesus Christ alone is God."

Feast Day of Sts. Abdon and Sennen, Martyrs

Stained glass window of Sts. Abdon and Sennen, taken from Saint Abdon et Saint Sennen
(The following is excerpted from the 30 July entry in Volume III of the 1983 Marian House edition of the English translation of Dom Prosper Guéranger's 'The Liturgical Year' by the Benedictines of Stanbrook.)

"The decrees of eternal Wisdom ordained that the West should be honoured before the East with the glory of martyrdom. Yet when the hour had come, Jesus was to have, beyond the Tigris, millions of witnesses by no means inferior to their forerunners, astonishing heaven and earth by new forms of heroism. Impatient of the delay, two noble Persians won their palm on this day by the command of Rome. By shedding their blood they paid tribute for their native land to the eternal City; and now they protect our Latin Churches, and receive the prayers and praise of the West. France receive a goodly portion of their sacred relics; and the city of Arles-sur-Tech, in Roussillon, can show to an incredulous generation the sarcophagus, from which flows a mysterious liquor, a symbol of the continual benefits bestowed on us by these holy martyrs."

"During the of Decius, two Persians, Abdon and Sennen, were accused of burying on their own estate the bodies of the Christians which had been exposed. By order of the Emperor they were apprehended and commanded to sacrifice to the gods. As they refused to obey, and moreover with the greatest constancy proclaimed Jesus Christ to be God they were placed in close confinement, and when later Decius returned to Rome they were led in chains in his triumphal march. They were dragged to the Roman idols, but to show their hatred of the demons, they spat upon them. Upon this they were exposed to the fury of lions and bears, but the beasts did not dare to touch them; at length they were put to death by the sword. Their bodies were dragged by the feet before the statue of the sun, but they were secretly carried away and buried by Quirinus the deacon in his own house."

"Hearken to our earnest prayers, O blessed martyrs! May the faith at length triumph in that land of Persia whence so many flowers of martyrdom have been culled for heaven. Before the time appointed for the struggle to begin in your native land, ye went to meet death elsewhere, and thus ye gained a new fatherland whereon to bestow your love. Bless us, the fellow-citizens of your choice, and bring us all to the eternal fatherland of all the children of God."