✝PRAEDICATIO✝
Church Militant Membership-We Must Be Warriors
by Fr. Ruiz
The Catholic Trumpet [slightly adapted]| September 30, 2024|
Welcome to
PRAEDICATIO, a new column on The Catholic Trumpet. Here, we faithfully present transcriptions of sermons and conferences from uncompromising traditional Catholic priests who, like +Archbishop Lefebvre, stand resolute in defending the integral Catholic Faith. These priests courageously resist and reject the errors, heresies, and compromises of Vatican II and modernist Rome, continuing the fight for the Social Kingship of Christ.
The original audio of Father Ruiz was delivered in Spanish and has been translated into English. We have taken every precaution to ensure the accuracy of these transcriptions. However, should you find any errors, we kindly ask that you notify us at
thecatholictrumpet@gmail.com.
We are also working on French and Spanish translations of these sermons, ensuring that no one is deprived of these precious teachings.
In this column, you will only find the sermons of priests who remain steadfast and refuse to compromise—priests who defend the true Mass, the true Sacraments, and the integral Catholic doctrine. As Catholics, this is our duty, and we take this stand—firm and unwavering.
Vive le Christ Roi!
- The☩Trumpet
IF WE ARE MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH MILITANT, THEN WE MUST BE WARRIORS.
September 8, 2024
The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Hail Mary, full of grace.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today is the 16th Sunday after Pentecost, but it is also the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In this Gospel, Our Lord commands us to be modest, to be modest in our actions, so that when occasions arise where we might seek recognition, we will not be prideful, as these occasions can sometimes lead to our humiliation. We must not pretend to be more than we are, or boast of more than we have.
And from our humiliation, Our Lord says that we will be glorified, because God will exalt us for that humility. That does not only happen on a spiritual level, but also sometimes in our human life; there are people who are prideful, or who want to give themselves airs of, I don’t know what, to want to feel considered, and then sometimes they are in situations in which they are humiliated, because they have pretended to be more than they are.
And that is why Our Lord recommends modesty and discretion, and He Himself gave us the example. He, being God, being the Son of God, was never immodest in His life, and that is what we are glorifying. He always used discretion, but He had the right to all glory, to all honor, because He was God and He is God, but that is not our case.
So in our case, being creatures, being men, being sinners, we must be humble, we must practice modesty in our life. Today arrogance and being arrogant are very fashionable, but we must imitate Our Lord.
And we can also use the Blessed Virgin Mary as an example, because the Virgin Mary, whose feast day we celebrate today, Her Nativity-the day She was born- was also born in a discreet way, like Our Lord. Very few learned that the Mother of God had been born, very few knew that She was going to be the Mother of God. Very few also knew when Jesus Christ was born, and there were very few who went to see Him. And that does not take anything away from the value of His birth. On the contrary, it was a very important event for humanity, for all men, for us. Although at that time almost no one took Him into consideration.
We must not think that the important things are those that everyone welcomes, or considers because people are going here or there, or because people think this or that- this is not proof that these things are necessarily important. Above all, we must view everything in relation to God. More important is God Himself, and everything that pertains to God. And the more it pertains to God, the more important it is. So who were the most important saints that were the closest to Jesus Christ? These were the Virgin Mary, or the apostles, or the saints who lived in the time of Our Lord. They were holier because they were closer to Jesus Christ and more perfectly imitated Him, and they also received special graces and witnessed His examples.
We must look to our life to see what our relationship with Christ is. Is it a relationship that is good, or firstly, does this relationship exist at all?
And to be in a relationship with God, we must live in the state of grace. We are already significant, it can be said, when we are in the state of grace because we are children of God. And that relationship with God can grow, can expand, as much as we relate to Christ, it can be by the degree of grace, by the degree of growth in our spiritual life. Our relationship with God can also grow if we imitate the virtues of Jesus Christ, if we live according to His will. This makes us better, makes us more worthy, because we are true children of God, or children of God with a more intense, more perfect title. Like the saints, those who draw near to Jesus Christ and are close to Him in their spiritual life are notable individuals and for this reason, they are precisely more worthy of respect.
Everything on earth, and all things in the world, are judged and are worthy of value by their relation to God. Since the coming of Jesus Christ, every relationship with God always comes through Him. There is no other way, there is no other possibility. Our relationship with God is to the extent of our relationship with Jesus Christ. We go to the Father and the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ. Our dignity lies in our connection to Jesus Christ. And that should be our main concern, although other things in life are important, it can be important to eat, to live, to work, money is also necessary in life, but it is not the most important thing. So we should not give those things an exaggerated importance, but always live in connection with Jesus Christ, and desire a true union with Him. And that should be our main concern, that was the constant focus of the saints, of all the people who preceded us in the Christian life -who were good Catholics, because they were always attentive to live in the state of grace, to pray, to go to Mass, which sanctified them, and saved them, and brought them to heaven.
The measure of our happiness in heaven corresponds to the depth of our relationship with Christ, and this relationship is always established by grace. I can not claim to have a good relationship with Christ if I do not have grace. And if you say, ‘I do not believe in grace, yet I feel I have a strong relationship with Christ despite not having more grace’ this is impossible. So our relationship with Christ is made by grace, by the Christian life, by the imitation of the virtues of Jesus Christ, the examples that Jesus Christ left us, the love that he left us, especially the example of love that he left us. These things must be imitated, and by doing so we are treasuring treasures for the afterlife. So this life certainly has its needs, its work, but even though we have to live and eat every day, it does not mean that our body is more important than our soul.
Despite everything we have to do to live, we must never forget that our soul comes first, and that is why we must sanctify everything, not only when we pray, or when we do any specific pious or Catholic action, but all actions in life must be sanctified because they must be oriented towards God. When we sit down to eat, we say a prayer first. Without this, we are no different from animals who do not pray, and we fail to recognize this distinction. Animals eat when they are hungry, and sleep when they are sleepy, but they do not sanctify their actions because they are animals.
But people don't consider that they go to bed without praying, or eat without giving thanks to God. In the life of St. Dominic Savio, it is said that one day his parents invited some people to his house, and the first thing they did was to sit down and start eating. The child was offended and said, ‘I do not want to eat with these people who live like animals, they eat and do not give thanks to God,’ and he was absolutely right. There are people who are like animals, who never give thanks to God for what they do, and they go to bed without praying, they get up without saying anything, and live without ever thinking of God. During the day, no matter what activity you do, you always have to do everything for the love of God. Even if we can not pray all the time, we can live in the presence of God, and do everything for His service, for His love.
By doing things in this way all our actions are sanctified, even sleep is sanctified, and we grow in the grace and the love of God in everything we do. That is what God wants, and this is normal, it is what we should do, you understand? If not, then we become like animals, like this child who said, ‘I do not want anything to do with these people who live like animals and do not pray.’ This is the fervor we should have every day, to improve ourselves, and grow in grace. It is the work of a Christian, of the Christian life, to every day grow in the life of grace, grow in the love of God, and grow in merits from the practice of all the virtues. You have to practice them, and that is the measure of your reward, you understand? That is what awaits us in heaven. If we do not make an effort in this life, if we are not always attentive to live for the service of God, even if we save ourselves, we will have limited much of our happiness in heaven.
When washing the dishes, even if we are doing something purely physical or material, even then we must do it for the love of God, as Saint Joseph did. And that is not easy, right? Because in this life, conditioning ourselves thus, requires effort and is difficult, but it is meritorious. In heaven there will be no cross, there will be no suffering, everything will be easier and more natural, because we will already have the vision of God. But on this earth we do not have the vision of God; we live by faith, and faith is the believing in things unseen. So if we believe, even though we do not see God, and there is not always some satisfaction in doing our duty, it has a lot of merit, and makes our soul grow.
Doing our duty gives us grace, and other rewards that God wants to give us. In this life we are here to work, we are the workers of God, in this life we are here to work to win heaven, and to win a better heaven, it is for that reason we are here. The rest is secondary, although it is also necessary, but just because it is necessary does not mean that it is more important than our salvation.
There are some people who believe that in this life we are here to have fun, to have a good time, this is wrong, you understand? This is not the main purpose. Mediocrity in the Christian life can prevent people from being saved, or, in some cases, they may be saved but only with great difficulty. Sometimes they are saved and they will spend a good time in purgatory, and they win a heaven that would not be the one that God had destined for them; it was not the heaven that God wanted to give them, because God gave each of us different talents, and some are destined for a better glory than others, but all are destined to be fully happy. Those who have not been faithful to all of God’s graces, because they have not taken advantage of them, will not have that fullness that God wanted to give them, you understand?
So maybe there are people that God wanted to make very happy in heaven, and they will not have all that happiness, because they were negligent in this life, they were forgetful, they were lazy, they were negligent, or they did not have enough faith, and the truth is that everything is destined for the service of God and the salvation of our soul, everything, you understand? Everything that we think and do must be in that order, the order of salvation, and sanctification, which are the same.
If they missed their opportunity, it is forever, you understand? It is for all eternity, and that is why this life has two aspects, one very important and one that is not important at all, meaning that the things of this life are going to end, so they are not important, you understand? Those who live by money or wealth, these things are finite, so they are not important, even if there are necessary things that have to be done, like eating every day, this is necessary, but not very important with respect to eternity. But there are things in this life that are very important, why? Because if we do them as they should be done, we are going to have a reward for all eternity, and how we live this life will determine all of eternity. So this life, even if it is short, is very important. Why? Because we should aspire to live this life, according to virtue, according to grace, not according to other human standards, you understand?
People appraise money, physical talents, others appraise the importance that people have in society, no, that is not what matters in regards to eternity. When we reach eternity, we will be judged by how we have practiced the Christian virtues in our life, how closely we have imitated Jesus Christ, and that is how our eternal worth will be determined. Our lives, lived according to Christian life, Christian virtues, and grace, will determine who we are for all eternity. If a person, though not considered important or wealthy by the world, practices Christian virtues, fulfills his obligations, and follows God's will, then the degree to which he lives this Christian life will determine the measure of his eternity and his eternal happiness.
In that sense, what we are in this life, is what we will be in eternity which makes this life very important for us. How can there be people who always live in neglect, in ignorance of their Christian life? True Christians focus on praying, on loving God, on doing good works, on doing virtuous acts and practicing them, because this is what merits their reward.
Some practice patience, others practice humility, others practice generosity, others practice faith, hope, or charity, and the extent to which we practice these virtues determines the measure of our reward and our place in eternity and our place in heaven.
The most virtuous and generous on earth will be the most honored in heaven. Though all will be fully happy, some will receive greater rewards, depending on their generosity and love for God in this life.
There are people who are lost, who are idle, and are unable to find purpose in life. Instead of taking advantage of this life, to earn merits, to do good works, to practice the virtues, to love God, which is the way to heaven, they waste their time. There are saints who excelled in certain virtues, more than others, and their glory in heaven corresponds to the virtues they practiced most. Saint Thomas says that the glory of the saints is not equal, and that each of them will have a different glory, a different splendor, and that splendor will be so for all eternity. What does their splendor, intensity of glory, and their happiness depend on? It depends on the intensity of the good work done today, now, in this life. There is no need to make illusions about it. That's why this life is so important.
In this life, your eternity is decided. This life is very important, because we can merit heaven, and save ourselves. This life is going to end. There are things that we like, but one day we will not have them, they will be as nothing. We have things such as a house, properties, there are people who have a nice car, but when they die, that car is going to stay here, their house too, they can't take it with them which shows it is not important.
During this life these things have importance, in as much as we have our needs but they cannot compare with an eternal importance, which is forever. Those things serve us for a few years, for some time, the things that God gives us serve us, and we receive some happiness here on earth, but those things are going to end, and in eternity, those things will no longer be with us and no longer exist. We will be living elsewhere, in another place, so we should not love the things of this life. We should use them to the extent that they are necessary, and use them without loving them, without always thinking about them, because we are going to leave those things here. Even our body is going to stay here, it will be dust, it will be ash. We will only take to heaven, the degree of grace, the degree of charity, and the degree of virtue which we have merited on this earth. These things are the treasures that will make our glory shine, in eternity, forever, without end.
This life gives the illusion, which many people are under, but it is just an illusion, that this life is going to last a long time, that this life does not end. No, when we leave this life we are going to see it as just an instant, a moment in time, and compared with eternity this life is nothing. The moment of our life is important, because it will decide our fate and our eternal punishment or reward. It will determine what place we will have in heaven, how our glory will be, because there are different types of glory. The greatest glory is to see God, to possess God.
Those who will see more of God, and possess more of Him, are the ones who practiced the theological virtues in this life. Theological means ‘of God’. These are the virtues of faith, hope and charity. What is our faith? What type of faith do we have? Is it a mediocre faith, is it a superficial faith, is it a badly understood faith, a badly practiced faith? This happens because we do not read, because we do not know our religion. We have to try to read books that speak about the virtues, and how to practice them. It is not enough to say, ‘I am good’, but to be good we have to do certain actions, and if I do not know how to do those good acts, I will not be good, I will not reach a particular goodness, but a very mediocre and superficial goodness.
This is the problem with the mediocre Catholics, of the liberal Catholics, who conform to an exterior appearance in Christian life, a social situation, and they think it is enough. They do not do good works for heaven, they are constantly sinning, and they do not want to carry their cross, because virtue is a burden, the practice of virtues is burdensome, it is difficult, it is heavy, it is hard, and sometimes painful. They seek a life of comfort, a life without effort, and expect heaven. But, no, heaven is not something we are entitled to- it must be deserved.
Today the world is bad, the world is in crisis, of all kinds, politically, economically and in many other ways. Above all, there is a crisis of the Church, like never before. We know it was the Popes who declared the Christian era. When the years were counted, and history was told, they always referred to the years AD, after Jesus Christ. We are in the Christian era, and this is why we are in the year 2024, because it was 2024 years ago, that Jesus Christ was born, nothing more or less. Everything relates to Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ is the center of history, and of course this bothers the enemies of God. It also bothers the liberal Catholics, who do not want to be so extreme, and say, ‘ah, no,why must everything be judged in relation to Jesus Christ, no, no,why do you have to be so exacting?’ It bothers certain liberal Catholics, when people measure everything in relation to Jesus Christ, and make Jesus Christ the center of history. Before Jesus Christ was born, the eras are described as BC or before Jesus Christ, historical facts are measured by His birth, and they don't want to say that anymore. The Pope recently stated that we are now in 'common time.' Therefore, instead of saying '2024 AD' (after Christ), he simply says '2024 of the common time.’
The reference to Jesus Christ is no longer made. The Pope does not want to do it.
The Pope is now saying that it is a sin for those who don't want to promote wild, mass immigration, to bring people from one country to another country, in masses, without any control, without any rules. This is an aggressive action against one's country, it is like an invasion. Back in the day when an invasion was made, there was a reason for it. It was to make war, an invasion was a reason to make war. Today they don’t understand that mass immigration, is a bad thing. Throughout history there were always small amounts of immigration in all cities. There were a few people who went to live in another country, or who went and stayed there, but it was a very minor immigration, because there were only a small number of people. It wasn’t something that came to disturb the order of that country, or of that nation. It was not necessarily something bad, but today it is.
Today, they have brought thousands of people into Europe, which used to be a Christian Europe with Christian countries but now is a Pagan Europe with Pagan countries. There are some people there who say that they are Catholic, but, if you dig a little, there is nothing left of Catholicism in their life. Those countries, the enemies of God, want to destroy Europe even more, and erase everything, all of Christianity. They bring in non-Catholics, and they prevent Catholic immigrants from entering countries like France or Spain, but are favoring Muslim immigrants, instead. why? Well, to destroy Christianity. Those countries, which were Christian, used to have a Christian population, used to have numerous families, with many children, but now they no longer have children. They want to replace the Christian population and heritage by a completely anti-Christian population. Muslims are anti-Christians and are destroying those countries. God Has punished these Catholic countries because they have moved away from God, and because they do not practice their Christian life, they are going to suffer a lot, because they don’t want to return to their Christian and Catholic roots.
The Pope already said that by not accepting immigration you are sinning, it is a mortal sin. He is deliberately collaborating with the enemies of God, with the world leaders. He also speaks of an ecological sin, because of this fake environmental crisis. The whole environmental crisis is a big lie. It is only being promoted for political motivations of the world leaders, from the enemies of God. The Pope is completely involved in the game of those people. The Pope is a world leader, he is a Pope who is every day denigrating and discrediting the Church. He is making it an object of mockery, mockery. Because of his attitudes, he is weakening the faith of Christians. This man is a precursor of the Antichrist, and that is a calamity! In these times, Catholics must conform to lead a normal Christian life much more so than in other times, when society was more or less Catholic. During this time, Catholics are forced to a greater generosity, to a greater militancy, because our religion is being attacked. Christian countries are being attacked, they are being destroyed by the enemies of God, who are inventing a thousand ways to destroy the nations, and also to destroy the Church.
When a house is burning, the first thing we do is to try and stop the burning; even your friends and neighbors come to help, so that it does not burn, because it is a matter of great emergency. We are also in a state of emergency, so that Catholic society continues to live. We can no longer be mediocre. Mediocrity is a greater sin now, and more serious, for those Catholics who do not want to do anything, who cross their arms, and complain and say, ‘let's just wait for God to do something.’ God is asking us to pray, so that He can do something. God does not want to help us, if we do not ask him. We do not have the right now to be mediocre Catholics.
When there are very serious things that happen, we must strive to do better, to pray more, to improve our Christian life, to counteract the temptation that we are victims, or that society is a victim. When there is a great crisis, it becomes necessary that the members of society become soldiers, become warriors, become more attentive, and fight to save their country, to save their society, and to save the Church. We have an obligation to save the Church. I do not understand how there can be Catholics that see everything that is going on today, but do not dare to pray a rosary, they do not dare to convert, and say, ‘my God, I am going to do something about this’, so that God will forgive us, and help us. They do not want to make the effort. This is a greater sin, because we do not have the right to indifference. If there is someone attacking my family, if the father of a family sees someone attacking his children, and remains cross- armed, that is a sin, of course. It is a sin of omission. ‘I did not do anything wrong,’ they say, but you were called to do something in that moment which was a great obligation and you did not do it, this is a sin, a sin of omission.
This is the great sin of the liberal Catholics, who remain cross-armed, (passive), and who refuse to confront the situation. Those traditionalist Catholics, who according to them are ‘traditionalists’, say, ‘no we are simply against the crisis of the Church, we are against modernism, we are against Vatican II.’ It would be good if they were against something, it would be good if they even just think about it, that they think about it, but it is criminal that they remain cross armed, and passive.
Do you make sacrifices as the Virgin asked in Fatima? What did the Virgin ask for? So that God does not punish the world, so that greater punishments do not come, and among those punishments, there is the crisis of the Church. This is the punishment for the sins of the bad Christians, it is a punishment that the Church is in crisis, because we are all in danger, we are all in danger of condemnation. What did the Virgin ask us? The Virgin in Fatima came from God, so what She asked was from God, she asked for the Rosary, that we make sacrifices, conversion, sacrifice, expiation, it is what we must do. There are already Catholics who do not want to take part in life, in politics, but politics is also an obligation. Catholics should be involved in the situation of the world, not only in personal life, but in social life, in political life, to fix the situation of our Christian countries. It is our obligation. It is true that today there are not many opportunities, but you have to find a way to be interested, to see what can be done. There are those who do not even think about it, they do not even have the imagination to think about what could be done.
But yes, they can complain, yes, they can spend two hours complaining about the misfortunes of humanity, but they can not say the Rosary in 25 minutes, as if it were more of a burden than the cross of Jesus Christ. I do not know how it can be so difficult, praying is not difficult, it is more difficult to work every day. People who work 8 or 10 hours, this is more difficult, because it is work, whereas praying is talking. It's like talking to God, it is not difficult. When I talk to my friends, when I talk with the people I love, I can spend an hour, two hours or more, and it does not tire me. To pray the Rosary is to talk to God. The devil will make me believe that it is hard, that it is difficult, that it is unbearable, that I do not have the time, that there are more important things I could do and this is a diabolical deception- to see prayer as something heavy is a diabolical deception. Prayer is not hard, it is very easy, just talk, that is not a heavy burden, it does not hurt, so it should not be a tiring job to pray, it is not. The devil makes us believe that it is something very difficult to pray the rosary and this is a diabolical deception, it is not true, it is not true. It is easy to pray the Rosary, the Virgin asked it of us, she asked us to do it so that God, in his mercy, would lessen the punishments that are to come, or that are already present, such as the punishment of the crisis in the Church. This is a great punishment, the worst of punishments, because souls are being condemned, and this is the worst of punishments. It is already happening, it is happening today, so we must pray more, we must expiate, make some sacrifices, make many sacrifices, pray and ask every day, for the conversion of sinners.
So how can it be possible that there are Catholics who are aware of what is happening, but complain all day, to the point that it is burdensome to hear them. They complain all day about what is happening in the world, but they do not want to make any efforts, they do not want to touch a rosary, they do not want to touch it, as if that way of living were a sin.
The Virgin asked us to convert, to convert, to correct your problems. What does that mean? Conversion for those who are not Catholic, no, no, conversion for those who are already Catholic. But what do you have to become, what do you have to repent of? Well, of your bad habits, of your bad ways, of your vices, of your defects, and try to be better, every day. This is what it means to convert, give up evil, become good, become better, and leave our defects, our anomalies, and be better. God decided it that way
The priest is there to lead. He is not there to obey the faithful, to the fools, who do not know what to do. Even in the good people, who are working for God we can see the ambition for power, sometimes these people want to strip us, more than the others, and sometimes they sacrifice their good causes, for a little ambition, because they want to be more important.
In today's Gospel, Jesus Christ tells us, no, if you want to be greater, then, humble yourself. Sometimes, in the clergy, there is an ambition for power. It is a shame that some priests, who claim to be traditional, feel a constant desire to lead others even though not everyone is called to leadership. This can stem from sins of weakness, petty sins, sins of very base nature. How can someone who has such high ideals, who understands so many things, and so many good things, and knows where things are, where evil is, but can still drag themselves down with sins, shameful and base sins.
How is this possible? It is inexcusable for a person, who is called, to a greater perfection, to a greater holiness, why? Because he understands what is happening in the world, and understands the things of God, and he knows what the solution is, and yet, he continues to drag himself down with petty defects. This is a greater sin, the mediocrity of those Catholics, is the one that has sunk us all, it is the one that has sunk the Church, the mediocrity of the liberal Catholics, who want to be Catholics, who call themselves Catholics but in their life, they are worldly people, who want to reconcile the wisdom of the world, with the wisdom of God, with the wisdom of the Church. This is not possible, those things are opposite. Their personal well-being, and selfishness, make them say, ‘I can not do this, because it bothers me a little bit, and these little things are too hard’, that little selfishness, that makes many say, no, I can not help, I can not collaborate, I can not sustain this cause, because I do not have the time, but they still say, ‘I want them to serve me, to give me, to help me.’ When Father offers, I will come to hear him say the Mass, but that I help the Father? No, they cannot. The Priest does everything, alone, even though he knows it is his duty, he still needs help, the priests ask for nothing else, but they do not help the Church, they never give. No, this is a sin, and its worse in our time because there is more need, because there are fewer priests, because the priests have less means and less help. The sin of omission becomes more serious now for certain Catholics, I do not say all, but many, yes.
There is vanity, found sometimes, in traditional Catholics, who say ‘I know more than you, and because of this you have to listen to me and do what I say’ this is vanity, of wanting people to believe they know all the true facts. There are some who are looking for the opportunity, to tell the priest ‘ah, you were wrong about that truth’ they are lacking respect, but, ‘you should have said it like this Father’. Am I God, am I the child Jesus? no, no, no.
There are times to speak our minds to speak the truth, like the child Jesus, in the temple, he was not being pretentious, even if he was God, and the doctors of the law, they never lacked respect for Him.
The word Church militant means- Militant, militia, army, warriors, that is the meaning of the word and it is a term that is in the catechism and in the teaching of the church.
Let's avoid letting ourselves get cold because it is the work of the devil to minimize things to make me see the big as small and to see the small as big. This is the work of the devil and in the people who do not pray, he achieves his goal more easily.
What if I want to be a worldly saint, this is the typical liberal saint that does not exist. There are no saints who are worldly because all the saints were anti-worldly. But when it comes to the liberals, yes, there are worldly saints. So they want to be saints but as the world imagines them, as they did in those romantic movies that were made in Mexico back in the day. The priest was sometimes presented as a worldly man who was with people, who was at parties in the taverns and who was always saying yes to people. ‘If you want to have fun, have fun, if you want to be happy, be happy,’ that is the worldly holiness that people believe, as if the saints always said ‘yes’ to everything.
Christian holiness is not like that, because the Christian holiness knows that in this world there is sin, there is a tendency towards evil which we are always at war with. Because we are living with a body that is wounded by our passions, that has a tendency towards evil. Sometimes we are born with character defects and all our life we must fight against that.
There are some who have the choleric temperament, which is not their fault, it is how they were born, but because of the consequences of original sin, all their life, they will have to practice patience so as not to get angry. Some have more tendency towards laziness, others have more inclination to sins against the sixth commandment. All their lives they will have to fight against these sins.
So in this life we must always fight. We are members of an army that fights against evil and what are the evils? They are the three enemies of the soul, which are the devil, the world and the flesh. The flesh is us, who we are with our defects. The world is everything that is in the world that obeys the devil, that obeys evil. It is not the world that God created, but the world that moved away from God, the world that is against God, that world is the enemy of the soul, the world that does not want to pray, that does not want to think about God, that does not want to believe in God, that does not want to love God, that lives according to the desires of the flesh of pleasures and comfort. And then there is the devil, who also fights us every day who suggests things to us, who wants to weaken us, who has to fight every day to make people believe that the rosary is burdensome, that practicing the virtues is useless, that fighting against our defects is a waste of time. The devil has a lot of art, and many people believe him, because they do not pray, because they do not believe enough in what Jesus Christ said, in what the church teaches, because they do not have that curiosity to know their religion, to read books, to train themselves, to listen.
For example, today you can easily access the internet, you can find books about the lives of saints, about religious formation. There are also audio books on the internet. I am currently listening to the City of God, a book by Saint Augustine, that is read for you to hear on the internet. You say, ‘hey, I'm reading it by hearing it and at the same time I'm working, and doing something’, and it’s like I'm reading a good book, but I can do other things at the same time. You have to take advantage of those small services of modern technology. But some of them can be used for evil, and today they are generally used for evil but they can also be used for good. You have to know how to use technology, but of course not all of us have time for everything, but we must find those small solutions, right? We can be doing some manual work, some cleaning, whatever and at the same time feeding our soul with good readings, listening to good things, and good meditations.
So on this day, the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Virgin we ask the Virgin on her feast day to give us the grace to remain whole in the faith, in the love of God as she always was, and to give us the grace of fervor, to free us from those people who are meek for God, and rich for themselves, meek to help the Church, but generous to live their fun, their movies, their meals, their walks, but meek to help the salvation of the Church.
We have to do something, because the good priests are disappearing, so we have to promote seminaries, and vocations, and for this we also need the help of the faithful. The priests cannot do everything. God arranged it so that the faithful can sanctify themselves by helping the Church. It is also a Christian obligation, to help the Church and the priests. They cannot make money appear here or there so they depend on the help of the faithful which is also an act of humility for the priests. Sometimes there are those limitations that prevent a seminary from being built. Sometimes it is not possible because there are no means. So everyone who can, as much as we can, we must collaborate in this work of the restoration of the Church. We are going to ask Our Lady, we are going to ask our founder, Monsignor Lefebvre that from where he is in heaven, to help us to do everything well so that tradition is really restored, as it should be, how he wanted it to be. But some of his ungrateful children have destroyed his work, and have really neutralized the work of the Society of St. Pius X and now the Society of St. Pius X is timid and shy and no longer denounces, no longer fights the errors of Vatican II.
Oh Mary conceived without sin.
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.