mardi, juillet 29, 2008

Gregorian Workshop

As the proper chant to the Roman Catholic Church, the Gregorian chant is the patrimony that all the faithful share together when they perform the greatest and noblest act on earth: the perfect adoration due to God through the Divine Liturgy. Contrary to a false conceived idea, it is not an elitist chant but truly a popular one, in the meaning that every one can sing it. You just have to visit the churches where it is still used to realize that, and it is certainly today a beautiful testimony of faith when a congregation joyfully sings the glory of God. On the other hand, it is quite sad and not very encouraging to hear only the silence or some muffled whispers during a high Mass or any solemn Offices. Unfortunately, it is often the case in many churches in the U.S. where the Latin Mass is still celebrated. This strange and unfortunate phenomenon has been analyzed by certain authors such as Thomas Day in Why Catholics can’t sing. Whatever are the reasons (Irish inheritance or individualistic piety), the fact is that the silence of the congregation does not meet the desire of the Church expressed by the Popes:

So that the faithful take a more active part in divine worship, let Gregorian chant be restored to popular use in the parts proper to the people. Indeed it is very necessary that the faithful attend the sacred ceremonies not as if they were outsiders or mute onlookers, but let them fully appreciate the beauty of the liturgy and take part in the sacred ceremonies, alternating their voices with the priest and the choir, according to the prescribed norms. If, please God, this is done, it will not happen that the congregation hardly ever or only in a low murmur answer the prayers in Latin or in the vernacular.”
Pie XI in Constitution Divini Cultus (also quoted by Pius XII in the Encyclical Letter Mediator Dei)

In order to promote the Gregorian chant and to make it an entire part of your life – there are for example pieces that you can sing at home with your family during your prayer time – we will have a Gregorian Workshop at Saint Patrick Church, North Little Rock. It will be a short introduction to the Gregorian chant with a historical part and some basic exercises and practices. Then, we could continue a long and old tradition that go back to the Old Testament - that contains many invitations to sing – and that will be achieved and perfected in heaven where we will sing with the angels forever.




Saint Patrick's church, 211 West 19th street
North Little Rock


Friday, August 15th : 4 pm – 5:30 pm
Saturday, August 16th: 9 – 11 am
Sunday, August 17th : 2 – 4 pm

samedi, juillet 26, 2008

Le pardon de Saint Anne

"Pardon is a typically Breton form of pilgrimage and one of the most traditional demonstrations of popular Catholicism in Brittany. Of very ancient origin, probably dating back to the conversion of the country by the Celtic monks.





As its name indicates a Pardon is a penitential ceremony. The faithful go on a pilgrimage either to the tomb of a saint or a place dedicated to a saint. The locations may be associated with miraculous appearances, as in Querrien, or holy relics. Penitents travel as a group in parishes, fraternities or other corporate bodies, bringing banners, crosses and other insignia in procession, each group competing with the others for grandeur.
The dispersal of the pilgrims until meeting at the appointed place, like the procession, symbolises the desire to obtain intercession from the celebrated saint by offering the effort of the journey as an act of faith. This reflects the Christian view that the human condition on this earth is a journey towards the Kingdom of heaven or the new promised land. Following this logic, the pilgrims are invited to confess their sins to their priests before taking part in the mass, which is often followed by solemn vespers. Once they are granted absolution, the groups engage in communal festivities to express the joy of Christian redemption. This can take the form of a village fair or even resemble a funfair.
The leader of the Pardon, typically a high ranking ecclesiastic, has the title of "pardonnor". If relics are involved, he will normally carry them during part of the procession. For most of the pilgrimage, however, this honour falls to those who were considered to be worthiest by it by the various social groups represented." ( From wikipedia)




The Pardon of Saint Anne is one of the most important, since the Mother of Mary is the Patron Saint of Brittany.

mercredi, juillet 23, 2008

Les camps d'été de la Fraternité Saint Pierre

Chaque été, la Fraternité Saint Pierre organise plusieurs camps et colonies qui permettent d’offrir à nos jeunes des vacances où la piété ne vient nullement nuire à la bonne humeur.


Petit tour d'horizon de quelques-uns de ces apostolats d'été

Raid Saint Michel
Camp itinérant pour garçons de 13 à 17 ans



Placé sous le patronage de Saint Michel, le « Prince de la Milice Céleste », le Raid est une école d’abnégation et de dépassement de soi, directement inspirée de l’idéal de la Chevalerie chrétienne, idéal exigeant et exaltant à la fois, traduit par sa devise que le Raid emprunte à Sainte Jeanne d’Arc : « Messire Dieu Premier Servi ! », devise que le Raider s’efforce de mettre en pratique, malgré fatigue et contradictions, dans le monde d’aujourd’hui, avec la joie et l’enthousiasme caractéristiques de la jeunesse.




http://www.raidsaintmichel.com/index2.htm



Colonie Saint Bernard


Pour filles et garçons de 6 à 12 ans


C’est dans les monts du Forez, à plus de 1000 mètres d’altitude que se déroule, depuis près de vingt ans, la colonie Saint Bernard. Cette œuvre, qui a pour fin de donner des vacances chrétiennes à une soixantaine d’enfants (garçons et filles) âgés de 6 à 12 ans, a été fondée par monsieur l’abbé Bruno CHASSAGNE, prêtre de la Fraternité Sacerdotale Saint Pierre (FSSP). Pendant quatre semaines, des séminaristes de la FSSP, des moniteurs et des monitrices viennent encadrer des enfants pour permettre à ces colons de passer des vacances reposantes et ludiques sous le regard de Dieu.






Colonie Saint Antoine

Pour filles et garçons de 6 à 11 ans

La Colonie se déroule à Mandres-sur-Vair, dans les Vosges, dans les locaux du Collège Frassati. Nous espérons, par le moyen de cette Colonie que nous fondons cette année, offrir aux familles de l’Est de la France la possibilité de faire passer des vacances catholiques à leurs enfants comme cela se fait depuis maintenant 6 années en Normandie avec la Colonie Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle. Puisse cette Colonie répondre aux demandes sans cesse plus nombreuses des familles et remplir toujours mieux son but: la sanctification de la jeunesse.





Camp Notre-Dame de Grâce

Camp sous-tentes pour garçons de 8 à 13 ans


un camp de vacances chrétiennes : nous sommes catholiques et nous le demeurons, même pendant les vacances !
- la Messe quotidienne célébrée par notre aumônier, prêtre de la Fraternité Sacerdotale Saint-Pierre et présent pendant toute la durée du camp,
- un catéchisme « de vacances » proposé par les séminaristes.
- 50 garçons de 8 à 13 ans vivant de vraies vacances,
- dans un esprit de détente, de joie et de Charité !



http://www.nd-grace.com/index.htm

Colonie Bienheureux Fra Angelico

Pour les chanteurs...

Filles et garçons de 10 à 17 ans


L’Œuvre Fra Angelico organise chaque été, depuis 1999, en Gironde (Aquitaine), des vacances musicales (appelées aussi « colonie musicale Fra Angelico) qui s’adressent aux jeunes gens et filles de 10 à 17 ans. Tous ceux qui désirent chanter, sans nécessairement pratiquer la musique, sont conviés. Ils intègrent ainsi la Maîtrise des Petits Chanteurs de Fra Angelico. Les vacances musicales ont lieu pendant 17 jours en juillet, à Bazas.

Le but principal de ces vacances musicales est la préparation et la réalisation d’un spectacle sacré, donné à 3 reprises dans des hauts lieux de Gironde, à la fin du séjour, avec la participation de musiciens professionnels. Le chant se mêle au théâtre pour en constituer les activités principales et former la Maîtrise des Petits Chanteurs de Fra Angelico. En général, un CD est enregistré, et, depuis 2006, un DVD.



Colonie Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle
Pour filles et garçons de 6 à 11 ans

La Colonie se déroule dans l'ancien grand séminaire de Sées, dans l'Orne. Nous espérons, par le moyen de cette Colonie qui se déroule depuis maintenant quatre ans en Normandie, offrir aux familles de l'Ouest de la France la possibilité de faire passer des vacances catholiques à leurs enfants. Puisse cette colonie répondre aux demandes sans cesse plus nombreuses des familles et remplir toujours mieux son but: la sanctification de la jeunesse, d'après les principes de Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, patron des éducateurs.

http://colodelasalle.free.fr/index.html

Sermon for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

We had an opportunity to contemplate two great examples of Christian charity during the last two days. Saint Camillus of Lellis was first a soldier and a gambler, but then, touched by the Divine Grace, he turned to God and devoted himself to the service of the sick by founding a religious order. The red cross that he put on the cassock of the members of the Camillian order would remain known until today as a symbol of love toward suffering people. It helps us remember that compassion should be a part of our lives as Christians and that compassion is not selective but is for all men, even our enemies.
Just before he died, Saint Camillus wrote a letter to his brothers. He asked them to use well the precious talent that God gave them, so that they could be holy in this life and thus gain eternal glory. Speaking about his foundation, he mentioned how very necessary it is for Christendom. Christ healed many sick during his life and taking care of them is a duty of charity that we cannot neglect. If it is very necessary, it means that there cannot be a Christian society without the works of charity, especially the care of the sick. This duty falls on each one of us. And you don’t have to be a nurse or a doctor : sometimes, just a little bit of attention to the one who lives under the same roof as you, if it happens that he is sick, or to your neighbor, is just what God asks you to do. Charity begins in our inner circles, and once again is neither selective nor exclusive.
The second Saint whom we celebrated yesterday is the patron Saint of works of charity. His heart was open to everyone from the kings to the prisoners and there is no social class which has not benefited from the goodness of Monsieur Vincent, one of the greatest figures of the XVII century, known as the great Saint of the Great Century. On the day of his funeral the entire country mourned him and princes and poor alike stood side by side to pay a tribute to their beloved benefactor. The life and works of Saint Vincent de Paul show in an admirable manner how charity can change a society.

Monsieur Vincent presents the first Daughters of charity to Queen Anne


Today, dear Brethren, it is our call to continue this work, this civilizing mission. We have all received different gifts from God, as today’s epistle says. It is the same Spirit that works in each of us for the same purpose. We are not supposed to use them against each other but to collaborate together for the same goal. When charity is present in a soul and within a community, it makes God visible on earth. Ubi caritas Deus ibi est – where charity is, God is there! But when charity is not present, all these works are vain. Look at the Pharisee in today’s Gospel: he fasts twice a week and pays tithes of all he possesses, and yet he is not justified. All is vanity because of his lack of humility and consequently of charity. Camillus of Lellis, Vincent de Paul and all the Saints considered their works as nothing but God used them because they were offered with a humble hearts.
Humility and simplicity of heart! It is just what we need and everything else will follow because it will make us instruments of God. And, its first result, will be that of making society more pleasant, made in the image of the society of the angels and of the saints in heaven, by bringing to earth a little bit of the courtesy of the celestial court.

May Our Blessed Mother help us to acquire a true humility of heart for the establishment of the Kingdom of charity on earth.

vendredi, juillet 18, 2008

Thought of an Irishman on the Queen Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then the dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like the morning star full of life and splendor and joy. 0h, what a revolution! and what a heart must I have, to contemplate without emotion that elevation and that fall! Little did I dream, when she added titles of veneration to those of enthusiastic, distant, respectful love, that she should ever be obliged to carry the sharp antidote against disgrace concealed in that bosom; little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fallen upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor, and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look that threatened her with insult.




"But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded, and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever. Never, never more, shall we behold that generous loyalty to rank and sex, that proud submission, that dignified obedience, that subordination of the heart, which kept alive, even in servitude itself, the spirit of an exalted freedom! The unbought grace of life, the cheap defense of nations, the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprise is gone. It is gone, that sensibility of principle, that chastity of honor, which felt a stain like a wound, which inspired courage whilst it mitigated ferocity, which ennobled whatever it touched, and under which vice itself lost half its evil, by losing all its grossness."


Edmund Burke, 1793
But I think Edmund Burke is wrong. It is not gone....not entirely. It still remains, certainly in a few, but it is still there. Therefore, there is still hope, with the grace of God!

jeudi, juillet 17, 2008

"The Most Brilliant Stork"

Since an article in the next issue of Upon this Rock (coming us soon in August) will mention Georges Guynemer as a model of chivalry for our Boys Scouts and young men, I found that he might be interesting to present him since he is not really well known in the U.S.
So, here is a portrait of the Knight of the Air.


Georges Guynemer



Georges Marie Ludovic Jules Guynemer was born in Paris on Christmas eve 1894 the son of Paul Guynemer, a retired army officer from an established military family and a graduate of Saint Cyr's class of 1880 . A sickly child the young George was at first educated at home by his mother and two sisters, but in time his father entrusted his schooling to the Lycee de Compiegne. He did not do well at Compiegne and moved on to Stanislas college where he did little better. Though recognised as intelligent he was inattentive and disorganised in his work, disruptive in his behaviour and, perhaps suprizingly in view of his slight build, apt to get into fights.
As a teenager Guynemer was practiced in the art of roller-skating, then all the rage in Paris, and excelled at fencing and rifle shooting. Perhaps these three interests, combining balance and quick reflexes with a good eye, played some part in later developements. A common interest in all things mechanical led to friendship with Jean Krebs, the son of a director of the Panhard Motor Company. Guynemer learned much about the workings of the internal combusion engine from his friend, knowledge which would later stand him in good stead, and the pair developed a passion for the new science of aviation. During the war Krebs was killed when his aircraft crashed onto the airfield returning from a mission.
In 1911, whilst still only 17 years old, Guynemer witnessed the Circuit of Europe Air Race. That same year he flew as a passenger in a Farman bi-plane and henceforth all his ambition turned to flying. Following college graduation in 1912 he commenced studies for admission to l'Ecole Polytechnique. However, dogged by continued ill health he was compelled to withdraw in the summer of 1914 and retired to the family villa in Biarritz.
Following the outbreak of war Guynemer was turned down by the air service no less than five times due to his poor health. Making his own way to Pau he secured an interview with Capitaine Bernard-Thierry and was accepted for training as a mechanic. There followed a successful application for flying training and Guynemer made his first hop at the controls of a Bleriot "Pingouin" on January 26th 1915. The award of brevet number 1832 came in April, along with promotion to Caporal and a posting to the reserve pool at le Bourget.
On 8th June 1915 he joined his first and only operational unit, Escadrille MS3 at Vauciennes equipped with Morane monoplanes. The Morane type L allocated to Guynemer had previously been flown by Charles Bonnard and had been named by him "Vieux Charles" (Old Charlie). Guynemer retained the name and carried it on most of the aircraft he subsequently flew. The first victory came on July 19th 5000 metres above Soissons. In a combat lasting ten minutes the Morane's rearward firing Hotchkiss machine gun was manned by Mecanician Gueder.The Aviatik crashed into the French lines killing the crew, and an excited Guynemer landed beside it in search of a trophy. Two days later he was promoted sergent and received his first Palme (awarded for a mention in despaches), and on August 4th both he and Gueder received the Medaille Militaire Guynemer's citation read:
"A pilot of great spirit and daring, willing to carry out the most dangerous assignments. After a relentless chase, brought a German aeroplane to combat, a combat which ended in its crashing in flames."
In September Guynemer's career very nearly came to an abrupt end when he was brought down in no-mans land to be rescued by French troops. He would be shot down a total of seven times. On 29th September and 10th October he undertook so called "special" missions, landing behind enemy lines with French agents. Alighting on rough ground and taking off again in a flimsy Morane L must have been a risky buisiness.
For Guynemer December 1915 was an eventful month. Escadrille MS3 was renamed N3 on the 5th following re-equipment with the single seat Nieuport 10, with it's overwing Lewis a far more effectivly armed aeroplane than the Morane .On that same day Guynemer despached another Aviatik with the entire contents of a Lewis drum. Victory was again Guynemer's on the 8th , but on the 14th his Nieuport was badly shot about in an indecisive engagement with a Fokker monoplane. December 24th, his 21st birthday, brought the award of the Legion d'Honneur and a citation describing him as "a pilot of great gallantry." By the end of 1915 the young sergent Guynemer already one of France's most decorated airmen.



Commissioned sous-lieutenant on March 4th 1916 his score stood at eight victories, but he was wounded on the 13th following a frenzied period of combat over Verdun. Returning to the front on April 26th, his wounds barely healed, he was clearly still suffering from nervous exhaustion and was sent home on leave. It was in April that the flamboyant Escadrille markings had begun to appear, and Esc N3 was by now a component of the elite Groupe de Combat 12 (lesCigognes..the Storks) On his eventual return fighting duty he took command of a Nieuport 17 on which he scored steadily. On June 6th Guynemer was flying Nieuport 17 N-1386 when there ocurred one of those fabled duels of which World War One air-fighting legend is made. High above Lierval Guynemer joined battle with Ernst Udet, destined to be the highest scoring German ace to survive the war. By Udets own account his Albatros suffered a double gun stoppage leaving him defenceless. Observing Udet hammering his guns with clenched fist, Guynemer broke off the action with a wave of the hand and left his adversary to fight another day. Whether we believe it or not it is the kind of story that ought to be true. (1 see Udet would tell the story later: see below)
Capitaine Brocard, Commander of Esc N3, descibed Guynemer as "...my most brilliant Stork". Brocard's opinion was confirmed when, on September 23rd, his protoge brought down three aircraft in one day. Guynemer also suffered the indignity of being brought down that day but was uninjured. Guynemer was now piloting the SPAD 7 about which at first he expressed doubts. In a letter to Louis Berchereau in December he wrote:
The 150hp SPAD is not a match for the Halberstadt. Although the Halberstadt is probably no faster it climbs better, consequently it has the overall advantage. More speed is needed: Possibly the airscrew might be improved."
These difficulties overcome Guynemer rapidly got into his stride his victories rapidly increased. He frequently scored doubles and reached 30 by the end of January 1917. Although appreciating very early on that flying in concert with a wing-man would assist in his survival Guynemer was one of the great vertuoso soloists of the first air war, prefering to stalk his enemy and either ambush him or best him in single combat. A preference he shared with his contemporaries Albert Ball and Werner Voss. With the SPAD however he quickily adopted new methods more suggestive of World War Two than World War One. Flying with a number two he would employ hit and run tactics to exploit the SPAD's superior speed and dive.
The intense air activity took its toll on Guynemer's health and he was again rested from combat suffering with exhaustion and nervous depression. He used the respite to his advantage and in correspondence with Louis Bechereau developed some ideas on future fighter armament. Discussions with Bechereau centered around a short barreled version of the formidable single shot 37mm Hotchkiss canon, which it was envisaged would be fired through the hollow airscrew shaft of a geared 200hp Hispano Suiza vee-eight. Practical demonstrations proved the idea and with the project officialy sanctioned work commenced on what became the SPAD 12 Ca 1.
With his promotion to Capitaine on February 18th 1917 Guynemer was entering the most active phase of his career. Another triple victory on March 16th was followed on May 25th by an unprecedented four victories in one day, two of them in less than a minute. A singular honour awarded Guynemer on May 13th was to carry the colours of l'Aviation Militaire at a parade of captured enemy weapons and equipment at Dijon. There was yet another double victory on June 5th, and a week later the award of Officier de la Legion d'Honneur cited as follows:
"One of the elite, a fighter pilot as skilful as he is audacious, he has rendered brilliant service to his country, as much by the number of his victories as by the daily example of his unchanging keenness and ever growing mastery. Heedless of danger he has become for the enemy, by the sureness of his methods and by the precision of his manoevres, the most redoubtable adversary of all."Twice wounded and with 45 victories and twenty citations, the rosette of the Legion d'Honneur was presented at a special ceremony on July 5th 1917 and the prototype cannon armed SPAD 12 , to which he referred with pride as his "avion magique", was on parade. The new SPAD required all of even Guynemer's unrivalled skill to fly whilst manualy re-loading in the heat of battle. but he destroyed several enemy aircraft on the type including a double on August 15th. Alternating with the SPAD 12 he was flying a SPAD 13 on August 20th when he scored a victory which does not apear on his tally. Returning from a successful combat, culminating in the destruction of a DFW, he was attacked in the circuit by a British DH4. Compelled to return fire he wounded the British pilot who was forced to land.
Guynemer was now living in the air. On September 10th when the failure of a water-pump caused a forced landing a Belgian airfield where Guynemer effected a temporary repair and took off again. Returning to base he borrowed Duellins aircraft to complete the mission, and brought it back with a blown engine and four bullets in it.
At 08:25 hrs September 11th 1917 Guynemer took of in company with Lieutenant Bozon-Verduraz as his number two. As Guynemer manoevered for an attacking possition on a two seat bi-plane over Poelcapelle eight German scouts came into view. The French pair continued to dive on the two-seater, the Alabatros scouts climbing rapidly to meet them. Beleiving that his flight leader had also seen the approaching danger Bozon-Verduraz dove away confident that Guynemer would follow. One account has it that he did in fact break off the chase, but met his demise when he ran into and attacked a large formation of bombers from KG5 .
As with so many of the aces of the Great War his final combat is shrouded in mystery. A body identified as Guynemer's was briefly in the care of the German 413th infantry regement, where a terse medical report mentions that a finger of the left hand was shot away and gives a single bullet to the head as cause of death, but the next day the area was subjected to an artillery bombardment that would last an incredible fifteen days and all traces of Guynemer and his aircraft were obliterated by the British guns. It might be expected that Germany would be quick to exploit the propaganda value of the end of the French ace of aces, but it was nearly a week before a claim was made and credited to Leutnant Kurt Wisseman of Jasta 3. It would be a month before the French confirmed Guynemer's disappearance, by which time Wisseman had himself been killed in action.
Thus ended the short life and dazzling career of Georges Marie Ludovic Jules Guynemer, revered by the people of France as the veteran of over 600 air combats. Twice wounded and awarded 26 citations, the recipient of the highest honours for galantry France could bestow, his official victory total is 53 but it has been suggested that the true figure is nearer 100. A list of his victories reveals a pattern of intense activity interspersed with gaps of sometimes several weeks. Some are accounted for by the periods of inactivity that often happen in war, but constantly on the brink of nervous collapse others mark Guynemers absences for treatment of more than merely physical wounds. Given the consideration of a later more enlightened age Georges Guynemer might have been relieved from combat in March 1916, to live out the balance of his life a much decorated but obscure French airman with eight victories and a proud record in the service of his country.
His monument stands proudly in the city of his birth, outside 26 Boulevard Victor HQ Armee de l'Air, and in the crypt of the Pantheon of Paris an inscribed marble plaque bearing the name of Georges Guynemer and the insignia of the Legion d'Honneur reads:
"Fallen in the field of honour on September 11th 1917 - a legendary hero, fallen in glory from the sky after three years of fierce struggle. He will remain the purest symbol of the qualities of his race, indomitable tenacity, ferocious energy, sublime courage; animated by the most resolute faith in victory he bequeaths to the French soldier an imperishable memory which will exalt the spirit of sacrifice"



from http://www.storks.cwc.net/guy/guy.html



1) "Guynemer had watched me doing and knew for now I was his defenseless victim : he made another pass just over my head in almost inverted flight and to my amazement made a sign with his hand and left westward.Startled I got to the field. Afterwards some people suggested that Guynemer's machine gun had the same problem while others thought he was afraid of me hitting him in my distress. But I don't buy that. For me, Guynemer displayed some perennial element of old chivalry that oulasted modern fighting methods.Therefore, I feel committed to contribute this personal testimony as a homage to the unknow tomb where he rests..." (Ernst Udet)

Why do people remember and prefer Guynemer rather than some other Aces?

Sermon for the 9th Sunday after Pentecost

Saint Paul uses an image from the history of Israel in order to give us a lesson: the wages of sin is death! (Rom. 6:23). In the Old Testament, sin was sometimes punished by physical death as we can read in today’s epistle. Today, things have changed, and God seems to not want to intervene in the history of men. Men want to live without God and work to make a new society with new values. The rejection of God out of the society has been followed by the establishment of structures of sins which has built a culture of death which Pope John Paul II has condemned. But men are so blind that they consider this culture of death as a progress. The most visible and tragic example is abortion: the mass murder of millions of babies is considered by many as a progress and a victory of liberty.

It might be strange to understand it, especially for the contemporary mind, but it appears that the decadence of morals is a punishment from God as Saint Paul says in the Epistle to Romans.
Wherefore, God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness: to dishonour their own bodies among themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause, God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. And, in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts, one towards another: men with men, working that which is filthy and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error. (Rom.1:24-27) In a time when same sex marriage is permitted – still in the name of progress and liberty – men should think about this. Vices have always existed since original sin, but when they are approved or even encouraged by the States, the governments or any kind of national or international organizations, they can only lead to the ruin of the society. After all, no civilization, no culture, no society has received the promises of eternity, except the Church. Even Christendom, which was the temporal emanation of the spiritual order into the society, had an end. The French Revolution that many will celebrate tomorrow has tolled the knell of the Catholic order. The goddess of reason would take the place of God soon. The true cult of the true God would be changed for idolatry in spite of the warning of
Saint Paul: “Do not become idolaters, even as some of them were, as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’ ” By attacking the Church not in her theology and doctrine as he used to do many times throughout the centuries, but by striking her temporal foundation, Satan has certainly won his greatest battle. It would not take too much time – less than two centuries – to see the general apostasy of the Nations.
Is this general apostasy the sign of the coming of the antichrist? I do not know, but one thing is certain: this time will come soon. Saint Paul already said that the final age of the world has come. John Henry, Cardinal Newman, said that the greatest figure of the antichrist is certainly liberalism and that it will announce his coming by preparing his way.
So, it is true that the times are not easy for the disciples of Jesus. What should be our guideline in this time of trial? Exactly the same as for any time: seek first the kingdom of God and His justice! (Matt.6:33) We are followers of Christ and not of the world. It might be harder to seek the justice of God now than it used to be in the times of Christendom, but think about the first Christians who did not compromise with the world. Look at all these witnesses of Christ who did not give up their faith even when in danger of losing their life because of the persecutions.

The first justice is to render God what is due to Him, as we explained last week. This is the work of the virtue of religion. Where there is no religion, there is no justice. For that reason, it is necessary to be faithful to our duties of religion, which are mainly prayers and sacrifices offered to God. And there is a holy place for that, consecrated and dedicated for the glory of God.
My house is a house of prayer! Let us keep our churches, houses of prayer where the true sacrifice is offered to God. Let us remember how terrible is this place when we enter the house of God and let us approach to the holy of holies where Jesus dwells with respect and humility. Churches are not places for shows, but for adoration in truth and spirit. I am quite sure that there is a connection between the depravity of morals and the loss of religious sense among the faithful and even the clergy.
The house of prayer of which Jesus speaks is also our soul, the house of our interior prayer. We are temples of God and if we do not keep this temple clean and holy, then there is a great danger that God deliver us up to shameful affections. A lack of spiritual life is always and unerringly followed by sins – most of the time, against purity – and you have no one else to blame except yourself if it happens. Then Satan usually holds you as a slave, especially through human respect: you do not dare to go to confession and then it is just a vicious circle. Little by little, your whole spiritual life collapses and after a while you realize that all your devotions and practices are gone. You have made your soul a den of thieves instead of keeping it a house of prayer. Your religious life is just a façade and the religion that you display when you are at church is just a simulation that does not fool God.

Well, let us not permit that it happen to us and let us open our heart to the grace of God. May Our Blessed Mother help us to keep the house of God pure and holy, so that we may be able to offer a sacrifice pleasing to God. The Sacrament of Baptism allows us to do this, especially by uniting ourselves to the Sacrifice of Christ renewed every day on the altar. By fulfilling well our duties of religion, we will surely make the world better.

mardi, juillet 15, 2008

Summer Entertainment

I usually don’t celebrate the 14th of July known here as Bastille Day, but I enjoy every year the military parade that takes place on the most beautiful avenue in the world. I would prefer to see this parade on August 15th along with the Procession of the Vow of Louis XIII in commemoration of the consecration of the Kingdom of France to Our Blessed Mother.
Let us take a tour on the Champs-Elysées for the 2008 défilé!
Prelude
Foot troops
LEGIO PATRIA NOSTRA

Motorized troops

Finale 1 (with parachute drop)

Finale 2

lundi, juillet 07, 2008

Sermon for the eigth Sunday after Pentecost

Today’s parable heard in the gospel tells us the story of the steward of a rich man who was squandering the possessions he was supposed to take care of. Hearing that, the master called him and asked him to make an accounting of his stewardship. Afraid to lose his position, the steward found a way to keep it. The master commended him for his ability to handle the situation.
This parable has to be well understood. Our Lord certainly does not ask us to be dishonest, but He wants us to understand that we have to be clever in order to gain the eternal reward. Many people use different processes in order to obtain material profits. So we must implement different means in order to gain spiritual profits.
As the commentators have explained, the rich man is Our Lord Jesus Christ and we are the stewards of his goods. In fact we have received everything from God and Saint Paul warns us: what hast thou that thou hast not received, and if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? (I Cor. 4:7) Saint Augustine explains that the first thing that we have received is divine grace. We have received it without any antecedent merits. It is the first gift of God – independently of the gifts of nature – that allows us to walk in His grace. After Saint Augustine, all the Catholic theologians say that the merits of men are void and vain without the work of grace. The Council of Trent teaches that because of original sin, neither nature nor the Mosaic Law can justify men. Justification presupposes faith which is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation, and the root of all Justification (Trent, 6th Session, chapter 8).
Now, the book of Revelation admonishes those who have been justified: he that is just, let him be justified still: and he that is holy, let him be sanctified still. (Ap. 22:11) This increase of justification is a work of cooperation between God and us. It is still a gift of grace, and the grace is primary and initial, but we have to collaborate by mortifying the members of our own flesh, and by presenting them as instruments of justice unto sanctification, as the Council says again (6th Session, chapter 10), through the observance of the commandments of God and of the Church.

If we live according to the flesh, we will die as Saint Paul clearly states in today’s epistle. We are debtors, not to the flesh! But we truly are debtors. To whom are we debtor? We are debtors to God who has given all that we have and it is an act of justice to pay off our debt. It is an act of justice, which means that it is something due to God. Our Lord Jesus Christ has paid the debt of every man on earth with His most precious Blood and it is now justice to pay Him back. It is something that we are not able to do. An act of justice supposes that we give exactly what we owe. If I borrow 10 dollars, I have to give back 10 dollars. But how can we give back to God what we have received? It is impossible. The greatest thing that we can do is to give our lives, but even that remains still far below the cost of our redemption. We have to render God what is due to Him, but we are unable to fulfill the strict obligation of justice since it is impossible to pay back for the Sacrifice of the Incarnate Word.
So rendering God what is due to Him is not exactly an act of mere justice, but an act of a specific virtue, namely the virtue of religion. This virtue is, according to Saint Thomas, the first among all the moral virtues. As such, it leads the other virtues in a kind of harmony and allows them to reach their object according to our final end, which is God Himself, but when this virtue is not present in a soul, the other virtues lack a leader that would unite and conduct them in perfect order. In other words, if you are not established first in good relation with God, in one way or another, you necessarily have failures in other areas of your life. And the most serious thing is first that you cannot be received into the everlasting dwellings since the Master cannot recognize in you a good and faithful steward of His possessions. Saint Alphonsus Liguori has expressed this clearly, so that everybody, even the little children can understand it: He who prays will be saved, he who does not will be lost!
Prayer is actually one of the chief acts of the virtue of religion, along with adoration, sacrifice, oblation and vow; Sacrifice! How important it is! How necessary it is. It is so necessary, that it is a part of the authentic teaching of the Church, who cares for the good of souls. In the old traditional handbooks of religious instruction it was well explained to the children how important it is to make sacrifice to God. The notion of sacrifice has unfortunately disappeared from many new programs of catechisms and it is a shame and a scandal because it harms the souls. The religion founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ has not changed and cannot change and the virtue of religion is still necessary. And in addition to this, the teaching of the spirit of sacrifice is also a good way to make strong Christians able to fulfill their duties for the glory of God, true soldiers of Christ with noble souls and a valiant hearts as the image of the knights of the old days, men able to kneel in front of their God to worship Him and then to stand for the establishment of His Kingdom.
Prayer, sacrifice, oblation, adoration…. Are they really a part of your life, the usual acts of every day, or things that you do just once in a while? Are you a good steward or someone who squanders the possessions of your Lord? Or, if you prefer, do you live for God or for yourself?
Everything we have received comes from God. Everything! May Our Lady help us to understand this and help us to be good stewards so that Our Lord will be pleased by our administration of His possessions! May she help us to consider that the virtue of religion is not a kind a fawning outpouring of feelings but that it is the product of the recognition of the sovereign majesty of God and of our absolute dependence on Him. As Saint Joan of Arc’s motto reminds us, Messire Dieu premier servi! – God first served!

mardi, juillet 01, 2008

Sermon for Saints Peter and Paul

You shall make them princes through all the land; they shall remember Your name through all generations. (Ps. 44:17,18)



It is truly two princes that we honor today in the persons of the Apostles Peter and Paul. They are, by God’s grace, two columns of the Church, on which Christ wanted to found His Church. They show us that in spite of human weakness, Christ truly rules His Church and uses everything and everyone for the establishment of her supremacy in the world.
Before being chosen by Jesus, Cephas was a simple man, a tough fisherman from Galilee, full of good will but still so human, which makes him very likable to us, because we might recognize ourselves in him. But a good will is not enough to follow the Master, especially if you have been called to a higher destiny within the Church. Jesus would have to change Cephas into Peter, the rock upon which the Church would be established. We can see the work of divine grace that can really change a man. We can see that God’s choices are not necessarily conformed to the spirit of the world. Who would have chosen a fisherman to be the first Pope and to lead the newly emerging Church? What matters when God calls, is not the qualities of the one who is called, but the fact that he is called by God. Can we judge God’s decision?
And who would have chosen a zealous Israelite of the seed of Abraham (Rm 11,1), a persecutor of Christians, the one who was consenting to the death of Stephen Ac 7,59), in order to be the Apostle of the Gentiles? The churches of Judea would hear soon: He, who persecuted us in times past doth now preach the faith which once he impugned.(Gal.1:23) Saul has been called by grace and by grace he became Paul, the great Apostle that we know.
After 2000 years, these Apostles are still living among us and the Church likes to invoke them often. Peter has always continued his ministry through the different Popes, and today through Benedict XVI, visible head of the Catholic Church. Paul continues to teach us through his letters inspired by the Holy Ghost.
Today, we would like to give thanks to God for such a gift to His Church. In my prayer of thanksgiving I want to include a great expression of gratitude for our Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, and I am sure that many of you will join me in this prayer. I think it is not presumptuous to recognize the work of God’s grace through the Fraternity, in spite of its weak and human members. But it is precisely what God wants to use: weak human instruments. Every priest in the world can say with Saint Paul: By the grace of God, I am what I am.(I Cor.15:10) Every priest has been chosen by Christ, for a very particular mission which is the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the distribution of the Sacraments that give the grace. The priests of the Fraternity of Saint Peter have received this mission as any other priests, through the Church under the authority of Saint Peter.
The short history of our Fraternity – we are about to celebrate our 20th anniversary – is a testimony of confidence and shows how much God takes care of His Church. Created in a time of trouble, right after the Ordination of four Bishops by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, our founders went to Rome and begged the Holy Father, John Paul II, to let them continue to serve God and the Church according to the disciplinary and liturgical Tradition of the Church. Nothing was certain for this little group of priests but their hope has not been deceived. It was not a betrayal of Archbishop Lefebvre, for who we owe a debt of gratitude for his work of preservation of the authentic Catholic priesthood. But it was an act of faith in the Church established by God’s will upon Peter.
Some have predicted the failure of the Fraternity and other Ecclesia Dei institutes and orders. Certainly, we have known many difficulties and we still have some today, but 20 years after the Motu Proprio of John Paul II and now one year after the Motu Proprio of Benedict XVI, we can recognize the good fruits of the traditional communities that have chosen the way of obedience. It is certainly not the easiest way, but it is the necessary one. There is still a lot of work to do, which means continued effort and pain, but it is the usual way for the spreading of the gospel. The work of restoration of the liturgy and of the faith is not yet achieved. The task is huge. But we have the example of the Apostles and the encouragement of Saint Paul in his letters. Yesterday the Holy Father officially inaugurated the Jubilee Year of Saint Paul. It is an opportunity for us to be inspired by the spirit of the great Apostle and to acquire a true missionary zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

May Our blessed Mother help us to obtain this zeal.