''To Love Jesus and to Make Him Loved'' - St. Therese of Lisieux

Torch of The Faith News on Friday 20 February 2015 - 11:45:08 | by admin

There are so many attacks on Christians and such serious affronts to Catholic orthodoxy these days, that it can sometimes be hard to know where to even begin. 

This week has been darkened by the wicked beheading of 21 Coptic Christians by ISIS radicals in Libya. The barbarism of this filmed mass-murder has brought out into the public gaze the more widespread and under-reported kidnappings, murders, church-burnings and other daily sufferings that Christians in Libya have been enduring, at the hands of various other Islamist groups, since 2012. Nothwithstanding this, the response of the papacy has been rather muted - except for the executions being used as a vehicle to promote ecumenism. Meanwhile the President of the United States managed to refer to the incident without even acknowledging that the victims were Christians; and this in spite of the facts that the Islamists announced on video that the victims were being killed because of their faith, that several of the men called on Jesus seconds before they were killed and that the perpetrators announced that they are planning to conquer Rome.

This week has also been punctuated by another round of revealing papal incidents. On Sunday, Pope Francis' homily at the Conclave of Cardinals in Rome sounded another signal regarding the agenda being established for the Synod on the Family. 

Then on Ash Wednesday, one of the key days in the Church's year which traditionally highlight the call to conversion, repentance and penance, the dissenting homosexualist New Ways Ministry - banned under Pope Benedict XVI - achieved seats at the papal audience. And this seemingly through the ministrations of 'minder-emeritus' Archbishop Georg Ganswein and the normally orthodox defender of the Mass and True Marriage, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San-Francisco. Cardinal Vincent Nichols also sent a publicity-stunt message of support to the homosexualist Martin Prendergast and a group of 'LGBT Catholics' that Prendergast was leading from England to Rome for Ash Wednesday. 

Then, Rorate Caeli reports today, that Pope Francis has described the 'Reform of the Reform' as ''mistaken,'' and given a very generalistic critique of traditionalist seminarians and their approach to liturgy. 

And of course we also now have the ugly spectre of an orthodox Catholic blogger from Canada being threatened with legal action for merely stating what Vatican spokesman Fr. Tom Rosica has himself already said in the public realm.

On top of this, 10 Catholic churches in France have been attacked - with at least two of these suffering sacrilegious desecrations of the Blessed Sacrament. The problem has been so bad that Bishop Pascal Roland has ordered the Blessed Sacrament to be removed from all Tabernacles, in the Bellay-Ars Diocese, unless they are fitted with extra-strong locks. Meanwhile in Lecce, Italy, a Catholic Church has been severely vandalized with blasphemous and homosexualist graffiti as a form of protest against a local conference promoting Christian marriage and family. Also in Delemont, Switzerland, a Catholic church has been daubed with satanic symbols and blasphemously homosexualist slogans. 

And finally, whilst intellectual Catholics scoff at those who worry about Our Lady of Fatima's urgent request for the Consecration of Russia, England was 'buzzed' once again this week by another two of the gigantic Russian 'Bear' bombers flying off the coast of Cornwall; just to remind us - as MPs told David Cameron - that Mr. Putin is watching us.  

There is much we could say on each of these matters and may yet do. And yet, we sense that dwelling on these barrages of depressing news may not actually be too helpful to readers suffering from the 'shock and awe' tactics of the Modernist churchmen and the pressures from a secularized culture. We began to discern recently that our apostolate may be moving towards a 'place' of support and consolation for shell-shocked Catholics. As such, let us all frequently turn to Jesus. 

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you may recall that we did an article last summer about Fr. Mateo Crawley-Boevey's book 20 Holy Hours. It is a text worth getting hold of as soon as you possibly can. As we said last July, please do not be put off by the minimalist cover of our late-edition copy. Pauline Books and Media reprinted this version of the book during the 1970's to the 1990's which, though expressing the Christocentric focus of the content with its cover, clearly lacks a Corporal and Candles for the Monstrance.

Older versions with beautiful imagery are harder to obtain in the UK, but may perhaps be found more easily by readers overseas. Still, it is worth getting hold of any copy available, because the entire textual content presents a rich and orthodox expression of traditional Catholic devotion.

In Fr. Mateo's own words, the book was written: ''to be an intimate and fervent supplication, expressing our longing for a greater intimacy with Jesus, offering Him a living atonement for our sins and especially the sins of ingratitude and the easy-going ways of many formalistic friends.'' As a younger man, Fr. Mateo had met St. Pope Pius X, who wholeheartedly approved of his apostolate and 'commanded' him to devote his life to this magnificent work. Both of these men were prophetic witnesses who, within their own lifetimes, could discern the dangers of the atheistic and man-centred trajectory which the world has taken.

This book can be especially helpful during these times to Catholics who feel at once battered by the storms shaking the Church and yet also sense a deep interior call of Christ to a loving union with Him. The book provides a practical way to begin constructing and strengthening a spiritual fortress around one's soul for the times through which we are living.  

In drawing closer to the Eucharistic Jesus, the 20 Holy Hours found in this book can be especially helpful. Through them, Jesus invites the reader to enter into His Divine Love, to rest their head and heart on His, and to enter into a deep union with Him.

The present sufferings of our readers are not in vain. They can be a fertile source for reparatory love of the Saviour. We do not speak here of a retreat into a self-absorbed Quietism, but of an active entry into deeper prayer in the Lord. Union with the Lord is the foundation of any effective and fruitful apostolate. As we consider the urgency of events threatening the Church and the world at this time, it is clear how imperative it is that this call is answered by those hearing it in their hearts. 

The Most-Rev. Edwin V. Byrne, Late-Archbishop of Santa-Fe, New Mexico, wrote the foreword to Fr. Crawley-Boevey's precious book.   

His Grace reflected: 'The Holy Hour is an hour of reparation. How badly and urgently we need to make reparation! How offended and saddended must Our Lord's Heart be at the sight of so many sins and crimes committed by friends and enemies alike, by nations and by individuals! We can almost hear the lament of a Heart torn by the ingratitude of those He loves, ''Why do you persecute Me? What have I done to you?''

'Our Blessed Lady has left us the legacy of Her quiet. If we are to live as children of God, we must be careful not to substitute a great deal of ''doing'' for a great lack of ''being.'' In the quiet of the night-hour of adoration in the home we will learn the secrets of the King and gain open entrance to His Heart. And gradually, we will understand His Love and then cry out, not only that we love Him, but in simple wonder say, ''Oh, how He loves us!''

As we at Torch of The Faith said last summer, if you desire the restoration of the Social Reign of Jesus Christ the Universal King, and yet you also discern the inner call to sanctify your own heart and home as places of holy refuge and reparation in these times, then 20 Holy Hours by Fr. Mateo Crawley-Boevey can be a most helpful resource.

By entering into the Sacred Heart of Christ, your sufferings will find new meaning, you will derive strength to carry your crosses, and your loneliness will be transformed into aloneness with the Blessed Trinity. And the grace of Baptism, continued through habitually living in the state of grace, means one is never truly alone.

Our prayer and hope for you - and for us - today is joined to that of St. Therese of Lisieux: May we all love Jesus and make Him loved!  

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