Feast of all Saints: The Church reviews Her Successes
by VP
Posted on Saturday November 01, 2025 at 03:00AM in Sermons
Fra Angelico: The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs
"Our yearly liturgical course in living with Christ is fast drawing to a close. That is the reason why these last Sunday Masses have been showing us various aspects of the final reckoning when Christ our Judge will examine us to see how we have profited by all those countless opportunities of grace lavished upon us in every Sacrifice and sacrament throughout the year. What therefore could be more natural for us than, finding within ourselves the same un-Christly Christians as of yore, to feel a sense of frustration at the thought of so great a discrepancy between what was expected of us and what we have actually achieved? Can the liturgical life really be so marvelous a thing, if it shows so little proof of its power in our own daily living? Just such a sense of discouragement on our part the Church seems to have anticipated. For right here, almost at the close of her annual course, she gives us in review a veritable pageant of successful lives lived by those whom she has already graduated into eternity summa cum laude.
These multitudes of human beings from every race and nation, from every clime and century - what are they, one and all, but drops of water in the vast ocean of Christ's redemptive work? Each one, as a member of the Mystical Body on earth, has not only been saved thereby but has also helped to "fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ,...for his body, which is the Church." Col. 1:24. Douay-Rheims.
The ocean of redemptive merits became so vast a thing in its multiple human aspect that we could only gaze in wonderment at its unfathomable extent and depth. This is why, for those of us who are able to go to weekday Mass, the liturgy allowed us to examine this redeeming accomplishment of Christ a drop at a time, while we celebrated the feast days of the saints. Thus holding up a tiny particle of Christly glory to the great sun of God's infinite perfections, we could study their separate rays as they were refracted in the various hues of those personalities through which they passed. For the divine attributes, incarnate in mortal men, are, as it were, split into tiny human colors, so that we may more easily study them and try to adapt them to our own poor way of life.
To say, for instance, that God is love does not pass beyond the cold, clear realm of our intellect. But to learn that Francis of Assisi, in reflecting this divine charity, loved every flower and bird and uncouth clod of humankind to romantic folly, has set seven hundred years ablaze. When we are told that God is good, we nod assent and stifle a yawn. But when we read that a Peter Claver, filled to the brim by a participation in this goodness, could spend years of devoted service amid the nauseating slave ships in his endeavor to salvage souls for eternity- ah! then we begin to think that goodness is something real after all.
Thus through this past year the Church has carefully marshaled before us her procession of successes, men, women, and even children. All from the dawn of Christianity have chosen to live the Christ-Life to its fullest extent, regardless of the cost. Each of these heroes has paid in some way the price of life itself, if not by the actual shedding of his blood, then at least by the slow and relentless extermination of self in every form, so that it might be no longer he that lived but Christ in him.
Since, however, the vast majority of Christians, unable to go to daily Mass, cannot study this pageant of Christ's heroes gradually throughout the year, the Church has set aside this feast as a day of obligation. Now all her members may see in one grand review all those whose outstanding success bears witness to the potency of the Christ-Life as lived in and through the liturgical signs which make that Life an ever present reality.
Also the Church's object in thus honoring her heroes is to make us realize her great doctrine, the Communion of Saints. This is that celestial plan of distributive wealth, whereby the millionaires of heaven from their own abundance may effectively subsidize us, their needy brethren. This means that through the very special grace of today's feast of All Saints, we may fill our souls to overflowing with all the riches of Christ's members, who have traded with their talents so as to enrich not only themselves but also their brethren of every age and race and nation." Companion to the Missal, Sister M Cecilia OSB
"Oh! (...) My brethren, let the world have its gods and worship them; let it have its wisdom, which is foolishness with God; let it deride and mock at penance, at asceticism, at Religious vows, at practices of humiliation, at pilgrimages, at devotions, at prayer itself. But let us remember that Christ, and His Church after Him, have cursed the world. Voe Mundo! Let us stand firm, though power, and wealth, and culture be in conspiracy against us. Let us stand firm, though we be persecuted and vilified, and our name cast out as evil for Christ's sake. Let us keep the faith. Let us be imitators of the Saints as they also were of Christ. Let us fix our eyes on the end of all things, on the prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus. Let us never forget those words, so full at once of terror and consolation: "Then shall the just stand with great constancy against those that have afflicted them and taken away their labors. Those seeing it, shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the suddenness of their unexpected salvation, saying within themselves, repenting, and groaning for anguish of spirit: These are they, whom we had sometime in derision, and for a parable of reproach. We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honor. Behold, how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the Saints." Sermons by the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, Vol. 3, Feast of all Saints.
Month of November: Souls in Purgatory
by VP
Posted on Saturday November 01, 2025 at 03:00AM in Monthly Devotion
"Oh, my friends, let us pray much, and let obtain many prayers from others, for the poor dead; the good God will render us back the good we do to them a hundredfold. Ah! if every one knew how useful this devotion to the holy souls in purgatory is to those who practice it, they would not be forgotten so often; the good God regards all that we do for them as if it were done to Himself." -- St. John Mary Vianney (Blessed Sacrament Book, Fr. Francis X. Lasance)
Devotion for the month of November: Souls in Purgatory
Virtue of the month of November: Charity
This is the first and greatest commandment: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart; but the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Matthew, xxii: 88
"My God and my Lord! What need was there of commanding us to love Thee? Art Thou not most lovely in Thy infinite perfections? and for the infinite love Thou bearest to us, dost Thou not deserve our love? How, then, is it possible that any one should not love Thee? if there is such a person, it must be because he has not deserved to know Thee. For, a soul that knows God, cannot help loving Him, and loving Him in proportion to his knowledge of Him; so that is he loves Him but little, it is a sign that he knows Him but little; and the more his knowledge increases, the more his love will go on growing. St. Teresa."
"Among all those who are included under the title of neighbor, there are none who deserve it more, in one sense, that those of our own household. They are nearest of all of us, living under the same roof, and eating the same bread. Therefore, they ought to be one the principal objects of our love, and we should practice in regard to them all the acts of true charity, which ought to be founded not in flesh and blood, or upon their good qualities, but altogether upon God. St. Francis de Sales"
November's Daily Thoughts:
November's leaden skies are stretched above the fields
That Autumn's sun from flaming gold turned gray;
How faint they gleam in gossamered delight that yields
The grandeurs of Saint Martin's summer day.
True hearts are awed, yet fain, to see that Nature died;
True souls rejoice to know that not in vain they sighed.
As verdure passed, so man who is of earth, but part,
Lays down his life like wilted garden blooms,
And flowered clay, like pall, enshrouds the frozen heart,
But not the soul that Justice then illumes.
What naught was held, is vivid splotch in vision pure,
And in the purgatorial flames finds cleaning cure.
Like babes, they helpless mourn to burn away their stains,
And know beyond the bars beams heaven's light
That God will show, like sun-lit sheen, when pardon reigns.
While yet our days are clear, they live in night;
The merits of Christ-blest November's daily prayer.
Rev. T.F. Kramer, C.PP.S.
1923 Messenger of the Most Precious Blood, Volumes 28-29
Nov 1: Prayers for the Holy Souls In Purgatory
by VP
Posted on Saturday November 01, 2025 at 01:00AM in Meditations
"One of the most consoling doctrines of the Catholic Church is that of the Communion of Saints. All, the saints in Heaven, we upon earth, the souls in Purgatory, are members of one great family. By this "bond of perfection" which unites the Suffering and Triumphant Church with the Militant Church upon earth, incorporating them into one body, mutual charity becomes an obligation. This reciprocal love, being the duty of all men, renders it imperative that all should pray for one another, for in this general prayer, offered mutually, Christian charity is most beautifully and eloquently expressed.
From this general obligation we derive the special duty to pray for the suffering souls in Purgatory, who are unable in their extreme distress to do aught for their own relief. It has always been the belief of Holy Church that the faithful, united in the Communion of Saints, can mutually assist each other. As the saints in Heaven pray for us, so must we also offer our petitions for the suffering souls in Purgatory, that God in His goodness and mercy, may mitigate and shorten their punishment, and hasten their entrance into Heaven. It is the doctrine of the Church that the faithful upon earth are really able to relieve the temporal punishment of the holy souls in Purgatory. "In this," says the Roman Catechism, "we must praise the infinite goodness and mercy of God with greatest thankfulness, that He has granted to human weakness the grace that one can make satisfaction for another."
Prayer: O Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Who hast said, "Where there are two or three gathered together in My name, there Am I in the midst of them," (Matthew XVIII. 20) look mercifully upon Thy holy Church, who implores Thy clemency in behalf of her suffering members. End their intense pain, and open unto them the portals of the heavenly Jerusalem, that they may praise and bless Thee forever and ever. AmenPrayer for Priests in Purgatory: My Jesus, by the sorrows Thou didst suffer in Thine Agony in the Garden, in Thy Scourging and Crowning with thorns, in the Way to Calvary, in Thy Crucifixion and Death, have mercy on the souls of priests in Purgatory, especially those most forgotten and who have no one else to pray for them. I wish to remember all those priests who ministered to me, the priests my heart has never forgotten, and for those that I no longer recall due to my frailty of memory. Do Thou deliver them from the dire torments they endure; call them and admit them to Thy most sweet embrace in Paradise.
Pope Saint Pius X and Saint John Vianney, pray for us and especially for our priests. Amen
Special Intercession: Pray for those who, during the course of their earthly lives, did most to relieve the souls in Purgatory.
Lord grant them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. (three times)
Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!
Source: Manual of the Purgatorian Society, Redemptorist Fathers. 1907
Vigil of All Saints.
by VP
Posted on Friday October 31, 2025 at 01:00AM in Tradition
Fra Angelico: The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs
Halloween was originally a day of Fasting by Philip Kosloski
"As you desire to partake of the joy of the following solemnity, so prepare yourself this day. Humiliation, self-denial and prayer, are the dispositions required of you, and the surest way to be established in the grace of God. Keep a strict fast, if you are able; and if not, be not wanting, at least, in such other exercises, as are proper for the same end. Suppress all motions of vanity, passion, and self-love. Let nothing appear in you, which could render you displeasing to Almighty God, or betray in you a love more of earth than of heaven. Labor to bring your soul to the resemblance of the saints, that you may obtain that grace, which alone can bring you to their state of bliss. And since fasting is one thing required of us, as a proper means for humbling sinners, and for inclining God to compassion and mercy, beseech him to direct you, and help you in keeping such a fast this day, as may be the punishment of your sins, and be so acceptable to Him, as to remove scourges, and open the treasures of his goodness upon you. Do not deceive yourself with names, or ceremonies, or by following in such a track only as custom has made; but consider what is fast, which God has chosen what is the fast due to your sins, and proper for engaging the divine mercy to you. Let not appetite, inclination, or self-love, have the direction of what you are to eat or drink. For by these you have been too often led into excess and sin, and therefore it cannot be reasonable that they should be the advisers on days designed to punish their disorders. Let repentance determine how far the sinner ought to be punished by fasting, who has so often lifted up his head, and rebelled against his God. On this day bear contradictions in silence, and endeavor to rejoice in contempt, as your due. And in whatever way, at other times, you observe your pride break forth, let it there be your solicitude to apply suitable remedies.' The Catholic Year; Or Daily Lessons on the Feasts of the Church By Rev. Fr. John GOTHER
"LET us prepare our souls for the graces heaven is about to shower upon the earth in return for its homage. To-morrow the Church will be so overflowing with joy, that she will seem to be already in possession of eternal happiness; but to-day she appears in the garb of penance, confessing that she is still an exile. Let us fast and pray with her; for are not we too pilgrims and strangers in this world, where all things are fleeting and hurry on to death? Year by year, as the great solemnity comes round, it has gathered from among our former companions new saints, who bless our tears and smile upon our songs of hope. Year by year the appointed time draws nearer, when we ourselves, seated at the heavenly banquet, shall receive the homage of those who succeed us, and hold out a helping hand to draw them after us to the home of everlasting happiness. Let us learn, from this very hour, to emancipate our souls, let us keep our hearts free, in the midst of the vain solicitudes and false pleasures of a strange land: the exile has no care but his banishment, no joy but that which gives him a foretaste of his fatherland." Dom Gueranger
St. Serapion of Antioch, Bishop and Confessor.
by VP
Posted on Thursday October 30, 2025 at 05:00AM in Saints
"An eminent bishop of Antioch, of the second age. He was zealous in maintaining the doctrines received from the apostles,
and in opposing all those who taught contrary to what had been
delivered: so that no new opinion any where began to appear, but it
certainly found him an adversary. This his zeal, as Eusebius observes,
was very remarkable in his condemning a book recommended to the faithful under the title of St. Peter's Gospel; being a sacrilegious artifice made use of by some false zealots, for the more plausible recommendation of their errors. But such titles prevailed not with him, who regarded truth alone.
Be zealous for the truth; and fear not only apocryphal gospels, but likewise being imposed upon by the mistaken sense of such as are canonical. But let your zeal be not only in regard of faith, but likewise of such other practical truths, as have been taught by Christ and his apostles. Assert the necessity of taking up the cross of self-denial, of mortifying the flesh, of living by the spirit of Christ, that is, by the spirit of charity, humility and patience. For the faith of Christ will not carry any one to heaven, if there be not due endeavors to live according to the life of Christ. But those who will hazard all for the sake of Jesus, and to order their lives according to His life, will find all worldly comforts supplied in the possession of Him, and that in losing all, they have gained all. This is the doctrine of self-denial; this is the command of forsaking all for Christ's sake, and of loving nothing more than Him, which is so often inculcated in the Gospel, and laid down for the foundation of a Christian life. Whoever has not learned this, has not yet begun to be a true disciple. But how great grace is necessary for us in this state of our weakness, to follow these lessons of the Gospel. Beg then of God to help you in his mercy, and not to let His grace be wanting, by which you may not only purpose, but effectually walk in it all your lives." (The Catholic Year; Or Daily Lessons on the Feasts of the Church by Rev. Fr. John GOTHER)
#14 Acts of Adoration Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament in reparation for all the offenses committed against Him by mankind [Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament]
by VP
Posted on Thursday October 30, 2025 at 01:00AM in Thursday Reparation
14. We adore Thee, most loving Shepherd, pattern of true charity! And to make reparation for the designs of revenge, conceived in defiance of Thy divine prohibitions, we offer up to Thee the patience and prayers of the Martyrs in favor of their persecutors. Eternal praise and thanksgiving be to the Most Holy and Most Divine Sacrament.
O Queen of heaven and earth, hope of mankind, who adores thy Divine Son incessantly! We entreat thee, that, since we have the honor to be of the number of thy children, thou would interest thyself in our behalf and make satisfaction for us, and in our name, to our Eternal Judge, by rendering to Him the duties which we ourselves are incapable of performing. Amen
Saint Narcissus, Bishop of Jerusalem
by VP
Posted on Wednesday October 29, 2025 at 01:00AM in Saints
"Perjury and its punishment.-St. Narcissus, who governed the Church of Jerusalem in 195, when we find him assisting at a council held in that town, was about eighty years old when elevated to the episcopacy. Notwithstanding the miracles that God vouchsafed to his piety, the venerable bishop was accused of an abominable crime by three impious men, who only resorted to this expedient for the purpose of shielding themselves from a better-founded accusation which he might have laid against them. They each swore with an imprecation. May I be burnt alive!" said one. May I be struck with leprosy!" said another. 'May my eyes never more behold the light of day!" added the third. The holy old man, rather than compromise them by seeking to justify himself, withdrew to a solitude where he might remain unknown. The evils which his accusers had invoked upon themselves speedily befell them; being then justified by God himself, he reappeared, and was more beloved than ever by his flock. He lived to the age of 116, but St. Alexander, in the capacity of coadjutor, helped him to discharge the pastoral functions.
MORAL REFLECTION.-"Let no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter, for the Lord is the avenger of all such," says the great Apostle.-(1 Thess. iv. 6.)
Prayer for Persecuted Priests
All Powerful and Eternal God, through
the merits of Your Son Jesus, and Through Your love for Him, I implore
You, have pity on the priests of the Holy Church. In spite of their
sublime dignity, they are fearful and weak, like all created beings. In
your infinite mercy, inflame their hearts with the fire of Divine Love.
For the sake of Jesus, Your Son, bestow grace on the priests and uphold
them. Do not let them fall into temptation and tarnish their noble
vocation.
O Jesus, we implore you. Look with pity on the priests of the Holy
Church: those who are serving You faithfully and proclaiming Your glory;
those who are persecuted for tending your flock; those who are
abandoned, weary and sorrowful: those who are lukewarm, confused and who
have denied their faith; those who are sick, dying, or in Purgatory.
Lord Jesus, we entreat You. Listen to our supplication, have pity and
console them.
O Jesus, we entrust to You the priests of the whole world: the priests
who baptized me, absolved my sins, offered Holy Mass and consecrated the
Eucharist to nourish my soul. We entrust to You the priests that
instructed me when I was ignorant, gave me strength in my weakness,
showed me the Way and the Truth and comforted me in my sorrow and
affliction. For all the blessings they obtained for me, I implore You to
support them in Your Loving Kindness.
O Jesus, shelter our priests in Your Sacred Heart. Let them take refuge
in Your mercy and love, in this life, and to the hour of death. Amen.
By his Eminence the late Ignatius Cardinal Kung, Bishop of Shanghai.
Published 7/16/1953 during the early years of persecution of the Roman
Catholic Church in China by its communist government. He was imprisoned
from 1955 to 1988.
Ss. Simon and Jude, Apostles
by VP
Posted on Tuesday October 28, 2025 at 01:00AM in Saints
Saint Simon and Jude, El Greco. pd
"This day being the festival of the apostles of Jesus Christ; the first part of our devotion ought to be, to give most earnest thanks to Almighty God for his particular mercy in bringing us to the light of His Gospel, and calling us to be members of the Holy Catholic Church, by which we may be taught His truths, and be assisted with all those helps, which His infinite goodness has appointed for our salvation.
The second part of our devotion ought to be in humbly beseeching the Father of mercies to perfect the work which he has begun in us; not to leave us in our natural poverty, but so to strengthen us by a daily supply of grace, that we may live in the practice of the Gospel, and not be a dishonor to our profession, by joining a wicked life to a holy faith. What can be the fruit of our faith in Christ, if we are not solicitous to make his law the rule of our lives?
It having so pleased Almighty God, that the apostles, who were made choice of by Christ for preaching His Gospel to the world, should suffer death from the hands of unbelievers; we have in this, lessons very proper for our instruction. One is, that in whatever we undertake, we are to be solicitous in this point only, of being careful and faithful in the performance of what belongs to us; but as for the success or good effect of our endeavors, this we are to leave with all possible indifference to the appointment of the all-wise Disposer of all things; and stand prepared with equal submission, whether the effect be answerable to our wishes or not. For while we see apostles chosen by Christ himself, commissioned by Him, engaged in no less a work than the conversion of souls; and yet, after all their labors, falling a sacrifice, by the violence of those very errors which they were sent to reform; who is there that upon confidence of his cause can presume of success? No, there are no circumstances in which this presumption ought to be allowed.
When the undertaking
is good, success may be desired: but, since all our part is to
co-operate with Providence, and its counsels are wholly hidden from us,
we are only to join with our best endeavors, where the will of God seems to call for them; and if He permits a disappointment, even then to rejoice in the accomplishment of the Divine Will, and conclude that disappointment to have been ordained by Almighty God, as the means for His greater glory, and our good.
It was thus in the apostles;
in whose death God was as much glorified, as in their lives. What
construction then is to be put upon all that grief and uneasiness which
too often oppress us, and even incline us to repent of the good which we have done, when we see it attended with some ill consequence, and that our charity, or piety, turns to our loss? What is to be said of such grief, but that it is either the effect of pride, which sought itself more than God, and expected the glory of being made the instrument of good; or, that it is a want of faith, which having regard to what is present only, sinks under the present evil, and receives no comfort from the hope of what is yet to come? Now this not being apostolical, ought to be reformed on the day of apostles, and better principles settled; such as may ever put us upon doing good, because it is good; and because God, in present circumstances, seems to require it of us: and as for the effect, to wait upon Providence for whatever that may be. And this, with a mind prepared even to suffer for the good which we do; remembering that whatever we suffer, having done well, is suffering for justice sake, and that which has the promise of eternal
blessings to crown it.
Suffering brought upon our own heads, by our folly, extravagance and sin, has something very afflicting in it, even a sting that cannot easily be taken from it. But as for whatever we suffer in consequence of our having done well, this has so much of eternal comforts to sweeten it, that wherever there is not a want of faith, there can be no want of patience, since God has promised to be the reward exceeding great." Source: The Catholic Year; by Rev. Fr. John GOTHER
Saint Frementius, Bishop, Apostle of Ethiopia, 4th Century
by VP
Posted on Monday October 27, 2025 at 01:00AM in Saints
\
"THE WAYS OF GOD.- God preordains all things with reference to His designs; this consoling truth is too often absent from our minds in times of affliction. Frumentius and Edesius had been brought to Abyssinia while still children, by one of their relatives who had business there, and, while resting under a leafy shade, intent on their studies, were carried off by some of the inhabitants. They grew up in the midst of this half-barbarous race, and were raised to the highest dignities. The king, when at the point of death, restored to them their liberty. Frumentius, on returning to Tyre, his native town, concerted plans with St. Athanasius for the conversion of Abyssinia. He was soon afterwards sent thither as bishop; the inhabitants, being accustomed to respect and obey him, yielded to his appeal with such perfect docility that before long the entire kingdom was Christianized. In vain did the emperor Constantius strive to harass it by seeking to introduce the errors of Arianism; new though they were in Christianity, they refused to listen to his missionaries or to deliver up their bishop. Abyssinia remained and continues to be Catholic. Frumentius died towards the end of the fourth century.
MORAL REFLECTION.-With reference to how many events may the Christian who reflects well exclaim, as in the above instance: "The finger of God is there!"-(Exod. viii. 19.) Source: Pictorial half hours with the saints by Rev. Fr Auguste François Lecanu
"In every age, from Christ down to this very time, some new nations have
been added to the fold of Christ, as the annals of the Church show; and
the apostasy of those that have forsaken the path of truth, has been
repaired by fresh acquisitions. This is the work of the Most High; the
wonderful effect of all-powerful grace. It is owing to the divine
blessing that the heavenly seed fructifies in the hearts of men, and it
is God who raises up, and animates with his spirit zealous successors of the apostles, whom he wouchsafes to make His instruments in this great work. We are indebted to his gratuitous mercy for the inestimable benefit of this light of faith. If we correspond not faithfully, with fear and trembling, to so great a grace, our punishment will be so much the more dreadful. " Source: The Lives of the Saints by Rev. Fr. Alban Butler.
Christ the King
by VP
Posted on Sunday October 26, 2025 at 01:00AM in Documents
Prayer
to Christ the King
O
CHRIST, JESUS, I acknowledge Thee as Universal King.
For Thee all creatures
have been made. Do Thou exercise
over
me all the rights that Thou hast.
Renew my Baptismal Vows,
I renounce Satan,
with all his works and
pomps, and I promise to live as a
good
Catholic: Especially, do I pledge myself, by all
the
means in my power, to bring about the triumph of the
rights
of God and of Thy Church.
Divine
Heart of Jesus, I offer Thee all my poor actions to obtain
that all hearts may
recognize Thy Sacred Royalty, and that thus the
reign of Thy Peace may be established throughout the entire world.
Amen.
"With the Pontifical Encyclical Quas primas which was authoritatively forecast by several articles in the REVIEW during the past year, our High Priest, bearing the triple crown, explicitly asserts the threefold power of the Son of God who came to bring peace to all men of good will on earth. The full text of this important and inspiring document has been published and translated in official and in popular organs of the press, so as to make its message everywhere known.
What needs to be emphasized, however, is that its chief purpose is not merely to state the position and teachings of the Catholic Church through Christ's supreme living Apostle, but rather to rouse into action the leaders of nations and the heads of families so that they may know how justly to direct and safeguard their loyal subjects and set about to do it amidst the lawlessness, confusion of principles, and false doctrines which pervade the social and political world of to-day. The Catholic Father of Christendom raises his voice to remind the children of earth, whose eternal interests are committed to his care, that Christ Jesus in becoming man for our salvation meant to inaugurate definite and permanent incentives to action as well to create definite convictions by His teachings. Hence after reminding us that Christ is the universal Lawgiver of mankind by divine right, Pius XI points out that the Incarnation had for its chief end the establishing of an earthly executive organ, such as the Church, by which His law should be perpetuated among succeeding generations and its beneficent effects should be illustrated in the administrative and judiciary spheres of life. And in order that we may bear this fact constantly in mind the Sovereign Pontiff proclaims the Feast of JESUS CHRIST THE KING to be celebrated henceforth in all Catholic Churches throughout the world as a perpetual memorial of hope, even as Christmas and Easter have become annual reminders of faith and gratitude for millions who hearing the Name of Christ rejoice in His beneficent graces.
Accordingly the Catholic Church hereafter will celebrate in the annual Feast of Christ the King a day of Memorial, of Thanksgiving, and of Independence from the slavery of sin and hatred which has with increasing violence encompassed the nations and their homes.
On the last Sunday in October, countless numbers of faithful Christians will kneel before the altar, while their priests, from the rising to the setting of the sun in every land, offer unbloody sacrifice, whereby Christ is immolated anew, and wherein we, united in His name, beseech the Eternal Father to send down His grace for the destruction of sin and the subjugation of men to the sweet yoke of their lawful heavenly and earthly King, Jesus Christ. All during that month the Catholic faithful are in the habit of pouring forth their devotion to God through the Mother of Christ, in the daily recitation of the Rosary. With the eve of the feast the Spouse of Christ inaugurates a series of significant prayers and hymns in the office "De Festo D. N. Jesu Christi Regis". The feast, which in the liturgy of the Church ranks as a Double of the First Class, has its own antiphons and lessons, in which the wondrous manifestations of Christ's Kingship are described as foretold and illustrated by the Messianic prophets." (American Ecclesiastical Review, Volume 74 edited by Herman Joseph Heuser)
16. Christ as our Redeemer purchased the Church at the price of his own blood; as priest he offered himself, and continues to offer himself as a victim for our sins. Is it not evident, then, that his kingly dignity partakes in a manner of both these offices?
19. When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony.
31. When we pay honor to the princely dignity of Christ, men will doubtless be reminded that the Church, founded by Christ as a perfect society, has a natural and inalienable right to perfect freedom and immunity from the power of the state; and that in fulfilling the task committed to her by God of teaching, ruling, and guiding to eternal bliss those who belong to the kingdom of Christ, she cannot be subject to any external power.(...)
32. Nations will be reminded by the annual celebration of this feast that not only private individuals but also rulers and princes are bound to give public honor and obedience to Christ. It will call to their minds the thought of the last judgment, wherein Christ, who has been cast out of public life, despised, neglected and ignored, will most severely avenge these insults; for his kingly dignity demands that the State should take account of the commandments of God and of Christian principles, both in making laws and in administering justice, and also in providing for the young a sound moral education.
33. (...) He must reign in our minds, which should assent with perfect submission and firm belief to revealed truths and to the doctrines of Christ. He must reign in our wills, which should obey the laws and precepts of God. He must reign in our hearts, which should spurn natural desires and love God above all things, and cleave to him alone. He must reign in our bodies and in our members, which should serve as instruments for the interior sanctification of our souls, or to use the words of the Apostle Paul, as instruments of justice unto God.[35] If all these truths are presented to the faithful for their consideration, they will prove a powerful incentive to perfection.
Source: Encyclical of Pope Pius XI on the Feast of Christ the King: Quas Primas
Consecration of mankind to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Form of Consecration Issued with the Encyclical Letter of His Holiness, Leo XIII, dated May 25, 1899.
Most sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, look down upon us, humbly prostrate before Thy altar. We are Thine and Thine we wish to be; but to be more surely united with Thee, behold each one of us freely consecrates himself to-day to Thy most sacred Heart. Many, indeed, have never known Thee; many, too, despising Thy precepts, have rejected Thee. Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw them to Thy sacred Heart. Be Thou King, O Lord, not only of the faithful who have never forsaken Thee, but also of the prodigal children who have abandoned Thee; grant that they may quickly return to their Father's house, lest they die of wretchedness and hunger. Be Thou King of those who are deceived by erroneous opinions, or whom discord keeps aloof, and call them back to the harbor of truth and unity of faith, so that soon there may be but one flock and one shepherd. Be Thou King also of all those who sit in the ancient superstition of the Gentiles, and refuse not Thou to deliver them out of darkness into the light and kingdom of God. Grant, O Lord, to Thy Church, assurance of freedom and immunity from harm; give peace and order to all nations, and make the earth resound from pole to pole with one cry: Praise to the divine Heart that wrought our salvation; to it be glory and honor forever.
Amen.
Source: My Prayer Book; Happiness in Goodness: Reflections, Counsels, Prayers and Devotions By Rev. Fr. Francis Xavier Lasance
