"The Church can be persecuted, she can be weakened, but she cannot be destroyed. she will always come back with a greater strength.
During the French Revolution: this is a rather remarkable blessed here, he has not been canonized yet I think: Blessed Noel Pinot. Most people have never heard of him! He was born in 1747, he became a priest, a parish priest. In 1788, everything was still thought to be peaceful. The revolution did not really happened overnight but no one thought of it in 1788! Few people did! He was made an abbé, a pastor. In 1789, the Revolution came. In 1790, there was the Civil Constitution of the Clergy which was directly attacking the Church. He, like other priests, had to take the oath for which he was imprisoned, he was not allowed to function at all, then there were a reaction, he was free for a while, and then again under oppression. He went around saying Mass in private, visiting the sick, anointing people, baptizing. But finally, he was caught. He was betrayed, as so often happens, by someone to whom he had shown great kindness. He was arrested in his Mass vestments, put in prison for 12 days, roughly treated. At the end of the 12 days, he was asked to take the oath again, he refused, and was sentenced to the guillotine. He went to the guillotine still wearing his Mass vestments. On the way, he said those words: the old beginning prayers said at the foot of the altar, "Introibo ad altare Dei. Ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam". (I will go to the altar of God. To God, the joy of my youth!) He was going to offer his last sacrifice, the sacrifice of himself." -- Msgr. Jeffrey Ingham:  Fortnight for Freedom Homily (June 29, 2017)

• Biography of Blessed Noel Pinot: Saint Joseph de Clairval Abbaye,Letter of September 12, 2014

Prayer to Blessed Noel Pinot for Priests under Persecution:

Blessed Noel Pinot, who shared in the Sacred Priesthood of Jesus, the Sovereign Priest, deign to show us, your servants, the power of your intercession. Enlighten and strengthen priests; render them, like you, invincible in their defense of the Faith. Foster priestly and religious vocations in our parishes; fill those aspiring to the priesthood and the religious life with an ardent zeal. Obtain for the faithful the grace to better know and practice their religion. Ensure that families are faithful in carrying out their duties and grant that they be humble and respectful towards their pastors.

Preserve children and the youth from the many perils which threaten their beliefs and virtues; undo the plots of those who wish to tear them away from the maternal bosom of the Church. As you did during your life, aid the sick and the infirm; strengthen those who suffer and struggle. Finally, bless and crown with success the apostolic labors of the ministers of Christ and of all the Church militant, with the aim of restoring to our dear France the reign of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Blessed Noel Pinot, pray for us. (General Vicar A. Oger, Angers, France (July 10th, 1944)

- La prière, église Saint-Bonnet ( Léon Augustin Lhermitte 1844-1925) (Prayer, Saint Bonnet's Church)

"Some old-fashioned Catholics of long ago, we are told, would genuflect before entering a seat in any sort of auditorium. The incongruity of such an action, especially in a temple of entertainment, must have been amusing to a casual onlooker. The thoughtful man, however, would find something impressive in such an out of place devotion. For its occurrence would argue a solidly established familiarity with the Church and a corresponding lack of acquaintance with the theater and all its kindred.

Habitual though it might be, the bending of the knee by an old-fashioned Catholic before the altar of his God would necessarily be both deep and reverent. He knew that he was bowing in humble adoration before the Lord of all, before the Savior hidden in the tabernacle.

Judging from the genuflections demonstrated in church by some of the modern generation, the presence of our Lord on the altar is not so keenly comprehended. The faint inclination, the hasty dip, the slouchily indifferent bending of the knee can only indicate habit and custom based on little of thought or comprehension. For surely if the careless in this little ritualistic recognition of the Eucharist truly realized the Monarch before Whom they bowed they would at once become careful, devout and reverent. Catholic Transcript."

Source: Our Young People, V.39 #7, July 1930

Stations of the Cross, Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh NC

"The violence of the enemy is always directed against those priests who are most generous and most loyal. The more you are like your Divine Model, your Savior and your God, the more certainly will you be the target for the calumnies, the abuse and persecutions of the wicked."
-- Jesus Living in the Priest: Considerations on the greatness and Holiness of the Priesthood Jacques Nicolas et Rev. P. Millet, S.J.

Intention: 0 dearest Lord Jesus, I offer Thee the way of the Cross which I am about to make for Thy honor and glory and for all Thy priests, especially those who are suffering persecution for Thy sake.

The way of Cross

"When anyone has really given up his sins, he must not be content simply with bewailing them. He must also give up, leave far behind, and fly from anything which is capable of leading him in the direction of them again. In other words, my dear brethren, we must be ready to suffer anything rather than fall back into those sins which we have just confessed. People should be able to see a complete change in us; otherwise we have not merited Absolution, and it could even be possible that we have indeed committed sacrilege. Alas, that there are few in whom this change is apparent after having received Absolution! Dear God, what sacrileges are committed! If in every thirty Absolution there were but one genuine case, how soon would the world be converted!

Those people do not merit Absolution, then, who do not give sufficient signs of contrition. Alas, how many times, because they are sent away, do they not come back any more! This, of course, is because they have no real urge to be converted, for if they truly had, very far from leaving their Confession until another Easter, they would be working with all their hearts to change their lives and to return to make their peace with God."

Source: Sermons of the Cure of Ars 1960 p.125 (Public Domain)

Prayer for Lent: O Lord who, for our sake, didst fast forty days and forty nights; give us grace to use such abstinence that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may worthily lament and acknowledge our wretchedness, and may obtain perfect remission and forgiveness of Thee, the God of all mercy, who livest and reignest with the Father and Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen