Peter trembled and fumbled over his words, uncompleted words, and it was only when Christ put his hand upon Peter’s shoulder was he able to bring himself, at best, under control, but he was unable to take his eyes off the face of the Master in which Peter recognised the inconceivable sorrow and broken-heartedness he had witnessed at the last supper. Continue reading Quo Vadis Petre?
Our medieval predecessors gave the word “cure” an imaginative, albeit evocative, etymology: quia cor urat, “so that the heart is warmed.” If Christ is born within us, we have to… Continue reading Christmas Message from Fr. Ugo-Maria – The Hermit of Saint Bruno.
Some modern scholars have argued that passages in Ælred’s writings show that he may have been both physically and emotionally attracted to other men. Sometimes, he is even called the “gay abbot of Rievaulx”, he’s become an unofficial patron of LGBTQ Christians, especially within the US Episcopalian Church. As a consequence, a number of Polish Cistercians have reacted by flatly refusing to read any of Ælred’s works. Frankly, their blinkered attitude is their loss, we should pray that their eyes might be opened against ignorance and intolerance Continue reading St. Ælred of Rievaulx (1100-†1167) the Peacemaker
On the twenty year old Bruno, all these events had had a very profound spiritual effect. Bruno’s devotion to Saint Remi is known to us through a letter he wrote to his old cathedral school friend Raoul le Vert. The letter was written toward the end of Bruno’s life from Calabria where he concludes the letter with the words: “Please send me The Life of Saint Remi, because it is impossible to find a copy where we are.” Continue reading Saint Bruno the Carthusian
On Thursday, September 23, the Church celebrated the feast of Saint Pius of Pietrelcina with the premiere by Famiplay of the film “We’ll rise at dawn ~ The strength of friendship”. Saint Pius of Pietrelcina was one of the most beloved and popular Italian saints of the 20th century and whom for half a century had concealed the wounds of the stigmata of Jesus Christ on his hands, feet and side.
The film “We’ll Rise at Dawn” tells the story of 12-year-old Luca Paolucci from San Giovanni Rotondo, and his 13 year old friend Sebastiano of San Marco in Lamis just 2.48 miles from S. Giovanni Rotondo in Southern Italy. These two boys intrigued and united through a strong bond of friendship and faith embark on an amazing journey in search of the man behind the real Padre Pio; a holy man, friar of miracles from southern Italy .
The film takes place in our time.
Luca is a 12 year old boy from San Giovanni Rotondo (south of Italy). He is intelligent, sharp witted and determined. One day, while eating supper at home, after spending the day visiting the church and museum of Padre Pio, he tells his parents about his plan to conduct a research among the people in his town who knew Padre Pio, the older people whom he wanted to interview to gather their testimonies, in order to write a book on the saint of Gargano. Luca has a ten year old sister (Miranda). The family are very close, their father is a scientist, a researcher at Padre Pio Hospital.
Luca goes to see his friend, Sebastiano, in San Marco in Lamis 2.48 miles from S. Giovanni Rotondo, to ask him to team up with him on this initiative. Sebastiano accepts. He is a 13-year-old boy, within easy reach, amiable, a bit of a joker, despite a complex and difficult family situation: his mother is seriously Ill, and his father, an alcoholic often clashes with his son Sebastiano who is an only child.
The two boys begin their investigations by interviewing three characters, (two Capuchin Friars and one old lady) who knew Padre Pio when they were young and who have spoken with him in person, they are the real witnesses to some of his many miracles, his charisms, and extraordinary gifts. The saw Padre Pio’s sufferings first hand and his stigmata wounds like Christ formed in the shape of the Cross.
Here we encounter a new generation of faithful who have discovered Padre Pio, confronting the people who actually knew the saint. These three characters truly knew Padre Pio and fit quite easily into the narrative story of this fiction film.
Between one interview and another, the two boys exchange their impressions, they argue as friends do, and we see amusing interludes and boyish banter, alternating with some more serious and at times very moving moments. There are a sequence of amusing dialogues, for example between Luca and his little sister Miranda, between the two main characters, between the two main characters and their friends, family and some of the towns people.
We then get a glimpse and witness their family lives; A story of the two families. The health of Sebastiano’s mother is deteriorating rapidly. So is his father’s health, due to his alcoholism.
During a fight, Sebastiano is slapped in his face by his father. He meets Luca at Padre Pio’s ancient church where Luca attempts to consoles his friend. On their bikes they pass the plains between San Giovanni Rotondo and Monte Sant’Angelo. When they arrive at a fountain, Luca tells Sebastiano his parents have agreed to let him go with him to Pietralcina.
One day the two boys leave together for Pietrelcina with Sebastiano’s uncle… when… Something happens… and here I have to stop and say no more…
Padre Pio was a saintly capuchin friar from the southern Italian town of Pietrelcina who lived his ministry in San Giovanni Rotondo. He died in 1968, for fifty years he had on his hands, feet and sides the wounds of the stigmata of Jesus Christ. He had extraordinary gifts – he could read the minds and souls of all people who came close to him (their past and their future). He performed numerous and incredible miracles. Today there are tens of thousands of devotees of Padre Pio throughout the world.
The miracles and stigmata of Saint Pius of Pietrelcina are widely known, as well as his profound writings on the meaning of Christian suffering. However, what is less known, are the most relevant aspect of his work: the prophecies that he made throughout his life.
Famiplay, is a cinema platform with Catholic values in audiovisual content, and wished to contribute toward a celebration of Padre Pio life by making his life and works known through the medium of cinema.
To achieve this, “We’ll rise at dawn” is now available on Amazon. Directed by Frenchman Jean-Marie Benjamin, Catholic priest, composer, writer and filmmaker a personal friend of Padre Pio, the film highlights the strength and intensity of friendship, whilst embarking on a wonderful journey to discover the truth about their local saint Padre Pio and his miracles.
I would not hesitate to recommend this film for family viewing of any age. The following links have been provide for you to watch a trailer, read about the production company and to rent or buy the film.
Continue reading “We’ll Rise at Dawn ~ The Strength of Friendship.”
The impact of her posthumous publications, including Story of a Soul published shortly after her death, are extremely significant. The originality of her spirituality, also called the theology of the “Little Way” of “spiritual childhood”, has inspired multitudes of believers and also deeply affected many non-believers. Thérèse’s “little way” is understood simply to mean that we only need to… Continue reading The Story of a Soul ~ St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus O.C.D.
At the age of twelve, Jesus already began to exercise His Mother in detachment and to show her the degree of perfection to which He intended to elevate her. Undoubtedly, up to that time she had innocently enjoyed all of the tender-hearted endearments and affection of her Son, the Child Jesus. That is why on finding Him in the Continue reading Mary, The Personification of Faithfulness to Grace
“The Church, in her fidelity, values all things according to the preferences of her divine Spouse. Now, our Lord esteems His elect not so much by the activity of their works, as by the hidden perfection of their lives; that perfection which is measured by the intensity of the divine life, and of which it is said: ‘Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.’ Again it is said of this divine life: ‘You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.’”
The good always seeks to spread.
In fact, the more perfect a being, the more good they radiate around themselves. Everything that is full of life, joy, love, seeks to spread love, joy and life. This is true for all things and in all areas of one’s life. Take the example of a flower which is perfection within a plant; it spreads the radiance of its colour, its fragrance and its seeds. A bird which is happy to live freely, rejoices the whole countryside with its melodious song.
Its the same for man. When a person has found something that they are happy with, they want to share it with everyone, a magnificent landscape, an inspiring book, just to give an example. All life, all joy, all love, wants to spread even if just a little. Because what we liked, what exhilarated us, that should and ought to also please our fellow men and exhilarate them in turn.
It is therefore a consequence of human solidarity if we are full of ourselves and therefore full of bitterness and envy, we will only pass on to others what we have. However, if we are filled with the peace and gentleness of Our Lord, we will overflow with that peace and gentleness which enables us to console others.
We are able to distinguish two kinds of joy and love: expressed and unexpressed joy, manifested and hidden love, in short, the active outer life and the contemplative inner life.
In the active exterior life, you know that you are able to communicate your beliefs and feelings, and how you achieve it. If truth be told, this is a gift that not everyone has in their possession; it depends a lot on one’s physical make-up. Those who have a beautiful voice, a profound air, gracious manners, and whatever else there may be? They know how to impose themselves upon others and transmit their ideas or their desire. They are the great orators, they are great teachers of men; some among them, are saints, other politicians, or even men who, without being on a public platform, succeed within society in uniting enthusiasm and empathy for them.
Yet, it is quite another thing to have a heart filled to brim with love and a radiating mind or to have a gift in gratifying and persuading others. These are two quite distinct genres.
You could, for example, be aflame with the love of God and have compassion for the poor, but be witless or blind and not have two pennies to rub together; in this case, no one would ever suspect what is within your heart.
I read somewhere the story of a child who cried when he was happy and laughed when he was sad: it was impossible for him to communicate his joy and his sadness, but he still had inner joys and sorrows.
So we have to conclude this: a good word, a smile, these are really good entities and they spread a little consolation around them, just like a flower or a bird of spring. But this radiance of our words, of our actions, is not yet the radiance of our ideas or our feelings.
Our ideas and our feelings, all that we have in the heart of light and love, these are realities which are no longer physical, material, but moral, spiritual, invisible, that is to say therefore, that they must also have a spiritual, invisible radiance.
To better understand how necessary this is, let us for example compare, a good thought toward a star.
As God lights a star in the night sky, He instills within our minds an act of trust in Him and a desire to comfort all the poor suffering hearts upon the earth. What was most valuable and most important? The star, or the act of faith and charity? It is obvious that what is within our soul is far more important than the whole the celestial sphere; a scientist pointed out that if a man is materially very small in the presence of the stars, he is infinitely greater than all of them through his spirit since he can know them and know that God has created them, whilst the stars don’t know anything about God or creation.
So a good thought is infinitely greater in value than a star! A heart full of love is a home hotter than the sun! Could you ever believe that God would allow this absurdity, of a star to radiate its light which radiates billions of miles away and for millions of years, to make known the ardour of this distant entity, of this spinning globe of matter? in the frozen vastness of space, and that a soul united to God is deprived of its radiance or that its radiance depends on some type of unfortunate physical conditions: a voice more or less clamorous, a more or less intelligent air, a more or less considerable force? No! A hundred times no!
The Church that is right when she teaches us the extraordinary and important dogma of the Communio Sanctorum — Communion of Saints — the fellowship of those united to Jesus Christ in Baptism. All of our good thoughts and our good sentiments, our acts of Faith and Love which are just like spiritual stars; they radiate both faith and love ad infinitum. They are centres of consolation, and of strength; souls which are united to God forming an immense constellation which dazzles the eyes of angels and which must never be extinguished in the heavens of Holy Mother Church.
The apostolate of the contemplatives, a silent and invisible apostolate, rests entirely upon this affirmation: love is something tangible, concrete, and even what is most real in the world, and the world can only be saved through acts of Faith and Charity.
This is what God is asking of man, it is what repairs the evil caused by sin, it is what consoles and strengthens those who are suffering, not through good words, or money, not even (outward) examples of virtue, it is Faith and Charity, which give life to these words, to these alms, to these examples.
But Faith and Charity still have a far more extensive action than the external works which they have to animate.
Indeed, a heart united to Our Lord, an immolated soul cooperates in the redemptive action of Our Lord which in turn radiates love within hearts, in union with the hearth of divine Charity.
Outer works reach only the exterior part of men; inner acts of charity impart life and consolation to countless souls within hearts.
The material alms are extremely limited, but the alms of contemplatives are an inexhaustible source within both time and space.
If the role of contemplatives is so little understood and so difficult to support, it is because, here, everything happens in the invisible; it is absolutely necessary to live in the night of supernatural Faith. But what makes this life so difficult is also what makes it worth. A man’s life is substantial and beautiful insofar as it is animated by Faith. Those who only believe in what they see are cowards who achieve nothing at all and will meet their death in a pensioner’s reclining chair, or behind a grocery counter without ever having made a fortune, because it takes a certain kind of daring and fearlessness to make a fortune! It is through a leap of faith that all great businesses become possible. Imagine what kind of a leap of faith it took for Christopher Columbus to be the first to set off on an uncharted and perilous ocean and discover the Americas! Well, to be a cloistered religious, to be contemplative, one has to have significantly greater faith. We must set off just as Saint Peter did, walk upon the sea which at any moment seems intent on swallowing us up. You have to (as the Little Flower Thérèse of the Child Jesus reminds us) go through extremely dark tunnels, so dark that you begin to wonder if the sun still prevails. You have to take a chance and risk your life, you have to throw yourself eyes closed into the arms of the Good Lord who is waiting for us within this darkness. This is the price of the heroism of the saints! Entering the unknown, taking a chance and without a second though, make the jump based on good faith. Its a risk that many would not take.
But what these heroes — whom are bolder than all of the navigating and explorers in history—, are discovering is not the New World, the continent of America, it is not even El Dorado or the Seven Cities of Gold —a new earthly paradise— it is, right here below, on earth, the true Kingdom of Heaven, promised by the Son of God.
It is for those who live like this in Faith that Our Lord said: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe” (John 20:29) and here I would like to remind you all that Faith in Our Lord is not blind faith. The Bible does not tell us to exercise “blind faith,” but a faith which is firmly embedded in objective reality.
O God, merciful Father, who called Saint Bruno to the solitude of the desert to found the Order of the Carthusian monastery; We ask you to free us from the sorrows of this world through his intercession and to grant us the gift of peace and spiritual joy that you have promised to those who persevere in seeking you.
Amen
Continue reading “The silent and hidden apostolate of the contemplative”
St. Francis reaffirms the divine character of Creation also in its material aspects, against the Cathars, who in those same years claimed that God had created the spiritual reality, while the material reality was of demonic origin. St. Francis of Assisi also argues against the mercantile mentality that was rapidly spreading throughout the known world and for which nature was being exploited simply for economic purposes, while the saint from Assisi argues that nature provides man with everything he needs and therefore invites us not to worry about scrambling about continuously, seeking ever greater but useless material goods. Continue reading The Canticle of Brother Sun
On May 24, 2015, the encyclical Laudato si ‘appeared in which Francis I, the Bishop of Rome called all of Christendom toward an ecological spirituality (Laudato Si’ № 216), the foundation of an ecological conversion that modifies relations with the world around us (№ 217) and made more concrete through the application of practical directives. The Bishop of Rome names St. Francis of Assisi as the exemplar (№ 218) to arouse this sublime fraternity with all of creation which he [St. Francis] lived in such a resplendent manner.
The publication of this encyclical did cause some surprises though! both for the subject (ecology), not at all contemporary or prevalent within the magisterium, and for the chorus of praises coming from eminent peoples as the ecumenical patriarch Bartholomew I and former president Barak Obama, but also from other bon vivants of the world (such as Donald Trump who received a personal signed copy of Laudato Si’) but who’s objectives, actions, leadership and lives are in a totally opposite direction to the Kingdom of God; claiming to be Christians and only having time to attend Church during election years, somewhat akin to prisoners attending a parole board for early release.
Can we truly visualise St. Francis as the patron saint of Ecologists as we conceive it in this day and age by the greats of this world? Surely the sons of St. Francis, cannot remain indifferent to this question; is it not after all the honour of their seraphic Father which is at stake?
The relationship between the saint and nature can be summarised as follows: from the Creator to creature, from the creature to the Creator.
In first place from the Creator to the creature. Through creatures, St. Francis discerned all the goodness of God. He saw brothers and sisters in them, because they all had the same father (1st Life of St. Francis, Thomas of Celano 81). Thus, in his transport of love towards God, one day he invited birds to sing the praises of the Creator to thank him for all they received from him (1st Life of St. Francis, Thomas of Celano 58). In summary, it is because of his ardent love for God that he loved every creature of him at the same time.
From the creature to the Creator. For his soul so pure, the world was a mirror of Divine Goodness and a ladder whereby he might reach the Throne (2nd Life of St. Francis, Thomas of Celano 165). The saint had a much more tender affection for creatures who bore a symbolic resemblance to Jesus (1st Life of St. Francis, Thomas of Celano 77). Among them, he preferred lambs, because they reminded him of the One who had abandoned himself to his enemies, as an innocent lamb. All these things he said in an admirable way in the Canticle of creatures. We report the first and last verse, which show us the supernatural breath that animates the whole canticle:
Most high, omnipotent, good Lord, Praise, glory and honour and benediction all, are Thine. To Thee alone do they belong, most High, And there is no man fit to mention Thee … Praised be [Laudato si’] my Lord for our sister, the bodily death, From the which no living man can flee. Woe to them who die in mortal sin; Blessed those who shall find themselves in Thy most holy will, For the second death shall do them no ill.
Ecology is neutral in itself. It is the study of the environment where living beings live and reproduce, and of the relationship they have with this environment. Or so the dictionary says. The purpose of those who study this science is the conservation of these environments so that living beings are not in danger. It is normal for those in power to worry about it, but many do not.
However, ecological concerns have gained more and more momentum due to increased industrialisation; it can be said that in the last 20 years we have witnessed an invasion of ecological issues within our daily lives.
Where does this universal phenomenon come from? For many decades, international bodies, in particular the UN, have become champions of the ecological movement. Now what exactly is meant by ecology? What objectives does it pursue? To answer these questions, it is sufficient to refer to the official acts that have been issued over time. Let’s take a look at some of these goals.
First, the fundamental objective: a change in the paradigm, that is, in our conception of the world. Christianity had Christ the King. Men were subject to this Master whom was dearly loved and faithfully served, both by nations and by individuals. And man reigned over the lower creatures. The Revolution cast out Christ the King; man then proclaimed himself sole king and became intoxicated by this sensation, whilst destroying man’s superiority over other creatures. In short, it is a role reversal (as the word revolution implies). It is the adoration of the elements, possessions, money, the cult of Earth, and finally pantheism, none of which, I believe, are Christocentric.
This new paradigm must be imposed on the whole world. Ecology is found to be an effective lever on all plans for achieving this goal. First, many Communists have laundered themselves into ecology. For example Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev. In his book Perestroika: New Thinking for Our Country and the World (1988), destined to revive a new world revolution, ecological problems play a preponderant part. Gorbachev himself is the founder of Green Cross International whom inform us that they ‘strive for a secure and sustainable future.’
Finally, it is a question of moulding and combining a political and religious synthesis: achieving a world government and a world religion. A threat of catastrophe must be created within the spirit of the people, to ensure social cohesion and the acceptance of a world political authority, which will be utterly totalitarian.
As for the origin of these ideas, we find them brought together in the New Age movement, derived in turn from the Theosophical Society. The latter was founded by Freemason Helena Petrovna Blavatsky in 1875. One of her successors, Alice Bawley, founded the Lucis Trust in 1922, later renamed the Lucius Trust, a true world centre for the radiance of Luciferian cults and also the Lucifer Publishing Company. ‘Lucifer’ and ‘Lucis’ are from the same word root, lucis being the Latin genitive case meaning ‘of light.’ After the first two or three years, the name was changed to “Lucis Publishing Co.” (The Theosophical Society also used the name “Lucifer” for its early magazine publication.)
Curiously, in this document we find exactly the same concerns held by the ecological movement. Firstly, the Bishop of Rome denounces the “dominant technocratic paradigm” which he believes to be the root of the current ecological crisis (ch 3), wanting to indicate in this manner the aims to power of industrial societies. To remedy this, he offers a new look at nature. We need “to accept the world as a sacrament of communion, as a way of sharing with God and our neighbours on a global scale.” [№ 9] We note the confusion between the natural order and the supernatural order. While rejecting life-giving pantheism, he says that “The Spirit of life dwells in every living creature and calls us to enter into relationship with him.”[№ 88] From the beginning of the world, but particularly through the incarnation, the mystery of Christ is at work in a hidden manner in the natural world as a whole, without thereby impinging on its autonomy. [№ 99]
The creatures of this world no longer appear to us under merely natural guise because the risen One is mysteriously holding them to himself and directing them towards fullness as their end. (№ 100) All these considerations are traversed by the same constant confusion between both nature and grace. Not only did Christ united with every man, but still with everything. “Christ has taken unto himself this material world and now, risen, is intimately present to each being, surrounding it with his affection and penetrating it with his light: (…) God created the world, writing into it an order and a dynamism that human beings have no right to ignore.” (№ 221). This distinctly evolutionary doctrine is taken up almost entirely by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ., scientist, palaeontologist, theologian, philosopher and teacher, is quoted in № 83 of Laudato Si’ (cf. note 53).
As for the New Age movement, it claims Father Teillhard as one of its inspirers. Chardin was Darwinian in stance and sentiments. In 1962, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith condemned several of Chardin‘s works because of their ambiguities and doctrinal errors, the response to his writings by other scientists in the field have been extremely critical. In 1926 his superior in the Jesuit Order forbade him to teach ever again. This is the same man whom as the Jesuit held that humanity had descended from apes and were not created by God. A decree of the Holy Office dated 30 June 1962, under the authority of Pope John XXIII, warned: “It is obvious that in philosophical and theological matters, the said works [Chardin’s] are replete with ambiguities or rather with serious errors which offend Catholic doctrine. That is why… the Rev. Fathers of the Holy Office urge all Ordinaries, Superiors, and Rectors… to effectively protect, especially the minds of the young, against the dangers of the works of Fr. Teilhard de Chardin and his followers. [Acta Apostolicae Sedis – Commentarium Officiale, p. 526, Annus LIV Series III Vol. IV. 6 August 1962]
In reality, God does not dwell within all creatures of His creation. As the creator of natural order, He is present in everything. God lives only within a soul that is in a state of grace; it is through supernatural faith animated by charity that God makes him present in a new way (Aquinas The Missions of the Divine Persons: I q. 43, a 3)
But let’s continue and finish the observation of this new look at things proposed by the encyclical. Eucharist is always in some way celebrated on the altar of the world (n 236) [ID., Encyclical Letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia (17 April 2003), 8: Acta Apostolicæ Sedis 95 (2003), 438]: is still a Theillardian ideology. “Decree of the Council of Trent (Session XXII) September 17, 1562 … The Mass must be celebrated either on an altar which has been consecrated or on a consecrated altar-stone or portable altar (Rubricæ Generales Missalis XX).” altare symbolum est Ipsius Christi — the altar is the symbol of Jesus Christ, the altar of his own sacrifice.
Now, its the whole world that is sacred… since Christ is united with it. In the end, “The Spirit, infinite bond of love, is intimately present at the very heart of the universe, inspiring and bringing new pathways.” (№ 238) Once again we note the confusion between supernatural love, of which the Spirit is the principle and the love of God whom created the natural world. Although it cannot be said that a form of pantheism is declared in a formal manner, it is the natural outcome of such a doctrine, since participation in the divine nature (definition of grace) is in reality only natural. To impose this new paradigm and this new behaviour, the encyclical proclaims that ‘there is urgent need of a true world political authority [is this an ‘NWO?‘],’ … ‘it is essential to devise stronger and more efficiently organised international institutions, with functionaries who are appointed fairly by agreement among national governments, and empowered to impose sanctions.’ (№ 167-175)
To manifest this now ineluctable authority, it is recalled that states can no longer cope with ecological problems. The potential for an ‘ecological catastrophe under the effective explosion of industrial civilisation,’ is broadly described (cf. № 4 and the whole chapter 1). A worldwide consensus on these questions must be established (№ 216). The Church addresses her prayer for this purpose (№ 216). In short, the political world and the religious world converge. Numerous scientists, philosophers, theologians and civic groups, have enriched the Church’s thinking on these questions. In the religious world itself, Churches and Christian communities —and other religions as well— have expressed deep concern and offered valuable reflections on issues which all of us find disturbing. (№ 7-8).
In summary, we see a convergence between ecological ideology and the encyclical Laudato si’ even if the latter does not admit it because certain points of this ideology are too overtly anti-Christian, nevertheless, what matters for the Revolution is that it continues to march onwards. This is above all a practice, and for this reason it is not allowed to collaborate with it. Probably unbeknownst to its author, the encyclical is playing into the hands of revolution and the insurrection game.
It is impossible to recognize the countenance of the serene Bishop of Rome within the encyclical Laudato si’, it was after all written by him and what seems to be several ghost writers of the Curia. For the Bishop of Rome, as for the Catholic doctrine of all time, creation is similar to a mirror of divine goodness. The gift of science makes us realise how empty creatures are of God and makes us desire Heaven even more; at the same time, it makes us ascend back to the Creator, the “Summum bonum, the rotalis bonum which alone is the ultimate good.” (Laudes Domini) The “Summum bonum” is generally considered as an end in itself, as well as containing all other goods. In Christian philosophy, the highest good generally defines the life of the righteous, the life they lead in communion with God and in accordance with his precepts.
While according to the doctrine of the encyclical, at the service of a universal and cosmic fraternity, God dwells in all things, according to the Theillardian ideology. Objectively, this document gives a nudge to a revolutionary world.
More than ever we pray for the Church and all of humanity, that both may receive the enlightenment and strength to avoid the jaws of revolution. The latter certainly is not desired; if it smiles at church today it is to lure her into its game, but tomorrow it could also reserve a sadder fate for all. At Fatima the Virgin repeatedly reminded us of the urgency to pray for the Church and for its leaders. So let’s re-double our efforts.
St. Mary’s Hermitage 