On Sunday, October 27, the Feast of Christ the King was celebrated in the Traditional Latin Mass rite. It is actually quite fitting, considering the pivotal election that will occur within two weeks. For that reason, I recorded the homily and now post it.
The two encyclicals to which Father referred are now linked from the Vatican website. They are Tametsi Futura Prospicientibus by Leo XIII and Quas Primas by Pius XI. He spoke much of the need to reestablish Christ's kingship in the public sphere. Some might think that impossible in today's United States, claiming that the First Amendment stands in the way. In fact, all that amendment does is to guarantee that government won't stand in the way of the free exercise of religion. Of course we see that under attack today.
He also called out modern liberalism for the poisonous mindset that it is. We cannot accommodate it, nor can we make concessions to its adherents. While we seek the conversion of the people caught up in liberalism, liberalism as an ideology must be defeated, including in civil elections.
In the presidential race, we have two candidates - Donald Trump and Kamala Harris - who both are deficient when it comes to Christian ideals. However, their deficiencies vary greatly. Trump has shown himself to waffle in pro-life convictions, while Harris is rock-solid in her hatred of Christianity. Her "wrong rally" gaffe spoke volumes about that. The war against the evil in this world will not be won in one great fell-swoop. It will be a long slog, step by step. One of the first steps to take is by voting for Donald Trump and for the GOP ticket straight down the line. That should buy us some time and wiggle room to pray and work to implement God's laws and restore western civilization.
Dr. Timothy O’Donnell is
President of Christendom College, located in Front Royal VA.On Friday evening, January 14, 2022, he spoke
to a group of faithful Catholics at the Rock Creek Council of the Knights of
Columbus in Bethesda, MD.This lecture
was sponsored by Defend Life.
The title of Dr.
O’Donnell’s talk was “The Kingship Of Christ And The Defense Of Life”.Before his talk, Dr. O’Donnell himself gave
an introduction to his topic; that can be found at https://defendlife.org/2022MarchForLifeKickoffLecturePreview.mp4.A recording of the talk is below.
He based his talk on
documents written by two popes at the dawn of the 20th century.They are:
Annum Sacrum, written by Pope Leo XIII in 1899
Quas Primas, written by Pope Pius XI in 1925
Please watch the recording and study these two papal writings.Both writings can be found at the website www.papalencyclicals.net.
When one reads these two
papal letters, they cannot help but notice that they are lamenting the
spiritual and moral climate that oppresses us today.The situations that we see today are nothing
new; the spiritual and moral rot of modernism and atheism has been festering
for some time now.In 2022 the rot has so progressed from the early 20th century that remnants of
Christianity that lingered back then have eroded, and continue to do so.
We’re in the midst of
full-blown secularism.That is painfully
obvious.Pope Pius XI listed seven
effects.
Christ’s rule over mankind is denied.
The Church’s right to evangelize is denied. (Look at what constitutes “hate speech”.)
The Christian religion is made equal to other religions and is lowered to their level
The Catholic religion is made subject to civil powers (Lockdowns are a prime example)
There is an effort to substitute a vague, naturalistic religion for the truth of Jesus Christ (Pachamama, new age, etc)
Governments carry on without God and even promote disrespect for God
Selfish egotism attacks and destroys families.When the family, bedrock of society, collapses, we see society collapse.
1.For these reasons, he
instituted the Feast of Christ the King who reigns through His Sacred
Heart.He asked for a consecration to
the Sacred Heart.In 1969, Pope Paul VI
moved the feast to the end of the liturgical year and made it a solemnity,
naming it “Feast of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe”.This was intended to give Christ’s Kingship
more prominence to fight the ongoing secularism.
We can’t expect civil
leaders to acknowledge Christ’s Kingship if the Church doesn’t do so.We need to step out in courage.That is incumbent not only on the clergy but
also on laypeople.We need to proclaim
the truth, even in the face of inevitable mockery and opposition. The March for
Life is an opportunity to bear witness to the truth of our Faith.
Dr O’Donnell ended his
talk with quotes from Popes Francis and Leo XIII.
Francis, in Evangelii Gaudium, writes, “I invite all Christians everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting Him encounter them.I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day.No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her.No one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord.The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk.Whenever we take a step towards Jesus we come to realize that He is already there waiting for us with open arms.”
Leo XIII, in Annum Sacrum, wrote, “When the Church in the days immediately succeeding her institution was oppressed beneath the yoke of the Caesars, a young emperor saw in the heavens a cross which became at once the happy omen and cause of the glorious victory that soon followed. And now today behold another blessed and heavenly token is offered to our sight the most Sacred Heart of Jesus with a cross rising from it shining forth the dazzling splendor of its flames of love.In that Sacred Heart all our hopes should be placed from it the salvation of men is to be confidently besought.”·
·Dr O’Donnell added that
if we placed our hopes in the Sacred Heart, the pro-life movement will be victorious, that many lives will be saved.And now, the video.
The "Blog for Dallas Area Catholics" has a post on the "Social Reign of Christ the King". I've seen writings like this in the past. In my opinion, this is one of the areas in which good people can disagree regarding the form of government. As you watch the video embedded therein (and click here if you cannot see embedded video), you notice the narrator describing what he perceives as the problems of a constitutional republic, but he never quite gets around to offering any suggestion for practical replacement. The Dallas blogger also falls short in that respect. He opines (right before the video) that "the republican form of government in the US is not ideal from the standpoint of traditional Catholic dogma". All this begs the question, "well, what would be ideal in your opinion? Do tell!" I believe they have no idea.
The video narrator quotes some Scripture, including St Paul's exhortations to "honor the king" for all authority comes from God. Then he excoriates the US founding fathers for not inserting Christianity into the US Constitution. I wonder what he thinks of the "kings" who, according to St Paul, operated under God's authority. Remember - they were Roman officials and most likely paid public homage to all the Roman deities.
Many folks I know who are adverse to the US form of government (for the same reasons as the video maker) seem to think that a centralized monarchy is more in line with God's will. I would suggest to these folks that they read closely 1 Samuel 8 - the entire chapter. It's evident that God took a dim view of the Isrealites' request for a king. In my opinion, that trashes this idea of the "divine right of kings" or whatever this theory is called.
Now again the following is my opinion; I do not claim any special revelation or doctrine as the basis of my opinion. Similarly though, the Magisterium does not define what it considers to be the "ideal" form of civil government. The US form of government is that of a constitutional republic. It is NOT a pure democracy - never was and (hopefully) never will be. The Founding Fathers were very wary of a pure democracy, realizing that it would be no more than gentrified mob rule. Thus they derived the Constitution (after much toil and yes, strife among themselves). It delineates what the federal government can do and more importantly, what it cannot do. Among other things, it cannot interfere with the free exercise of religious beliefs. It may not be perfect, but it works much better than all other options currently on the table.
If there are those among my readers who don't vote because of a disdain for our governmental system (ostensibly in favor of "social kingship"), hie thee hence to a confessional with all possible haste.
