Excerpt from “THE VIRGIN MARY AND THE APOSTLES OF THE LAST TIMES AFTER B. LOUIS-MARIE DE MONTFORT”, by Father LHOUMEAU:
THE VIRGIN MARY AND THE LAST TIMES
Several times, in the pages we study, Blessed de Montfort affirms that, according to the divine plan, Mary must be better known, better loved and served. He even says that “God wants to reveal and discover Mary, the masterpiece of his hands, in these last times. The expression is bold, because it announces such an increase in glory for Mary, that in comparison with what has gone before, it will be like the discovery of a work, if not unknown, at least still imperfectly appreciated. According to the Blessed, this progress in the knowledge of the Blessed Virgin and in the manifestation of her role is linked to the last times of which it is a sign. It is a view specific to the Blessed One and whose importance cannot be ignored. It is the subject of this chapter. Between Saint John the Evangelist and Blessed de Montfort there are very interesting similarities which until now have been little studied. They are two beloved sons of the Virgin Mary, who lived in intimate union with Her and who devoted themselves to her service in a distinctive way and extent. The blessed and serious hour when the Apostle received Mary in the privacy of his home and his life - and ex illa hora accepit eam discipulus in sua - did not inaugurate his relationships of filial love and devoted service towards the Mother of Jesus. The beloved disciple of the Master was also beloved of the Mother and we could find in the Gospel several clues of these relationships before the scene of Calvary. The fact of having, alone among the apostles, accompanied Mary until then, sufficiently testifies to the relationship which united them. At this point the resemblance between Montfort and Saint John is complete. The motto which sums up the life and apostolate of the Blessed: Tuus totus ego sum, et omnia mea tua sunt , repeats in other words the accepit eam, discipulus in sua of the apostle Saint John. Now to these two beloved sons the Queen of the prophets gave a similar gift: she gave them prophetic views on the last times, particularly in what concerns her, that is to say on the role that God assigns to him in these supreme struggles and in the triumphant return of Christ. However, these views, although similar in their object, are nuanced differently in both. Commentators explain how the Apostle, in his Gospel, rises in a first flight above creatures to the bosom of the Father to contemplate the Word: In principio erat Verbum. It is also in these celestial heights, in these splendors of divinity that the vision of the Apocalypse is offered to Saint John, where the Blessed Virgin appears to him. He sees her as the Woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and crowned with twelve stars. His fight with the dragon takes place, it is true, here below; but it is retraced under grandiose and mysterious figures which hold our gaze as if between heaven and earth. Mary fights against Satan, but as a Sovereign who dominates the attacks and the anger of the dragon, as well as the course of events. The Blessed de Montfort is inspired by this vision which traces the history of the Church Militant; but he considers its realization according to the processes of divine Wisdom of which Mary is the throne. He became familiar with the views of that Wisdom, which in its works reaches from one end to the other and knows how to connect the end with the beginning: attingens a fine usque ad finem . In the conduct of things as well as people, nothing can hinder its power, both gentle and strong: fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia . It is in this special light that he contemplates Mary and her providential role. It is through Her, he says, that the Savior came into this world by becoming Man, and it is She also who will prepare his second advent at the end of time. Then She will fight against the dragon, the ancient Serpent but it will not be a simple episode in her life, an accidental encounter; it will be the continuation and completion of his divine mission; for God has posed her from the earthly Paradise, as the personal adversary of Satan whose head She will ultimately crush. This breadth of perspective, which embraces both the past and the future, which links the last ages of the world to the first and shows us in all its extent the plan of divine Wisdom on Mary, is certainly original and d 'extraordinary magnificence; and it is in this that among so many other prophetic views those of Blessed de Montfort stand out. A quick glance at the history of the Church will show us how the glory of Mary and her fight against the infernal serpent progressed in parallel over the centuries. In Christian antiquity, liturgical poetry, the speeches of Christian orators and their writings celebrated in the East as in the West the praises of the Blessed Virgin. It is a literature where the Marian doctrine is presented with piety, grace and magnificence. It was partly inspired by the fight against heresies. Indeed, after the violence of the persecution, the ancient Serpent used ruse: Serpens erat callidior cunctis animantibus terræ .He tried to bite at the Woman's heel and attacked sometimes her human motherhood, sometimes her virginity, sometimes her divine motherhood. God who reserves for Mary the victory over all heresies in the whole world, cunctas hæreses sola interemisti in universo mundo , God illuminated his Church, so that she would teach in all their splendor these dogmas so glorious for Mary. Thus ended with an increase in his glory the struggles that in the first centuries the dragon aroused against the Woman. The Fathers and Doctors of the Middle Ages wove a beautiful crown for the Mother of God, while her cult spread under multiple names in innumerable sanctuaries. But here arises the anti-Christian empire of Mohammed predicted by Daniel. Christianity had never been in such danger. The invasion was progressing throughout the world, in all that was known of it, and with destruction, ruins and sterilization, it imposed the annihilation of Christianity. After the holy places, after Constantinople, the sultan threatened Rome and the papacy. It was again the Virgin Mary who stood against Satan, and by the virtue of the Rosary broke the anti-Christian power at Lepanto. She did more: even within this empire, she wanted to protect the faithful and tear them away from tyranny by establishing two religious Orders for the redemption of captives. As the struggles and evils of Christianity grow, the power and mercy of Mary are revealed more and more. We long to arrive at the centuries which are more particularly the object of our study, at these modern times which are among the last. Protestantism had made the great split between nations by positing revolt against the Church, which quickly gave rise to religious wars. After the furies of the beast, here again are the tricks of the serpent. The fight against religion resumes with Jansenism and philosophism. The first, hypocritical and respectful; the second, mocking and contemptuous, worked to destroy the faith in the world: there too the Serpent tried to bite the Woman in the heel by belittling her glory, by contesting her privileges, by diminishing her worship. It was then that Montfort preached with vigor and tirelessly repeated in his speeches and writings: “God wants his holy Mother to now be more known, more loved, more honored than ever before. » And he added: “Which will undoubtedly happen, if the predestined enter with the grace and light of the Holy Spirit into the interior and perfect practice that I will discover for them later. » It was of the perfect consecration to Mary through holy slavery that Blessed de Montfort spoke because this devotion was indeed to contribute powerfully to making the Blessed Virgin better known, to making her loved more ardently and to providing her with a more perfect worship. . It is not a discovery of his piety. The atmosphere of the environment where his youth was spent was imbued with it. Saint-Sulpice and the Oratory, Mother Mechtilde of the Blessed Sacrament and her Congregation, Father Eudes, M. Boudon and how many others have, in the spirituality of the 17th century, honored this holy slavery of Mary. It was reserved to Montfort to popularize this devotion, to give it a hitherto unknown scope, to show its solid foundations and to develop its admirable consequences on a number of points. Two centuries have passed since his apostolate, and he has gone so far ahead of us that we have to learn from him, with the conviction that future generations will understand him even better. However, in speaking to his contemporaries, Montfort knew that his teaching was appropriate to the needs and perils of his time; he understood that this devotion adapted marvelously to the events and ideas of his time. It was for him more than an excellent practice of piety, more than a well-characterized path of spirituality, because he considered it to be based on the very foundations of Christianity. She was the antidote against this spirit of independence that we called the modern spirit, but which was only the hiss of the ancient Serpent. However, as clear-sighted as Montfort was in the face of his time, however urgent his calls to fight against the enemies of God were, it was particularly on future ages that he fixed his gaze.
“God wants,” he says, “to reveal and discover Mary in these last times” and one of the reasons he gives is that the Blessed Virgin being the way by which Jesus Christ came to us the first time, she will still be when the second comes, although not in the same way. Finally he explains "that Mary must be terrible to the demon and his henchmen, like an army arrayed in battle, especially in recent times, because the devil, knowing well that he has little time and less than ever to lose the souls, redoubles its efforts and its struggles every day.” This is already what Montfort observed in his time; then he adds these remarkable words: “But he will soon provoke new persecutions and put terrible traps for the faithful servants and true children of Mary, whom he has more difficulty in overcoming than the others. » It is always the persistence of the same views and their unity. The fight will be against God, but also against Woman and her race and this fight is close. As for these new persecutions, history shows us that they did indeed arrive soon. The 18th century, of which Montfort had seen the beginning, ended in what has been called the great Revolution, great in the extent of its upheavals and the influence of its ideas. It was satanic in its essence; and far from being a sudden, inexplicable storm, it was the methodically prepared work of Freemasonry. Neither Napoleon's empire nor the governments that succeeded him brought about the restoration of Christian society in France or elsewhere. There were times of relative calm, reconstitutions from which religion benefited, but revolutionary and anti-religious ideas were abjured neither by the princes nor by the people. They were inoculated into the nations and fermented within them. Universal Masonry continued its work and prepared the attack on the Church by varying its procedures according to the times and the countries. The secret societies concerted to put an end to the temporal power of the Popes, in the hope that this blow to the head would bring about the fall of the Church, or at least facilitate their triumph. It was then that the Virgin Mary stood up against Satan and the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed by the Church. How the words of Montfort came true announcing that God wanted his Mother to be better known and better loved than ever! Following this definition, Marian theology was irradiated in all directions with new lights, which suggested other clarity for the future. But moreover, by virtue of her Immaculate Conception, the Virgin appeared as the adversary of Satan who comes to engage in the struggle and give us a pledge of victory. Hodie contritum est abea caput serpentis antiqui, sings the Church; and it is to the Immaculate that, in this feast, the Church applies these words from the Apocalypse: “ Signum magnum apparitionit in cælo ”. A prodigy, a sign, a standard (the Latin word has all these meanings that justify the fact in question) appeared in the sky. »The Christian people were not mistaken; seeing this solemn meeting of the two adversaries, he understood the seriousness of the struggle. And because it was to continue more bitterly in France, because Satan's plan was to make the eldest daughter of the Church apostatize and destroy her, it was on the land of France that the Immaculate came to place her foot virginal. She wanted to bring the whole world there so that it could draw widely from the source of graces and that in the face of the supernatural made palpable by miracles, the lie and the crime of naturalism would emerge clearly. What is the significance of the Lourdes act? The future will show us. How can we misunderstand the providential coincidence of the Eucharistic Congress of Lourdes with the declaration of war in 1914? It is a continuation, the continuation that Wisdom puts in her ways. At the moment when Satan's plan was coming to fruition, through the conjuration of the Lodges, the Virgin seemed to say: “Have confidence; I am the Immaculate, I preside over events to lead them and I have the mission to defeat Satan. » The future, let us have no doubt, will show us how the glory and power of Mary will further increase, since all generations will proclaim her blessed. But what is important to note is that as time progresses, as events unfold, as the struggle becomes more widespread and intensifies, the Marian devotion of Blessed de Montfort, already so well adapted to needs of its time, spread in a surprising way and revealed itself as a weapon of choice in the hands of the children of the Virgin. Amazing fact! This devotion, apparently intended only for devout souls and small chapels, also reveals itself as a combat devotion, a means of fighting under the standard of Mary with appropriate weapons. So-called modern ideas, hatched by the breath of Satan, are now bearing the fruits of their maturity. Free examination results in freedom from all dogma and all authority, religious or otherwise; naturalism and secularism go hand in hand with revolutionary socialism: all this is condensed in the formula: “Neither God, nor master. » Now what a direct blow to satanic pride is this subsidiary and total dependence, this holy slavery of Mary that Montfort preaches! The soul that devotes itself to it lives with deep faith and establishes itself in an atmosphere of the very pure supernatural, which preserves it from naturalism even in the depths of its mind and heart.Consider again how this homage to the royalty of Mary prepares the reign of Christ in souls and his advent into the world:Ut adveniat regnum tuum, adveniat regnum Mariæ . Truly we are not exaggerating in saying that if Saint Ignatius and Saint Thérèse were opposed in providential designs to Luther and Protestantism, later, in the fight of Woman against the serpent, Montfort was chosen by God to fight Jansenism and the spirit of independence. In his time, this spirit was already blowing like a storm; soon he would revolutionize the world. It would also be appropriate to recall to the glory of the Blessed Virgin the events which, especially over the past twenty-five years, have made her better known and more honored: Marian congresses are already a tradition; the solemnities of the Rosary, which Leo XIII instituted “so that in our times of great trials and prolonged storms, the Virgin, so often victorious over earthly enemies, may also make us triumph over those of hell. » But this enumeration would take us too far. Let us note that the increase in glory of Mary and the manifestation of her power over the enemies of God go hand in hand in history, as Montfort saw and announced. And how right Father Faber was in asserting that his writings would have an even greater influence in the Church in the ages to come! What will happen in this century which begins in the midst of these great cataclysms and in a hitherto unrivaled assault on hell? The affirmations of the Blessed are clear: “Mary must burst forth more than ever in mercy, in strength and in grace in our last times: in mercy, to bring back and lovingly receive the poor sinners and misguided people who will convert and return to the Catholic Church; in force, against the enemies of God, the idolaters, schismatics, Mohammedans, Jews and hardened impious, who will revolt terribly to reduce and bring down by promises and threats all those who are contrary to them; and finally It must burst forth in grace, to animate and support the valiant soldiers and faithful servants of Jesus Christ who will fight for his interests. » (True Devotion.) The Virgin already preludes these prodigies of the end of time with facts whose significance escapes those who do not attentively follow the ways of God. We are far from knowing the majority of these facts. Without a doubt, as Montfort insinuates in the preceding lines, there will be among the Jews the descendants of those who were deicides, and these will continue the fight against Christ with all the power of the Judeo-Masonic coalition which leads the nations. But there will also be — and Montfort recalls this several times — the conversion of Israel, of the sons of Abraham according to the spirit, after the entry of the nations into the Church. This prodigy of mercy so often predicted in the Scriptures,expected by Mary herself in her Magnificat (Suscepit Israel puerum suum recordatus misericordiæ suæ ), will not be done without Her. The conversion of Alphonse of Ratisbonne, suddenly enlightened by the Blessed Virgin, is more than a private event, if we compare the circumstances in which it was accomplished with the ideas of Blessed de Montfort. It is the antiphon of a song more beautiful than those of the return from captivity, the omen of a great movement and the affirmation of the sovereign role of Mary in the events of the last ages (Théod. et Alph. de Ratisbonne became priests and apostles. They founded the Work of Our Lord of Sion in the holy places. The directory of the Work testifies to a great movement of conversion among the Jews, much greater than is generally believed. would also have had a lot to say about the Léman abbots, Father Herman and other illustrious converts).
What now ? Look, as it follows its course and develops into a thousand diverse incidents, the struggle between the Woman and the Serpent. The role of Mary is asserted in an incessant manner. Is there no connection between the predilections of the Blessed Virgin for France, between her recent visits to La Salette, Lourdes, Pontmain and the persecutions, the plots, the efforts of Masonry against this kingdom of Mary? Please also pay attention to the sacrilegious parody of the flag of the Sacred Heart invented by the Lodges, who dream of imposing it on the League of Nations. Satan has not forgotten the Mother whose Son he blasphemes. On the reverse is painted the Heart of Mary, as the symbol of the feminine principle in nature, explained in a spiritist and atheist spirit. It is, with an infernal cunning and in a deep hatred from which nothing escapes, the opposite of the two devotions which rise together to the firmament of souls: that of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and that of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This is the characteristic originality of Montfort's views on the end times: they all refer to Mary as their main goal. We will see this more and more clearly by meditating on what he says about the apostles that the Virgin must form for this very troubled era of the Church militant. The portrait that Montfort has drawn and the description of their apostolate fills a few pages that one would look for elsewhere in vain. In his Fiery Prayer, as well as in his Treatise on True Devotion, these pages offer the reader views as new as they are admirable that we will not meditate on without benefit to our souls.
DIVINE INIMITIES
The reader will be kind enough to re-read in full the pages where Montfort has so strongly sketched the portrait of these apostles who in the last ages of the Church Mary must arouse and lead into combat. This portrait deserves to be examined for its trait-for-trait resemblance to the One who is their Queen and their Mother. It is fashionable to illustrate the text of a piece of writing with photographs. Will it not facilitate our study to continue to concretize it at times in the two already known figures of Saint John and the Blessed de Montfort? What we know of the similarity of their views on the end times will be further accentuated in what we are about to present. In the picture that Montfort has given us of the last times, what is especially striking, because of its powerful relief, is the antagonism of the Virgin and Satan established by God himself from the original fall. The Blessed One comments, but with an almost hasty accumulation of strong thoughts, the famous text of Genesis, which contains, along with curses, the divine promises. It follows that Montfort's text in turn calls for explanations. “I will place enmities between you and the Woman... Inimicitias ponam inter te et mulierem ,” (Gen. III, 5.) This, remarks the Blessed One, is the only enmity that God has made and formed. Let us examine these two words for a deep meaning. God not only permitted this enmity, he made it. It is his work; and just as at the beginning of creation he separated light from darkness - divisit lucem a tenebris - so he did between Mary and the Serpent, as well as between their races. This work, like all those of God, reflects his perfections. He gave it a form such as he wanted it in his wisdom: this enmity will be essentially total, irreducible and eternal. It is total, “because not only has God placed enmity, but enmities, antipathies, secret hatreds. » (True Dev.) This emphatic plural (It is in the text of the Vulgate): inimicitias is used in Holy Scripture, as elsewhere, to designate a thing taken to its highest degree, to its maximum intensity. An enmity can weaken and disappear, it can have exceptions: all things improbable, if it is a bundle of enmities more difficult to break, like a triple bond: funiculus triplex difficile rumpitur(Eccl. IV, 12). This bundle is made up of successive manifestations of enmity over time or multiple by their various applications: antagonism in ideas, intentions and feelings; antagonism in love or hatred, in goal as in means, in joys and sadness; finally, antagonism in the lives of individuals as well as in that of societies.
Inimicitias ponam . This verb: to lay, to found, to establish, “ ponam ”, expresses the solidity of the divine work, in nature as in grace. Thus posed by God, this enmity is so firm that it is irreducible or absolute. It is the opposition of Being and nothingness, of truth and error, of good and evil, of love and hatred, in which the absolute of divine Being is reflected, its purity and transcendence. And consequently this enmity is eternal, like love which is the opposite, because God is eternal. “This enmity will last and even increase until the end. » (True Dev.) Ah! if God wants his holy Mother to be better known and glorified, has not Montfort made her shine with a greater light by showing how this spotless mirror — speculum sine macula — in its opposition to Satan, reflects very purely the divine perfections? Without doubt we will never celebrate enough the goodness of Mary, her mercy and her maternal love; but let us not forget the hatred which is inseparable from them and follows them. God put it in It from the beginning, and His infinite holiness is reflected there with complacency. But the Woman and the Serpent each have their race; and between them God wants an unalterable antagonism to be perpetuated: Inimicitias ponam inter te et mulierem, et semen tuum et semen illius . This enmity essentially characterizes them, to the point that to the extent that it alters and disappears, men leave one or the other lineage and no longer live from its spirit. What a great lesson and how fruitful for the always militant Christian life here on earth! It is actually the purity of faith and the holiness of life that are in question. What is this race of Serpent? “They are,” says the Blessed de Montfort, “the children of Belial, the slaves of Satan, the friends of the world, because they are the same thing. » (True Dev.) Let us be careful not to see in this accumulation of qualifiers a rhetorical artifice; it is a complete enumeration of the various categories which make up the race of the snake. First of all, the children of Belial, of him who in his pride, as his name signifies, does not submit to any law. Therefore, children of Belial, the rebels against the Church, the revolutionaries of the natural order established by God. Then come the slaves of Satan, the innumerable crowd of sinners seduced and enslaved: Qui facit peccatum servus est peccati. (John, VIII, 34.) Finally the friends of the world, of this entire world rooted in evil - mundus totus in maligno positus est John, V, 19); of this world which does not recognize God: et mundus eum non cognovit (John, I, 18); of this world where there is only lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life. Quoniam omne quod est in mundo concupiscentia carnis est, et concupiscentia oculorum et superbia vitæ (John, II, 16). Is it necessary to recall the traits which characterize the children of the Virgin, the race of Woman? They are the complete opposite of those we have just examined. Many times the Blessed One speaks of the humility, obedience, and poverty which distinguish the children of the Virgin and will shine brightly in the apostles whom She must form. But between the two races, as between the Woman and the Serpent, the enmity posed by God must persist entire, absolute, irreducible and therefore eternal. No association is possible between light and darkness, no agreement between Christ and Belial (II Cor. VI, l5). If the race of the Serpent continues to persecute that of the Woman, the latter must not only flee, but hate evil and guard with jealous care the intransigence of faith against error. How can we forget that if Satan is the cruel beast, the prowling lion seeking whom to devour, he is also the serpent of unrivaled wiles - callidior cunctis animantibus terræ . Now this absolute separation of the two races, which is in the logic of divine enmities, is unbearable for him. For him it is like a stigma revealing his state, a dishonor and an obstacle to his undertakings. It affirms God with his infinite perfections and his rights in the face of his condition as a fallen creature; it is the prolonged echo of what quis ut Deus, which precipitated his fall into the abyss; she proclaims that God is good, and that he is the evil angel, the damned. If God allows him to still fight on earth at the head of those who are of his race and moved by his spirit, at least by keeping the two lineages separate, as Israel and the pagan nations once were, God safeguards in his sons well - loved the integrity of faith and the knowledge of good; he protects his chosen people from the reach of Satan. If only this enmity were not immutable and therefore eternal! If it could change, soften and finally disappear! But no ! The immutability of the divine Being, who is truth, goodness, holiness, also makes the condition of the fallen angel immutable. Eternally there remains the damned in the face of heavenly bliss, darkness in the face of light, error and lies against the truth, the evil spirit opposed to good, the dead attacking life, the cursed rejected forever from the face of the Lord. Always therefore between him and God, between him and this Woman whom God opposes to him and whom he abhors, "whom he apprehends," says Montfort, "more than all angels and men and, in a sense, than God himself ", between his race and his, this enmity and this struggle will persist in which he will ultimately be defeated. This fixity irritates his hatred and causes his torment. So as always, he fought it, mixing cunning with audacity, in his usual way! Never have this satanic work and its results been so universal and profound as in our time. How can we not see in it a sign of these times which will precede the return of Christ, and where, under the spell of Satan's seductions, faith will be lost and charity will grow cold by the multitude of sins? Jesus Christ said that he came to bring to earth, not peace, but the sword (Matt., x, 34), in allusion to these struggles of the two races. He is, however, the Prince of peace, Princeps pacis, says Isaiah; he gives his own peace, true and total peace which will be consummated in eternal happiness. But, just as he wants to replace God, the eternal light who rises from the East, and he strives to steal this title and its symbols from him (Masonry has grouped Lodges under the name of the Grand -East), fallen Lucifer also becomes Prince of peace against divine enmities. This is the source of this pacifism that he would like to establish above all and first in religious matters, in ideas as well as in facts, for individuals and for nations; and the mirage is all the more seductive as the upheavals are deeper and the struggles more terrible. The Middle Ages, where there was no shortage of wars and misfortunes, prayed that the Lord would put an end to them. With the Church, he made a large contribution to peace in his liturgical prayer, but he never dreamed of this peace apart from God. After the wars of religion and the horrors of the Revolution, which were manifestations of violent hatred against God, the Serpent used trickery and lies to deceive men, weaken, energize the enmity on which God founded religion and, which is the backbone of the Christian faith. This is a characteristic phenomenon of our modern times.
Religious peace? Christianity works there by the union of souls in the same faith and divine charity, by their reunion in the same fold under the leadership of the divine Shepherd. Satan proposes it in the abolition of all enmity, of all exclusive antagonism between error and truth, between revelation and independent reason, called free thought, No more struggles, no more insurmountable barriers through the fixity of dogmas and the intransigence of divine or ecclesiastical laws. It is religious tolerance in minds as well as in the actions of life. Subtle poison and not without charms, perfect and progressive anesthetic, sleeping sickness which invades the soul and weakens its vitality and strength. An illustrious apostate summed up this peace in two words: skepticism and gentleness. These are, he said, two exquisite virtues. We have seen this tolerance displayed in learned theses for the use of intellectuals, or monetized for the people in well-crafted aphorisms: “All religions are good; all must fraternize: the Church must no longer claim anything other than common law; the truth is not entitled to any privilege. And then what is truth? What is truth? (On the other hand, we have also formulated and at the same time refuted by absurd consequences the ideas of false liberalism which would put a candle to Saint Michael and another to the dragon; or which more sentiently declares that: The truth is found between the two extremes And virtue stands in a happy medium: Therefore neither love nor hate God) The 19th century drank copiously this magical beverage of which Renan was the most vaunted distiller. Anemia of souls followed. Do we not in fact see religious opinions and sentiment too often replacing the vigor of faith and hatred of evil? But the current war has shaken this lethargy and exposed the error that we did not want to recognize. For every upright, healthy and truly Christian mind, it is the fatal outcome of impious doctrines, of a civilization without God, of a social state where religious neutrality is henceforth considered legitimate; it is the punishment for blasphemies, crimes and persecutions against the Church, which ended up taking its side. The thunderclap shook everything, and the lesson was so clear that at first impression the religious movement was considerable. There was a revival of faith, a retreat from evil. Would God triumph? With his intelligence and his cunning, Satan understood that, violence being no longer appropriate, it was necessary to put to sleep and anesthetize at all costs the sick person who woke up and the watchword of Masonry was the call to sacred union . Hypocritical formula, like those in which she specializes, which can be understood according to the order, but interpreted and applied in a completely different spirit. It was launched by a minister who had uttered this proud challenge from the podium: “With a large gesture we have extinguished lights in the sky that will never come back on again. » And He who dwells in heaven and laughs at the impious retorted, with divine irony, his blasphemy by forcing him to veil the light of the earth. Paris itself saw the enchantment of its lights extinguished, and for a long time remained plunged into darkness which was too often furrowed by other murderous lights. So what is this sacred union? It is, in short, satanic pacifism in ideas and in facts, the suppression of all necessary antagonism, fraternization in the abdication of the rights of the truth, of God and of his Church. To do this we allege the homeland above all else. Is it not even the only true religion which should unite all wills? Please, let us no longer speak of sin, especially national sin, nor of the punishment that follows it, so as not to irritate the sinner and the impious. Even prayer ordered by ecclesiastical authority was censored and truncated for this purpose. Sacred union! As if anything could be sacred without God and even more so against him! Unless we give this word the meaning of execrable and accursed, as in the Latin poet's auri sacra fames . Thus, in the midst of war, like so many other things, the religious tolerance of the previous century matured. But bringing closer, weakening, altering is only one step. Satan cannot be satisfied with this, he wants to destroy this enmity, to eliminate this antagonism which keeps him apart and opposes divine forces to him. Then with this audacity which, after insidious questions, made him suddenly deny the divine threat that Eve posed to him: Nequaquam moriemini , he is no longer content with accommodation and tolerance, he pushes his lie against God to the limit. If there is an opposition, an antagonism in time, this is not due to the essence of things, or of the divine Being and will not last forever. A day will come when the two principles, the good and the bad, will be reconciled; where hell will finally cease and return its inhabitants to the celestial abode; where error and truth will merge; where good and evil will come together in peace. Therefore the judgment after death concludes nothing, does not fix the destiny of men irrevocably. After or without the wanderings of metempsychosis, everything will end up being absorbed in God: righteous and sinners, good or bad works. Nothing remains immutable; everything evolves: the earth and the sky, religion and God himself. So why the enmities and struggles? How can we establish them on what does not last and changes perpetually? Manichaeism had favored these infernal seductions, which today reappear dressed in new formulas and propagated by new or renewed processes. Theories of evolutionism or perpetual becoming have gained popularity. Then occultism, spiritualism, modern metempsychosis or reincarnation recruit followers. There, if there is still a question of a sort of necessary purification, of shadowy corners, where for a time souls are relegated, you will never hear of hell, of eternal damnation, of angels good and fallen angels. These dogmas explicitly or by implication affirm the entire religion and reveal Satan as he is. Have we not seen upright spirits turn back to God and believe in him, because they had first believed in the devil? Inevitable and salutary logic of the antagonisms posed by God and which the Serpent strives to combat at all costs. He even does this at the expense of reason, whose fundamental notions he destroys for this purpose and denies the most obvious operations. It is the infernal work of German philosophy, more formidable by its inexplicable seduction than by the violence of military power. This smoke which rose from the pit of the abyss, more deadly and more spread over the world than the toxic gases inaugurated by Germany, has corroded the very roots of reason and faith. These subjectivism and this egocentrism above all, this identity of the me and the non-me and generally of all the opposites are in fact anti-Christian and anti-rational principles; that this agnosticism of cause and effect relationships; than these anesthetic formulas: arereligious, amoral, instead of irreligious and immoral. No clashes, no antagonism. But, moreover, these are impudent lies from the one who is the prince, since in this case omitting is as guilty as committing and both are equivalent. Under the breath of Satan, these toxic fumes have more or less penetrated into the homes of the faithful. Where does this reluctance to hear about hell and the eternity of punishment come from? Do we not remember the famous discussions on the Creed of Saint Athanasius and its final sanctions? There can be no doubt about the spirit that inspired them. There's more ; for it is not only over individuals, but over nations that Satan wants to reign against Christ to whom God has given them as an inheritance. And always and everywhere, if he rises against the divine laws, against the order established by God, it is by persuading peace; but here we can rightly apply the words of the Latin historian: where he causes devastation and death to reign, Satan proclaims that there is peace. Peace in consciences, when there is no longer conscience; peace in reason, when it no longer reasons: peace in the spirit, when there is no longer either truth or light; peace in the family, when there is no longer a family through divorce and voluntary sterility; peace in the nations, when patriotism will have disappeared and all will be melted and submitted to its power. This is the goal of this League of Nations that is currently working to organize international Masonry. Thus events are progressing towards this reign of the Antichrist, which will mark the end of time. Deign the Immaculate Virgin to preserve in the souls of her priests and her apostles the intelligence and feeling of these unalterable enmities. May this very pure and faithful Virgin safeguard in them the integrity of an energetic and unalloyed hatred, which alone can guarantee the purity of their faith and the fidelity of their love for Christ. Whoever lets them weaken begins to deny his baptism and his Christian life; for just as God placed these enmities at the beginning of the world, he also requires them as a condition of baptismal regeneration, and one only becomes a child of God by hating Satan: Abrenuntias Satanæ?... Abrenuntio . To perfect this Christian life, to give Mary more abandoned souls, what does Blessed de Montfort ask? Nothing other than to renew and perfect this enmity. Perfecto odio oderam illos et inimici facti sunt mihi . In the formula of his consecration to Jesus by the hands of Mary, he opposes “to the cruel slavery of the devil” the holy slavery of Mary and the renovation of the baptismal promises. It means gaining an irrevocable foothold on the other shore, with all bridges cut; it is to side decidedly with God, in the face of the enemy. And what will be the fruit of this total donation? The Blessed first lists a greater participation in Mary's faith: "a faith animated by charity..., a faith unshakeable like the rock..., a faith to resist the devil and all the enemies of salvation » (True Devotion). This faith which animated Montfort is exalted in sublime accents in his Fiery Prayer. It is his own portrait that he draws in that of the apostles of the last times, intrepid fighters whom he animates with his accents until final victory. Nowhere do we see in his writings or in his life a trace of compromise, of accommodation, of weakening in enmities against the world and Satan. How could there be, since, at the end of the fight, Mary will crush the head of the serpent? Et ipsa conteret caput tuum : it is the word of God himself against which hell will not prevail. Thus will the apostles raised up by Mary, “these thundering and flying clouds... will thunder against sin; they will roar against the world; They will strike the devil and his servants, and they will also pierce, for life or for death, with the two-edged sword of the word of God, all those to whom they are sent from the Most High . » This is certainly not the portrait of the pontiffs of false peace of which Satan is the prince. On the other hand, we recognize Blessed de Montfort, whose very characteristic apostolate these lines summarize. He was also of the race of Woman and imbued with her spirit this beloved disciple who was Saint John. From the beginning of his Gospel, he clearly separates those who are born of flesh and blood from those who are children of God. No rapprochement between the two races is suggested by him. His Epistles are full of anathemas against the world, of energetic condemnations against heresies and heresiarchs. When finally in his Apocalypse, where there would be so much to note, he makes heard the mutual sighs of the Husband and the Wife who call each other, when he speaks of this coming of Jesus which will be the triumph and the reward of righteous, it is after having excluded from heaven “the cynics, the poisoners, the fornicators, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices lies”. (Apoc., in fine.) Thus the enmity posed by God from the beginning will be consummated by an eternal and complete separation. Just like Christ, who is the reason, this enmity is also the alpha and omega of the holy Books. Proclaimed from the first pages to punish the original fault and remedy it, it asserts itself at the end as the conclusion of the redemptive work and the triumph of the Church militant. And it is Saint John, the Evangelist of love, the apostle par excellence of divine charity, who announces this final sentence of consummate enmity, definitive separation and eternal damnation. Foris canes, et venefici, et impudici, et homicidæ, et idolis servientes, et omnis qui amat et facit mendacium . (Apoc., in fine.)
“We can therefore explain why during these supreme struggles Satan will direct his efforts especially against the sacrifice of the Mass. The prophet Daniel announced that the Antichrist, of whom Antiochus was the figure, would prevail against perpetual sacrifice and put an end to it (Daniel, VII, 2 and 12). When divine mysteries become rarer in the world, faith will become obscured: prosternetur veritas in terra ; Satan will exercise his violence and his perfidious seductions more freely with a view to a definitive triumph...: et faciet et prosperabitur . (...) When the prophet Daniel says that the enemy of God "will have power against the perpetual sacrifice because of the sins" which will abound here below: Robur autem datum est ei contra judge sacrificium propter peccata (Dan., VIII), let us undoubtedly think of the sins of the faithful, but also of those of lukewarm, lax or unworthy priests. On the other hand, what strength for the Church in these days of trial, what graces for souls, if in their holy functions the priests of Mary make up for their helplessness or their imperfect dispositions by their union with Her! » ( THE VIRGIN MARY AND THE APOSTLES OF THE LAST TIMES AFTER B. LOUIS-MARIE DE MONTFORT , by Father LHOUMEAU)
“Have we noticed enough in these apostles imbued with the spirit of the Cross and formed by Mary the double character of strength and gentleness by which they resemble their Mother? They are gentle, because She is a woman; but they are strong, because She is a strong Woman. Contemplate them all, these Sons of the Virgin whom she forms in her image and whom she arms against the enemies of God: Elijah, John the Baptist, the blessed de Montfort. In them the austerity of life, valor in combat, sacrifice unto death are combined with the tenderness and indulgences of a divine charity for the little ones, the poor, sinners and good souls. will. » ( THE VIRGIN MARY AND THE APOSTLES OF THE LAST TIMES AFTER B. LOUIS-MARIE DE MONTFORT , by Father LHOUMEAU)
“This advent of Christ in souls by grace, and finally in person on this earth for judgment general, is the object of the prayers and sighs of holy souls. Mary will be at their head; and, as in the past for the Incarnation or for the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, this omnipotent suppliant - omnipotentia supplex - this beloved spouse among all, the only one of the Lord, will be listened to with complacency. The Church will pray in union with Her; but to those who are specially dedicated to him; to her consecrated women and to her priests, will not Mary give a special share to the ineffable groans of the divine Spirit...Spiritus postulate gemitibus inenarrabilibus ? The answer is already given by the facts. Let us remember how Saint John, the beloved son of Mary, longed for the coming of Jesus. He ended with these calls the visions of his Apocalypse. And what is it other than an ardent sigh, this prayer of the Blessed de Montfort, who asks to die rather than not be answered? By giving her people this Spirit of grace and prayer, Mary prepares the second coming of Jesus. But Jesus told us: He will come like a thief, and the parable of the virgins is always present in our minds. What help will this very prudent Virgin, Virgo prudentissima , be to keep souls vigilant and prepare them for this more or less imminent coming of Christ? Especially since seductions are also predicted. False prophets, false Christs or Messiahs will appear. But for everyone, especially for those who belong totally to him, Mary is the sure, straight and immaculate way to go to Jesus Christ and find him perfectly; it is through it that the saints who must burst into holiness must find it. (True Devotion) Finally, in these last times, Mary must more than ever bring forth her power over all demons. Montfort insists on this point, not without great accuracy of views. More than ever, in fact, we will have to fight less against the forces of flesh and blood, against a human power, than against spiritual forces or the powers of darkness (Eph., VI, 12). The action of evil spirits will manifest itself more. They are the ones who lead the fight against the Church with a skill, an obstinate hatred, of which man alone is not capable. To this sort of diabolical possession, or, if you like, to this servitude of Satan's henchmen, will be opposed the holy slavery of Mary or the total belonging of her devotees. The role of the Virgin, in this, therefore appears clearly with the means of apostolate and struggle which will be appropriate to the circumstances. Of this army of the Virgin, the Archangel Saint Michael is the generalissimo under the orders of his Queen. At the head of the faithful angels he led the fight against Lucifer; he continues it with the Church Militant, according to the ways of divine Wisdom, where everything follows and coordinates to the end. From now on he assists this Church and has the mandate to offer the prayers of the saints, lead souls to paradise and come to the aid of the people of God. And when those times come, which will have had no equal since the world existed, the glorious Archangel will arise, and standing, in the attitude of combat and command, he will ensure the salvation of the children of the chosen people. In time autem illo consurget Michael, princeps magnus, who stat pro filiis populi tui. (Dan., XIIl, 1) This explains the devotion of Blessed de Montfort to Saint Michael. It was to recommend his own battles, as much as those of his future missionaries, that he made a pilgrimage to his famous sanctuary in Normandy; and to lead us to follow this leader and this model, he issues this appeal: “Almost no Saint Michael will write from among his brothers, zealous for your glory: Quis ut Deus? » (Prayer) (...) How can we not remember here the assurances that Montfort likes to repeat and that we will find near "She who retains the saints in their fullness and makes them persevere there until the end"? And the Speculum BV, attributed to Saint Bonaventure, details the meaning of these words as follows: “Mary prevents the virtues from disappearing, the merits from perishing, the graces from being wasted or lost, the demons from harming us. » And since we are facing the last times, their trials, their battles, their characterized apostolate, which will require a special temper of soul, an untiring valor, is this not the Strong Woman fighting against the dragon? who will support the courage of his children and his apostles? The present generation, which is leaning towards its end and many of whom have left this world, is currently experiencing terrible days. We can say, however, that they are less distressing than those that have passed over the past half-century or so. The struggle against God intensified and became more widespread; nothing stopped the progress of evil and error; destruction followed destruction; the Church, in its Head as in its members, was persecuted; the audacity of those who hate God continued to grow, and their power seemed to be strengthened. “How long, Lord: Usquequo, Domine? » moaned the faithful souls. But God seemed to be sleeping. Suddenly the storm is unleashed, violent, disastrous, universal; but we can see the outcome. Triumph and restoration draw near; mourning and sacrifices assure it and hasten their coming. These days and these anguish of hours that God grants to the power of darkness will undoubtedly return, darker and more serious still. To remain, like Saint John, strong in their love and their faith, these apostles of the last times will only have to remain close to Her whose love and faith in the Resurrection, even after Calvary and the burial, have not weakened for a single moment. In the face of the forces of hell, and whatever their apparent triumphs, their faith will remain unalterable and will assure them victory. And haec est victoria quæ vincit mundum, fides nostra. (John, V, 8.) “Lord Jesus..., remember to give your Mother a new Company, to renew through Her all things and to end with Mary the years of grace, as you began them with She. » (Blessed de Montfort.) » — ( THE VIRGIN MARY AND THE APOSTLES OF THE LAST TIMES AFTER B. LOUIS-MARIE DE MONTFORT , by Father LHOUMEAU)
« These great souls, full of grace and zeal, will be chosen to oppose the enemies of God, who will tremble on all sides, and they will be singularly devoted to the most holy Virgin, enlightened by her light, nourished by her milk, led by her spirit, supported by her arm and kept under her protection , so that they will fight with one hand and build with the other. With one hand they will fight, overthrow, crush the heretics with their heresies, the schismatics with their schisms, the idolaters with their idolatry, and the sinners with their impieties; and, with the other hand, they will build the temple of the true Solomon and the mystical city of God, that is to say the most holy Virgin, called by the holy Fathers the temple of Solomon and the city of God. They will bring everyone, by their words and their examples, to their true devotion, which will bring them many enemies, but also many victories and glory for God alone. This is what God revealed to Saint Vincent Ferrier, the great apostle of his century, as he sufficiently emphasized in one of his works. (...) It is through Mary that the salvation of the world began, and it is through Mary that it must be consummated. Mary almost did not appear at the first advent of Jesus Christ, so that men, still little instructed and enlightened about the person of her Son, would not distance themselves from him, attaching themselves too strongly and too crudely. to her, which apparently would have happened if she had been known, because of the admirable charms that the Most High had placed even on her exterior; which is so true, that Saint Denis the Areopagite left us in writing that, when he saw her, he would have taken her for a divinity, because of her secret charms and her incomparable beauty, if faith, in which he was well confirmed, had not taught him the contrary. But, in the second coming of Jesus Christ, Mary must be known and revealed by the Holy Spirit in order to make Jesus Christ known, loved and served through her. The reasons which led the Holy Spirit to hide his Bride during his life, and to reveal her very little since the preaching of the Gospel, no longer exist. » ( Treatise on true devotion to the Blessed Virgin , Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort)
