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Dear Friends and Benefactors
of the Society of St. Pius X,
The response to the Heart of Mary Crusade initiated last month has been very
good. We hope that this crusade is taken up and spread by as many people as
possible.
To help urge us on in this crusade, it is important to keep in mind what our
ultimate end is. Through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, God intends to bring
about the reign of Christ the King, which alone can give to individuals and
nations true peace. Unfortunately many still refuse to acknowledge the King of
Kings as they also did during His time on earth. “Ah! If thou hadst known,
and in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace, but now they are hidden
from thy eyes" (Lk. xix: 42). If only men would follow our Lord’s
words and “seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these
things shall be added unto you” (Lk. xii: 31). But in his folly
modern man continues to seek rulers to his own measure and not to God’s. The cry
is the same as that of old: “We will not have this man to reign over us.”
(Lk. xix: 14) “We have no king but Caesar.” (Jn. xix. 15)
Because of perversity modern man desires rulers who personify their pride,
ambition and short-sightedness. Many have been persuaded that the state can, by
its own resources and without God’s help, bring about that perfection of
intellectual, material and moral culture which will procure temporal happiness
for its citizens. Thus they deny Christ any say in such areas as international
relations, the drafting of constitutions and laws or systems of public
education. Christ may be tolerated in men’s private lives but He is kept out of
their social lives as citizens and seen as unfit to rule.
The folly of this view is not too difficult to see. One need only look at the
current conditions in our own country to see how great the moral degradation is.
From vice taught in the public schools to rampant immorality protected by
“laws”, our culture continues to depart further and further from God’s Law.
Christ’s unerring vision, through His Beatific and Infused knowledge, can alone
provide the means by which man can realize his good here on earth. His plan
alone can order our lives in the best way calculated to procure the welfare of
nations while providing happy conditions for all classes of men. He was born a
ruler able not only to point out the goal of human life but also to effectively
lead men to it. He has proven this by His power, wisdom and mercy.
Despite this He is rejected again and again not because He is a tyrant but
because He cannot be diverted from the pursuit of men’s good. He is rejected not
because He is inhuman but rather, oddly enough, because He is too perfectly
human. He invites man to live not in part but in the whole of his life as a
child of God; to regulate all his human activity, whether personal or social,
according to this status, made possible through the redeeming grace of His
Precious Blood shed on the cross.
Christ was commissioned by God the Father to reorganize humanity; scattered by
Adam’s sin. His grace, communicable to men, was meant to be the bond that welded
men together among themselves and with Him into a perfect social unity of a
supernatural order. This unity was also to be visibly reflected in the earthly
sphere. Thus heads of states, by submitting their intellects and wills to Him as
their sovereign, will be enlightened and moved by His spirit to see the order of
things that will promote the states temporal welfare.
Society as well as the individual must draw from the Sacred Humanity of Christ
the light capable of promoting the material, moral and spiritual welfare of the
citizens. From His grace, the strength to put His principles into practice is
derived. If docile to His authority and teachings, states will find the ways to
construct the social and economic framework within which each citizen may freely
develop his personality.
But if the state denies God, it forces itself into His place and slavery will
necessarily press heavily upon the citizens. For it is real slavery for man to
have his actions declared good or evil by an authority no higher than himself.
True freedom comes only from following and serving God and His Law. This denial
is simply a repeat of Adam’s revolt whereby he aimed at making his own reason
the law of truth and his own will the rule of good. Inevitably this denial will
lead to further disorder which will have to be met by force, which is the
constraining principle in the kingdom of man. On the other hand, in the kingdom
of Christ, love is the constraining principle.
Christ will inspire men to use similar weapons as He did when, with supreme
fortitude, He flung His defenseless humanity against the forces holding mankind
in captivity. He used no other arms in this conflict than His unflinching
courage, perfect truth, uncompromising faithfulness to the true human ideal,
undying hatred of hypocrisy and unreality, death-braving devotedness to God, and
zeal for the well-being of man.
If nations and their rulers would only submit themselves to the merciful and
gracious rule of Jesus Christ the world would have a profound peace. All would
live in harmony free from anxiety and fear; while they assist one another in
preparing themselves to be citizens of heaven.
Let us work towards this end by our devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
She, like no other, can gain for us the necessary graces from the Sacred Heart
of her divine Son.
Sincerely in Christ the King,
Fr. John D. Fullerton |
