| Dear
Friends and Benefactors, On
March 21, 2010, the United States District of the Society of St.
Pius X will renew in a most solemn manner, its consecration to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary.
We might wonder: “Why do we need a
consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary? Why is it so
important for our souls, our families, our whole district, even
our country?”
The first answer to this question
is that Our Lady Herself, at Fatima, requested it. She asked not
only that the pope consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart, but
also that all souls should come to her.
She gave us a last and supreme
means of salvation—the devotion to her Immaculate Heart. By
consecrating the District of the United States of America to her,
the Society of St. Pius X, its superior, its priests and faithful,
come to her with great confidence, to beg her intercession. We
intend to offer ourselves wholly; we give our lives, our merits,
our prayers, and sacrifices to her so that she may use them for
our own salvation, and for the salvation of many souls.
Our Lady calls upon us to
consecrate ourselves to her, in order that we might convert. It is
in fact, an invitation to change our way of living, for she wants
us to lead holier lives. She not only implores us, but will also
help us to stop sinning and to obey God’s commandments. She never
ceases to remind us that sins lead souls to Hell; for the direct
consequence of sins is the perversion of souls which results in
the eternal damnation of many.
She reminds us also, that the
slavery of perverted societies, which sadly we see so much in our
times across the world, is also a consequence of sins. The sins of
mankind have led society to enter into a general apostasy; an
organization of nations and a world without God—against God. A
practical atheism has led people to believe that their happiness
can only be found here below on earth, as if God does not exist,
and as if there were no life after this one. The whole of modern
society, with its “Godless” program, leads souls away from God,
even wishing to abort all possible reaction. It leads not only to
a certain spiritual death, but also to a spiritual apathy or
indifference, a spiritual sleepiness to which is joined a deep
blindness—with no counter reaction. It is indeed, a new form of
slavery—barely discernable, but enslavement none the less, for man
without God always results in enslavement. A society without God
engenders the enslavement of self to one’s base passions and sins.
Thus apostasy—the abandonment of Faith—makes us slaves.
“The truth shall make you free,”
said Our Lord (John 8:32). Thus, the first and main answer to the
situation in which we find the world today, is spiritual. It is a
question of conversion, of holiness; a search for spiritual
perfection, working, as Our Lord said, to “be perfect, as also
your Heavenly Father is perfect” (John 5:48). There is no
other way for us than to continually strive for sanctity.
It is here and now, that we
absolutely need the prayers and protection of our heavenly
Mother—the Mother of all men. She is the only one who can obtain
this conversion for us from Our Lord. We are in need of the
intercession of the Mediatrix of all graces, the Blessed Virgin
Mary.
Her prayer is all powerful against
the spirit of evil, which today pervades everywhere. She can bring
to our souls that interior peace which comes from the reign of Our
Lord Jesus Christ; and it is only when Our Lord reigns in our
souls, that we can hope and trust that this peace may return to
the world.
Our conversion is the first grace
we ask for in our Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We
hope to renew our devotion to the Immaculate Heart, especially in
the practice of the First Saturdays, and in a spirit of
reparation. We wish to console the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart
of Mary, to make reparation for the numerous offenses which she
receives from so many who despise Her and refuse Her maternal
intercession.
The end of the Rosary Crusade for
the consecration of Russia, is a good occasion for us to renew our
dedication to Our Lady. It will help strengthen our devotion to
her. In addition to the efforts of praying and sacrificing for
that intention, it behooves us to offer ourselves to her. These
efforts, indeed, must not end here; we must keep up our devotion,
without discouragement, calling for the triumph of the Immaculate
Heart.
With great confidence, we come to
Our Blessed Mother; who is the “the hope of the hopeless.” Here
are we—hopeless without her—full of hope while in her hands.
May the Immaculate Heart of Mary
protect and sanctify all the priests and faithful of the District
of the United States of the Society of St. Pius X.
With my prayers and blessing,
Fr. Arnaud Rostand |
