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My dear
friends, my dear brothers:
Let us
thank God who has blessed us with such a beautiful day. Let
us thank Him for all the graces that He gives us and, in particular
today, for having granted us the grace to be able to ordain
eighteen priests and twenty-two subdeacons. Let us thank God,
each one of us, that He has preserved us in the Catholic Faith.
Let us thank God…let us thank Him that we have remained faithful
to the Church, faithful to Our Lord Jesus Christ, faithful
to all those in the Church who protect the Faith.
What
joy to see all of you gathered here today, my dear brothers,
coming – we can say – from the four corners of the world,
from Australia to the borders of California, from Canada to
Buenos Aires, and, yesterday, I received a letter from the
Catholics in South Africa who said they would be united with
us on this day-and from all points in Europe. Let us thank
God to be gathered together here solely because we are Catholics,
because we are members of the Church and because we want to
continue what Our Lord has instituted, and what Our Lord wanted
us to believe. I would like, for a few moments, to speak on
what precisely the priesthood is.
Why a
priest? one asks oneself today. We think it suffices for us
to open the Gospels to know what a priest is. It suffices
for us to know what Our Lord Jesus Christ is, Who is the High
Priest, Who is the Priest par excellence, in order
to know what priests are today. Our Lord tells us in words
so short and so simple, "Sicut misit me Pater, et
ego mitto vos – As the Father has sent Me, so I also send
you." And, if we only reflect a few moments on the first
part of Our Lord's words, "Sicut misit me Pater…”
but, is this mission of Our Lord not His eternal mission?
In the Blessed Trinity the Son is always sent by the Father
because He comes from the Father, because He is born of the
Father. In eternity Our Lord is always sent by the Father
and this is why He is the Word of God. Just as the Holy Ghost
is sent by the Father and the Son; and this is why He is the
Holy Ghost. Well, this eternal mission of Our Lord Jesus Christ
is continued in His temporal mission. And we need to remind
ourselves that the mission that Our Lord has accomplished
here below is the mission for which the world was created!
We were
all created and put down here on this earth, and all of the
world which surrounds us, the splendors which Almighty God
has made in nature, all these things – the stars and all creation,
spiritual creatures, the angels of heaven, the elect of heaven
– all were created for the mission of Our Lord Jesus Christ:
in order that one day Our Lord might sum up in Himself all
of creation and be made man. And that making Himself man,
He would sing God's glory, that all creation might sing God's
glory, by Our Lord Jesus Christ, in Our Lord Jesus Christ.
There is the reason for the world's existence. There is the
reason for our existence. There is the mission of Our Lord
– to sing His Father's glory – in His body and in His human
soul and thus summing up by His divinity all that there could
ever be of the most beautiful, of the greatest and of the
most sublime things here below – the song of Our Lord Jesus
Christ.
And at
what moment? At the most sublime moment of His life, of His
existence here below, Our Lord expressed this glory, this
charity that He had for His Father. This infinite charity.
He was His Son, His own Son.
When
did He express it? He said it Himself. He expressed it during
His sublime hour: on the Cross. It was at the moment when
Our Lord exhaled His last breath that He manifested the greatest
glory to His Father. "It is consummated," He said…all
is consummated. Indeed, all is consummated – the entire reason
for the existence of creation, all of our reason for being,
all of the reason for heaven's existence and that of the elect,
is consummated in Our Lord Jesus Christ's death. When He said,
"Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit," and
He exhaled His last sigh. This was the greatest act of charity
that could exist. None of our acts of charity are anything
compared to Our Lord’s.
God the
Father found His glory in this Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ
and in His last sigh, in His death. By His death, life came
again into the world, the way of heaven was opened, the way
of salvation was opened for all of us. And there is the way,
my dear friends, in which we are invited to walk. "Sicut
misit me Pater, et ego mitto vos." I am sending you.
I am sending you to continue My mission. I am sending you
to continue My mission which is none other than the one which
I am doing Myself, which I have begun. And because He concluded
in an act of infinite love on Calvary, on the Cross: there
is the way you must follow. You must go up to the altar, offer
the sacrifice of Our Lord. Continue to offer this act of infinite
love that God offered to His Father. This is what you are
going to do. You are going to unite yourselves to this. What
grace! What grace! Are you worthy? Are we worthy to be priests?
Are we worthy to go up to the altar? Indeed, if we consider
ourselves – NO! We can’t lay claim to such sublimity, to such
glory, to such a participation in Christ Who is the Priest
– the Priest for Eternity – Who is the High Priest. But by
God’s Grace, by the grace that you are going to receive in
a few moments, my dear friends, yes, you will be worthy, worthy
before God, before the angels, to offer the Holy Sacrifice
of the Mass.
And so
this is the power that the bishop is going to give you in
a few moments. This is the mission of Our Lord which is carried
on and which must continue until the end of time.
Thus,
the Church is Missionary. It could not be other than missionary.
A church that would no longer be
missionary,
that would no longer be sent, would no longer correspond to
the Most Holy Trinity – would no longer correspond to what
the Most Holy Trinity is – would no longer correspond to what
Our Lord Jesus Christ is Himself, Who is the One sent by God.
You are apostles; you are essentially sent to accomplish the
mission that Our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished here below,
to carry it on. "Hoc facite in meam commemorationem
…remittite peccatis eis…accipite Spiritum Sanctum…quorum remiseritis
peccata, remittuntur eis: et quorum retinueritis, retenta
sunt…euntes…baptizate eos in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus
Sancti."
This
is what Our Lord Jesus Christ told us: This is what we must
do in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ. What a noble mission,
my dear friends!
How the
faithful people must await this of you! They are waiting for
the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ to be brought down into
their souls in order that they also might unite themselves
to Our Lord Jesus Christ in His Cross and to His love in this
infinite charity. This, my dear friends, is what the Church
is. It is great because it unites us to Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Without Our Lord Jesus Christ we are nothing. With Our Lord
Jesus Christ we can do all things. My dear friends, let us
unite our lives to Our Lord.
But,
He also told us, "Ego mitto vos sicut oves inter lupos
– I am sending you forth as lambs amongst the wolves.”
Yes, we are all – faithful Christians, priests, future priests,
seminarians – we are all sent by Our Lord Jesus Christ, as
it were, into the midst of wolves. These wolves… Our Lord
has pointed them out. He indicated them to be mercenaries
for whom the sheep do not count. They are not interested in
the sheep and they abandon the sheep for the least reason.
And so,
unhappily, we are obliged to state that today there are wolves-not
only outside the Church, but there are mercenaries inside
the Church. We are obliged to state this. And precisely what
I would like – that on which I would like to insist – is that
if the Catholic church is Missionary, it is not Ecumenical!
The Catholic Church is not ecumenical! Now, today, the Church
is besieged by these mercenaries, these wolves who wish to
lead us astray. The enemy is in the Church. Already, St. Pius
X told us this.
Well,
this enemy wants to leads us on to the way of perdition. By
what path? By the way of ecumenism! And these enemies are
not hidden. And what is ecumenism, if not the betrayal of
truth? A betrayal of Our Lord Jesus Christ. A truth that is
adulterated…that is mixed with error. The law of Our Lord
Jesus Christ is no longer upheld: the Ten Commandments. The
moral teaching that Our Lord Jesus Christ taught us is no
longer upheld on the pretext of being on good terms with modem
man…with the men of this world. This is why we have been given
an ecumenical Mass; we have been given an ecumenical catechism;
we have been given an ecumenical Bible. And it is desired
that henceforth nations should be ecumenical societies. That
is, societies that compromise with error, that compromise
with evil – with vice. And thus, states that are not Catholic!
We must
not accept these things which contain poison and we are not
afraid to say this ecumenism comes straight from the secret
dens of iniquity of masonry. And also, St. Pius X says: read
the letter of St. Pius X of 1910 to the Bishops of France
condemning the Sillon. We have lived through the Sillon, which
was nothing other than a kind of ecumenism, which prepared
today's ecumenism. The Great Sillon, as he called it, was
precisely a veritable ecumenism. Well, our Holy Father, Pope
St. Pius X, after having examined “Sillon,” and having condemned
it, said, "We know well where these ideas come from:
they come from secret dens of iniquity. The winds of the revolution
have passed by there."
Well,
we can also say that with ecumenism, the winds of revolution
have passed by! This is why we absolutely refuse ecumenism!
And I could show you texts that come, for example, from a
high leader of Masonry, Mr. Friedsell, ex-Grandmaster of the
Grand Orient of France, who recent months wrote an article,
"Three points in all," in which he said formally,
"The Council will take a long time to reveal its true
signification. But the faithful understand that something
has come to pass which is entirely contained in the word 'ecumenism'."
"And this signifies," he said, "that the Church
must reconcile herself with all religions and, likewise, as
a consequence, with Masonry.”
There
you have what this Grandmaster of Masonry said two or three
months ago. And then, again more recently, in Civilta Cattolica,
the major review of the Jesuits of Rome, the largest Roman
review, the most important review, and which has been considered
as the most serious – two Jesuit Fathers have an article on
the Intégristes,1
which we are, obviously, and in which my name appeared. Well,
they only reproach us with this: that we still consider socialism,
communism, and Freemasonry to be enemies of the Church. This
is what they reproach us for. This written by two Jesuit Fathers
last February in the large Catholic, Roman review!
Well,
then, we understand. We now know with whom we have to deal.
We know perfectly well that we are dealing with a “diabolical
hand” which is located at Rome, and which is demanding, by
obedience, the destruction of the Church! And this is why
we have the right and the duty to refuse this obedience. For,
when they convoke me back to Rome in perhaps a few months
– indeed, I have just received a letter from the Vatican talking
about a mutual discourse in the future, and which, at the
same time, asks me not to perform these ordinations today
– in order to be able to continue these mutual discourses
– well, then, with whom will I be having these mutual discourses?
I believe that I have the right to ask these gentlemen who
present themselves in offices which were occupied by Cardinals
(who were indeed saintly persons and who were defenders of
the Church and of the Catholic Faith) it seems to me that
I would have the right to ask them, “Are you with the Catholic
Church?” “Are you the Catholic Church?" "With whom
am I dealing?" If I am dealing with someone who has a
pact with Masonry, have I the right to speak with such a person?
Have I the duty to listen to them and to obey them?
My dear
friends, we have been betrayed. Betrayed by all of those who
ought to be giving us the truth, who ought to be teaching
the Ten Commandments, who ought to be teaching us the true
catechism, who ought to be giving us the true Mass – the one
that the Church has always loved; the one that was said by
the Saints; the one that
has sanctified generations and generations!
Likewise,
they must give us all the sacraments, without any doubt concerning
their validity, sacraments which are certainly valid. It is
a duty for us to ask them for these things and they have a
duty to give them to us.
Now,
I have just told you things that are found in the Gospel.
Our Lord Jesus Christ's mission was to go up to the Cross.
This was His mission, given to Him by the Father. It was His
hour. And this is the mission that He wants to give to priests.
"Hoc tacite in meam commemorationem – Do this
in memory of Me." This is what we must do. Not in any
of the reviews that have recently spoken about vocations is
there a mention of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
What,
then, is the priest's mission? They no longer know! This is
what we have come to!
So, my
dear brothers, whoever we may be, if we want to remain Catholic,
if we want the Catholic Church to continue, we have a duty
not to obey those who wish to lead us into the Church's destruction.
We have the duty not to collaborate in the Church's destruction.
But, on the contrary, to work – to work ardently, calmly,
serenely, for the Church's construction, for the re-construction
of the Church, for the preservation of the Church.
Each
one of you can do your duty in this regard-in your villages,
in your parishes, in your institutions, in your professions
– wherever you are. Set up true parishes, Catholic parishes.
And let these Catholic parishes be confided to true priests.
And see how true priests are numerous. Look at them all around
us today. There are many who think as they do. Try to lead
them back to the truth in order that they may give you the
sacraments that you desire and the Holy Mass that you desire.
Organize
yourselves in order that the priests who come may become parish
priests, quite simply. Let the parishes be re-established
as they once were. This is a duty, a strict duty. And we congratulate
wholeheartedly those in religious life who are present and
the priests who are here, who are persecuted, having unbelievable,
inconceivable difficulties - who are asked to abandon their
religious habit. So, let sisters be firm in their faith. May
they remain firm in the constitutions that were given to them
by their holy founders.
And we
have the joy of thinking that these religious congregations
will be multiplied. We are assured that soon there will be
other religious who want to preserve the traditions, the holy
traditions of their congregations and of their founders.
This
is what we must do. And you, my dear friends, who are soon
going to take up your responsibilities in your respective
assignments; well, ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, ask the Apostles
Saint Peter and Saint Paul, who, today, ask nothing other
than to give you blessings – beg them for abundant graces
in order that you may realize the apostolate in preparation
for which you have been here at this seminary…or at the Monastery
of Bédoin, to prepare yourself for this great day of the priesthood.
My dear
brothers, I conclude. We appear to be weak and we appear to
be strong. We appear to be weak because, what are a few thousand
people gathered here when one thinks of the entire word –
of all humanity who ought to adore Our Lord Jesus Christ –
who ought to throng around the altars of Our Lord Jesus Christ,
to receive His Precious Body, His Blood, His Soul, His Divinity,
in order to be transformed into Our Lord Jesus Christ. What
sorrow to think that millions of souls are estranged from
Our Lord Jesus Christ!
But at
the same time that we are weak, because we are few in number
in relation to the mission that Almighty God asks us to accomplish,
at the same time, we are strong. We are strong with the word
of Our Lord Jesus Christ Who said, “I will be with you unto
the consummation of the ages.” We are strong, precisely because
we ourselves want to carry on the mission of Our Lord Jesus
Christ – to continue the Church. And this is what makes us
strong – strong in this essential bond with tradition, with
all that Our Lord has taught us, with the institution of the
Church and with all Our Lord has bequeathed to His Church,
strong in these things, strong in being with all the elect
of heaven.
Strong
in being with all the Catholics of the earth who want to preserve
their Catholic Faith. Strong – in this we are assured – in
victory! Not that we are seeking to cry our victory against
those who are ill-willed towards us – against those who persecute
us. I speak of Our Lord’s victory over Satan which He won
by His Cross. We are convinced that this victory will carry
on, it could not do otherwise than continue because the Church
must carry on and must persevere. As a consequence, if sometimes,
you are overcome by feelings of discouragement, by feelings
of being rent inside – nearly of despair at the sight of the
Church torn and suffering, struck from all sides; if these
feelings invade your soul, know that Our Lord is with you,
provided that you keep the words that Our Lord gave us, that
Our Lord Jesus Christ taught us.
And it
is by these sacrifices that one day the enemy will be driven
away from the Church and that the Church will again discover
her splendor. It will no longer be undermined by persons who
desire its disappearance, or who desire its destruction.
And so
today we must all pray together. We must pray, in particular,
that God will drive away the enemies from the Church in order
that the church may again give the graces which the faithful
need and which the world needs for its salvation.
In the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
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