Dear Brothers in Christ
Our world needs saints right now – more than ever! We are losing the battle for souls because of our indifference and lukewarmness. Evil people are being aggressively evil, while far too many are not “aggressively saintly.” This is especially evident with men. Men who are weak and effeminate and who choose luxury over discomfort and vice over virtue. Men who choose fear over faith and relinquish true freedom. As a result, evil is allowed to flourish and run rampant without any resistance. In all of human history we have never witnessed evil promoted so effectively on a global scale, while virtue, character, and morals are bluntly mocked, rejected and cancelled. Objectively it is obvious that those who identify themselves as Christians, have never been so unprepared for and unengaged in the challenging mission of spiritual warfare and the mandate of evangelisation. In contrast, it is obvious that Satan’s forces are well-trained, well-organized and highly motivated, while the souls on earth and those who call themselves Catholic, clearly are not. We, the Church Militant, have abandoned, if not surrendered vital territory to evil and by our indifference and lukewarmness, have ushered the greatest apostasy history may ever witness. The time has come for men, real and courageous men, to enter the spiritual battle once more and engage the enemy as our forefathers have before us.
“To refrain from doing battle for Jesus Christ amounts to fighting against Him; He Himself assures us ‘He will deny before His Father in heaven those who shall have refused to confess Him on earth’ (Luke 9:26).” (Leo XIII, Encyclical Sapientiae christianae, 43).
It is on the shoulders of these virtuous and saintly men that we need to stand on, to imitate their courage and fortitude as we recall their battles in fighting the enemy and reclaiming lost territory.
DEUS VULT! DEUS VULT!
Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade in 1095 with the primary goal of the Christian re-conquest of the sacred city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. So great was the Pope’s speech in Clermont, France, on that day that the crowd was inspired to cry out: “Deus Vult! Deus Vult!” (“It is the will of God! It is the will of God!”). This became the battle cry of brave and noble knights who sought to recover that holy ground. The Crusades saw brave and noble knights, men of God, stand up against the enemy and form a brotherhood in the fight against evil.
THE ROSARY & BATTLE OF LEPANTO – OUR LADY’S VICTORY
This brotherhood was again seen when Pope St Pius V, sent out the call and formed the original Holy League of Nations in response to the dire situation in which Christian Europe found itself in 1571. Bands of Catholic men and armies from various nations came together under the spiritual leadership of the saintly pontiff and the military leadership of Don Juan of Austria. With the command from the Pontiff to pray the Rosary for victory during the Battle of Lepanto, the greatly outnumbered Holy League was victorious against the Ottoman invasion of Europe. That victory led Pope St Pius V to establish October 7 as the feast of Our Lady of Victory, later renamed the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary!
ANTEMURALE CHRISTIANITATIS
This call to brotherhood in the fight against evil and the defence of the Church has been witnessed throughout history. For Croatian men, it was evident when our forefathers defended Christendom during the hundred years war against the Ottoman Turks. Countless other battles were also fought, including the Battle that saved Western Civilisation – the Battle for Siget. So courageous were these men, Croatia was named Antemurale Christianitatis by Pope Leo X in 1519. These men were the defenders of Christendom, the Bulwark of Christianity.
A CALL TO SPIRITUAL BATTLE
While it was nearly a millennium ago that Pope Urban II challenged would-be warriors to “reclaim the sacred,” in our times, this clarion call to “reclaim the sacred” has never been more needed. Scripture says, If the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle? (1 Cor. 14:8). Nobody is calling for WWIII. We pray we can avoid physical warfare. What we are referring to, here, is full-on “Spiritual Warfare!” The battle lines are not political; not right vs. Left – this is Christ vs. Antichrist. This is the call to battle and the lines have been drawn.
Pope John Paul II (whilst still a Cardinal) in 1976 during a visit to America stated the following;
“We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has ever experienced. I do not think that the wide circle of the American Society, or the whole wide circle of the Christian Community realise this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-church, between the Gospel and the anti-Gospel, between Christ and the antichrist. The confrontation lies within the plans of Divine Providence. It is, therefore, in God’s Plan, and it must be a trial which the Church must take up, and face courageously.”
The time is now for men to wake up and become the soldiers of Christ they were created to be, who are ready to reclaim the surrendered ground of the sacred. To be once again the Antemurale Christianitatis. To form a new Holy League of Men, men who with their spiritual sword in hand, will use the weapon of the Rosary to drive back the demonic. In today’s secularized modern world that embodies the culture of death, the need has never been greater to reclaim the surrendered ground of the Sacred, the teachings of the Bible and of the Church, and supernatural life in the Holy Spirit. To once again take up the prayer weapon of the Rosary in hand and enter into spiritual combat with the enemy.
Brazilian layman, Plinio Correia de Oliveira of the 20th Century, gives an excellent quote to summarize this call for men. He says:
“Every man is born a soldier, although not every soldier will use his arms. Yes, all men are born soldiers because, as the Scripture states, Militia est vita hominis super terram [The life of man upon earth is a warfare] (Job 7:1). Our life is a fight, and this is how we must consider it first and foremost. A man is born a soldier at the first moment he sees the natural light. Then when he is baptized, he receives the light of grace and is born a second time, now to the supernatural life, becoming a soldier in its defense. Further, the Church has a special Sacrament that confirms a man as a soldier in the full sense of the word. It is the sacrament of Confirmation. Not every soldier uses his weapons on the battlefield, but whoever does so is privileged. Since the duty of the soldier is to fight, when he takes up arms to enter battle he becomes privileged. Imagine a painter who does not paint, a musician who cannot make music, a singer who cannot sing, a professor who is unable to give classes, a diplomat prevented from engaging in politics. Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Catholic Church, comes asking us to join His Holy War inside the Church against progressiveness, and inside the State, against communism. And He appeals to us to fight and not be soft or indifferent to this struggle, but to wage battle with all our soul.”
The devil has strategically succeeded in promoting the error’s and heresy of modernism removing every sense of the sacred from our churches, our homes, and our hearts. In dropping our sacramental life and our weapon of prayer ie. the rosary, Satan has had little resistance in drawing us into temptation and sin. Fear, the greatest weapon of Satan has taken grip of society. Governments around the world are using mandates and communist tactics to instill fear in society and bear no Christian principles in their governance, promoting the evils of abortion, euthanasia, destruction of family and gender fluidity ideology which are all foreign to Christian beliefs. Indoctrinating our children in schools and universities and utilising mass media, they have managed to reduce the Church and Christian ideals to have little or no relevance to society. They are pushing worldly passports but the passport and way to heaven is ignored. They are trying to once again silence and crucify Jesus Christ by killing the body of Christ and the teachings of the Church.
OUR LADY OF FATIMA’S WARNING
Our Lady appeared in Fatima in 1917 with an urgent call to repentance, reparation, sacrifice and daily rosary. She warned us that if her requests were not adhered to, that the error of communism would spread. Sadly, her plea was not taken seriously by all and the seeds of communism are sprouting everywhere.
In his monumental 2017 homily entitled, “Fatima: A Call to Spiritual Arms for the Salvation and Peace of the World,” Archbishop Cordileone gives us the battle plan to “reverse the curse” of a nation under the spell of the satanic. The Archbishop said:
“For 100 years we ignored the message of Fatima; or, perhaps, it is not so much the message we ignored, for we are well aware of the warnings and the history that resulted. Rather, it is the requests we ignored. But we cannot afford to do so any longer. We have to pay attention. We have to do what she told the waiters at Cana: do whatever he tells you And what does Christ tell us to do?
The Archbishop continues:
“Far from being something we check off on a to-do list, what we are about today is nothing less than a call to arms: to spiritual arms. We are living in a time and place of intense spiritual battle, and only in taking up spiritual arms will we alleviate the spiritual disease that is at the root of so much of the physical and mental suffering in the world today.
Again, this is not a political battle … This. Is. Spiritual. Warfare!”
Likewise, in a monumental and powerfully worded apostolic exhortation, Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, Arizona, put a call out to all men to “not hesitate to engage in the battle that is raging around you.” Bishop Olmsted continues:
“Men, do not hesitate to engage in the battle that is raging around you, the battle that is wounding our children and families, the battle that is distorting the dignity of both women and men. This battle is often hidden, but the battle is real. It is primarily spiritual, but it is progressively killing the remaining Christian ethos in our society and culture, and even in our own homes.
Venerable Fulton Sheen who prophesied that communist ideals would take over America and the world also wrote:
“The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil. The tragedy of our time is that those who still believe in honesty lack fire and conviction, while those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction.”
THE TIME IS NOW FOR MEN TO RISE UP!! We must become strong in the Lord and in His mighty power! (Eph 6:10).
Msgr. Charles Pope writes in an article which appeared in the National Catholic Register:
“We live in historic times. If we don’t rise up in courage, strength, and true compassion then Christianity will continue on the road to irrelevance. We have a fundamental choice: do we stand with the brave or do we fade into darkness? We are told repeatedly to not be afraid. Our silence is complicity. Our breeding division is demonic. The devil delights in little more than a co-opted Christian…more so a co-opted cleric. Remember, Christ prayed that we would be one, not a collection of warring tribes at each other’s throats. Our enemy is united and broken through our ranks. We must be united and strengthen what is harmed. Now is no time to abandon the battlefield.”
THE CALL FOR A HOLY LEAGUE
A Holy Rosary Crusade and a call for a Holy League of Men is needed to form a spiritual army. I call upon you my Christian brothers – all who call themselves Catholic Australians and living in Australia, to come and fight this spiritual battle with Rosary in hand. We have to take the lead and follow what our Polish and Irish brothers are doing in Europe and kneel in the public square and pray the Rosary as a public witness. It is up to us to become the Antemurale Christianitatis and drive back the enemy.
We call upon all men, religious and lay men, to engage the enemy, to recapture lost territory and make advancements on the battle field for souls. We have not listened to the call of Our Lady of Fatima nor heeded her plea to offer sacrifices in reparation against offenses committed against the Sacred Heart and her Immaculate Heart. We have laid down the heavenly weapon of the Rosary which she has asked us to pray daily. The time has come, for men to once again pick up the weapon of the Rosary and enter into battle! In confidence, we call upon our Heavenly Mother in this battle and call upon her intercession as we engage the enemy knowing her Immaculate Heart will triumph. Bishop Athanasius Schneider reminds us:
“The most powerful help in our personal life as soldiers of Christ and in the life of the entire militant Church is the Blessed Virgin Mary and Mother of God, and She is the winner in all the battles of the Lord”
With this confidence we fight under her banner.
I would like to leave you with this quote from Venerable Fulton Sheen who gives us a fair warning:
“Those who have the faith had better keep in the state of grace and those who have neither had better find out what they mean, for in the coming age there will be only one way to stop your trembling knees, and that will be to get down on them and pray.”
Our Lady of the Rosary – pray for us.
St Joseph, Terror of demons – pray for us.
Yours in Christ Jesus through Mary
Knights of the Precious Blood
Bog i Hrvati
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