Saint Athanasius, Epistle to Serapion.
Note: We didn't know him, nor do we know all of his beliefs, only that he was pro-life, but whatever his beliefs, we don't need to agree with everything to condemn the treacherous murder that left two young children orphaned and an inconsolable widow and made him famous in ways he never imagined in life.
“This is the Virgin who conceived in her womb, this is the Virgin who gave birth to a son… She is the gate of the sanctuary, which no one shall pass through except the God of Israel alone. This gate is the blessed Mary; of her it was written: ‘The Lord shall pass through her,’ and it shall be shut after her childbirth; for she conceived as a virgin and gave birth as a virgin.”
~Saint Ambrose (Epist. 42,4 PL, XVI)
Lope de Vega, born in 1562 and one of the most representative poets and playwrights of the Spanish Golden Age, composed the following:
Let the angels sing today,
for You are born, great Lady,
and let them rehearse, from now,
for when God Himself is born.
Let them sing today, for they come
to behold their lovely Queen,
for the fruit they await from You
is He through whom they find grace.
Let them proclaim, O Lady, of You,
that You shall be their Sovereign,
and let them rehearse, from now,
for when God Himself is born.
For in fourteen years’ time,
when You reach that blessed age,
they shall see the good You give us,
the remedy for so many ills.
Let them sing and proclaim, through You,
that from today they have their Queen,
and let them rehearse, from now,
for when God Himself is born.
And we, who await with longing
that Bethlehem may soon arrive,
let us prepare as well
our hearts and our hands.
Go on sowing, O Lady,
peace within our hearts,
and let us rehearse, from now,
for when God Himself is born. Amen.
“Be free, don’t tie yourself down.”
That is the catechism the modern world endlessly repeats to young people. It has convinced them that promise is a chain, that commitment is a prison, that sacrifice is madness. The entire culture has become a school for fugitives: no one must ever say “forever,” no one must embrace the cross of fidelity, no one must remain.
And yet, the paradox bursts forth in every heart: if everything is so free, why does everything feel so empty? If there are thousands of “contacts,” why is no one truly known? If love is so liquid, why does loneliness echo so loudly?
The new commandment of evasion does not liberate—it enslaves. The young person who flees every commitment does not conquer freedom, but condemns himself to the perpetual anxiety of never having a home. A ship without a harbor does not sail farther: it is lost. A heart that never binds itself does not soar higher: it bleeds out in the air.
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I. THE EMPTINESS AS PROOF
No theory is needed to confirm it: just look. The generation that boasts most of its options is the one least able to choose. The one that proclaims freedom the loudest is the most enslaved to anxiety. The one that talks the most about connections is the loneliest.
The emptiness is no coincidence: it is evidence. The human heart was not made to jump from one experience to another, but to remain in love. When that permanence is denied, one falls into nothingness.
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II. THE DISORDER OF THE END
St. Thomas teaches clearly: every being acts toward an end, and man’s ultimate end is beatitude—that is, God. But the evader has twisted the scale: he has placed his happiness in what is fleeting. He seeks fulfillment in pleasure, in comfort, in immediate gratification.
It is not that he loves evil, but that he seeks the good where it is not. And thus his life becomes constant frustration: because he tries to drink water in the desert. Evasion is, metaphysically, the absurd attempt to find happiness in nothingness.
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III. THE VICE THAT ATROPHIES THE WILL
Evasion is not an accident: it is a vice. And vice, as the Angelic Doctor would say, is not merely a bad habit but a corruption of nature. Virtue perfects the will; vice mutilates it.
The culture of escape has bred young people whose wills have atrophied. It is not that they do not want to commit: it is that they no longer can. Their will, tamed by flight, has become incapable of a definitive “yes.” Thus, the evader is not a rebellious hero, but a weak slave, unable to embrace his own vocation.
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IV. LOVE REDUCED TO INSTINCT
Love, in its fullest sense, is an act of rational will. Animals move by instinct; man, by reason and choice. But in the culture of evasion, love has been reduced to feeling, to appetite, to passing chemistry.
That is why bonds are so fragile: because they depend on emotions that change with mood. “Love without metaphysics” is not love: it is appetite disguised. And appetite does not build homes, does not sustain marriages, does not give children.
The other is no longer an end, but a means. No longer a soul created in the image of God, but an object for consumption. That is why modern relationships look so much like store windows: one chooses, one uses, one changes, one discards.
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V. SOCIETY AS A SCHOOL OF EVADERS
The young person did not invent this flight: he was trained in it. The weakened family did not teach sacrifice; the school suppressed rigor; the contemporary Church preferred silence to truth; the market turned the neighbor into a product; technology fabricated a virtual world where everything is reversible, ephemeral, disposable.
Never have there been so many “friends,” and never so little friendship. Never so many couples, and never so little love. Never so many freedoms, and never so much fear. Evasion is the unwritten commandment of a system that needs men without roots, without permanence, without home.
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VI. THE SIN OF EVASION
Evasion is not neutral: it is sin. It is the denial of sacrifice, and therefore the denial of love. It is the vital heresy of a generation that rejects the cross. But without the cross there is no love, and without love there is no life.
The Gospel said it centuries ago: “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Evasion whispers the opposite: “There is no greater mistake than to lay down your life for anyone.” A culture that lives this way has already condemned itself to sterility.
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VII. GRACE AS REMEDY
Here St. Thomas is blunt: wounded nature cannot rise on its own. The will sickened by original sin has no strength to pronounce a definitive “yes.”
Grace is not an ornament: it is the only medicine. Confession, the Eucharist, prayer—these are not accessory rites, but the very places where man receives the strength to promise and to remain. The “yes forever” of marriage, of religious vocation, or of faithful friendship is not a human feat but a miracle of Grace.
Without God, every commitment ends in flight. With God, even the impossible—perpetual fidelity—becomes a path of holiness.
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VIII. THE BEAUTY OF PERMANENCE
It is not enough to speak of truth and goodness. Beauty too unmasks evasion. Because evasion is ugly. A life made of flights is like a broken painting, like a symphony interrupted at every bar: it lacks form, integrity, harmony.
Commitment, on the other hand, is beautiful. The fidelity of a long marriage is more splendid than any showcase of fleeting pleasures. A vocation sustained over time has the majesty of a cathedral standing tall. A friendship that endures years and trials is more melodious than any passing song.
Evasion promises youth but delivers ugliness. Sacrifice seems harsh, but shines with splendor. Tradition knew it: the Cross, terrifying to the carnal eye, is the highest beauty of love, for in it is revealed the perfect order of self-giving.
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IX. BEING AND PERMANENCE
Modernity has divinized change, the ephemeral, the reversible. But St. Thomas teaches that being itself is permanence, that mutability is accidental, and that human fidelity participates in the very being of God, who is eternal and unchanging.
The evader does not know it, but when he flees every commitment, he renounces not only love but being itself. He dissolves into nothingness, because nothingness is the only thing that does not remain. The man who promises and fulfills, on the other hand, partakes in the stability of God himself.
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CONCLUSION: FROM “MAYBE” TO “YES”
The modern commandment of evasion has turned the world into a graveyard of broken promises. It has produced empty homes, fragile friendships, weary souls.
But the heart knows what ideology denies: that only the one who promises and remains is happy. Evasion leaves ruins; commitment raises cathedrals. Flight produces ugliness; fidelity engenders beauty. Caprice is smoke; promise is rock.
The young person has before him two paths: to keep worshiping the idol of the ephemeral and end up lost in nothingness, or to dare to say a definitive “yes” and discover therein the only true freedom.
For only the one who gives himself without fleeing lives; only the one who remains loves; and only the one who loves already participates, here and now, in eternity.
Oscar Méndez O.
- Father Reginald Marie Garrigou-Lagrange, OP.
When I was 13, we were so poor that I was ashamed to go to school. I avoided looking at my classmates because I never brought food. During recess, when I saw my classmates getting their lunches, I would turn away so no one could see or hear my stomach growling. They would take out their sandwiches, apples, cookies. And in my hands, there was nothing but air and a feeling of humiliation that made me want to be swallowed up by the earth. I always pretended I simply wasn't hungry, that I was too busy with a book or talking. But inside, I was very hard. Sometimes, it even hurt...
And all of that could have remained my childhood secret, if it weren't for a little girl. One day, she handed me a piece of her sandwich—and at that moment, I understood what true kindness is. On the first day, she simply came up to me and silently offered me half of her lunch. I didn't know what to say. I was embarrassed, but I accepted.
From that day on, she shared food with me every day. Sometimes it was a roll, sometimes an apple, sometimes a slice of cake her mother baked. I ate slowly, trying to prolong that miracle, and for the first time in a long time, I felt like someone cared. I don't remember if I thanked her out loud. I think I did. But inside, I thanked her every day.
And then we went on vacation, and after that, she wasn't in our class anymore. She just stopped going to school. The teacher said later that her family had moved to another city, and I never saw her again.
Then I felt so bad, as if something important had been taken away from me. Every time the lunch bell rang in class, I automatically turned around—just in case she came in, sat next to me, put half of her sandwich back in front of me, and smiled. But she wasn't there.
I felt sad and alone. I understood that she was the only one who noticed my problem, the only one who didn't look the other way. No one else offered me food, no one said, "Here, this is for you." And I had grown so accustomed to her small, yet meaningful gesture.
Sometimes I would close my eyes and see her face—kind, unassuming, with that smile that warms you from the inside. And I carried that feeling with me throughout my childhood. Even when the pain subsided a little, I remembered: a little girl had once given me not just bread, but the feeling that I wasn't invisible, that someone cared about me.
I thought that memory would remain only a shadow of my difficult past. But 25 years later, she returned to my life in a way that gave me goosebumps.
Yesterday, my youngest daughter came home from school. She placed her notebooks on the table, then took out her lunchbox, and as she closed it, she suddenly said, as if nothing had happened:
"Dad, can I have two sandwiches tomorrow?"
"Two?" — I was surprised. — You never finish even one.
She looked at me seriously, not at all childishly:
— It's so we can share again tomorrow. There's a boy in our class... he said he hadn't eaten anything today, and I gave him half of my sandwich.
I stood still. It seemed as if time stopped for a second. A shiver ran through me. I saw before me not only my daughter, but also that girl from my childhood. The one who once saved me from hunger. In her expression, I felt that same continuity—as if the kindness hadn't disappeared, but had continued on its path, through the years, through the generations.
And then I understood: I might never find that girl again. She might not even remember me. But her kindness didn't fade—it continued on its path. It lived on in me. And now—in my daughter.
I went out onto the balcony and stared at the sky for a long time. I felt like crying. Because inside, everything was there at once—the memories of a difficult childhood, gratitude, pain, and a kind of quiet joy. I remembered my school days, when I went to bed hungry and thought the world was unfair. And I understood that that little girl, with her simple gesture, changed my life. She taught me to believe that, even when you're going through a hard time, there will always be someone who will reach out.
I don't know where she is now. Maybe she has family, children. Maybe she doesn't even remember the boy she once offered half of her sandwich to. But I do remember. And I will remember him for as long as I live.
And I know for sure: as long as my daughter shares bread with another child, kindness will live on. In every little piece of bread, in every little gesture that warms another's heart. And just thinking about it makes my heart sink... and for the first time in many years, I want to cry.
The love with which we love God and neighbor summarizes in itself all the greatness and depth of the other divine precepts. This is what the only heavenly Teacher teaches us: you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your understanding; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 22:37-40). Therefore, if you lack the time to study page by page all the Scriptures, or to remove all the veils that cover their words and penetrate all the secrets of the Scriptures, practice charity, which encompasses everything. Thus you will possess what you have learned and what you have not been able to decipher. Indeed, if you have charity, you already know a principle that contains within itself what you perhaps do not understand. In the passages of Scripture open to your intelligence, charity is manifest, and in the hidden ones, charity is hidden. If you put this virtue into practice in your habits, you possess all the divine oracles, whether you understand them or not.
Therefore, brothers, pursue charity, the sweet and healthy bond of hearts; without it, the richest person is poor, and with it, the poor person is rich. It is charity that gives us patience in afflictions, moderation in prosperity, courage in adversity, joy in good works; it offers us a safe refuge in temptations, generously gives hospitality to the helpless, gladdens the heart when it finds true brothers, and lends patience to suffer traitors.
Charity offered pleasing sacrifices in the person of Abel; it gave Noah a safe refuge during the flood; it was Abraham's faithful companion on all his journeys; She inspired Moses with gentle sweetness in the midst of insults and David with great meekness in his tribulations. She softened the devouring flames of the three Hebrew youths in the furnace and gave courage to the Maccabees in the tortures of the fire.
Charity was chaste in Susanna's marriage, chaste with Hannah in her widowhood, and chaste with Mary in her virginity. It was the cause of holy liberty in Paul to correct and humility in Peter to obey; human in Christians to repent of their faults, divine in Christ to forgive them. But what praise can I give to charity, after the Lord Himself did so, teaching us through the mouth of His Apostle that it is the most excellent of all virtues? Showing us a path of sublime perfection, He says: Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not charity, I am as resounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have faith so great as to remove mountains, but have not charity, I am nothing. And though I distribute all my goods to the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not charity, it profits me nothing. Charity is patient, it is kind. Charity does not envy, it does not act rashly, it is not arrogant, it is not ambitious, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily provoked, it thinks no evil, it rejoices in evil, it rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, it believes all things, it hopes all things, it endures all things. Charity never fails (1 Corinthians 13:1-8).
Imagine, if you can, something stronger than charity, not to avenge injuries, but rather to heal them. Imagine something more faithful, not out of vanity, but for supernatural motives, looking toward eternal life. For all that one suffers in the present life is because one firmly believes in what is revealed of the life to come; if one tolerates evils, it is because one hopes for the good things that God promises in heaven; therefore, charity never ends.
Seek, then, charity, and meditating on it in holiness, strive to bear fruits of holiness. And whatever you find most excellent in it that I have not noticed, let it be manifest in your habits.
“Sermons”.
“Let every sinner remember that there is a very great difference between sinning out of habit (obstinacy) and sinning accidentally (out of weakness) and not out of habit; and let him know for certain that it is necessary for men to abandon habitual sins IN LIFE and not wait, in order to abandon them, for the hour of death...”
“For the salvation of my soul, it is so necessary for me to get out of the habit of sinning, because habitual sins are what lead men to Hell...”
Saint Francis Xavier
O Most Holy Virgin Mary, who at Fatima manifested yourself to the three shepherd children, and who in your maternal goodness revealed to them the greatness of your Immaculate Heart, to prevent souls from being damned.
I.........................., accepting your promise that your Immaculate Heart will be our sure refuge and the path that will lead us to God; I freely consecrate myself to your Immaculate Heart.
From this day forward, I want to be your child so that you may teach me to live the commandments of God, which are the path to holiness.
I consecrate my body and soul to you, so that in the future I may not stray from God.
Take me, Holy Virgin, from now on, so that you may make me an apostle of your Immaculate Heart.
Amen.
Me: God, can I ask You a question?
God: Sure
Me: Promise You won't get mad
God: I promise
Me: Why did You let so much stuff happen to me today?
God: What do u mean?
Me: Well, I woke up late
God: Yes
Me: My car took forever to start
God: Okay
Me: at lunch they made my sandwich wrong & I had to wait
God: Huummm
Me: On the way home, my phone went DEAD, just as I picked up a call
God: All right
Me: And on top of it all off, when I got home ~I just want to soak my feet in my new foot massage & relax. BUT it wouldn't work!!! Nothing went right today! Why did You do that?
God: Let me see, the death angel was at your bed this morning & I had to send one of My Angels to battle him for your life. I let you sleep through that
Me (humbled): OH
GOD: I didn't let your car start because there was a drunk driver on your route that would have hit you if you were on the road.
Me: (ashamed)
God: The first person who made your sandwich today was sick & I didn't want you to catch what they have, I knew you couldn't afford to miss work.
Me (embarrassed):Okay
God: Your phone went dead because the person that was calling was going to give false witness about what you said on that call, I didn't even let you talk to them so you would be covered.
Me (softly): I see God
God: Oh and that foot massage, it had a shortage that was going to throw out all of the power in your house tonight. I didn't think you wanted to be in the dark.
Me: I'm Sorry God
God: Don't be sorry, just learn to Trust Me.... in All things , the Good & the bad.
Me: I will trust You.
God: And don't doubt that My plan for your day is Always Better than your plan.
Me: I won't God. And let me just tell you God, Thank You for Everything today.
God: You're welcome child. It was just another day being your God and I Love looking after My Children...
"Just as in the natural order, every child must have a father and a mother, so, in the order of grace, every true child of the Church must have God as Father and Mary as Mother. And whoever boasts of having God as Father, but does not show Mary the tenderness and affection of a true child, will be nothing more than an impostor, whose father is the devil..."
Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort
"The Secret of Mary."
ON MANIFEST PRIDE AND FALSE HUMILITY
The second characteristic of the diabolical spirit is either manifest pride or false humility; but never the true humility that God gives. When the devil comes unmasked, being the father of pride, he can raise in our hearts no affections other than vainglory, puffery, and proud complacency; nor can he awaken in us any desires other than honors, glories, positions, preeminences, and dignities. Thus says Saint Gregory: “Nor does the devil teach the minds subject to him anything but to aspire to the summit of heights, to surpass all others in pride of mind, to surpass the society of all others in a different arrogance, and to rise up against the power of the Creator, since they have spoken iniquity from on high.”
But if it ever happens that the enemy intrudes into spiritual things to deceive some unwary person and then makes himself known for what he is, instilling a spirit of vanity and puffery with which he is filled with vain complacency, he will hold others in nothing and himself in great esteem. If with this he succeeds in instilling this perverse spirit in the heart, he then enters into its full possession and does with it what he pleases. This is what John Gerson teaches, and experience demonstrates every day: "Fictus Angelus," he says, "first seminat tumoris spiritum, i impelid ipsum, ut ambularem cupia in magnis, ut sit placens, i sapiens in semetipso in oculis suis: quo obtento, jam illudit i deludit, quemadmodum voluerit. The false angel," he says, "first sows the spirit of puffery, and drives it to pursue great things, to be pleasing and wise in his own eyes: when he obtains this, he now deceives and seduces as he pleases." It is true that the devil, appearing in this form, haughty and vain, is less dangerous; because it is easy to recognize him for what he is.
It is even more to be feared when it comes masked under the appearance of false humility; for if it is not recognized, then the traitor finds entrance. This happens when it brings to mind past sins and present imperfections, and makes us see the perdition in which we have lived, or the miserable state in which we still find ourselves; but it does all this with a malignant light that produces no other effect than to disturb the soul, to upset it, to fill it with afflictions, restlessness, bitterness, tribulations, pusillanimity and despondency, and sometimes with profound melancholy. Meanwhile, the unwary soul does not defend itself against these thoughts; because, finding its sins and faults before its eyes in a low opinion of itself, it believes it is full of humility, when in reality it is filled with an infernal poison.
Let us listen to Saint Teresa on this point: "True humility, although it makes the soul recognize itself as evil, and grieves to see what it is; But it does not come with commotion, nor does it disturb the heart, nor does it cloud the mind, nor does it cause dryness; rather, it consoles. Then she grieves for how much she has offended God, and on the other hand, she enlarges her breast to hope for His mercy: she has light to confound herself, and to praise God, Who has suffered so much with her. But in the other humility that the devil introduces, there is no light for any good; it seems that God plunges everything into fire and blood; it is an invention of the devil, one of the most painful, subtle, and hidden that I have known of him. (Saint Teresa of Jesus “LIFE”).
The editor is therefore convinced that there are two humilities: a holy one given by God; the other perverse, moved by the devil. The first is full of supernatural light, with which the soul clearly understands its faults and miseries: it is interiorly confused and annihilated, but with tranquility; and it feels sorrow, but sweet, and never loses hope in God. This is a balm from paradise. The second humility is full of an infernal light, which makes one see sins, but with a certain painful torment, with disturbance, with restlessness, with faintness, and with distrust in the goodness of God. This is a poison from hell, which, if it does not kill the soul, at least makes it weak, sick, and incapable of any good. And here, for greater clarity of this important doctrine, let the reader carefully note that between divine and diabolical humility there is this difference: the former is linked to generosity, and the latter to pusillanimity. The first, it is true, humiliates, and perhaps annihilates the soul at the sight of its nothingness and its sins; but at the same time, it uplifts it with confidence in God, comforts and strengthens it; moreover, it is peaceful, serene, quiet, and gentle. Thus, the soul not only awaits the forgiveness of its faults, but also gains courage to repair its past and present failures with penance and good works; and from its very nothingness, it gains greater confidence to do great things in the service of God. The second, on the contrary, with a turbid and restless confusion, with a fear full of anguish and distress, deprives the soul of all hope, makes it vile and lazy, fills it with distrust, collapse, pusillanimity, and faintness; in short, it takes away all spiritual strength so that it cannot move, or at most moves with weakness and languor, to holy and virtuous works. If the director should happen to find this perverse humility in any of his penitents (as will certainly happen, and not infrequently, especially in women who are naturally timid and faint-hearted), he must open their eyes and make them understand the diabolical spirit that dominates them, and bring them back to the true path with the means I will propose later.
The last dogma of faith solemnly proclaimed by the Catholic Church is the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, body and soul, into heavenly glory. To establish this definition, the Magisterium took into account the consensus of the faithful, verifiable in the most diverse times and places; the abundance of temples and images that early honored this mystery; the dioceses and cities that bear it as their patronal name; the liturgical feast celebrated, since ancient times, in both the East and the West; the constant and uniform teaching of the Holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church; and the doctrine of proven theologians.
Sacred Scripture, although silent about Mary's death and resurrection, shows the Mother of the Lord always united to the person and destiny of her divine Son. Already victorious over the empire of sin through her Immaculate Conception (a privilege that the Son won for her through the blood of his cross), the faith of the Church did not hesitate to extend this solidarity of destinies between the two, affirming that she too, like Jesus, overcame the power of death and the corruption of the tomb.
By virtue of this fact, not only does Mary's soul now enjoy the full vision of God: her body, formerly the abode of divinity, after a momentary slumber, has been clothed in the properties of the glorious body of the risen Christ. It is Mary's entire person, soul and body, spirit and heart, who has made her triumphant entry into heaven, anticipating what the common elect await to enjoy on the Final Day.
Popular devotion often refers to this feast as the "Transition." It is, indeed, a passage, a Passover, a victorious progress. The mere enunciation of the mystery reminds us that life never stops: its immanent law is to grow, to bear fruit, to perfect itself. The other name, "Assumption," brings two powerful ideas: our journey is upward, with no other limit or destination than heaven; and our ascension is possible because One, stronger than ourselves, draws us upward.
The Virgin Assumed body and soul into heaven thus becomes an Icon of the Church, which journeys in hope and unwavering nostalgia toward joyful reunification with her Spouse. Gazing at her, invoking her, celebrating her means passing victoriously from anguish to hope, from solitude to communion, from confusion to peace, from boredom and nausea to joy and beauty, from temporal perspectives to eternal certainties and possessions: from death to life.
A first level on which this paschal transition should be realized is that of our conversations. In the family, in education, and in social communications, opportunities for elevating the soul toward those themes and values that, like it, neither want nor can die must be opened and strengthened. Man is much more than a concatenation of miseries, servitudes, and frivolities of daily life. He hungers for God, thirsts for the Infinite. He is a seeker of the Ultimate Meaning. Teachers, preachers, and communicators who succeed in opening these spaces and enabling such opportunities for elevating the soul provide an invaluable service and honor the dignity of the human being.
A second level of elevation is found in the realm of our aspirations. We tend to settle for what is, rather than risk what is to come and will be better. Celebrating the Assumption, not only on August 15th but in every fourth glorious mystery of the Rosary, signifies a continued commitment to excellence and spiritual aristocracy. It is a leveling up, a becoming accustomed to persevering on the upward path. It is the law of inertia of love, which, once initiated, always desires more.
And a third level of elevation is that of our depressions. Devotees of the Assumption rejoice in knowing they are gifted and called to inject a vital tone of joy and optimism into our lives. Contemplating Mary, they see themselves singing the Magnificat, which announces God's victories. They rest and delight in the certainty that there is a Mother in heaven who calls them by name and covers them with her mantle.
Father Raúl Hasbún
"If the poor world could see the beauty of the sinless soul, all sinners, all unbelievers, would be instantly converted."
Father Pius of Pietrelcina
One month after conception, a human being is one-sixth of an inch long. The tiny heart has already begun beating for a week, and the arms, legs, head, and brain have already begun to take shape. At two months, the child already fits in a nutshell: curled up, the person measures little more than an inch. Inside your closed fist, the person would be invisible, and you could squash them without intending to, or even realizing it. But if you open your hand, the person is practically complete, with hands, feet, head, internal organs, brain, all in place. All they need is to grow. Looking even more closely with a standard microscope, you may be able to see their fingerprints. Everything needed to establish their identity is already in place.
-Jerome Lejeune, Modern Geneticist
I. HELL, EUPHEMISMS, AND THE PROFANE LITURGY OF THE SELF
Abortion is a crime. There is no possible mitigating factor, no context that dignifies it, no rhetoric that softens it. It is, in itself, an act of absolute injustice: the deliberate destruction of the most innocent, the most defenseless, the most irreplaceable. Its malice needs no adjectives to be monstrous. The fact is enough.
But as if death were not enough, modern culture has added mockery. Today, children are killed not only in the shadows, but under the spotlight; not with tears, but with applause; not in secret, but as a spectacle. What was once hidden as a sin is today celebrated as a right. And this is not just an added aberration: it is a consecration of crime, a profane liturgy of the self, a godless religion whose dogma is absolute autonomy and whose altar is the desecrated womb.
Every time an innocent person is sacrificed in the name of "reproductive freedom," a systematic denial of the natural order, a subversion of law, and a blasphemy against divine law are perpetrated. What they call "voluntary termination of pregnancy" is not merely the extirpation of a child: it is the solemn affirmation that the self has become god, that good and evil can be defined by decree, that killing can be an act of justice.
II. THE INVERSION OF LANGUAGE: FROM CRIME TO LAW
The spiritual war of our time is waged in the realm of language. It is not enough to commit evil: it must be rebranded. Thus, abortion becomes not only a “right,” but a “conquest,” an “act of love,” a “form of social justice.” Every word has been carefully twisted so that hell is spoken in tones of sweetness.
But the Angelic Doctor teaches that veritas est adaequatio rei et intellectus—truth is the conformity between the thing and the intellect. When language is dissociated from reality, it is also dissociated from truth. Calling murder “intervention” does not make it any less homicide; proclaiming it “progress” does not make it any less sinful. This is the language of the father of lies, who promised freedom in Paradise and delivered death.
III. LEGALITY AS A MASK OF INJUSTICE: THE STATE AS PRIEST OF THE NEW RELIGION
Human law, when it deviates from eternal and natural law, ceases to be law and becomes a corruption of it. The modern State, once instituted to safeguard justice, has embraced legal apostasy: it not only tolerates abortion, it promotes it; it not only permits it, it finances it; it not only decriminalizes it, it turns it into a symbol of civilization.
Thus, the legal apparatus becomes an instrument of death. And, as the traditional Magisterium taught, lex iniusta non est lex—an unjust law does not oblige, but oppresses. The legal order that protects death and persecutes life has reversed its purpose: it no longer protects the innocent, but rather the executioner.
IV. THE WOMAN'S BODY AS AN IDEOLOGICAL BATTLEFIELD
Modern feminism has replaced the dogma of love with the dogma of revenge. The maternal womb, which was supposed to be a sanctuary, has become a trench; motherhood, which was supposed to be a gift, has become slavery; life, which was supposed to be welcomed, has become the enemy. The female body has been recruited as a battlefield by an ideology that does not seek to elevate women, but to strip them of their essence.
Women are not liberated when they reject life; they are disfigured. The devil does not hate women's freedom: he hates their capacity to give life. Therefore, abortion is not only an act against the child: it is a rebellion against motherhood itself. It is the Luciferian cry: non serviam.
V. THE VOICELESS VICTIM: THE UNBORN AND THE OMISSION OF THE JUST
The unborn child is the most perfect icon of the innocent Christ: it has no power, no voice, no defense. And yet, its death is celebrated as if it were a victory. Modern culture not only condones crime: it proclaims it as a virtue.
And where are the just? Where are the parents, the teachers, the legislators, the doctors, the clergy? Where are those who should have raised their voices in defense of the least of these? They remain silent. Because speaking out would cost them prestige, security, or comfort. Yet history, in its ebb and flow, sometimes shows glimpses of heroism: amidst moral decay, there are still those who, with a simple guideline or "blank" of intentions, dare to defend the life of the unborn, bearing witness that political prudence, when upright, can be a bulwark against tyranny.
But silence in the face of injustice is complicity with evil. It is better to die with the Truth than to live with a lie.
VI. NATURE'S REVENGE: SPIRITUAL SCARS
Abortion does not end when the child's heartbeat ceases. The mother's soul—created to love, not to destroy—is scarred. Although ideology claims to have "made a free choice," nature cries out. Empty wombs cry. Cribs never purchased cry out. Nightmares do not cease. Guilt is not erased with pills.
Not only is a body destroyed: a spirit is wounded. Not only is a life extinguished: a conscience is fractured. Not only is the child suppressed: motherhood is obscured.
VII. THE CATHOLIC RESPONSE: LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS
Political arguments are not enough. Medical statistics are not enough. Awareness campaigns are not enough. Against this vital heresy, there is only one sufficient response: the full Gospel, natural law proclaimed clearly, Catholic doctrine lived faithfully.
It is necessary for the eternal truth to shine again: that life is sacred, that a child is not an enemy, that motherhood is a gift, that crime can never be a right. The answer will not come from enlightened elites or international NGOs: it will come from humble souls who have kept the faith, from courageous lay people, from faithful confessors, from the apostles of the Sacred Heart, who still dare to call sin sin and grace grace.
EPILOGUE: JUDGMENT DAY AND THE SENTENCE THAT MATTERS
The day will come when the innocent will look down on us from eternity. They will not ask what laws were passed, what marches we organized, what editorials we signed. They will ask something simpler and more terrible: "Where were you when they were killing us?"
And if our silence was complicit, if our lukewarmness was a disguise for prudence, if our inaction was more convenient than our fidelity... then we will be unable to respond.
History will judge abortion as it judges slavery today. But beyond history, the Just Judge will call for an account. And then, only those who have defended life with words, prayer, and sacrifice will be found worthy.
Oscar Méndez O.
Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori warns:
“A certain author indicated that hell is populated more by mercy than by divine justice; and so it is, because, recklessly counting on mercy, they continue to sin and are damned. God is merciful. But who denies it? And yet, how many does mercy send to hell today! God is merciful, but also just, and that is why he is obliged to punish those who offend him. He uses mercy on sinners, but only on those who, after offending him, regret it and fear offending him again: His mercy for generations to come is toward those who fear him (Luke 1:50), the Mother of God sang. He uses justice on those who abuse his mercy to despise him. The Lord forgives sins, but he cannot forgive the will to sin.” Augustine said that whoever sins with the hope of repenting after sinning is not a penitent, but rather mocks God (“Irrisor est, non poenitens”). The Apostle warns us that one does not mock God in vain: “No one mocks God” (Galatians 6:7). It would be mocking God to offend Him however and however much one wants and then go to heaven.”
(Sermon 32, The Sinner's Illusions).
The poverty the gospel praises is not so much the actual lack of goods as the absence of attachment to riches. I can live miserably, lacking almost everything, and be strongly attached to the little I have, wanting more and more. On the contrary, I can live by making good use of the things that are, yes, within my reach and that, however, do not stick to my heart.
In addition to this evangelical conception of poverty it is necessary to consider also the way in which the virtue of justice should preside over our relationship with goods. The most delicate care must reign, lest we fall into the temptation of arbitrarily seizing the stranger.
The seventh commandment ("thou shalt not steal") commands us to respect another man's property, to pay the fair wages, and to observe justice in all that concerns the property of others. To him who has sinned against the seventh commandment confession is not enough, but he must do what he can to restore the stranger and repair the damages.
The tenth commandment (“You shall not covet the goods of others”), forbids us the desire to take away others’ goods and the acquisition of wealth by unjust means. God forbids disorderly desires for other people's goods because He wants us to be still inwardly righteous; that we always keep very far away from wrongful actions and that we are happy with the state in which we find ourselves.
And we do not believe that all this is of little importance for our salvation. St. Peter of Alcantara wrote, "What will you answer on that day, when you are called to account for all the time of your life and all the points and moments of it?" (Treatise on Prayer and Meditation, 23).
*
We invoke St. Mary, our Advocate and Refuge of sinners: Pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death. May He teach us to make use of the goods of this world so that they are means and never obstacles on our way to Heaven.
Marcial Flavius - presbyter
"My kingdom is not of this world.
Juan Fernando Segovia, The Dogma of the Reality of Christ. Quas primas, of Pius XI.
THAT SEMINARIANS BE TRAINED ACCORDING TO THE INTEGRITY OF CATHOLIC TRADITION, WE PRAY YOU, LORD.
Lord, to safeguard your honor and glory, give us holy priests.
Lord, to increase our faith, give us holy priests.
Lord, to sustain your Church, give us holy priests.
Lord, to preach your doctrine, give us...
Lord, to defend your cause, give us...
Lord, to counteract error, give us...
Lord, to annihilate sects, to uphold the truth, give us...
Lord, to direct our souls, give us...
Lord, to improve morals, give us...
Lord, to banish vices, give us...
Lord, to enlighten the world, give us...
Lord, to teach the riches of your Heart, give us...
Lord, to make us love the Holy Spirit, give us...
Lord, that all your ministers may be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, give us...
Prayer. — Heart of Jesus, holy Priest, we ask you with the greatest earnestness of soul that you increase day by day the number of aspirants to the priesthood and that you form them according to the designs of your loving Heart. Only in this way will we obtain Holy Priests, and soon there will be only one flock and one Shepherd in the world. So be it. Amen.
(Indulgence of 7 years and one plenary session per month, with the ordinary conditions.)
O Immaculate Virgin, Mother of the true God and Mother of the Church! You, who from this place manifest your clemency and compassion to all who seek your protection: hear the prayer we address to you with filial trust, and present it to your Son Jesus, our only Redeemer.
Mother of mercy, Teacher of hidden and silent sacrifice, to you, who come to meet us sinners, we consecrate on this day our whole being, all our love. We also consecrate to you our lives, our labors, our joys, our illnesses, and our sorrows.
Grant peace, justice, and prosperity to our people, for all that we have and are, we place under your care, our Lady and Mother.
We wish to be totally yours and walk with you the path of complete fidelity to Jesus Christ in his Church: do not let us go from your loving hand.
Virgin of Guadalupe, Mother of the Americas, we pray for all the Bishops, that they may lead the faithful along paths of intense Christian life, of love and humble service to God and souls.
Contemplate this immense harvest, and intercede that the Lord may inspire a hunger for holiness in all the faithful and pastors, and grant abundant vocations to priests and religious, strong in faith and zealous dispensers of the mysteries of God.
Grant our homes the grace to love and respect the life that is beginning, with the same love with which you conceived in your womb the life of the Son of God. Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of Beautiful Love, protect our families so that they may always be closely united, and bless the education of our children.
Our Hope, look upon us with compassion, teach us to continually go to Jesus, and if we fall, help us to rise again, to return to him, through the confession of our faults and sins in the sacrament of Penance, which brings peace to the soul. We beseech you to grant us a great love for all the holy sacraments, which are like the footprints your Son left for us on earth.
Thus, Most Holy Mother, with the peace of God in our consciences, with our hearts free from evil and hatred, we may bring to all the true joy and true peace that come from your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.
What does the devotion of the three Hail Marys consist of?
It involves praying the Hail Mary three times to the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God and our Lady, either to honor her or to obtain some favor through her mediation.
What is the purpose of this devotion?
What is the way to pray the three Hail Marys?
"Mary, my Mother, deliver me from falling into mortal sin.
1. By the power the Eternal Father has given you
Hail, Mary; full of grace; the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
2. By the wisdom the Son has given you.
Hail, Mary; full of grace; the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
3. By the love the Holy Spirit has given you
Hail, Mary; full of grace; the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen!
What is the origin of the devotion of the three Hail Marys?
Saint Matilda, a Benedictine nun, begged the Blessed Virgin to assist her at the hour of death. The Virgin Mary told her the following: "Yes, I will; but I want you to pray three Hail Marys daily for me. The first, asking that just as God the Father raised me to a throne of unparalleled glory, making me the most powerful in heaven and on earth, so also I may assist you on earth to strengthen you and remove from you all hostile power. For the second Hail Mary, you will ask me that just as the Son of God filled me with wisdom, to such an extent that I have more knowledge of the Holy Trinity than all the Saints, so I may assist you in the trance of death to fill your soul with the lights of faith and true wisdom, so that it is not darkened by the darkness of error and ignorance. For the third, you will ask that just as the Holy Spirit has filled me with the sweetness of his love, and has made me so lovable that after God I am the sweetest and most merciful, so I may assist you in death by filling your soul with such Gentleness of divine love, may all the pain and bitterness of death be changed for you into delights."
And this promise was extended to the benefit of all who put into practice this daily prayer of the three Hail Marys.
What are Our Lady's promises to those who prayed the three Hail Marys daily?
Our Lady promised Saint Matilda and other pious souls that whoever prayed three Hail Marys daily would have her help during life and her special assistance at the hour of death, appearing at that final hour with the radiance of such beauty that just seeing her would console them and transmit to them the joys of Heaven.
Mary renews her promise of protection:
When Sister Maria Villani, a Dominican nun (16th century), was praying the three Hail Marys one day, she heard these encouraging words from the Virgin Mary's lips:
"Not only will you obtain the graces you ask of me, but in life and in death I promise to be your special protector and that of all those like you who practice this devotion."
The Blessed Virgin also said: "The devotion of the three Hail Marys has always been very dear to me... Do not cease to pray them and to have them prayed as much as you can. Every day you will have proof of their effectiveness..."
It was the Blessed Virgin herself who told Saint Gertrude that "whoever venerates her in her relationship with the Most Holy Trinity will experience the power communicated to her by the Omnipotence of the Father as the Mother of God; she will admire the ingenious means inspired by the wisdom of the Son for the salvation of men, and she will contemplate the ardent charity kindled in her heart by the Holy Spirit."
Referring to all those who invoked her daily, commemorating the power, wisdom, and love bestowed upon them by the August Trinity, Mary told Saint Gertrude that, "At the hour of his death, I will reveal myself to him with the radiance of such great beauty that my sight will console him and communicate to him the joys of heaven."
What is the basis of this devotion?
The Catholic affirmation that the Blessed Virgin possessed, to the highest degree possible for a creature, the attributes of power, wisdom, and mercy.
This is what the Church teaches when it invokes Mary as the Powerful Virgin, Mother of Mercy, and Seat of Wisdom.
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