BLESSED ARE YOU IF YOU ARE PERSECUTED FOR CHRIST

“How many generous Christians have been stripped in times of persecution of their military ranks, their civil offices, their possessions, torn from their families, thrown into exile, or handed over to the executioners? But they, far from complaining, went joyfully, following the example of the apostles, because they had been deemed worthy to suffer insults for Christ. Whatever the pretext for the persecutions you suffer, particularly if the reason for them is your faith, accept it all without hesitation, as coming from the paternal and wise hand of your heavenly Father.”

Fr. Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure, S.J. (1656). 

THE CRISTERO MOVEMENT WAS NOT IN VAIN: HIS HOLINESS PIUS XII

RADIO MESSAGE FROM HIS HOLINESS PIUS XII TO THE MEXICAN FAITHFUL ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CANONICAL CORONATION OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE

Friday, October 12, 1945

Venerable Brothers and beloved children, gathered around Our Most Worthy Cardinal Legate, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the canonical coronation of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

More than three centuries had passed since the day the sweet Mother of Tepeyac began to receive the homage of the Catholics of Mexico and all of America, on the throne she herself had chosen; you held her in the center of your hearts and for this reason you had repeatedly proclaimed her your Lady and Patroness;  You had first dedicated a hermitage to her, then a chapel, then a temple, and finally a magnificent Basilica; Mexican voices acclaimed her continually, and the cry never ceased: Noble Indian woman, Mother of God; Noble Indian woman, our Mother. But your piety was still not satisfied; you wanted to see her crowned, as befitted a sovereign. She was your Queen, and the Queen had to be crowned!

And finally, your wish was fulfilled. Fifty years ago today—the chronicles recall—the newly restored Basilica was a blazing hot; tens of thousands of pilgrims thronged its spacious naves and spilled out into the surrounding area; almost forty bishops bowed reverently in the sanctuary; the cheers, hymns, and prayers reached heaven.  And when the golden crown shone upon that angelic brow, the cry, barely contained until then, finally burst forth from every heart and every mouth: “Long live the Virgin of Guadalupe, Empress of America and Queen of Mexico!” The spectacle was so beautiful, it seemed like a sweet dream. In reality, it was nothing more than the conscious and serene triumph of your love and your faith.

A most fitting tribute. For who could ignore what that nation owed to that Lady? Who could fail to remember the crucial role She had played in their vocation to the true Church, in their preservation within the practice and purity of a faith that had been like the crucible in which their young and powerful nation had been forged?

The Blessed Virgin was the providential instrument, chosen by the designs of the Heavenly Father, to give and present His precious Son to the world; to be Mother and Queen of the Apostles, who were to spread His doctrine everywhere;  to always crush heresies, and even to intervene miraculously at all times, wherever necessary for the establishment, consolidation, and defense of the holy Catholic faith. “Through Her,” says a great devotee of Mary, “the Holy Cross is celebrated and adored throughout the universe…; through Her every creature, imprisoned in the errors of idolatry, is led to the knowledge of the truth;… through Her the Apostles preached salvation to the nations” [1].

And so it happened, when God’s appointed time struck for the vast regions of Anáhuac. They had barely opened themselves to the world when, on the shores of Lake Texcoco, the miracle blossomed. On the tilma of poor Juan Diego—as tradition relates—brushes not of this world painted a most sweet image, which the corrosive work of the centuries would miraculously preserve.  The kind young maiden asked for a seat from which to "show and give all her love and compassion, help and defense... to all the inhabitants of that land and to all others who invoked her and trusted in her." From that historic moment, total evangelization was accomplished. And, what is more, a banner was raised, a fortress erected, against which the fury of all storms would break; one of the fundamental pillars of faith in Mexico and throughout the Americas was firmly established. As if the Cross, which, on this very day, across the turbulent waves, the fragile Spanish caravels had carried to the new continent, had been entrusted to the frail hands of that young woman, so that she might carry it triumphantly throughout those lands, plant it everywhere, and then retire to her rocky castle, overlooking ancient Tenochtitlán, to reign from there over the entire new world and watch over its faith;  "For, to use the felicitous expressions of one of your poets, she knows that such a daughter—proclaiming her Queen—faithfully preserves the deposit of faith that saves the world."

Today, beloved American congressmen, Our thoughts, with flight swifter and more certain than the waves that carry Our voice to you, place Us in your midst; and once again Our spirit is comforted by admiring your countless numbers, your boundless enthusiasm: by seeing that at this moment more than fifty Archbishops and Bishops represent there, in your midst, the faith of all the peoples of America; by receiving, in the person of Our Legate, the magnificent testimonies of your filial devotion, which are already known to Us. And by verifying that the center of all these fervors continues to be your Exalted Patroness, by seeing, almost with Our own eyes, that you continue to acclaim the Virgin of Guadalupe as your Mother and your Queen, We raise Our eyes to Heaven and give thanks to the Author of all good, because in this love and in this fidelity we wish to see the guarantee of the preservation of your faith.

For her sake, Mexican Catholics, your brothers and your parents were victims of persecution, and to defend her they faced death without hesitation, with the double cry of “Long live Christ the King! Long live the Virgin of Guadalupe!” Today, the conditions of the Church and of Religion in your homeland have improved remarkably, demonstrating that that invocation and that steadfastness were not in vain. But it is up to you, to you and to all American Catholics, to remain firm in your position, aware of your rights, with your heads always held high before the enemies of today and always: those who do not want Mary because they do not want Jesus, those who would like to sideline or ignore Jesus, thus robbing Mary of the most precious of her titles. Faced with their rebellion, your fidelity. May the dark-skinned Virgin of Tepeyac, the Empress of America and Queen of Mexico, not have to weep for desertions. May she, as she was yesterday, also be proud of her children tomorrow.

Your Congress, gathering thousands of signatures, has acclaimed her as "Sedes sapientiae," the throne of wisdom. Do not forget, Catholics of Mexico and all of America: true wisdom is that which she gave us, that which she teaches us in the name of Incarnate Wisdom. "Hail, most abundant fountain from which flow the streams of divine wisdom, repelling with the purest and clearest waters of orthodoxy the turbulent waves of error![2] Hail, O Virgin of Guadalupe! We, to whom the admirable disposition of Divine Providence entrusted, without regard for Our unworthiness, the sacred treasure of divine wisdom on earth, for the salvation of all souls, today place anew upon your brow the crown, which forever places under your powerful patronage the purity and integrity of the holy faith in Mexico and throughout the American continent."  Because we are certain that as long as You are recognized as Queen and as Mother, America and Mexico have been saved.

Let the Apostolic Blessing, which we wholeheartedly give you, be a pledge of these Our desires at this present time.

* AAS 37 (1945) 264-267

[1] St. Cyril Alexis, Hom. 4 ex diversis: MIGNE, PG, 77, 991.

[2] St. Germain Const., Sermon 1 in SS Deip. Praesent., n. 14: MIGNE, PG, 48, 305-306.

THE MEXICAN TEENAGER WHO GAVE HIS LIFE FOR CHRIST ON FEBRUARY 10, 1928

José Luis Sánchez del Río (1913–1928) was a young Mexican teenager and martyr of the Cristero War, a religious conflict that occurred during the persecution of Catholics by the Mexican government between 1926 and 1929.

He was born on March 28, 1913, in Sahuayo, Michoacán, into a Catholic family. From a young age, he showed a deep faith and admiration for those who defended religious freedom during the persecution of the Church in the country.

At the age of 13, he asked to join the Cristero forces, not as a combatant, but as an assistant, caring for horses and helping with basic tasks. He was captured by government troops in 1928 after a confrontation.

During his captivity, he was pressured to renounce his faith.  According to surviving accounts, he repeatedly refused. Finally, after being cruelly tortured, he was executed on February 10, 1928, in his hometown of Sahuayo. Tradition recounts that his last words were: “Long live Christ the King!”

Decades later, his story began to spread widely. He was canonized on October 16, 2016.

Today he is considered a symbol of religious fidelity and youthful courage, especially in Mexico, and his feast day is celebrated on February 10.

AD DEUM QUI LAETIFICAT JUVENTUTEM MEAM

"To love God is to be passionate for Him, to live for Him, is to grieve for the offenses committed against Him.

"For a young man, loving God must mean enthusiasm without measure, the burning passion of a saint, dreams of heroism, and the bravery of legends.”

Anacleto Gonzalez Flores

LONG LIVE CHRIST THE KING!

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The Smoke of Satan by Anacleto González Flores (Mexican martyr)

"Many Catholics are unaware of the seriousness and especially of the causes of the disaster, they ignore how the three great enemies, Protestantism, Freemasonry and Revolution, work tirelessly and with an alarming and well-organized program of action.

These three enemies are defeating Catholicism on all fronts, at all hours and in all possible ways. They fight in the streets, in the squares, in the press, in the workshops, in the factories, in the homes. In the case of a generalized battle, they have their sword drawn and their battalions deployed everywhere. This is a fact. Christ does not reign in the streets, in the schools, in the Parliaments, in books, in universities, in the public and social life of the countries. Who reigns there is the devil. In all those environments you can see the smoke of Satan.

And what do we do? We content ourselves with praying, going to church, practicing some works of mercy, as if that were enough "to counteract all the vast conjuration of God's enemies." We have left them everything else, the streets, the press, the teaching at various levels of education. In none of these places have they encountered serious opposition. And if sometimes we have acted, we have done it so poorly, so weakly, that it can be said that we have not fought at all. We have sung in churches but we have not announced God in schools, in squares, in Parliaments, and so, we have cornered Christ out of fear.

Reducing Catholicism to a secret prayer, to a grievous complaint, to trembling and fright before public authorities when they kill the national soul and destroy everything before everyone’s eyes, is not only cowardice and excusable disorientation, but also a religious, public and social historical crime, which deserves all execrations.

...Souls suffer from spiritual anemia. We have become beggars, renouncing ownership of our destinies. We have been evicted from everywhere, and we have abandoned everything.

So far, almost all Catholics have done nothing but ask God to do, to work, to accomplish, to do something or everything for the fate of the Church in our countries. And that's why we have only prayed, waiting for God to work. And all this under the mask of an alleged "prudence." We need the imprudence of Christian boldness.

Moreover, there are many Catholics who dare to call imprudent those who know how to assert their rights before their persecutors. It is necessary that this situation of isolation, estrangement, national dispersion, ends once and for all, and that as soon as possible we think in a serious way that we are all Catholics of our country, not a lot of particles without union, but an immense body that has one program, one head, one thought, one organizing flag to face all persecutors."

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Prayer by Father Pro to the Virgin Mary Shortly Before His Martyrdom

Let me spend my life by your side, Holy Mother, accompanied by your bitter loneliness and your deep pain!... Let me feel in my soul the sad cry of your eyes and the distress of your heart!

I want in my life the mockery of Calvary; I want the slow agony of your son, the contempt, the ignominy, the infamy of his Cross. I want to be by your side, Most Sorrowful Mother, strengthening my spirit with your tears, consummating my sacrifice with your martyrdom, supporting my heart with your loneliness, loving my God and your God with the immolation of my being.

This Life is a Combat Against Evil and Sin