Iter para tutum – Through life our safety be!
In the darksome and convulsed world of the present hour, Our Lady reveals herself more and more as the only source of light, the only hope of peace, the safest path of salvation. Since the time of the Middle Ages there was at Rome a little church dedicated to “Our Lady of the Road (Santa Maria Della Strada)”. St. Ignatius of Loyola frequently celebrated Mass there, and the shrine became the first church of the Society of Jesus. For them, as for all, the safest road to Jesus is Mary, especially the visibility is low.
Dear Indian Faithful,
The Church is today on the height of Calvary. The latest Motu proprio – ‘Traditionis Custodes’ is a big blow for the traditional Latin Mass. While it does not affect the Society of St. Pius X directly, it does not mean we are not affected at all. How can a son not be devastated when his beloved mother is under attack? If it hurts the holy Mother Church, then it pains us as well. And those who love the Mother the most will feel the most.
We are Catholic. And what is our response? We could easily shrug off our responsibility and say – what can I do to stop such a world-wide destruction? God does not ask the impossible and it is beyond my strength to end the crisis in the Church and the present persecution in our country. Yes, it is true, that God does not ask us to do what is impossible but God does ask us to do what is possible! Are we doing what we can do or rather what we are supposed to do? It is rather within our strength to go to Blessed Virgin Mary who is the Virgo potens. It is in this spirit I invite you all to join the Consecration prayer promulgated by Rev. Fr. John Fullerton, the US District Superior. He asks us to use the period from the Vigil of the Assumption (August 14) to the Feast of the Immaculate Heart (August 22) to join in praying a special novena asking the Blessed Virgin Mary for the following intentions:
- to protect the work of the Society of Saint Pius X and the re-flowering of Catholic Tradition throughout the world;
- to grant consolation to all of those wounded by the recent motu proprio, wherever they may be;
- to keep all her children safe in an increasingly chaotic and sinister world.
Let us respond to this clarion call for ‘Catholic Action’ for we are not only called to pray fervently, but also to act accordingly. It is not enough to admire and venerate the glorious Virgin, the Mother of God and our Mother; the devotion to Mary must become a moral leaven in our nation. Not only we are in need of her help, but above all our nation is in desperate need of it. A mother is delighted to discover her likeness in the features of her children. If our filial devotion is sincere and genuine, not mere formalism or superficial sentiment, it must impel us to imitate our Mother’s wonderful virtues, her purity and horror for even the slightest sin, her own Christlikeness and union with Christ: She seems to say to us, “Do whatever He tells you” (Jn. 25) He alone is “the way, the truth and the life” (Jn. 146): and the root of the evils which afflict mankind is found chiefly in that “so many have forsaken that fountain of living water, and have dug cisterns of their own, leaking cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer. 213)– if we can apply the wise word of Pope Pius XII.
This consecration is indeed needed and I would insist, sorely needed in our country when our faith is openly attacked by powerful enemies and even more, when blatant heresies are vaunted as the ‘new articles of faith’ in the Conciliar Church. When God is removed from human horizon, truth loses its force; men deprived of the hope of a future life, grasp the more greedily at the goods of this world and use any means to take them. Hence, there arise all sorts of immoral malpractices – not only in the medical field but even in the ecclesiastical circle. This is what we see all around us – the deterioration of all order and morality.
Let us then turn towards Our Lady, Consolatrix afflictorum at this dark hour in the history of our nation that we may attain true independence through her Immaculate Heart.
I wish you all a very glorious feast of Assumption, our National Patronal feast!
With my priestly blessings,
Fr. Therasian Babu +
Consecration to the Immaculate Heart
O Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of the Heart of Jesus, Mother and Queen of our household, in order to fulfill Thy ardent desire, we consecrate ourselves to Thee, and we beseech Thee to reign over our family. Reign over each one of us, and teach us how to make the Sacred Heart of Thy Divine Son reign and triumph in us and around us, as He has reigned and triumphed in Thee.
Reign over us, O Beloved Mother, so that we may be Thine both in prosperity and in adversity, in joy and in sorrow, in health and in sickness, in life and in death. O most compassionate Heart of Mary, Queen of Virgins, watch over our souls and our hearts and preserve them from the flood of pride, impurity, and paganism of which Thou hast complained so bitterly. We desire to do reparation for the numerous crimes committed against Jesus and Thee. We call down upon our home, upon the homes of this country and upon those of the entire world, the peace of Christ in justice and charity.
Wherefore we promise to imitate Thy virtues, by the practice of a Christian life, and by frequent and fervent Holy Communion, regardless of human respect. We come with confidence to Thee, O Throne of Grace and Mother of Fair Love; inflame us with the same divine fire that has inflamed Thine own Immaculate Heart. Kindle in our hearts and homes, the love of purity, an ardent zeal for souls, and desire for the holiness of family life. We accept now, all the sacrifices that the Christian life will impose on us and we offer them to the Heart of Jesus, through Thy Immaculate Heart, in a spirit of reparation and of penance. To the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary be love, honor, and glory forever and ever. Amen.
