Another Circus Comes to Town, part one

The title of this commentary refers in instance, part one of a two-part commentary, to the circus that is taking place in one of the most lawless cities in the United States of America, Chicago, Illinois, and will feature various and sundry performers who belong to the organized crime family of the false opposite of the naturalist left.

Excepting the Judeo-Masonic invocation that Blase Cupich, the conciliar “archbishop” of Chicago, which will be the subject of my next commentary, I will not comment on any of the predictable speeches and spectacles that will be taking place during the four-day circus in Chicago, Illinois, as I will not be following any of it live or any video replay, a word of two is in order concerning the corruption of the outgoing President in Name Only, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., who was feted last evening, Monday, August 19, 2024, the Feast of Saint John Eudes, by many of the same people who forced him out as the 2024 Democratic Party nominee after the very same people had orchestrated a primary schedule and shielded him from any primary debates that made it next to impossible for any challenger to collect enough delegates to secure the nomination for himself. They knew Biden was in serious mental decline and thought that they could protect him from being exposed during the primary process only for his handlers to make the mistake of exposing him in a debate against former President Donald John Trump on Thursday, June 27, 2024, the Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Oh well, the farce of American electoral politics is nothing if not hypocritical.

Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., will never face any legal repercussions for his serial criminality, including the facts as summarized by the Chairman of the Oversight Committee of the United States House of Representatives, James Comer (R-Kentucky), that prompted the editors of the New York Post to write the following editorial:

Democrats will open their convention with a celebration of President Joe Biden, the candidate for whom they nigh-unanimously voted in primaries only to jettison as unelectable as November beckoned.

What better time, then, to remind the public of why Biden was thrown under the proverbial bus?

That’s the thinking of House Republicans, who’ve released a final report on their long-running probe of the Biden family business — i.e., the lucrative sale of Biden’s political influence to agents of corrupt and anti-American regimes.

It’s two extremes of reckoning the Biden record.

The Democratic encomia will be as cynical as their bookend project (to be executed Tuesday through Thursday): the transmogrification of Biden’s Vice President, Kamala Harris, from unpopular speaker of word salads to America’s progressive sweetheart.

Of course, Biden and his record are the last things Democrats want to remind the country of; they are doing this Chicago farewell because it’s the price he and his family, his “Biden Brand” collaborators — demanded before he would step aside.

Republicans, by contrast, mean every word of their report.

It is an important summary of the Biden Family Business, as much accountability as the public can expect given the limitations of congressional investigations that are stonewalled by an incumbent administration.

It is, moreover, a useful record of that stonewalling — very much including the corruption of the Justice Department — which connects the current Biden administration with the tireless self-dealing of Biden’s career, culminating in his term as vice president.

As the investigation spearheaded by House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) documents — and richly corroborates with bank records and testimony from accomplices and whistleblowers — the Biden family cashed in, to the tune of more than $27 million, in marketing access to the current president.

Much of the most egregious influence peddling occurred during Biden’s vice-presidency.

It was then that he took meetings with top executives of a corrupt Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, that put his ne’er-do-well son Hunter on their board — paying millions of dollars in exchange for connection to the Biden name (and, tellingly, slashing Hunter’s compensation in 2017, once Joe was out of office).

These were the years when the then-vice-president, after being beseeched by Hunter’s Burisma paymasters, pressured Ukrainian officials to fire the prosecutor who — like British law-enforcement — was investigating Bursima for corruption.

These were the years during which — even as the vice president theatrically railed at Bucharest to crack down on corruption — Hunter re-ran the Burisma play by taking $1 million from Romanian real-estate tycoon Gabriel Popoviciu in exchange for pressuring Romanian anti-corruption authorities to back-off (though not enough to erase Popoviciu’s nine-year prison term).

Almost simultaneously, Hunter pressured the Obama-Biden State Department to put in a good word for Burisma with the Italian government.

Naturally, we learned of that only last week — you’ll be shocked, I’m sure, to hear that the Biden-Harris administration withheld disclosure this “Biden Brand” self-dealing until after the plug was pulled on President Biden’s 2024 reelection bid.

It was also in the Obama years that Xi Jinping’s Communist Chinese regime purchased hooks in the Biden family.

In 2013, Hunter hitched a ride with dad on Air Force Two to score an investment partnership — Bohai Harvest RST — with regime insider Jonathan Li and such partners as the Bank of China.

The arrangement helped America’s top geopolitical rival land coveted anti-vibration technology with military uses, as well as a $3.8 billion cobalt mine in Africa — abetting China’s effort to corner the precious metals market (vital, for example, for manufacturing batteries for the electric cars Biden is hectoring Americans to buy).

Further, it was during Joe Biden’s vice presidency that the Bidens hooked up with CEFC, a CCP-dominated Chinese influence operation camouflaged as a regime-backed energy conglomerate.

The CEFC deal eventually brought us the now-infamous “10 percent for the big guy” email — outlining Joe’s personal stake.

It also gave us Hunter’s 2017 WhatsApp shakedown of a CEFC exec — explaining: “I am sitting here with my father” wondering why the “commitment” hasn’t been “fulfilled,” and “I will make certain between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction.”

Within days, the floodgates opened with $5 million — on top of millions already paid — flowing into the Biden family coffers.

Comer’s committee traces the money trail from Hunter, to Joe’s brother Jim, to Joe Biden himself.

All of this monetization of Joe Biden’s political power should be part of the criminal tax trial Hunter faces in about two weeks.

Why isn’t it? Because the Biden-Harris Justice Department buried it. First, prosecutors tried to disappear the case without any charges at all.

When the IRS whistleblower revelations of preferential treatment made that plan untenable, DOJ tried to give Hunter a sweetheart plea bargain, but that blew up because an alert federal judge asked a few pointed questions about the patently preferential terms of the deal.

Only after that political humiliation was “special counsel” David Weiss permitted to charge the cases he’d tried to make vanish.

By then, though, Weiss had studiously delayed indicting until any charges stemming from influence peddling during Joe Biden’s vice-presidency — any crimes of, say, tax evasion and failure to register as a foreign agent — had become time-barred by the statute of limitations.

Weiss’s indictment of Hunter takes pains to avoid mentioning his father. But the elder Biden pervades it — without his willful indulgence, the influence-peddling could have been stopped in minutes rather than enduring for years.

As Democrats toast President Biden in Chicago, House Republicans provide a necessary tonic.

Comer’s probe was never destined to end in impeachment — with a razor-thin margin and an election just weeks away, Republicans don’t have the numbers.

But the final report is an important counterargument to the hagiography the Democrats will serve up. It is also a reminder of how hard Democrats and the media propped up Joe despite all the evidence of unethical behavior. Keep that in mind as they prop up Kamala. (Damning impeachment report shows why Dems were desperate to get rid of corrupt Biden.)

Unfortunately, however, most voters are entirely unaware of the Biden Family Crime Syndicate’s influence peddling that betrayed the legitimate national security interests of the United States of America and the relatively few who are aware never thought much of given all the distractions posed by the various bread and circuses extant in a world where people waste their lives on endless means of entertainment while being disinterested in, if not entirely ignorant of, not only current events but, much more importantly, First and Last Things.

The purpose of this commentary, though, is to remined the readers of this website that Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.’s, monetary criminality and his always demagogic efforts to demean his political opponents and use the full power of the civil state to censor them by various means, up to and including, criminal prosecution, became part of his modus vivendi precisely because he had first betrayed Christ the King and His true Church.

Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., who has been up for sale since he sold his soul to the devil fifty years ago this year to support the nonexistent “right’ of a woman to kill their preborn babies under cover of the civil law by claiming to oppose abortion “privately” but had an “obligation” to support it as an elected representative of the “people,” a sophism of the sort that was anticipated and condemned by Pope Leo XIII in Immortale Dei, November 1, 1885:

Hence, lest concord be broken by rash charges, let this be understood by all, that the integrity of Catholic faith cannot be reconciled with opinions verging on naturalism or rationalism, the essence of which is utterly to do away with Christian institutions and to install in society the supremacy of man to the exclusion of God. Further, it is unlawful to follow one line of conduct in private life and another in public, respecting privately the authority of the Church, but publicly rejecting it; for this would amount to joining together good and evil, and to putting man in conflict with himself; whereas he ought always to be consistent, and never in the least point nor in any condition of life to swerve from Christian virtue. (Pope Leo XIII, Immortale Dei, November 1, 1885.)

It is a relatively easy thing to sell out one’s country for personal gain after one has broken the vows of his Baptism and Confirmation by seeking after public approval, career success, and financial gain in full defiance of the words of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ:

For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul? (Matthew 16: 26)

We had better to pray to Our Lady, the August Queen of Heaven, that we live a life of such moral rectitude that we will not, as Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., has done throughout his entire life and continues to do to this very moment, make excuses for our sins by denying that they are sins in the first place, which calls to mind the following words of Psalm 104:

I have cried to thee, O Lord, hear me: hearken to my voice, when I cry to thee. [2] Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight; the lifting up of my hands, as evening sacrifice. [3] Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth: and a door round about my lips. [4] Incline not my heart to evil words; to make excuses in sins. With men that work iniquity: and I will not communicate with the choicest of them. ... [5] The just shall correct me in mercy, and shall reprove me: but let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head. For my prayer also shall still be against the things with which they are well pleased:

Their judges falling upon the rock have been swallowed up. They shall hear my words, for they have prevailed: ... [7] As when the thickness of the earth is broken up upon the ground: Our bones are scattered by the side of hell. ... [8] But o to thee, O Lord, Lord, are my eyes: in thee have I put my trust, take not away my soul. ... [9] Keep me from the snare, which they have laid for me, and from the stumblingblocks of them that work iniquity. ... [10] The wicked shall fall in his net: I am alone until I pass. (Psalm 140.)

Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.'s, ultimate act of treason is against Christ the King and His Catholic Church.

It is hard work to save one’s immortal soul, and it becomes harder still if one becomes arrogantly steadfast in his own impeccability and invincibility.

Men in public life must put First Things first, which means that they must be serious about the sanctification and salvation of souls, something that Pope Leo XIII noted in his last encyclical letter, Mirae Caritatis, May 25, 1902:

Indeed it is greatly to be desired that those men would rightly esteem and would make due provision for life everlasting, whose industry or talents or rank have put it in their power to shape the course of human events. (Pope Leo XIII, Mirae Caritatis, May 28, 1902.) 

Pope Leo XIII had the sad duty to note, however, that most of the men of civic importance in the world one hundred eleven years ago, like most of the men of civic importance today, believe that they and their ideas can save the world, a version, of course of semi-Pelagianism (the heresy that contends human beings more or less stir up graces in themselves to be virtuous and to save themselves, a form of human "self-redemption" that is of the very blasphemous essence of the "American way").

How many hollow men (and one woman) of the two major political parties babble inanities as they promise us a "better" world and a more "secure" future if only we believe in their message of secular self-redemption and support their presidential campaigns during elections and their policies thereafter if elected?

Not one of them is an advocate for Christ the King and for Mary our Immaculate Queen. Each of them, therefore, utters inanities about how this or that form of naturalism or religious indifferentism, or non-denominationalism is going to "improve" a world that can be improved only to the extent that individual souls cooperate with Sanctifying Grace and thus seek to root out sin in their own lives and to root it out, as far as is humanly possible, in the life of nation.

The civil leaders of Modernity have fallen into the description of modern "men of importance" written by Pope Leo XIII in Mirae Caritatis:

But alas! we see with sorrow that such men too often proudly flatter themselves that they have conferred upon this world as it were a fresh lease of life and prosperity, inasmuch as by their own energetic action they are urging it on to the race for wealth, to a struggle for the possession of commodities which minister to the love of comfort and display. And yet, whithersoever we turn, we see that human society, if it be estranged from God, instead of enjoying that peace in its possessions for which it had sought, is shaken and tossed like one who is in the agony and heat of fever; for while it anxiously strives for prosperity, and trusts to it alone, it is pursuing an object that ever escapes it, clinging to one that ever eludes the grasp. For as men and states alike necessarily have their being from God, so they can do nothing good except in God through Jesus Christ, through whom every best and choicest gift has ever proceeded and proceeds. But the source and chief of all these gifts is the venerable Eucharist, which not only nourishes and sustains that life the desire whereof demands our most strenuous efforts, but also enhances beyond measure that dignity of man of which in these days we hear so much. For what can be more honourable or a more worthy object of desire than to be made, as far as possible, sharers and partakers in the divine nature? Now this is precisely what Christ does for us in the Eucharist, wherein, after having raised man by the operation of His grace to a supernatural state, he yet more closely associates and unites him with Himself. For there is this difference between the food of the body and that of the soul, that whereas the former is changed into our substance, the latter changes us into its own; so that St. Augustine makes Christ Himself say: "You shall not change Me into yourself as you do the food of your body, but you shall be changed into Me" (confessions 1. vii., c. x.).

Moreover, in this most admirable Sacrament, which is the chief means whereby men are engrafted on the divine nature, men also find the most efficacious help towards progress in every kind of virtue. And first of all in faith. In all ages faith has been attacked; for although it elevates the human mind by bestowing on it the knowledge of the highest truths, yet because, while it makes known the existence of divine mysteries, it yet leaves in obscurity the mode of their being, it is therefore thought to degrade the intellect. But whereas in past times particular articles of faith have been made by turns the object of attack; the seat of war has since been enlarged and extended, until it has come to this, that men deny altogether that there is anything above and beyond nature. Now nothing can be better adapted to promote a renewal of the strength and fervour of faith in the human mind than the mystery of the Eucharist, the "mystery of faith," as it has been most appropriately called. For in this one mystery the entire supernatural order, with all its wealth and variety of wonders, is in a manner summed up and contained: "He hath made a remembrance of His wonderful works, a merciful and gracious Lord; He hath given food to them that fear Him" (Psalm cx, 4-5). For whereas God has subordinated the whole supernatural order to the Incarnation of His Word, in virtue whereof salvation has been restored to the human race, according to those words of the Apostle; "He hath purposed...to re-establish all things in Christ, that are in heaven and on earth, in Him" (Eph. i., 9-10), the Eucharist, according to the testimony of the holy Fathers, should be regarded as in a manner a continuation and extension of the Incarnation. For in and by it the substance of the incarnate Word is united with individual men, and the supreme Sacrifice offered on Calvary is in a wondrous manner renewed, as was signified beforehand by Malachy in the words: "In every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to My name a pure oblation" (Mal. i., 11). And this miracle, itself the very greatest of its kind, is accompanied by innumerable other miracles; for here all the laws of nature are suspended; the whole substance of the bread and wine are changed into the Body and the Blood; the species of bread and wine are sustained by the divine power without the support of any underlying substance; the Body of Christ is present in many places at the same time, that is to say, wherever the Sacrament is consecrated. And in order that human reason may the more willingly pay its homage to this great mystery, there have not been wanting, as an aid to faith, certain prodigies wrought in His honour, both in ancient times and in our own, of which in more than one place there exist public and notable records and memorials. It is plain that by this Sacrament faith is fed, in it the mind finds its nourishment, the objections of rationalists are brought to naught, and abundant light is thrown on the supernatural order. (Pope Leo XIII, Mirae Caritatis, May 28, 1902.) 

Pope Leo XIII went on to explain that the results of an abandonment of the worthy reception of the Blessed Sacrament and of time spent before It in fervent prayer are tragic for societies, which can be set aright only by the Catholic Faith. There is never any short-cut to the betterment of men and/or the world in which they live at any given point in time. It is the Faith and only the Faith that can help souls to know, to love and to serve God as He has revealed Himself to us exclusively through His Catholic Church, which alone is the repository and infallible explicator all that He has revealed in the Deposit of Faith. To Pope Leo in Mirae Caritatis:

But that decay of faith in divine things of which We have spoken is the effect not only of pride, but also of moral corruption. For if it is true that a strict morality improves the quickness of man's intellectual powers, and if on the other hand, as the maxims of pagan philosophy and the admonitions of divine wisdom combine to teach us, the keenness of the mind is blunted by bodily pleasures, how much more, in the region of revealed truths, do these same pleasures obscure the light of faith, or even, by the just judgment of God, entirely extinguish it. For these pleasures at the present day an insatiable appetite rages, infecting all classes as with an infectious disease, even from tender years. Yet even for so terrible an evil there is a remedy close at hand in the divine Eucharist. For in the first place it puts a check on lust by increasing charity, according to the words of St. Augustine, who says, speaking of charity, "As it grows, lust diminishes; when it reaches perfection, lust is no more" (De diversis quaestionibus, Ixxxiii., q. 36). Moreover the most chaste flesh of Jesus keeps down the rebellion of our flesh, as St. Cyril of Alexandria taught, "For Christ abiding in us lulls to sleep the law of the flesh which rages in our members" (Lib. iv., c. ii., in Joan., vi., 57). Then too the special and most pleasant fruit of the Eucharist is that which is signified in the words of the prophet: "What is the good thing of Him," that is, of Christ, "and what is His beautiful thing, but the corn of the elect and the wine that engendereth virgins" (Zach. ix., 17), producing, in other words, that flower and fruitage of a strong and constant purpose of virginity which, even in an age enervated by luxury, is daily multiplied and spread abroad in the Catholic Church, with those advantages to religion and to human society, wherever it is found, which are plain to see.

To this it must be added that by this same Sacrament our hope of everlasting blessedness, based on our trust in the divine assistance, is wonderfully strengthened. For the edge of that longing for happiness which is so deeply rooted in the hearts of all men from their birth is whetted even more and more by the experience of the deceitfulness of earthly goods, by the unjust violence of wicked men, and by all those other afflictions to which mind and body are subject. Now the venerable Sacrament of the Eucharist is both the source and the pledge of blessedness and of glory, and this, not for the soul alone, but for the body also. For it enriches the soul with an abundance of heavenly blessings, and fills it with a sweet joy which far surpasses man's hope and expectations; it sustains him in adversity, strengthens him in the spiritual combat, preserves him for life everlasting, and as a special provision for the journey accompanies him thither. And in the frail and perishable body that divine Host, which is the immortal Body of Christ, implants a principle of resurrection, a seed of immortality, which one day must germinate. That to this source man's soul and body will be indebted for both these boons has been the constant teaching of the Church, which has dutifully reaffirmed the affirmation of Christ: "He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day" (St. John vi., 55).

In connection with this matter it is of importance to consider that in the Eucharist, seeing that it was instituted by Christ as "a perpetual memorial of His Passion" (Opusc. Ivii. Offic. de festo Corporis Christi), is proclaimed to the Christian the necessity of a salutary selfchastisement. For Jesus said to those first priests of His: "Do this in memory of Me" (Luke xxii, 18); that is to say, do this for the commemoration of My pains, My sorrows, My grievous afflictions, My death upon the Cross. Wherefore this Sacrament is at the same time a Sacrifice, seasonable throughout the entire period of our penance; and it is likewise a standing exhortation to all manner of toil, and a solemn and severe rebuke to those carnal pleasures which some are not ashamed so highly to praise and extol: "As often as ye shall eat this bread, and drink this chalice, ye shall announce the death of the Lord, until He come" (1 Cor. xi., 26).

Furthermore, if anyone will diligently examine into the causes of the evils of our day, he will find that they arise from this, that as charity towards God has grown cold, the mutual charity of men among themselves has likewise cooled. Men have forgotten that they are children of God and brethren in Jesus Christ; they care for nothing except their own individual interests; the interests and the rights of others they not only make light of, but often attack and invade. Hence frequent disturbances and strifes between class and class: arrogance, oppression, fraud on the part of the more powerful: misery, envy, and turbulence among the poor. These are evils for which it is in vain to seek a remedy in legislation, in threats of penalties to be incurred, or in any other device of merely human prudence. Our chief care and endeavour ought to be, according to the admonitions which We have more than once given at considerable length, to secure the union of classes in a mutual interchange of dutiful services, a union which, having its origin in God, shall issue in deeds that reflect the true spirit of Jesus Christ and a genuine charity. This charity Christ brought into the world, with it He would have all hearts on fire. For it alone is capable of affording to soul and body alike, even in this life, a foretaste of blessedness; since it restrains man's inordinate self-love, and puts a check on avarice, which "is the root of all evil" (1 Tim. vi., 10). And whereas it is right to uphold all the claims of justice as between the various classes of society, nevertheless it is only with the efficacious aid of charity, which tempers justice, that the "equality" which St. Paul commended (2 Cor. viii., 14), and which is so salutary for human society, can be established and maintained. This then is what Christ intended when he instituted this Venerable Sacrament, namely, by awakening charity towards God to promote mutual charity among men. For the latter, as is plain, is by its very nature rooted in the former, and springs from it by a kind of spontaneous growth. Nor is it possible that there should be any lack of charity among men, or rather it must needs be enkindled and flourish, if men would but ponder well the charity which Christ has shown in this Sacrament. For in it He has not only given a splendid manifestation of His power and wisdom, but "has in a manner poured out the riches of His divine love towards men" (Conc. Trid., Sess. XIII., De Euch. c. ii.). Having before our eyes this noble example set us by Christ, Who bestows on us all that He has assuredly we ought to love and help one another to the utmost, being daily more closely united by the strong bond of brotherhood. Add to this that the outward and visible elements of this Sacrament supply a singularly appropriate stimulus to union. On this topic St. Cyprian writes: "In a word the Lord's sacrifice symbolises the oneness of heart, guaranteed by a persevering and inviolable charity, which should prevail among Christians. For when our Lord calls His Body bread, a substance which is kneaded together out of many grains, He indicates that we His people, whom He sustains, are bound together in close union; and when He speaks of His Blood as wine, in which the juice pressed from many clusters of grapes is mingled in one fluid, He likewise indicates that we His flock are by the commingling of a multitude of persons made one" (Ep. 96 ad Magnum n. 5 (al.6)). In like manner the angelic Doctor, adopting the sentiments of St. Augustine (Tract. xxxvi., in Joan nn. 13, 17), writes: "Our Lord has bequeathed to us His Body and Blood under the form of substances in which a multitude of things have been reduced to unity, for one of them, namely bread, consisting as it does of many grains is yet one, and the other, that is to say wine, has its unity of being from the confluent juice of many grapes; and therefore St. Augustine elsewhere says: 'O Sacrament of mercy, O sign of unity, O bond of charity!' " (Summ. Theol. P. III., q. Ixxix., a. 1. . All of which is confirmed by the declaration of the Council of Trent that Christ left the Eucharist in His Church "as a symbol of that unity and charity whereby He would have all Christians mutually joined and united. . . a symbol of that one body of which He is Himself the head, and to which He would have us, as members attached by the closest bonds of faith, hope, and charity" (Conc. Trid., Sess. XIII., De Euchar., c. ii.). The same idea had been expressed by St. Paul when he wrote: "For we, being many, are one bread, one body, all we who partake of the one bread" (I Cor. x., 17). Very beautiful and joyful too is the spectacle of Christian brotherhood and social equality which is afforded when men of all conditions, gentle and simple, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, gather round the holy altar, all sharing alike in this heavenly banquet. And if in the records of the Church it is deservedly reckoned to the special credit of its first ages that "the multitude of the believers had but one heart and one soul" (Acts iv., 32), there can be no shadow of doubt that this immense blessing was due to their frequent meetings at the Divine table; for we find it recorded of them: "They were persevering in the doctrine of the Apostles and in the communion of the breaking of bread" (Acts ii., 42).

Besides all this, the grace of mutual charity among the living, which derives from the Sacrament of the Eucharist so great an increase of strength, is further extended by virtue of the Sacrifice to all those who are numbered in the Communion of Saints. For the Communion of Saints, as everyone knows, is nothing but the mutual communication of help, expiation, prayers, blessings, among all the faithful, who, whether they have already attained to the heavenly country, or are detained in the purgatorial fire, or are yet exiles here on earth, all enjoy the common franchise of that city whereof Christ is the head, and the constitution is charity. For faith teaches us, that although the venerable Sacrifice may be lawfully offered to God alone, yet it may be celebrated in honour of the saints reigning in heaven with God Who has crowned them, in order that we may gain for ourselves their patronage. And it may also be offered-in accordance with an apostolic tradition-for the purpose of expiating the sins of those of the brethren who, having died in the Lord, have not yet fully paid the penalty of their transgressions.

That genuine charity, therefore, which knows how to do and to suffer all things for the salvation and the benefit of all, leaps forth with all the heat and energy of a flame from that most holy Eucharist in which Christ Himself is present and lives, in which He indulges to the utmost. His love towards us, and under the impulse of that divine love ceaselessly renews His Sacrifice. And thus it is not difficult to see whence the arduous labours of apostolic men, and whence those innumerable designs of every kind for the welfare of the human race which have been set on foot among Catholics, derive their origin, their strength, their permanence, their success. (Pope Leo XIII, Mirae Caritatis, May 28, 1902.) 

When was the last time you heard someone in public life citing the example of Saint Henry the Emperor or Saint Edward the Confessor or Saint Stephen of Hungary or Saint Wenceslaus of Bohemia or Saint Louis IX, King of France, or Saint Casimir of Poland or Saint Elizabeth of Hungary as the example of civil leadership that would shape their own exercise of civil power? No, candidates for public office cite the "plaster saints" of Modernity who reject the Social Reign of Christ the King as their models for civil governance, believing in the "sovereignty of the people" and/or in some sort of nebulous, generic "common ground" about God that is of the essence of the naturalism of Judeo-Masonry, as Pope Leo XIII explained in Humanum Genus, April 20, 1884:

But the naturalists go much further; for, having, in the highest things, entered upon a wholly erroneous course, they are carried headlong to extremes, either by reason of the weakness of human nature, or because God inflicts upon them the just punishment of their pride. Hence it happens that they no longer consider as certain and permanent those things which are fully understood by the natural light of reason, such as certainly are -- the existence of God, the immaterial nature of the human soul, and its immortality. The sect of the Freemasons, by a similar course of error, is exposed to these same dangers; for, although in a general way they may profess the existence of God, they themselves are witnesses that they do not all maintain this truth with the full assent of the mind or with a firm conviction. Neither do they conceal that this question about God is the greatest source and cause of discords among them; in fact, it is certain that a considerable contention about this same subject has existed among them very lately. But, indeed, the sect allows great liberty to its votaries, so that to each side is given the right to defend its own opinion, either that there is a God, or that there is none; and those who obstinately contend that there is no God are as easily initiated as those who contend that God exists, though, like the pantheists, they have false notions concerning Him: all which is nothing else than taking away the reality, while retaining some absurd representation of the divine nature.

When this greatest fundamental truth has been overturned or weakened, it follows that those truths, also, which are known by the teaching of nature must begin to fall -- namely, that all things were made by the free will of God the Creator; that the world is governed by Providence; that souls do not die; that to this life of men upon the earth there will succeed another and an everlasting life.

When these truths are done away with, which are as the principles of nature and important for knowledge and for practical use, it is easy to see what will become of both public and private morality. We say nothing of those more heavenly virtues, which no one can exercise or even acquire without a special gift and grace of God; of which necessarily no trace can be found in those who reject as unknown the redemption of mankind, the grace of God, the sacraments, and the happiness to be obtained in heaven. We speak now of the duties which have their origin in natural probity. That God is the Creator of the world and its provident Ruler; that the eternal law commands the natural order to be maintained, and forbids that it be disturbed; that the last end of men is a destiny far above human things and beyond this sojourning upon the earth: these are the sources and these the principles of all justice and morality.

If these be taken away, as the naturalists and Freemasons desire, there will immediately be no knowledge as to what constitutes justice and injustice, or upon what principle morality is founded. And, in truth, the teaching of morality which alone finds favor with the sect of Freemasons, and in which they contend that youth should be instructed, is that which they call "civil," and "independent," and "free," namely, that which does not contain any religious belief. But, how insufficient such teaching is, how wanting in soundness, and how easily moved by every impulse of passion, is sufficiently proved by its sad fruits, which have already begun to appear. For, wherever, by removing Christian education, this teaching has begun more completely to rule, there goodness and integrity of morals have begun quickly to perish, monstrous and shameful opinions have grown up, and the audacity of evil deeds has risen to a high degree. All this is commonly complained of and deplored; and not a few of those who by no means wish to do so are compelled by abundant evidence to give not infrequently the same testimony.

Moreover, human nature was stained by original sin, and is therefore more disposed to vice than to virtue. For a virtuous life it is absolutely necessary to restrain the disorderly movements of the soul, and to make the passions obedient to reason. In this conflict human things must very often be despised, and the greatest labors and hardships must be undergone, in order that reason may always hold its sway. But the naturalists and Freemasons, having no faith in those things which we have learned by the revelation of God, deny that our first parents sinned, and consequently think that free will is not at all weakened and inclined to evil. On the contrary, exaggerating rather the power and the excellence of nature, and placing therein alone the principle and rule of justice, they cannot even imagine that there is any need at all of a constant struggle and a perfect steadfastness to overcome the violence and rule of our passions.

Wherefore we see that men are publicly tempted by the many allurements of pleasure; that there are journals and pamphlets with neither moderation nor shame; that stage-plays are remarkable for license; that designs for works of art are shamelessly sought in the laws of a so-called verism; that the contrivances of a soft and delicate life are most carefully devised; and that all the blandishments of pleasure are diligently sought out by which virtue may be lulled to sleep. Wickedly, also, but at the same time quite consistently, do those act who do away with the expectation of the joys of heaven, and bring down all happiness to the level of mortality, and, as it were, sink it in the earth. Of what We have said the following fact, astonishing not so much in itself as in its open expression, may serve as a confirmation. For, since generally no one is accustomed to obey crafty and clever men so submissively as those whose soul is weakened and broken down by the domination of the passions, there have been in the sect of the Freemasons some who have plainly determined and proposed that, artfully and of set purpose, the multitude should be satiated with a boundless license of vice, as, when this had been done, it would easily come under their power and authority for any acts of daring. (Pope Leo XIII, Humanum Genus, April 20, 1888.)

Those who give no thought to eternity can lie with impunity, and they can also ignore with impunity the simple truth that the just purposes of civil government is to advance the common temporal good of men in light of First and Last Things and to thus to foster those conditions wherein citizens can better sanctify and save their immortal souls, upon which rests the fate of both men and their nations.

Moreover, men in public life must be duly submissive to Holy Mother Church in all that pertains to the good of souls.

Even Catholics in public life, such as Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., are “too eager to manage their own temporal affairs. They resent what they call the Church's interference”:

For men, as a rule, have but shown themselves too eager to manage their own temporal affairs. They resent what they call the Church's interference. This resentment culminates in a deliberate exclusion of the Church from the councils of peoples. Even at the best of times, when States were not yet professedly secularist, what jealousy was always manifested with regard to the action of the Church in secular matters! How slow men were to take her advice! How her efforts for procuring the temporal welfare of men were hampered, thwarted and positively resisted!

The gradual silencing of the voice of Christianity in the councils of the nations is the evil cause of the chaotic conditions of modern civilized life. This issue was inevitable. For though the Church's wisdom is primarily in the domain of things of the world to come, yet she is wise, too, with regard to the things of the world that is. She is not for the world, and yet she is able and even ready to act as if she were equipped specially to procure the temporal good of men.  [See Maritain, St. Thomas Aquinas, p. 134.] She is able and willing to give men directions in temporal matters, which, if followed, will result in temporal prosperity. She is too wise to promote unrealizable Utopias, from which all suffering and toil will be banished. She can give prudent directions how to devise measures for the mitigation of inevitable hardships and the elimination of unnecessary evils. If rulers and ruled alike listened to her voice, the authentic voice of Christianity, what a change would come over the world! It would not cease to be a vale of tears but would cease to be a vale of savage strife. It would not become an earthly Paradise but would become an earth where man's dreams of a satisfying order of things could be realized. (Father Edward Leen, Why the Cross?, originally published by Sheed & Ward in 1938, and republished in 2001 by Scepter Publishers, Princeton, New Jersey,  pp. 14-15.)

The world in which we live, however, has rejected the voice of Holy Mother Church, who herself has been forced into the catacombs by the twin revolutions of Modernity and Modernism.

Thus, all the secular commentaries cited above are good as far as they go.

However, we should have learned by now that those who deny the existence of supernatural truths that do not depend upon human existence for their binding force or validity will just as readily deny facts in natural order of things as they lie without regard to the binding precepts of the Eighth Commandment and without even thought about the loss of their immortal souls, whose salvation has been won for us all at the high cost of the shedding of the Most Precious Blood of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ during His Passion and Death on the wood of the Holy on Good Friday.

Moreover, we should have learned by now that those in public life who are “leftists” will inevitably “skate” whenever they break the laws God and the just laws of men without much in the way of earthly consequences. Double standards galore exist whereby those in the camp of the false opposite of the naturalist “right” are held to high and exacting standards, including endless investigations into crimes and offenses, real or concocted, while those in the camp of the false opposite of the naturalist “left” cry “partisanship” when their own misdeeds are exposed for all to see.

In humility, therefore, must we pray Our Lady’s Most Holy Rosary every day so that we will be ever ready to accept with equanimity of soul the death that God has from all eternity fashioned for us no matter where and when it should overtake us as we seek to make a bit of reparation as Magdalene souls by offering all to the Throne of the Most Holy Trinity as the consecrated slaves of her Divine Son, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, through her own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart.

May Our Lady pray for us all now, and at the hour of our death.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint John Eudes, pray for us.

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, pray for us.

Appendix

On the Feasts of Saint John Eudes and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

Yesterday, August 19, 2024, was the one hundred seventh anniversary of Our Lady's fourth apparition to Jacinta and Francisco Marto and their cousin Lucia dos Santos. This particular apparition was delayed for six days because the children were being held by the Mayor of Ourem, Portugal, who tried to intimidate them into recanting their testimony about what they had seen and heard on the thirteenth of each of the preceding three months.

As is well known, Jacinta and Francisco Marto and their cousin Lucia dos Santos were spirited away by the atheistic Mayor of Ourem, Portugal Artur de Oliveira Santos, the founding president of the local Masonic lodge, on August 13, 1917, in order to intimidate them into denouncing the apparitions of the "beautiful Lady"in the Cova da Iria in Fatima. The three children were thrown into jail, where they prayed Our Lady's Most Holy Rosary at around noontime on August 13, the time that Our Lady was scheduled to appear to them in the Cova da Iria. The Mayor of Ourem then took the children to his own home, where he threatened to boil them alive in oil. His threats were to no avail. He had to give up when the children preferred to face death rather than to renounce their beautiful Lady, who had shown them a vision of Hell a month before and had asked them to promote devotion to Her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart.

Artur de Oliveira Santos had the sense to give up when he knew that he could not get anywhere with Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia, whose own parents had their doubts about the Heavenly visions they claimed to have seen in the Cova da Iria. Although Artur Santos released the three children on the Feast of the Assumption, August 15, 1918, he refused to believe in Our Lady of Fatima even after the Miracle of the Sun, working to thwart a procession to the Cova da Iria on May 13, 1920, and involved in the plot that resulted in the roof of the chapel in the Cova being blown off on March 6, 1921 (the date of my own late mother's birth in Kansas City, Missouri), as two bombs near the holm oak tree atop which stood Our Lady during her visits failed to explode.(See The 1921 Bombing of the Shrine of Fatima by the Freemasons.) The Mayor of Ourem, a bitter atheist, hated the Mother of God and wanted to do everything in his power to stop belief in the Fatima Message.

It is no accident, therefore, that Our Lady chose to appear to the three shepherd children on August 19, 1917, after they had been freed as each of the dates she appeared had a connection with the liturgical feast of the day.

Specifically, August 19 was the feast of Blessed John Eudes, who would be canonized by Pope Pius XI on May 31, 1925, a date that Pope Pius XII would designate in 1954 for the Feast of the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Lady's delayed apparition to Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia on the feast of Blessed John Eudes, therefore, is highly significant as he helped to propagate devotion to Our Lady's Most Pure Heart, which he taught was inseparable from the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

Saint John Eudes, whose feast was celebrated yesterday, Monday, August 19, 2024, helped to establish formal devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus some thirty years before the revelations that Our Lord gave to Sister Margaret Mary Alacoque. He also promoted devotion to the Holy Heart of Mary. His own priestly heart was such that he stressed the importance of priests to have the very Hearts of Jesus and Mary in the confessional, exhorting sinners to amend their lives, to be sure, but doing so with an understanding of the frailties of fallen human nature and the manner in which Our Lord wants His Mercy to be extended to the souls for whom He shed every single drop of His Most Precious Blood on the wood of the Holy Cross. Saint John Eudes will help us to trust in the tender Mercies of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary during these times of apostasy and betrayal, especially as we pray the Holy Rosary to which he was so personally devoted.

The readings for Matins in yesterday's Divine Office taught us about the remarkable life of this great apostle of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Most Pure Heart of Mary:

John was born in the year 1601, of pious and respectable parents, at a village commonly known as Ri, in the diocese of Seez. While still a boy, when he was fed with the bread of Angels, he cheerfully made a vow of perpetual chastity. Having been received at the College of Caen, directed by the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, he was conspicuous for a remarkable piety; and, committing himself to the protection of the Virgin Mary, when still a youth he signed with his own blood, the special covenant he had entered into with her. Having completed his courses of letters and of philosophy with great distinction, and having spurned opportunities of marriage which had been arranged for him, he enrolled himself with the Congregation of the Oratory de Bérulle, and was ordained priest at Paris. He was on fire with a marvellous love towards his neighbour: for he took the most constant pains in caring for both the souls and bodies of those smitten with the Asiatic plague, in many different places. He was made Rector of the Oratorian house at Caen, but since he had been thinking for a long time of educating suitable young men for the ministry of the Church, earnestly asking for the divine assistance, with a brave spirit he most regretfully departed from the associates with whom he had lived for twenty years.

Accordingly, associating five priests with himself, in the year 1643, on the feastday of the Annunciation of the blessed Virgin Mary, he founded a Congregation of Priests, to whom he gave the most holy names of Jesus and Mary, and opened the first seminary at Caen; and a great many others followed immediately in Normandy and Brittany, also founded by him. For the recalling of sinful women to a Christian life, he founded the Order of Our Lady of Charity; of which most noble tree, the Congregation of the Good Shepherd of Angers is a branch. Furthermore, he founded the Society of the Admirable Heart of the Mother of God, and other charitable institutions. He was the author of many excellent treatises, and laboured as an Apostolic Missionary to the very end of his life, preaching the Gospel in very many villages, towns, and cities, and even in the royal court.

His matchless zeal was very conspicuous in promoting the salutary devotion towards the most sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, whose liturgical worship he was the first of all to devise, although not without some divine inspiration. He is therefore held to be the father, the teacher, and the apostle of that worship. Courageously withstanding the doctrines of the Jansenists, he preserved unalterable obedience towards the Chair of Peter, and he constantly prayed to God, both for his enemies as well as for his brethren. Broken by so many labours, rather than by years, desiring to be freed and to be with Christ, on the 19th day of August, 1680, frequently repeating the sweet names of Jesus and Mary, he died in peace. As he became illustrious by many miracles, Pope Pius X added him to the list of the Blessed, and as he still shone forth with new signs and wonders, Pope Pius XI, in the holy year and on the day of Pentecost, placed him among the Saints, and extended his Office and Mass to the universal Church. (Matins, The Divine Office, Feast of Saint John Eudes.)

Perhaps we can, in honor of Saint John Eudes and his deep connection to Our Lady, recite this salutation of his to Our Lady, who is meant to reign as the Queen of all men and all nations here on earth:

Hail Mary! Daughter of God the Father.

Hail Mary! Mother of God the Son.

Hail Mary! Spouse of God the Holy Ghost.

Hail Mary! Temple of the Most Blessed Trinity.

Hail Mary! Pure Lily of the Effulgent Trinity. God.

Hail Mary!! Celestial Rose of the ineffable Love of God.

Hail Mary! Virgin pure and humble, of whom the King of Heaven willed to be born and with thy milk to be nourished.

Hail Mary! Virgin of Virgins.

Hail Mary! Queen of Martyrs, whose soul a sword transfixed.

Hail Mary! Lady most blessed: Unto whom all power in Heaven and earth is given.

Hail Mary! My Queen and my Mother! My Life, my sweetness and my Hope.

Hail Mary! Mother most Amiable.

Hail Mary! Mother most Admirable.

Hail Mary! Mother of Divine Love.

Hail Mary! IMMACULATE! Conceived without sin!

Hail Mary Full of Grace. The Lord is with Thee! Blessed art Thou amongst Women and Blessed is the Fruit of Thy Womb, Jesus!

Blessed be thy Spouse, St. Joseph.

Blessed be thy Father, St. Joachim.

Blessed be thy Mother, St. Anne.

Blessed be thy Guardian, St. John.

Blessed be thy Holy Angel, St. Gabriel.

Glory be to God the Father, who chose thee.

Glory be to God the Son, who loved thee.

Glory be to God the Holy Ghost, who espoused thee.

O Glorious Virgin Mary, may all men love and praise thee.

Holy Mary, Mother of God! Pray for us and bless us, now, and at death in the Name of Jesus, thy Divine Son

Today Tuesday, August 20, 2024, is the Feast of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who helped to revive devotion to Our Lady in the Twelfth Century, five hundred years before the birth of Saint John Eudes. 

Father Francis X. Weninger, S.J., wrote a reflection about Saint John Eudes over one hundred forty years ago:

St. Bernard, illustrious throughout the whole Christian world for his great learning, holiness, and miracles, was born of very pious parents who had, besides him, six sons and one daughter.

Before he was born, his mother dreamed that she was bearing a dog, which barked while still in the womb. The priest to whom she related this, said: "Fear not; you will give birth to a child, who will enter the religious state, watch over the Church of God, combat her enemies, and heal the wounds of many with his tongue."

The mother was greatly comforted, and when her child was born, she endeavored to educate him most carefully. To her great joy, she perceived that, early in childhood, he possessed a most tender love for God and the Blessed Virgin, a great horror for sin, a most watchful care to preserve his innocence and purity, a great contempt for all temporal goods, and a high esteem of all that related to God and the salvation of souls.

One day, while still a small boy, he suffered intensely from headache; and when a woman came to him to pronounce some superstitious words over him, the pious child, perceiving her intentions, leaped out of bed and drove her from the room, saying that he would rather die of pain than be relieved by sin. The Almighty recompensed this heroic conduct by immediately relieving him of his pain.

One Christmas Eve in his early youth, he was visited by the Infant Jesus, from which dates the tender love St. Bernard always felt for the Savior.

Having early lost his pious mother, he had much to suffer from amorous women on account of his manly beauty. He always showed himself brave, however, and either escaped by flight, or drove away those who endeavored to tempt him to sin, or saved himself by loudly calling for help.

An unchaste woman had, one day, secretly entered the chamber of the youth to tempt him. Bernard immediately cried out: "Murder! Murder!" Those who came to his rescue, on seeing no one who would kill him, asked him why he called for help. "Are they then no murderers who endeavor to rob me of the priceless treasure of my purity, and thus deprive my soul of life everlasting?" said the pious youth.

To guard this treasure more securely, he prayed with the greatest devotion, most carefully controlled his senses, especially his eyes, severely chastised his body, and cherished a filial love for the Blessed Virgin.

One day, contrary to his resolution, he had imprudently looked upon an immodest woman. No sooner did he perceive his fault, than he sprang into the river, though it was in the depth of winter, and remained there until he was almost frozen. In this manner he punished himself, and God delivered him, from that moment, from all impure temptations.

This occurrence was a great incentive to the young man to enter the religious state as soon as possible, in order to be more removed from the danger of losing his purity. His brothers and other relatives tried to dissuade him, but by his eloquent descriptions of the vanities of this world, he persuaded his uncle and four of his brothers to enter with him, into the Cistercian Order, founded by St. Robert.

While on the way to the monastery with thirty of his companions, he met his youngest brother, Nivard, playing with some companions of his own age. Guido, the eldest brother said to him; "Nivard, we are going into the monastery now, and leave you sole heir to all our property." Inspired by the Almighty, Nivard replied: "Ah! you intend to keep Heaven for yourselves and leave the earth to me. This division is too unequal." He resolved to follow his brothers, and arrived at the cloister a few days later.

Hardly had St. Bernard entered the novitiate, when he became a model of monastic perfection. Pages could be filled with the description of his virtues, his humility, his severity towards himself, his love for God and man, his devotion at prayer.

He was no less remarkable for his wisdom and the talents with which he was gifted. Hence, his abbot, St. Stephen, soon sent him to found and govern the monastery of Clairvaux. Bernard, still young, delicate in health and inexperienced in the duties of a superior, hesitated to accept the charge, but was obliged to obey.

In the new convent, besides many other difficulties, he had to battle with poverty; but the Almighty often came to the relief of His faithful servant by miracles, and also inspired many to seek his direction in the religious life. Among these was Bernard's own father. The sister of St. Bernard was the only one left in the world, and though she was leading a life of pleasure and dissipation, he induced her to make the same resolution. The prayers which he offered for her, and his earnest exhortations won her from the vanities of the world and induced her to turn her heart to God.

The holy abbot at first ruled those under him rather severely; but having received a divine admonition, he was more lenient. He won the affection of all under his charge, and made them willing to obey him; moreover, he was an example to them in everything. Towards himself he continued his rigor to the end, in fasting, penances, scourgings and long vigils. When he occasionally perceived in himself the least indolence, he would reanimate himself by saying; "Bernard, why art thou here?"

Meanwhile, his fame spread throughout all countries, and everywhere people spoke of his great knowledge and experience. Several Episcopal sees were offered to him, which he always humbly declined, under the plea of his incapacity to fill so high an office.

At the time of the great schism, which took place at a papal election, he was invited to attend the council, and to him was left the decision of the important question, whether Innocent II or Peter Leo, who took the name of Anaclet, should be recognized as the lawful pope. After mature deliberation and many fervent prayers, the Saint gave his decision, and all submitted to it. Henry, King of England, who favored the antipope, was induced by St. Bernard to recognize and protect Innocent II. He had more difficulty in persuading William, duke of Guienne, to do penance for his iniquities and obey the true pope; but he succeeded.

Many other important questions were decided by him to the great benefit of the Church. One of the most difficult undertakings imposed on him by the Sovereign Pontiff was to unite all the crowned heads of Europe in a Crusade against the Saracens. St. Bernard obeyed the papal order; and when he exhorted the people to go on the crusade, God worked through him such miracles, that all were convinced that the project was agreeable to the Almighty. When, however, the expedition had failed -- due only to their own sins, as the Saint declared -- the holy man was everywhere calumniated, derided, and persecuted.

Bernard bore it all with great patience, and said: "It is better that they murmur against me than against God. I do not care if they impair my honor, so that the honor of the Almighty remains inviolate." God defended the name of His faithful servant by many new miracles, which not only closed the mouths of his slanderers, but placed him higher in the estimation of every one than ever before.

There are few Saints of whom so many and so well authenticated miracles are recorded, as of St. Bernard. It is well known that, at Constance, he gave sight to eleven who were blind, restored the use of their hands to ten, and of their feet to eighteen. At Cologne, three who were dumb, ten deaf, and twelve lame were miraculously healed. At Spire, he performed similar miracles. Countless sick persons recovered their health by partaking of the bread he had blessed. Besides this, he had the gift of prophecy, and relieved many who were possessed of the Evil One. We must omit the details of all this, to say a few words of his happy end.

The holy man, already completely exhausted by his many journeys, penances, and illnesses, was seized with a painful malady. He could retain no food whatever, while he suffered at the same time from swelling of the feet and other disorders. He bore it all not only with patience but with cheerfulness, and received the holy Sacraments with great devotion.

Many prelates of the church and other persons of distinction visited him and sympathized with him on account of his sufferings; but he answered; "I am a useless servant; an old barren tree ought to be felled and uprooted."

Amidst the tears of all present, he yielded up his soul to God, at the age of 64, in the year 1153, having founded one hundred and sixty convents, written a great many works against heresies, in defense of the Catholic faith, and for the instruction of the faithful, and performed many other works for the welfare of the church and the salvation of souls.

At Spire, a miraculous picture of the Blessed Virgin is still preserved, before which St. Bernard, one day, three times bowed his knees, exclaiming: "O gracious, O mild, O sweet Virgin Mary," and when he said: "I salute thee, Queen of Heaven," a voice came from the picture distinctly saying: "I salute thee, Bernard."

In another city, a crucifix is shown, before which St. Bernard was fervently praying, when the Savior stretched out His arms to embrace His faithful servant.

Many other great favors which God granted to this Saint are to be found in the histories of his life. His works abound with the most wholesome advice to all classes of people. Often and emphatically he admonishes all to love God, to honor the Blessed Virgin and ask Her intercession, and to practice good works.

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

A great deal is to be found in the life of this Saint, which ought to inspire us to imitate him.

He looked upon those who would tempt him to sin, as murderers, and called for help, as if his life had been in danger. May you so regard those who tempt you to sin; for, they are murderers, because they seek to kill the spiritual life of your soul, and place you in danger of forfeiting eternal life and happiness. Therefore treat them as assassins.

We do not laugh and jest with a murderer, but we call for help and defend ourselves with all our might.

Earnest and brave must we show ourselves when we are tempted to do wrong. God commanded His people, in the Old Testament, to stone a fallen woman together with her seducer. Why the woman also? "Because she cried not out, being in the city” (Deut. xxii.). She ought to have cried out; but not doing this was a sign that she did not seriously desire to defend herself.

This holy man punished an unguarded look at something impure, by throwing himself into the river and remaining there till he was almost frozen. He shows by this, that those who would lead a chaste life must carefully guard their eyes. What shall we say then of looking curiously or unnecessarily at the other sex, or at obscene pictures or certain theatrical scenes?

St. Bernard induced many, by his example and exhortations, to embrace the religious life. A zealous servant of God is not content with serving the Almighty himself, but seeks also, by his words and example, to lead others to the same path.

When he was tempted to weariness in the service of God, he reanimated himself by saying: "Bernard, why art thou here?" Animate yourself in a similar manner, by recalling the destiny for which you were born, and ask yourself: "Why am I upon earth? For what was I created?"

St. Bernard bore, with great patience, the derision and persecutions which he had to suffer on account of the unhappy end of the war to which he had called and encouraged the Christian princes. Do not regret too deeply if your plans and undertakings do not succeed as you expected. Be not disturbed if others mock you and persecute you.

St. Bernard regarded himself as a useless servant, as a barren tree which deserved to be cut down; so deep was his humility. How then can you feel so elated, when you have done some good action? Ought you not to have done much more? Should not your laziness, your negligence humble you before God?

The holy man, by founding one hundred and sixty convents, left many servants of the Lord, and by his books, many wholesome instructions which are yet very beneficial to all who read them. Take care that when you die, you do not leave the spirit of Satan in your children or in those whom you scandalized or tempted to do wrong. Especially, leave no obscene books or pictures which may be occasion of sin to others.

Furthermore, St. Bernard was remarkable for his devotion to the Blessed Virgin. He called to Her in all his trials, and advised others to do the same, as is evident from his sermons. "Let us," says he, "venerate Mary. It is the will of Him, who wishes that we should receive everything through Her. In danger, in anxiety, in doubt, think of Mary, call to Her." Follow the Saint's advice and example in this, and you will live free from sin under the protection of Mary, find help in all your needs, and most surely gain your salvation. (Father Francis X. Weninger, S.J., On the Feast of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, August 20.)

Here is an account of the life of this wonderful client of Our Lady, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a defender of the Catholic Faith and a Doctor of Holy Mother Church, as found in the readings for Matins in today’s Divine Office:

Bernard was born (in the year of salvation 1091) at a decent place in Burgundy called Fontaines. On account of extraordinary good looks, he was as a boy very much sought after by women, but he could never be turned aside from his resolution to keep chaste. To fly from these temptations of the devil, he determined at two-and-twenty years of age to enter the Monastery of Citeaux, whence the Cistercian Order took its rise. When this resolution of Bernard's became known, his brothers did all their diligence to change his purpose, but he only became the more eloquent and happy about it. Them and others he so brought over to his mind, that thirty young men entered the same Order along with him. As a monk he was so given to fasting, that as often as he had to eat, so often he seemed to be in pain. He exercised himself wonderfully in watching and prayer, and was a great lover of Christian poverty. Thus he led on earth an heavenly life, purged of all care and desire for transitory things.

He was a burning and shining light of lowliness, mercifulness, and kindness. His concentration of thought was such, that he hardly used his senses except to do good works, in which latter he acted with admirable wisdom. Thus occupied, he refused the Bishoprics of Genoa, Milan, and others, which were offered to him, declaring that he was unworthy of so high a sphere of duty. Being made Abbat of Clairvaux in 1115, he built monasteries in many places, wherein the excellent rules and discipline of Bernard long flourished. When Pope Innocent II., in 1138, restored the monastery of St Vincent and St Anastasius at Rome, Bernard set over it the Abbat who was afterwards the Supreme Pontiff Eugene III., and who is also the same to whom he addressed his book upon Consideration.

He was the author of many writings, in which it is manifest that his teaching was rather given him of God, than gained by hard work. In consequence of his high reputation for excellence, he was called by the most exalted Princes to act as arbiter of their disputes, and for this end, and to settle affairs of the Church, he often went to Italy. He was an eminent helper to Pope Innocent II., in putting down the schism of Peter Leoni, and worked to this end, both at the Courts of the Emperor and of Henry King of England, and in the Council of Pisa. He fell asleep in the Lord, (at Clairvaux, on the 20th day of August,) in the year 1153, the sixty-third year of his age. He was famous for miracles, and Pope Alexander III. numbered him among the Saints. Pope Pius VIII., acting on the advice of the Congregation of Sacred Rites, declared and confirmed St Bernard a Doctor of the Universal Church. He also commanded that all should use the Mass and Office for him as for a Doctor, and granted perpetual yearly plenary indulgences to all who should visit Churches of the Cistercian Order upon the Feastday of this Saint. (The Divine Office, Matins, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.)

His words below should give us great confidence in this time when we can see the convergence of the forces of Antichrist in the world and in the counterfeit church of conciliarism:

Whoever you are, when you find yourself tossed by storms and tempests upon this world's raging waters, rather than walking upon firm dry land, never take your eyes from the brightness of this start lest you be overwhelmed by the storm. When the winds of temptation blow, when you run upon the rocks of disaster, look the star. Cry out to Mary! If you are cast away upon the waves of pride or ambition, of detraction or jealousy, look to the star. Cry out to Mary!! When anger, avarice, or the lusts of the flesh assail the ship of your mind, look up to Mary. When you are worried by the enormity of your sins, troubled by a confused conscience, or terrified by the horrors of the judgment to come, when you begin to drown in the bottomless pit of sorrow or sink in the abyss of despair, think of Mary.

In danger, in difficulties, think of Mary. Call upon Mary! Never let her name be absent from your lips or absent from your heart. If you would obtain the help of her prayers, do not neglect to follow the example of her conduct. If you follow her, you will not stray; if you pray to her, you need not despair. If you think of her, you will not err; sustained by her, you will never fall; protected by her, you need not fear; guided by her, you will walk without weariness. If she smiles upon you, you will succeed. You will experience in your own heart with what justice it is said And the Virgin's name was Mary.

With confidence in Our Lady and praying as many Rosaries each day as our state-in-life permits, therefore, we continue our defense of the Faith as we also seek to make reparation for our sins and those of the whole world as her consecrated slaves of her Divine Son, Christ the Kingm, through her own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. We bear each of the crosses of the present moment with joy and gratitude, knowing that the only thing that matters is dying in a state of Sanctifying Grace as a member of the Catholic Church, outside of which there is no salvation and without which there can be no true social order.

Our Lady seeks the conversion, not the reaffirmation, of sinners. We must beg her for our own conversion on a daily basis so that we will be better able to offer her all that we have and do during the course of a day to be disposed of as she sees fit the honor and glory of God and for the conversion of other poor sinners.

Most Pure Heart of Mary, pray for us.

Saint John Eudes, pray for us.

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, pray for us.