Father Denis Puga is the new parish priest at the FSSPX Church of Saint-Nicolas du Chardonnet in Paris, which publishes the newsletter of the same name.
Shortly before undergoing His terrible Passion, Our Lord solemnly warned His disciples: “Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat” (Luke, 22, 31). This warning is also for us today, as the Church, following Her Master, is undergoing a terrible crucifixion. Our Church has been abandoned and betrayed. Our Church has been taken over.
The prudence of a combatant requires that he must never underestimate his adversary. St. Paul tells us that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the princes of darkness. Our adversary? The Demon himself, the Prince of this world, as Jesus was to point out often with great precision.
We cannot sanctify ourselves outside the present concrete situation of the Holy Catholic Church, the Ark of Salvation which, alone, can lead us safe and sound onto the shores of eternal life.
Now, this Church – we have to acknowledge – is in a catastrophic state, like “a boat leaking water in every side” according to a recent Pope despite the fact the he himself, in his lifetime, contributed in causing many of the leaks.
Our Church, for some years now, is as if possessed by an alien spirit, not the Spirit of God: this spirit of the Council which has taken possession of everything, which has insinuated its way everywhere. All of it truly resembles diabolical possession.
Some will be shaken up by these words, but wasn’t Christ Himself, at the time of the temptation in the desert, under the physical power of the Demon, who took Him up a mountaintop to offer Him all the kingdoms of the earth?
Monsignor Lefebvre made a similar analysis. At the time of Vatican II, in 1965, referring to Gaudium et spes, he declared: “This pastoral constitution is neither pastoral nor proceeds from the Catholic Church: it does not feed men and Christians the evangelical, apostolic truth and besides, the Church has never spoken in this way. This voice, we cannot listen to, as it is not the voice of the Bride of Christ. This voice is not the voice of the Spirit of Christ. We recognize the voice of Christ, our Shepherd. This one we ignore. It is dressed in sheep’s clothing: it is not the voice of Christ, but perhaps that of a wolf.” (I accuse the Council, ed. Ichtys, 2002, p. 126).
Since the last Council, of sinister memory, Satan has been attacking our Holy Church with the subtlety of that highly intelligent being, which indeed he is, compared to us poor mortals. And for this reason, if we don’t want to be crushed by the subtle blows dealt by the fury of this evil spirit, we eminently need divine help. And the Feast of Pentecost, which this year opens the month of June with its magnificent octave, re-doubles our hope.
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit, in an upright soul, that is – he who is in a state of grace – come to aid in unmasking all the falsehoods, all the half-truths, all the sophistry of the Prince of darkness, who knows [well] how to conceal himself acting through human instruments. The Holy Spirit makes us say no to all compromises, He teaches us to reject diplomatic language, senseless political words, hyper-legalism which dismantles the healthiest reactions, and invites us to renounce the temptation of the mass-media facade, [which is] contrary to the full and clear confession of the faith.
Let us purify our souls then, let us increase this grace in our souls, let us find it again if we have lost it through sin. Then we will be armed against the legion of spirits who are prowling through the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Let us place at the center of our lives the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which, as Monsignor Lefebvre said, is the exorcism par excellence. If we don’t, we will all perish!
