The kingdom of Jesus Christ is in this world, but is not of this world. There is an important distinction to be made here. All other kingdoms are of this world; made here in this world, by this world, and for this world. The kingdom of God is from heaven, by heaven and for heaven.

In this life (world) there are two kingdoms (or “cities” in St. Augustine’s words) both intermixed with each other as in the parable of the wheat and cockle sown in the same field. They must grow side by side until the last day. The kingdom of God is not in this place or that place, but rather is distributed throughout the whole earth, just as the kingdom of darkness is. If we look carefully we see both good and bad everywhere. Now is not the time to cut down or uproot the evil. The evil must be patiently put up with until the end – harvest. Then it will be God’s Angels not us who will gather the evil to be burned in hell and the good into heaven.

The evil in this world is necessary for us. In the Church here on earth (God’s kingdom) we have great need for penance, suffering, and crosses so that we may purify ourselves and increase our love for God by following Him (imitating Him) in humbly carrying the cross. The cross, suffering, and penance are provided for us by the kingdom of darkness. Unwittingly those who hate us and wish to harm or destroy us become our greatest benefactors. While they harm their own souls by their evil, they provide us with the opportunity to grow in humility, strength, and virtues. Evil, then, is necessary to us here and now. When we truly begin to understand this we see how and why we must not hate those who do evil to us, but rather love our enemies. St. Paul likewise, reminds us that our glory is not in this world, but rather our glory is in the cross and this cross is provided for us by the enemies of the Kingdom of God, and sometimes even by other members of the Kingdom (the Church). “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Gal. vi, 14)

Our vision of this Kingdom is through faith while we are here on earth, only in heaven will we see by sight. To see this Kingdom through faith here and now, we must look into our consciences and if there is charity (love) there, then we will see God; for St. John tells us that “God is love.” As the Kingdom of God is above and throughout this world we need not look for automobiles, ships, or airplanes, to get there. What we need are the two wings of charity: love of God, and love of neighbor. One wing is not enough, we need two. When both loves are in place we can soar to God very easily and freely.

We all began in the kingdom of darkness and through the graces of God have been brought into the Kingdom of Light. We are therefore, unclean or blemished and are unworthy as an offering or sacrifice to God. Jesus came Himself therefore, and took our nature upon Himself, to become the clean and unblemished offering for us. The members of the Kingdom of God unite themselves to Christ becoming one with Him in the Mystical Body of Christ and in this manner cleanse and purify themselves in Christ and thus make themselves acceptable to God and His Kingdom. We become part of the clean oblation when we are united or buried in Christ’s body and Sacrifice.

In this kingdom God demands that everyone must love Him. This is not for His own benefit. God has no need of our love. Our love does not increase Him in any way; nor does our hatred of God rob Him in anyway. We are commanded to love Him for our own good. In loving Him, we are cleansed, purified, and increase or grow in grace and life. In loving God we draw near to Him as King of kings. The title of king is not an honor to Him who is much more than that. God is all perfect to an eternal degree (perfection without limit). The honor we give to Him is not an increase of His power; it is, rather, a sign of mercy to us.

In this time of eclipse it seems that the Church – God’s kingdom – has been abolished by the Modernists who have overtaken the physical houses of God here on earth even as far as the Vatican. An eclipse is not a destruction but rather a hiding. The Kingdom (Church) – Mystical Body – cannot be destroyed, but will subsist here on earth to the end of time and will continue eternally in Heaven. These Modernists who have created the darkness of this eclipse belong to the kingdom of darkness. They have declared themselves our enemies as such. May we not fight them on their terms – hatred for hatred, but rather may we return love for evil. Let us always be thankful for the crosses they cause us so that we may follow Christ and be worthy members of His Kingdom. Remembering that they cannot harm God or His Kingdom, but only themselves, let us filled with charity pray with Our King: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23, 24)

Many are called but few are chosen. In today's Gospel, we see that God sent out His servants to call in everyone. He first called upon those that were invited, but they were too busy with the cares of this world to be bothered by Him or the wedding feast of His Son. In these, we see the many Materialists in this world who will not be bothered with God or His bride the Catholic Church. There were others among this original group of invitees, who abused the servants and killed them. These miserable souls were handed over to the soldiers to be likewise slain. "He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword." The Materialists were not given over to the devils to be destroyed because, they did not kill the servants; but also, because they went that way of their own free will. They traded their souls for material advantages or pleasures. Such it was among the original invitees, none of whom were found to be worthy.

Those who were invited were thus found to be unworthy — some because of their love for the world (Materialists) others because of their hatred for God and His servants (Satanists). Our Lord then sent His servants to bring in everyone else, so that the wedding feast may be filled. They were instructed to bring in both the good and the bad. We also saw this symbolized in the apostles' catch of many fishes. They were brought to land and the good were gathered into vessels while the bad were cast away. The one man that was found without a wedding garment represents the majority of those who entered the wedding feast. We know this because Jesus explains that "many are called but few are chosen."

We find that the number of those to be saved in the end will be very few compared to the number that will be lost. Though the number of the elect is great, it will actually be few when compared to the number that is lost. To become numbered among the few that are saved, we need to understand what it is that causes so many to be lost and thus avoid the same mistakes. We have already stated that the Materialists and the Satanists are lost and this group takes in the majority of those in the world. What causes the rest to be cast out into the outer darkness? We do not have to search far for the answer. The commentators tell us that Charity is the necessary wedding garment — without this, we will be lost.

Charity is the first and the greatest commandment. Charity is the virtue that surpasses all others. "the greatest of these is charity." Charity actually encompasses all the other virtues. True charity is lacking in those who divide the Church (heretics or schismatics). They may have a demonstrable love for the world, themselves, even others; but this is an evil love and not true charity. The love of criminals for one another is not true love. The love of partners in sin is not true love. The materialistic love of the world and creation is not true love.

Because charity is so essential, the devils have developed many counterfeits (and false churches) to lead us astray. True charity places God first and foremost. We love Him more than anything or anyone else. We then, love ourselves and others in Him and through Him — because He made us and He loves us; we thus, love what He loves and in the manner that He loves it. This is true charity.

There is simplicity and oneness in true charity, there is complexity and multiplicity in fake charity. The origin of mankind is one. We have one parent in Adam and of course, Adam came forth from God. All the other animals have come forth from the earth in multiplicity. St. Augustine tells us: "Remember the order of the Creation. God spoke, and the waters brought forth living things and swimming things, great whales, fishes, winged things and such like. Did all birds come from one bird? All vultures from one vulture? All goldfish from one goldfish? All sheep from one sheep? It was the earth that brought forth all these kinds of creatures at one and the same time. " Our love and affections, therefore need to be one. Our hearts must be focused upon God, any love or affection rightly given to anyone or anything else must be subordinate to and in conformity to the love of God. The evolutionists may believe that they came forth from the earth in a multiplicity as did other creatures and they may disperse their love across their "mother earth," but, in doing so they turn away from the True God and from True Charity. The false churches may love the multiplicity that they have made, but they have lost the One Charity, One Church, One Feast, One God.

Adam was not brought forth from the waters as other living creatures but received life directly from God. Mankind was not brought forth as many at once to reproduce, but all of mankind came forth from Adam. Eve came forth from Adam, and we are all children of them. Our affections have been multiplied and scattered through sin. Through true charity, we bring all our love together and unite them in One — Jesus Christ, God.

On Saturday, the Latin Mass Society held its annual pilgrimage to Wrexham Cathedral or to give this the correct title, the Cathedral Church of Our Lady of Sorrows.

The Mass was a Votive Mass of St Richard Gwyn, local martyr for the faith and also a patron of the LMS.

Canon Ryan Post of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest was celebrant. Canon Scott Smith (also of the Institute was deacon and Deacon Andrew Morrow was sub deacon. Canon Vianney Poucin de Wouilt sang in the choir. Mr Phillip Russell was the Master of Ceremonies.

The usual thanks go to the clergy, servers, cantors and of course the Bishop of Wrexham, the Rt Rev Peter Brignall and the Cathedral Dean, Canon Simon Treloar for the their kind permission to use the Cathedral.

Following Mass, the relic of St Richard was venerated and following that, Canon Post gave first blessings of a newly ordained priest.

John Henry Newman finally brought me to the Catholic Church.

My conversion was not without obstacle and so 26 years ago, my then parish priest gave me words of inspiration and encouragement - he also suggested that I pray to the then Venerable John Henry Newman for his intercession. I still have the prayer card given to me at the time.

Eventually, by the grace of God and with a little help from Newman, I was received into the one holy and apostolic church. Newman holds a very special place in my heart and therefore today is a very momentous day.

Sancte Joannes Henrice, Ora pro nobis!
Sant John Henry Newman gweddïo droson ni!
Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman, pray for us!

This Sunday we are presented with the man sick of the palsy lying in a bed. This man symbolically represents every sinner.

It is interesting to note that "Jesus, seeing their faith . . ." heals the man of his sins. It was not the faith of the man who was sick but it was the faith of those who brought the man to Jesus. We see how necessary it is for us to enlist the help of our fellow men when we are in need of God's help. This man received this special grace of God because of the faith of his friends even though he himself appears to have very little faith.

When Christ tells the man that his sins are forgiven we hear nothing of him thanking God for the wonderful gift that he had received. He appears to be just as worldly minded as the scribes who doubted Jesus.

The man's sins were forgiven him because of the faith of those who brought him before Jesus; his body is healed because of the lack of faith of those who witnessed this miracle.

The first miracle, the forgiveness of sins is obviously the greater miracle, but it is doubted or lightly esteemed in the eyes of men. The second miracle, the healing of the man's body is obviously the lesser miracle but is the one most noted by men. "And the multitude, seeing it, feared, and glorified God that gave such power to men."

We must note that God heals the soul first. As such we see that many of our physical disorders are brought about by the unseen spiritual disorders within us. In order to cure the body it is first necessary to cure the soul. As long as we remain in sin we are sick and there is no amount of pharmaceuticals that can cure us. The cure to many of our physical ailments must begin with the cure of our souls. To try and ignore the illness of the soul will only lead to further complications in the body and a worsening of the situation of the soul.

The bed that the man was lying on symbolises the man's sins. He was brought in lying in his bed of sin. The bed is a place of rest, comfort and joy. As long as man looks for his happiness in worldly things his bed becomes heavier and heavier with the weight of his sins. And this bed weighted down with the man's sins becomes a burden to him. This bed that he thought was to be the source of his worldly pleasures now has become his cross. The man was commanded to get up and take up the bed and go into his house. Even though he is now free from his sins and is healed both in body and soul he must still carry the burden of these sins that he has accumulated.

St. Gregory tells us: "In Sacred Scripture, bed or pallet, and also couch sometimes stand for pleasures of the body, sometimes for the refreshment of good works, sometimes for rest in the ordinary sense. For what is meant in the Gospel when the Lord says to a certain man who was healed: Arise, take up thy bed and go into thy house but that by the bed pleasure of body is signified? And he is commanded to bear as a healthy man, that on which he had lain as a sick one; for every own who still delights in sin, lies sick in the pleasure of his flesh. But now healed he bears that upon which he had lain sick, because raised from his sins by divine assistance, he must afterwards bear with the assaults of that flesh in whose desires he had before found rest."

The crimes of the sinner continue to torment and tempt him even long after he has repented of them. Though this is a fair and just punishment for our sins it is one that is often not correctly understood. We must bear this burden as a just punishment for our sins and to further humble us. We must fully understand that we are not free from our sins by our own efforts but, only because of God's mercy towards us. We must constantly be reminded of our own weakness to prevent us from becoming proud. We must be reminded of our past to prevent us from proudly and vainly lacing ourselves above anyone else.

When we see what we have been and the crimes that we have committed against both God and man, we are much less likely to despise our fellow men, no matter how terrible they may appear. "There but for the grace of God go I." This was the sentiment of St. Francis who once declared that he was more guilty than the criminal going to his execution. His idea is simple enough, If that man had received all the graces that I have received he would probably have put them to better use than I have done. And if I had been in that man's position I would probably have sinned worse than he.

Let us learn from this sick man, to obtain the intercessory prayers of our friends so that God may heal us both in soul and body. Let us go to the priest that God has given His power to and have our sins forgiven first so that our bodies may then recover their health also. And let us patiently and humbly accept the consequences and punishment that is due to us for our sins. If we cheerfully do penance for our sins on earth we may confidently hope for an eternal rest in heaven.

Most specifically this feast is attributed to the naval victory of Lepanto gained by Don John of Austria over the Turkish fleet on the first Sunday of October in 1571. The battle responded wonderfully to the processions made at Rome on that same day by the members of the Rosary confraternity. St. Pius V thereupon ordered that a commemoration of the Rosary should be made upon that day.

Intercessory prayers offered to the Blessed Mother have ever been most powerful and efficacious. The Rosary in particular has been of great benefit to many.

That the Rosary is pre-eminently the prayer of the people adapted alike for the use of simple and learned is proved not only by the long series of papal utterances by which it has been commended to the faithful but by the daily experience of all who are familiar with it. The objection so often made against its "vain repetitions" is felt by none but those who have failed to realize how entirely the spirit of the exercise lies in the mediation upon the fundamental mysteries of our faith. To the initiated the words of the angelical salutation are not meaningless but are likened to the "Holy, Holy, Holy" of the heavenly choirs and surely not in itself meaningless.

The word Rosary comes from rosarius which means a garland or bouquet of roses. An early legend which after traveling all over Europe penetrated even to Abyssinia connected this name with a story of Our Lady, who was seen to take rosebuds from the lips of a young monk when he was reciting Hail Marys and to weave them into a garland which she placed upon her head. The words Corona or chaplet suggests the same idea as rosarium.

We can truly benefit from the recitation of the rosary if we will contemplate the appropriate mystery as we recite the prayers. We should try to see our Blessed Mother in each of the mysteries and ponder the many points of love: God's love for her; God's love for us; her love for God; and her love for us. This should ultimately lead us to the love of God, His mother, and our fellow men.

For how can we not love if we truly contemplate the mysteries of the Rosary?

The Rosary is one of the most profound books of doctrine that is available to everyone who is willing to take the time to pray. The Rosary has something to offer everyone, both, male and female, learned and unlearned, child and adult, rich or poor, from the highest to the lowest.

In contemplating the mysteries of the Rosary we are contemplating the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary; and in contemplating her life we are of necessity contemplating the life of Jesus Christ. The two lives are intimately connected. And one of the surest paths to Christ is through His mother. The sinner who would dare not approach Christ directly has a wonderful intercessor in the Blessed Virgin Mary.

But, just as Our Lord says: "Not all those who say: `Lord, Lord', shall enter the kingdom of Heaven." so it is with the Rosary; not all those who say Hail Mary shall enter the kingdom of Heaven.

There are many who say their "Rosaries" so that they may be seen before men. They make sure that the whole world knows just how many rosaries they say every day, and are quite proud of themselves. They pay little attention to the lessons being taught in the mysteries of the Rosary and therefore benefit spiritually as much as a parrot that mimics over and over again "Ave Maria".

Likewise there are many who have abandoned the Church and the faith and claim that they are holding on to the Rosary and that the Blessed Mother will protect them in the end, because of her promise.

These too are not truly praying the Rosary for next to the virtue of love, the Rosary also instructs us in the virtues of humility and obedience (and all other virtues). We are instructed in the necessity of the graces that come from the Sacraments, which come only from the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church founded by Christ.

The Blessed Mother would never approve of the Rosary taking the place of devotion to Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament and His Church. The Rosary is a supplement and an aid to give us motives and strength for practicing the Faith, and is never to be a replacement of It.

Those who are not members of the true Faith repeat the words of the Rosary in vain. The only value that such "prayers" might have would be to lead such souls into the true Church where their prayers could be fruitful.