Mass for the Feast of Christ the King will take place at St Winefride, Holywell tomorrow (Sunday 27th October at 1130am 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! A Low Mass will be celebrated at St Francis of Assisi at Llay |
Oremus pro Pontifice nostro Francisco: Dominus conservet eum, et vivificet eum, et beatum faciat eum in terra, et non tradat eum in animam inimicorum eius.
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui facis mirabilia magna solus: praetende super famulos tuos, et super congregationes illis commissas, spiritum gratiae salutaris; et, ut in veritate tibi complaceant, perpetuum eis rorem tuae benedictionis infunde.
Any views expressed neither represent those of the Latin Mass Society or the Diocese of Wrexham.
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