New Video on ‘Parents as Heroes and Saints’ by Fr de Malleray:
[Summary by Juventutem London:] On the feast of St. Anthony the Abbot, Fr De Malleray, FSSP, begins his homily by reflecting on the family. To be a parent and spouse in contemporary culture is heroic. It is a historic time for antagonism against the family and yet God loves families. He created the first family. Reflecting on the Holy Family inspires us of this truth. God decided to belong to a family. The second person of the Trinity, became the son of a woman, Our Lady, and the foster son of St. Joseph. From the beginning of our race, God expressed His will that humanity should be propagated through family. The first end of marriage is procreation and education of children. The second end of marriage is mutual support of the spouses. Parents have the glorious task of assisting God with populating heaven with new worshippers of the most Holy Trinity. This means not only to beget children but also to raise children to love God. The proof of a successful Christian education is the good example of virtue and the assistance lent by children to their parents and neighbours in need. So families are our heroes; because God wants families. But the world hates families. The world wants to take control of the family, of parents, of children. Why? Because the family as willed by God is the best school of sanctification for children and adults in the world. The world, being inimical to God, wants to control every man and every woman as if God did not exist. Family is the core cell of society. Christian families are domestic churches. Families are where children learn to lead life in common, to share, to listen, to obey, to trust, to serve, to love. Nowhere better than in the family can virtue be acquired. This in turn benefits society at large. Happy and stable families bring balanced and helpful itizens into the world. On the contrary, when families are weak or broken, then addiction, suicide, violence and crime increase. Fr then affirms a truth that soon, could be criminalised: parents are the primary educators of their children. They have this responsibility by natural right since they begot them. The state or any other institution, may assist the parents in the education of the children – but it must be the parent who decides if so. The state has no right to force “eduction” upon children against the parents’ will, especially sexual perversion classes. The state and other institutions may step in to provide for the children’ education if the parents cannot, yet always respecting natural law and divine law. Parental rights: the confiscation of the parental right by the state is the necessary bent of godless societies. This confiscation has been tried and implemented by every tyranny, but most successfully in recent times. Communism, Nazism, and now Hedonist Relativism. On the contrary, healthy families make prosperous countries.
Some examples of what a state worthy of the name should do: Firstly, in its duty to families, the state must provide adequate housing; every family is entitled to own a house. Second: the state must facilitate the transition of the family home from one generation to the next, by not claiming inheritance tax. Thirdly, society must accept that women cannot be replaced in nurturing life and in making the home a place of peace, order, and happiness. This is essential to ordering a society towards salvation. We are bound for eternity, but family life is our best preparation for a happy eternity with God. The supreme service women in the world can give to humanity is fostering life. It has been a great success of cultural communism to persuade the Western world that housewives are a waste. To achieve this lie, the godless have used cinema, literature, sociology, and the parliaments, to powerful effect. The truth is that mothers in the homes are queens. Women raising their children are heroines. Wives investing all they energies and skills into shaping new children of God are among the greatest benefactresses of mankind. Fourth: the authority of the husband and father must be upheld and praised, as described by St. Paul. “He must love his wife as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her.” Fr then mentions a recently released film A Hidden Life, which depicts an authentically-lived Catholic manhood. Fifth: marriage must be protected by law as a permanent and exclusive bond of fidelity between a man and woman in order to raise children. Sixth: pornography, contraception, abortion, surrogacy, IVF, must be curbed and ultimately disappear as contrary to the dignity of men and women, of parents, and of society. Fr then quotes from Pope Francis on the family, highlighting its place in the Christian life.
Fr concludes points out that he has been addressing these issues from the perspective of civil society – but ultimately it is about grace and eternity. Securing a natural order benefits the supernatural order. Strong families make strong countries – and strong countries, inspired by the Catholic faith, prepare a blessed eternity with God. This is what we must all have in mind when praying before the crib and while praying for families. Indeed, individual families are cherished units of the larger family of God, that is, His Holy Church. In the “Hanc Igitur” prayer, the celebrant refers to the Church as the family of God. Fr finishes the sermon by inviting those who might be called to family to beg the Holy Family to inspire, to guide, to heal, and sanctify a;l families. This way parents will not only be heroes, but with their children, they will be saints.
[Full Marian schedule at St Mary’s Shrine Warrington WA1 2NS]
Based on Prayer of Erasmus 1532, Dedication of England to the Mother of God 1893, Prayer for England, Cardinal Griffin’s Act of Consecration 1948, Act of Consecration St John Paul 1982
PRAYER O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our most gentle Queen and Mother, look down in mercy upon England thy “Dowry” and upon us all who greatly hope and trust in thee.
Response
We your faithful people assembled here offer you this country in which we live. Once it was yours, all its children were your children and you were honoured throughout England as its Protectress and its Queen. Again do we consecrate it as your Dowry, and entrust it to your maternal care.
Prayer
By thee it was that Jesus our Saviour and our hope was given unto the world; and He has given thee to us that we might hope still more.
Response
To you we entrust the Church, which invokes you as Mother. On earth you preceded her in the pilgrimage of faith. Comfort her in her difficulties and trials. Make her always the sign and instrument of intimate union with God and of the unity of the whole human race. To you, Mother of the human family, and of the nations, we confidently entrust the whole of humanity with its hopes and fears. Let it not lack the light of true wisdom. Guide it to seek freedom and justice for all. Direct its steps in the ways of peace. Enable all to meet Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Prayer
Plead for us thy children, whom thou didst receive and accept at the foot of the Cross, O sorrowful Mother.
Response
Pray, O Holy Mother of God, for the conversion of heart of the people of England, restoration of the sick, consolation for the troubled, repentance of sinners, peace to the departed. Queen of Peace, pray for us and give to the world the peace for which all peoples are longing, peace in the truth, justice and charity of Christ. Give peace to the nations and to the souls of all, that in peace, the Kingdom of God may prevail.
Prayer
Intercede for our separated brethren, that with us in the one true fold they may be united to the supreme Shepherd, the Vicar of thy Son. ResponseMay your prayers bring back this country to the fullness of its ancient faith. May your intercession lead us to a closer union with your divine Son. We offer you all the people of this land, especially those who know you so little or not at all. May all in our country know Christ, the light of the world and its only Saviour.
Prayer
Pray for us all, dear Mother, that by faith fruitful in good works we may all deserve to see and praise God, together with thee, in our heavenly home.
Response
May we who follow your Son, be fruitful in the good work of building a culture of life in our world, where all human life is treasured and the gift of God’s creation is respected and cared for, so that all may share the fruits of God’s generous love.
V: Pray for us O Holy Mother of God.R: That we may be made worthy of the Promises of Christ.
Let us pray:
O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and our most gentle Queen and Mother, look down in mercy upon England, thy Dowry, and upon us all who greatly hope and trust in thee. By thee it was that Jesus, our Saviour and our hope, was given unto the world; and he has given thee to us that we might hope still more. Plead for us thy children, whom thou didst receive and accept at the foot of the cross, O sorrowful Mother. Intercede for our separated brethren, that with us in the one true fold, they may be united to the Chief Shepherd, the Vicar of thy Son. Pray for us all, dear Mother, that by faith, fruitful in good works, we may all deserve to see and praise God, together with thee in our heavenly home. Amen.
Residential summer camp for boys aged 10 to 17. Based at Savio House, Ingersley Road, Bollington, Macclesfield
The Camp will involve scheduled activities including Holy Mass, prayer and catechetical talks, sports / hiking /games, quizzes, preparing and acting in a drama production and excursions by bus to local places of interest.
Full price £220. Subsidised: £100.
For more information and booking forms contact Fr Phipps: sphipps@fssp.org
Residential summer camp for girls aged 10 to 17. Based at Savio House, Ingersley Road, Bollington, Macclesfield
The Camp will involve scheduled activities including Holy Mass, prayer and catechetical talks, sports / hiking /games, quizzes, preparing and acting in a drama production and excursions by bus to local places of interest.
Full price £220. Subsidised: £100.
For more information and booking forms contact Fr Phipps: sphipps@fssp.org
Please pray for 12 young men from all over the UK discerning God’s calling while on recollection at St Mary’s Shrine in Warrington this weekend.
While low level of comfort makes healthy candidates and priests, please send us donations to convert our newly bought Priory building, so that these men and future guests might not need to sleep on mattresses in the photocopy room or in the parish hall, and that ideally our priests might not need to vacate their own rooms to fit several guests in them.
We warmly recommend watching Terrence Malick’s latest film ‘A Hidden Life’ (UK release 17 January 2020) about unsung hero, Blessed Franz Jägerstätter, who refused to fight for the Nazis in World War II. When the Austrian peasant farmer is faced with the threat of execution for treason, it is his unwavering faith and his love for his wife Fani and children that keeps his spirit alive.
This deeply poetical, familial and (long) film raises many questions. What would we have done? Is there no way one could swear alliegance to save one’s family and one’s life? While Nazi Germany is an easy – often stereotyped – incarnation of evil, asking the same questions about our modern world in 2020 is more challenging. Is it possible that we are compromising? When does prudence end, and when does resistance become necessary? The villagers in the film ostracise Franz and his family because of their moral stance. Are we aware and fearful of a similar risk incurred if we stand up for truth and virtue? Precisely, are we standing up, or are we trying to lie low for as long as we can? Dare we name the forces of oppression in 2020, even though they wear no swastikas up their sleeves?
One wishes that the film had explained the moral distinctions which make some official oaths permissible and others not.
For instance in the Concordat between the Holy See and the German Reich signed on July 20, 1933 [Ratified 10 September 1933] stipulated: “Article 16: Before bishops take possession of their dioceses they are to take an oath of loyalty either to the Reich governor of the state (Land) concerned or to the President of the Reich respectively, according to the following formula: “Before God and on the Holy Gospels I swear and promise, as becomes a bishop, loyalty to the German Reich and to the State (Land) of . . . I swear and promise to honour the legally constituted government and to cause the clergy of my diocese to honour it. With dutiful concern for the welfare and the interests of the German state, in the performance of the ecclesiastical office entrusted to me, I will endeavour to prevent everything injurious which might threaten it.”
The oath which Franz Jägerstätter refused to take as a soldier was the Wehrmacht Oath of Loyalty to Adolf Hitler, 2 August 1934: “I swear to God this sacred oath that to the Leader of the German Reich and people, Adolf Hitler, supreme commander of the armed forces, I shall render unconditional obedience and that as a brave soldier I shall at all times be prepared to give my life for this oath.”
The Catholic faith of Franz is manifest in the film, but less explicit than was the case in his life. After a turbulent (and even sinful) youth, he started taking his faith more and more seriously. Family life made him an exemplary Catholic husband and father. He became the village sacristan. The film should have included at least one holy Mass (there are delightful scenes in his mountain village church). Still, what a pleasant surprise to see a Hollywood blockbuster film depicting the Catholic faith with such accuracy, respect and beauty (the Corpus Christi procession is a little jewel)!
On this eve of the feast of the Holy Family, the most precious gift offered us by Terrence Malick in ‘The Hidden Life’ is his depiction of a deeply Catholic home, where parents, grandmother and children are not spared hardship (working very hard in the fields indeed) but grow in moral stature through their trials embrassed in faith and relying on God’s grace. Aged 94, Fani attended the beatification ceremony of her husband in Rome in 2007, led by Pope Benedict XVI whose own home village was near St Radegund, across the border. No doubt this film can encourage modern families struggling with education, chastity, fidelity – and touch those among our contemporaries who as yet haven’t had the grace of experiencing Catholic family life. Holy Family of Nazareth, please inspire and protect all families!
Closing Title Card “…the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.” -George Eliot, ‘Middlemarch’.
