Catholic Virtues
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
St. Peter’s Sword
When we meditate on the Gospels at times we can have contradictory impressions of the admirable persons who followed Our Lord as disciples of His mission as Redeemer. These men had human reactions proper to our nature when it is not yet tamed by grace, the Sacraments and the force of the Holy Spirit.
Of all the Apostles the most paradigmatic of contradictory explosions is without a doubt St. Peter. When Jesus asked His disciples: “But whom do you say that I am?” Peter stepped forward and said: “Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Mt 16: 15-16) One sees the transcendent reach of these words, “the Son of the living God.” His response was not “God in His eternal glory in Heaven,” but “ the Son of the living God,” God Who took flesh and dwelt in the immaculate womb of Mary His Mother and no longer left us abandoned and alone on this Earth.
Jesus, brimming with love, answered: “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in Heaven.” (Mt 16: 17)
Soon after, Jesus spoke of His Passion and Peter, taking advantage of his primacy over the Apostles, decided to give counsel to the “Son of the living God,” telling Him to not go to Jerusalem to suffer His Passion. Our Lord rejected him, saying: “Get behind me, Satan, thou art a scandal unto me: because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men.” (Mt 16: 23)
We can imagine the human reaction of St. Peter, which would be exactly like ours: “Well, I was just trying to help.” “I am not sure how all this will end, and I am worried since I abandoned my boat and my business in Gallilee to follow Him...” This looks very much like our reactions: When inspired by grace we are lions in the faith. When challenged by the misfortunes of the world, we become cowardly little mice.
At the Last Supper when Jesus in His grandness and humility started to wash the feet of the Apostles, Peter protested magnanimously: “Thou shalt never wash my feet.” Jesus reprehended him paternally:” If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part with me.” Then Peter, always superlative, said: “Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” (Jn 13: 8-9)
And when Jesus started to describe His Passion St. Peter proclaimed: “Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.” It was then that he received the sad news that he would deny Him. Indeed, Our Lord said: “I say to thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, till thou thrice deniest that thou knowest Me.” (Lk 22: 33-34)
Now then, in this seesaw of contradictions we can make a quite legitimate observation. Grace and nature were still fighting in that phase of St. Peter’s life. His grand impulses of human courage could easily be replaced by acts of fear and cowardice.
Crushed by the perspective of a defeat after witnessing Our Lord suffer in the Garden of Olives, he along with St. John and St James, allowed themselves to fall into the sleep of fear and despair. But when the armed soldiers came to imprison the Lord, Peter took his sword and cut off the ear of Malchus. He likely would have continued that skirmish if he had not been prevented from doing so by Jesus. At this moment in time he wanted to die for Our Lord. Soon, later that same night, he would deny Him...
The contradictory St. Peter at times was a hero or at least a braggard, at other times a coward...
And so also are we. The Holy Catholic Church – the Mystical Body of Christ – is attacked: We are moved to defend her with all our love and courage. But the doggedness of the evil ones, the dissensions that divide the good ones in the Church, the lukewarmness and omissions of our brothers in the faith drain our vital energies
The enemies of the Catholic Faith never sleep. They augment the divisions; they induce us to follow traitorous leaders; they entice us to agree with or be tolerant toward the false religions.
But the worst attack consists in creating an atmosphere of euphoria to enjoy life and its pleasures. In this optimistic ambience the essence of reality becomes enjoyment. When one is immersed in this atmosphere, the Gospel of Our Lord appears like something distant and abstract; everything that is Catholic looks tedious and obsolete. The more we adhere to the Revolution, the more everything that is bad looks brilliant and charming and everything that is Catholic appears dull and boring.
How do we counter-attack these aggressions of the devil, the world and the flesh?
Our Lord told us to be vigilant and pray in order not to fall into temptations. How can we be vigilant? We must analyze each one of these aggressions and counter-attack with natural and supernatural means.
Let me delve deeper. How do the enemies of the Church try to divide the good ones and induce them to follow traitorous leaders?
I consider the good to be the counter-revolutionaries, that is, the traditionalists who are inspired not only to return to the past, but to build a new civilization in the future.
They are those Catholics who feel a call to follow this ideal when they enter the fight with the best of intentions. They find themselves in a fragmented field where the true counter-revolutionaries are mixtured with semi-progressivist conservatives, compromised traditionalists and sede-vacantists of different hues that tend to establish separated “churches” which in practice are new Protestant sects without the name.
The enemies, that is, the progressivists, intensify the divisions among these currents in an attempt to keep the true counter-revolutionaries from having their voice heard by public opinion. In addition, they multiply the false leaderships to confuse the good grassroots and keep them from finding an authentic Catholic orientation.
At the Garden of Olives St. Peter cut off the ear of Malchus; Our Lord cured his ear and the soldier converted. St. Peter’s blow was, therefore, instrumental in bringing that man to the true Faith.
We may ask St. Peter to use his sword again to cut off the ears of those who want to emprison Holy Mother Church – progressivists, false rights and sede-vacantists – so that they also may convert and return to the true Faith. May St. Peter also use his ear-curing sword not to cut but to open the ears of the good grassroots so that they can discern the voice of the real counter-revolutionary Catholics.
‘Thou art Peter & on this rock I will build My Church’
Jesus, brimming with love, answered: “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in Heaven.” (Mt 16: 17)
Soon after, Jesus spoke of His Passion and Peter, taking advantage of his primacy over the Apostles, decided to give counsel to the “Son of the living God,” telling Him to not go to Jerusalem to suffer His Passion. Our Lord rejected him, saying: “Get behind me, Satan, thou art a scandal unto me: because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men.” (Mt 16: 23)
We can imagine the human reaction of St. Peter, which would be exactly like ours: “Well, I was just trying to help.” “I am not sure how all this will end, and I am worried since I abandoned my boat and my business in Gallilee to follow Him...” This looks very much like our reactions: When inspired by grace we are lions in the faith. When challenged by the misfortunes of the world, we become cowardly little mice.
At the Last Supper when Jesus in His grandness and humility started to wash the feet of the Apostles, Peter protested magnanimously: “Thou shalt never wash my feet.” Jesus reprehended him paternally:” If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part with me.” Then Peter, always superlative, said: “Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” (Jn 13: 8-9)
‘Thou shalt never wash my feet’
Now then, in this seesaw of contradictions we can make a quite legitimate observation. Grace and nature were still fighting in that phase of St. Peter’s life. His grand impulses of human courage could easily be replaced by acts of fear and cowardice.
Crushed by the perspective of a defeat after witnessing Our Lord suffer in the Garden of Olives, he along with St. John and St James, allowed themselves to fall into the sleep of fear and despair. But when the armed soldiers came to imprison the Lord, Peter took his sword and cut off the ear of Malchus. He likely would have continued that skirmish if he had not been prevented from doing so by Jesus. At this moment in time he wanted to die for Our Lord. Soon, later that same night, he would deny Him...
The contradictory St. Peter at times was a hero or at least a braggard, at other times a coward...
And so also are we. The Holy Catholic Church – the Mystical Body of Christ – is attacked: We are moved to defend her with all our love and courage. But the doggedness of the evil ones, the dissensions that divide the good ones in the Church, the lukewarmness and omissions of our brothers in the faith drain our vital energies
St. Peter cuts off Malchus’ ear
But the worst attack consists in creating an atmosphere of euphoria to enjoy life and its pleasures. In this optimistic ambience the essence of reality becomes enjoyment. When one is immersed in this atmosphere, the Gospel of Our Lord appears like something distant and abstract; everything that is Catholic looks tedious and obsolete. The more we adhere to the Revolution, the more everything that is bad looks brilliant and charming and everything that is Catholic appears dull and boring.
How do we counter-attack these aggressions of the devil, the world and the flesh?
Our Lord told us to be vigilant and pray in order not to fall into temptations. How can we be vigilant? We must analyze each one of these aggressions and counter-attack with natural and supernatural means.
Let me delve deeper. How do the enemies of the Church try to divide the good ones and induce them to follow traitorous leaders?
I consider the good to be the counter-revolutionaries, that is, the traditionalists who are inspired not only to return to the past, but to build a new civilization in the future.
The enemies, that is, the progressivists, intensify the divisions among these currents in an attempt to keep the true counter-revolutionaries from having their voice heard by public opinion. In addition, they multiply the false leaderships to confuse the good grassroots and keep them from finding an authentic Catholic orientation.
At the Garden of Olives St. Peter cut off the ear of Malchus; Our Lord cured his ear and the soldier converted. St. Peter’s blow was, therefore, instrumental in bringing that man to the true Faith.
We may ask St. Peter to use his sword again to cut off the ears of those who want to emprison Holy Mother Church – progressivists, false rights and sede-vacantists – so that they also may convert and return to the true Faith. May St. Peter also use his ear-curing sword not to cut but to open the ears of the good grassroots so that they can discern the voice of the real counter-revolutionary Catholics.
Posted July 26, 2024
______________________
______________________
 Volume I |
 Volume II |
 Volume III |
 Volume IV |
 Volume V |
 Volume VI |
 Volume VII |
 Volume VIII |
 Volume IX |
 Volume X |
 Volume XI |
 Special Edition |