Note from the Bishop
The cats seem to be enjoying the cooler fall weather, as they now like to spend most of their time outdoors. It’s funny though, they found a new way to get in the church offices. Fr. McKenna, who also loves this weather, leaves his office window open during the day. So whenever they get even a little hungry they just hop through his window, sometimes knocking a few things over in the process. I’ve never been a cat person, but these little critters are entertaining!
It has been a good week, I would say! The sacristy is in good order (and it’s only Thursday at the time of this writing) for the Forty Hours preparation. Sr. Eulalia has received help from some generous parishioners. Sr. Ulrica helps in the sacristy a little bit after her long day teaching the kids at school. It is encouraging to see souls so enthusiastic to give a hand. May Our Lord reward them abundantly.
Fr. Lehtoranta put together a nice four-minute video about the Oblates of the Holy Face. Jude McGinnis did a fine job with the filming, while Fr. Lehtoranta has been teaching himself to edit videos. I hope you will take a look at the video. It is on our YouTube page; and also on the Oblates of the Holy Face website. Here is the link: https://www.magnetofsouls.com/post/interview-of-the-sisters. Once you’ve seen it, tell others about it.
One special devotion of our Oblates is to console Our Lord’s Holy Face, already so battered and bruised, by means of reparation, prayer and good works. “There can be no doubt as to the efficacy of the Devotion to the Holy Face, as Pope Leo XIII has settled the matter for all time. Just as devotion to the Sacred Heart was meant to rouse Catholics from their laxity, while also act as a means to prevent France from suffering the French Revolution, devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus is meant to make reparation for the sins of modern disbelievers and to combat the militant atheistic Communism which currently threatens to overwhelm the world.” “Think of the outrages inflicted on Me by the Society of Communists, the enemies of the Church and of Her Christ!” Our Divine Savior said… “‘They have laid their hands upon the anointed of the Lord. But their machinations are vain; their designs shall be foiled. I desire the establishment of the work of reparation! For it is the work of reparation that will disarm God’s justice.’”
To understand Communism properly, one must know that it is not just a political and economic ideology. First and foremost, it is a mortal enemy of the Catholic Church. It has always sought to cause revolution. There was the Communist Revolution in Russia in the early 1900s. Divorce and abortion were approved. Then there was the revolution of the 1960s that brought about a downfall of morals, not to mention the destruction caused by Vatican II. Finally, the global Communist Revolution that started again in 2020 that has brought about cultural and societal changes that we never thought would take place in our lifetime. Little by little, the “errors of Russia” have spread all over the globe.
Here is the dangerous part about the revolution we are facing. The elites have been brilliant in their methods of causing chaos, and this in every part of the world. Chaos, to the Communist, is not an end in itself, but a means to achieve their end. The goal is to cause such turmoil in all aspects of life that the people will actually cry out for a dictator to come and put things in order. But as we see the One-World Church (which is, by no means, the Catholic Church) becoming ever more and more in league with the One-World Government, the dictator that the world will be clamoring for this time is not another Stalin or Hitler, but the very Anti-Christ himself. Some say that the Novus Ordo Church is the Catholic Church and not a false sect, but the Novus Ordo, One-World Church will only give us the Anti-Christ. It is incapable of producing anything good, let alone a true pope. It cannot be both the Church of Christ and of the Anti-Christ. So it is both the One-World Church and the One-World Government that we must never compromise with.
What is the remedy to our difficulties? The Rosary, of course, but also devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus. This Forty Hours, as you worship the Divine Countenance in the Holy Eucharist, make acts of reparation to Him for the sins of the communists and of the world. The Forty Hours Devotion is an opportunity to gain many a grace for ourselves and for the world.
– Bishop McGuire