Friday, November 6, 2015

Attack on the Eucharist


Dear members of the Neocatecumenal Way,


After having served you for ten years, celebrating two Holy Masses with you every Saturday evening, as well as many penitential celebrations, I would like to offer you a meditation offered by a priest, Père Laurent Larroque, to over 200 priests and to over 10 bishops during the International Spiritual Exercises of the Marian Movement of Priests, at Collevalenza – Sanctuary of Merciful Love (Madre Speranza), June 21-27, 2015. You might consider this meditation as continuation of my article:
The Neocatecumenal Mass”:






The Subtle and Powerful Attack on the Eucharist






JESUS IN THE EUCHARIST (1)


In my first circular letter (2014), I said, picking up the thought of Don Stefano, that we are facing four problems against Jesus in the Eucharist, problems that can also be called attacks against Jesus in the Eucharist: real attacks and not just problems, in the times in which we live: 1) against the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist; 2) as a result, against the signs around Jesus in the Tabernacle, marked by great negligence, and against the times of public adoration of Jesus in the Eucharist in the monstrance, marked by great scarcity; 3) against Holy Communion in the state of grace, with a growing spread of Communion in the state of mortal sin, thus committing sacrileges against Jesus in the Eucharist; and finally 4) very subtle but very determined, against the sacrificial nature of the Mass.


In counterattack, Our Lady, in her Book, to help us be the little flock of the faithful in the true faith in Jesus Eucharist, accomplishes, I think, three things: 1) She opens our eyes to this crisis in the four areas: 2) She gives us the solution with her three beautiful Eucharistic messages, "of incomparable beauty," as Don Stefano used to say: the solution is adoration, the awaiting for the return of Jesus in glory; and, of course, 3) She opens our heart to hope, making us realize how close the return of Jesus in glory will be also, and is very logical, the glorification of his Real Presence in the Eucharist.


In contrattacco, la Madonna, nel suo Libro, per aiutarci ad essere il piccolo gregge dei fedeli nella vera fede in Gesù Eucaristia, compie, mi sembra, tre cose: 1) Ci apre gli occhi su questa crisi nei quattro settori: 2) Ci dà la soluzione con i suoi tre bellissimi messaggi eucaristici, "di una bellezza incomparabile", come soleva dire don Stefano: la soluzione è l'adorazione, nell'attesa del ritorno di Gesù nella Gloria; e, appunto, 3) Ci apre il cuore alla speranza, facendoci capire quanto il vicino ritorno di Gesù nella gloria sarà anche, ed è molto logico, la glorificazione della sua Presenza reale nella Eucaristia.


In these my four meditations, I take up again with you these three aspects. For over a year I am traveling around the world, with great joy, to talk about these things and I was able to deepen more and more, quoting almost always the same messages. First I quote and then I comment.




The Real Presence


“… My motherly Heart is once again torn to see how widespread, even among priests, are the doubts concerning the divine presence of my Son Jesus in the mystery of the Eucharist. And thus indifference towards the sacrament of the Eucharist spreads, adoration and prayer are snuffed out, and the sacrileges of those who approach it in a state of mortal sin increase day by day. Alas, even among priests the number of those who celebrate the Eucharist without any longer believing in it is increasing. Some of these deny the real presence of my Son Jesus; others would restrict it to the time of the celebration of Holy Mass; and still others reduce it to a presence that is merely spiritual and symbolic. These errors continue to spread despite the fact that the doctrine has been clearly reaffirmed by the Magisterium, especially the Pope. The time will come when, unfortunately, this error will have even more supporters; and in the Church, the perfume of adoration and of the Holy Sacrifice will be, as it were, extinguished. And thus the abomination of desolation which has already made its way into the holy temple of God, will reach its culmination.” (December 24, 1977)


Some priests deny the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. They have become Protestants, even though they still have a place in the Catholic Church. Others, more subtly, believe in the Real Presence, but only for the duration of the Mass! The other day, in Costa Rica, I was there to give my meditation in front of a group of Apostles of the Movement, and one of the nuns who accommodated us and was listening, she got up to give her testimony: there is a type of prayer group, which could also be a powerful movement in the Church, which really gives the impression of being in this case ... It seems that they never need to celebrate in a church; and even if they celebrate in this chapel where the Blessed Sacrament is, it does not seem that they take it into account. They bring their table, which they put before the altar; they carry their own type of unleavened bread, and at communion, they always consume everything without ever having a reserve of consecrated Hosts to be placed in the Tabernacle. Not only do they never make use of the Tabernacle, but even if there is one, the nun must repeat to them, "Look, here's the Blessed Sacrament, please, a minimum of gestures of attention ...".


"Open your eyes, my brethren - I said to the faithful a little bit everywhere - because it truly seems that this way of doing things is spreading a lot throughout the Church, that seems to correspond to the heresy of which Our Lady is speaking about: some reduce the Real Presence only for the duration of the Mass ...".


Others reduce the presence of Jesus in a spiritual and symbolic presence only. As if Jesus had said: "This is the symbol of my body." Jesus, who is the Word of God, and Who was about to die, giving us the supreme witness of His Love and of His Power, could have told us, if he knew that it was only His symbolic presence! "This is something too incredible to believe, my friends, and so do not worry, I tell you immediately: this is only a symbolic presence of Myself in your midst"! But no! Jesus, the Word of God, did not say it in this way; He said: "This is My Body."


He already had shocked everyone by announcing that He would give His flesh to eat and His blood to drink ... The Word of God in person knows what he says, no? "I, the Lord, say and do," as He says in Ez 37:14, when He raises a whole host of dead people. He is the Almighty! There is no limit to His power to do as He says! So already at the creation, "let there be Light! And there was Light." "This is My Body!" And this is His Body. "My words are spirit and life." If someone is small, he will enter into the mystery; if he is a great wise and intelligent one, to him the mystery will be hidden.


I like citing here the verse of "Adoro te devote, lateens Deitas": Visus, tactus, gustus, in te fallitur; -- Sed auditu solo tuto creditur: Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius -- Nil hoc verbo veritatis verius. To see, to touch, to taste do not help at all before Jesus Eucharist; but having heard with my ears, I believe all: yes truly, even if I do not sense anything with the other senses, I believe all with the hearing of the sound of the Word of the Son of God, the incarnate Word Who said: “this is My Body”. There is not a more true word than this word of the Son of God. It is an absolute certainty. Even if one goes against the actual dictatorship of relativism, where it is said that it is not possible to have certain absolutes (relative is the opposite of absolute). In this dictatorship, the one who has certain absolutes can be accused of fanaticism… Nil hoc verbo veritatis verius! It is a joyous absolute certainty! Even if I have to die a martyr under this dictatorship!


"Reducing the presence of Jesus in a spiritual and symbolic presence only" comes from rationalism (born, as Mary explains in her book, as a result of Protestantism): to want to put religion within the limits of reason. To desire to explain the Word of God with the sole force of human reason; a very nice strength, but very limited to understand the infinite mystery of God: just as - as don Stefano used to say - you cannot put the ocean in a bathtub! Rationalism proceeds from pride, and is, as Mary says, the attitude less suitable to approach the mystery of God, and especially to the mystery of the hidden God, the "hidden manna," the Eucharist. Then Our Lady continues:
These errors continue to spread despite the fact that the doctrine has been clearly reaffirmed by the Magisterium, especially the Pope.”


In 1977 the Pope is Blessed Pope Paul VI. He pronounced a beautiful "Profession of Faith", the "Credo of the People of God", on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29, 1968. And Mary told us in this way:
Recite often the profession of faith, composed by the first of my beloved sons, Pope Paul VI, now up here with me, as he foresaw these difficult moments.” (December 3, 1986, 340, h)


Not only "read it once in your life to the full", but "recited often" this profession of faith of Paul VI, because not only is it the pure doctrine of the faith, but more, it tries to expose the errors of our time, especially rationalism, which has led to subjectivism and relativism (which has now become this "dictatorship of relativism" as Card. Ratzinger said on the eve of his election).


Perhaps I should give here the definition of these concepts:
Subjectivism = the truth can not be objective, it is given only in part to the human subject, to limited man in his ability to understand; there is no objective truth, but just different opinions (to be respected out of tolerance ...); thus there is not a valid Revelation of God for everyone; each person therefore must make do with this Revelation.
Relativism = one cannot say that there is an absolute truth; the truth is known only in part, and those who say that it can be known with certainty are to be denounced as dangerous fanatics (no tolerance for the enemies of tolerance! - the dictatorship of relativism).


I cite here (without citing all of it) two clear paragraphs on the Eucharist of Pope Paul VI in his "Profession of Faith":
We believe that the Mass, celebrated by the priest representing the person of Christ by virtue of the power received through the Sacrament of Orders, and offered by him in the name of Christ and the members of His Mystical Body, is the sacrifice of Calvary rendered sacramentally present on our altars. We believe that as the bread and wine consecrated by the Lord at the Last Supper were changed into His body and His blood which were to be offered for us on the cross, likewise the bread and wine consecrated by the priest are changed into the body and blood of Christ enthroned gloriously in heaven, and we believe that the mysterious presence of the Lord, under what continues to appear to our senses as before, is a true, real and substantial presence. (Cf. Dz.-Sch. 1651) (http://w2.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19680630_credo.html).


Christ therefore can not be present in this sacrament except by the change into His body of the reality itself of the bread and the change into His blood of the reality itself of the wine, leaving unchanged only the properties of bread and wine which our senses perceive. This mysterious change is called by the Church, very appropriately, transubstantiation. Every theological explanation which might try to penetrate in some way this mystery, to be in accord with Catholic faith, must firmly maintain that in the objective reality, independently of our spirit (mind), the bread and wine have ceased to exist after the consecration, so that from that moment on they are the adorable Body and the Blood of the Lord Jesus to be really before us under the sacramental species of bread and wine (cf.. Dz-Sch. 1642, 1651-1654; Paul VI, Encyclical Mysterium Fidei), just like the Lord wanted, to give Himself to us as food and to associate us with the unity of His Mystical Body (cf.. Summa Theologica 111, 73, 3).


The unique and indivisible existence of the glorious Lord in the heaven is not multiplied, but is rendered present by the Sacrament in the many places on earth where Mass is celebrated. After the sacrifice, this existence remains present in the Blessed Sacrament, which is, in the tabernacle, the living heart of each of our churches. And it is for us a very sweet duty to honor and adore in the blessed Host, which our eyes see, the Incarnate Word, which they cannot see and that, without leaving heaven, is made present before us."




Tabernacle


There are some points here that I must underscore: Pope Paul VI wrote: "The tabernacle is the living heart of each of our churches" ... How much it hurts then this widespread custom today to put our Eucharistic Jesus no longer even in a corner the church, but even more: to put Him outside of His church, in a chapel of adoration, with the excuse to protect and worship Him better! It is not true!


For me this custom - which we do not know where it comes from -, this custom to put Jesus on the side, is the mystery of the antichrist in act: to want Jesus outside of his church to put oneself in His place. You can not enter certain churches without having this very bad impression "they took away Jesus in order to put man in His place." And in fact, while the tabernacle is nowhere to be found in the church, because it is in a chapel at the entrance of the church, almost outside of his Church, we see instead the seat of the celebrant as a marble throne, high up on a solid foundation, as if to say: now man reigns in the Church, and the stone base, that is, the tabernacle, was rejected by the builders. And one finds the temple of God empty of God Himself! Once I even entered a church, empty of His tabernacle. Seeking to find it, I entered the sacristy, and there at the end of the room, where it was written "exit", I finally found the little chapel of the Blessed Sacrament. For me it was all a symbol to tell me: "they have put you out of the Church, O Jesus." I had to meet with the archbishop of the city, and I was not able to not talk to him about this custom in the church. He replied to me: yes. it is true, I do not even understand this fashion myself, which goes against the provisions of the Eucharist guidelines of the Church, written in the Instruction of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, "Redemptionis Sacramentum," on March 25, 2004. Then I went to check , and in fact it has written thus:


[130] “In accordance with the structure of each church and legitimate local customs, the Most Blessed Sacrament should be reserved in a tabernacle in a part of the church that is truly noble, prominent, conspicuous, worthily decorated,” and not only this, in virtue of the tranquility of the place, of the space before the tabernacle and of the presence of benches or chairs and pews, “suitable for prayer". Cfr. also CIC 938.2: "The Tabernacle ... will be placed in a ... significant, visible, with ornate decor, suitable for prayer." So not a church where you have to go through the sacristy, with the word "Exit", to finally find Jesus in the tabernacle ... Our Lady says:
Jesus in the Eucharist will once again be the center of your ecclesial gatherings, because the Church is his temple, his house which has been built above all that his divine presence may shine forth in your midst. Beloved sons, in these present times the darkness has alas obscured even the tabernacle; around it there is so much emptiness, so much indifference, so much negligence. Each day, doubts, denials and sacrileges increase.
The Eucharistic Heart of Jesus is wounded anew by his own, in his own house, in the very place where He has taken up his divine dwelling in your midst.
Become again perfect adorers and fervent ministers of Jesus in the Eucharist who, through you, makes Himself again present, immolates Himself anew and gives Himself to souls. Bring everyone to Jesus in the Eucharist: by adoration, by communion and by a greater love. (June 14, 1979)
Jesus is surrounded today by an emptiness, which has been brought about especially by you priests who, in your apostolic activity, often go about uselessly and very much on the periphery, going after things which are less important and more secondary and forgetting that the center of your priestly day should be here, before the tabernacle, where Jesus is present and is kept especially for you.
He is also surrounded by the indifference of many of my children, who live as if He were not there and, when they enter church for liturgical functions, are not aware of his divine and real presence in your midst. Often Jesus in the Eucharist is placed in some isolated corner whereas He should be placed in the center of the church, and He should be placed at the center of your ecclesial gatherings, because the church is his temple which has been built first for Him and then for you.
What causes deep bitterness to my motherly Heart is the way in which Jesus, present in the tabernacle, is treated in many churches, where He is placed in a little corner, as though He were some object or other to be made use of, for your ecclesial gatherings.” (August 8,1986)




Sacrileges


Help everyone to approach the Eucharistic Jesus in a worthy manner, by cultivating in the faithful an awareness of sin, by inviting them to present themselves for the sacrament of Holy Communion in the state of grace, by educating them in the practice of frequent confession, which becomes necessary before receiving the Eucharist for those who are in mortal sin.
Beloved sons, build a dam to hold back the flood of sacrileges. Never before as in these present times have so many communions been made and in such an unworthy manner. The Church is deeply wounded by the multiplication of sacrilegious communions! The time has come when your heavenly Mother says: enough!” (June 14, 1979)


John Paul II, in Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 36, cites St. Paul and St. John Chrysostom (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_17042003_ecclesia-de-eucharistia_en.html):
Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1 Cor 11:28). Saint John Chrysostom, with his stirring eloquence, exhorted the faithful: “I too raise my voice, I beseech, beg and implore that no one draw near to this sacred table with a sullied and corrupt conscience. Such an act, in fact, can never be called 'communion', not even were we to touch the Lord's body a thousand times over, but 'condemnation', 'torment' and 'increase of punishment'”.


And then the Pope quotes the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1385; I had already mentioned this in my first circular letter): "Along these same lines, the Catechism of the Catholic Church rightly stipulates that “anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion”. I therefore desire to reaffirm that in the Church there remains in force, now and in the future, the rule by which the Council of Trent gave concrete expression to the Apostle Paul's stern warning when it affirmed that, in order to receive the Eucharist in a worthy manner, “one must first confess one's sins, when one is aware of mortal sin"."


What did Saint Paul say? "Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself" (1Cor 11:28-29).


The Council of Trento puts in practical terms this stern warning of St. Paul saying that you can not communicate in the state of mortal sin, if not, then not only does one not receive any grace, but one commits a more serious sin, that of sacrilege. And Pope John Paul II, with courage, says: "I therefore desire to reaffirm that in the Church there remains in force, now and in the future, the rule” according to which “one must first confess one's sins, when one is aware of mortal sin".


It is true that on the pastoral level, we have to say these things with prudence, with love, to not scare away the people, or to avoid being beaten by some church authorities, who could accuse us of being bad shepherds and rigorists. I learned for example to warn people just before communion, in order to not take people inside out psychologically, without allowing them time to reflect on their own: if I have to talk about these things it is because I feel that there are many who may approach communion while they seem so far away from the church, then I talk about these things in the homily, in a clear way, without being too vague, if not, they do not understand anything, but also with love in order to make understood my point of view.


The encyclical continues (No. 37): " The two sacraments of the Eucharist and Penance are very closely connected." So I read the injunction of Jesus to Peter, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with me" (Jn 13:8), that is: If there is no confession, there can be no communion. Especially if someone says: "I confess directly to God”! Ah yes? Then go to communicate directly to God!


Then there is the problem of the divorced already married in the church who would like to approach the communion. We know that if they want to communicate, either it is necessary first an official canonical statement, of the nullity of a previous marriage, or you have to live as brothers and sisters ... that is, undertake a journey of penance. It would be in line with the evangelical teaching, because in the Gospel regarding this problem Jesus was very clear: He calls adultery the second marriage (Mk 10:11-12). In Familiaris Consortio, Pope John Paul many years ago (1981) gave clear and evangelical paragraphs on this theme (n "84):
However, the Church reaffirms her practice, which is based upon Sacred Scripture, of not admitting to Eucharistic Communion divorced persons who have remarried. They are unable to be admitted thereto from the fact that their state and condition of life objectively contradict that union of love between Christ and the Church which is signified and effected by the Eucharist. Besides this, there is another special pastoral reason: if these people were admitted to the Eucharist, the faithful would be led into error and confusion regarding the Church's teaching about the indissolubility of marriage.
Reconciliation in the sacrament of Penance which would open the way to the Eucharist, can only be granted to those who, repenting of having broken the sign of the Covenant and of fidelity to Christ, are sincerely ready to undertake a way of life that is no longer in contradiction to the indissolubility of marriage. This means, in practice, that when, for serious reasons, such as for example the children's upbringing, a man and a woman cannot satisfy the obligation to separate, they "take on themselves the duty to live in complete continence, that is, by abstinence from the acts proper to married couples”.”


So, there are situations subjectively different, with degrees of guilt or of justice, which must be taken into consideration by us, pastors; but, I hope that the law, which is the same for all, might be clear at least for us priests. Subjective situation must not become subjectivism, that is, as if it were left to my discretion as a priest the possibility to give or not the communion, in secret, for example. The situation of the divorced and remarried is objectively a situation that makes it impossible the reception of Holy Communion, even if they are very good in other respects.


There remains in force, now and in the future, the rule” he says St. John Paul II can not change the substance of the sacraments of the Eucharist and of Marriage. It is not the Church that must convert to the world, it is the world which must convert and believe in the Gospel.




The sacrificial dimension of the Mass


I am always at your side when you celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which renews that accomplished by Jesus on the Cross. With Jesus who, by means of you, today carries out his Sacrifice, I am always at the side of each altar to offer with you to the Heavenly Father, on my Immaculate Heart, the precious Victim of our redemption.
Today it is necessary to shed greater light upon the value of Holy Mass as the Sacrifice which renews, in an unbloody but true manner, that accomplished by Jesus on Calvary.” (July 5, 1984)


Today it is necessary to shed greater light upon the value of Holy Mass as…” supper? or as Sacrifice? For 50 years, the catechisms that I was able to use in France, all without exception bring out the aspect of supper and minimize even to the total disappearance of the sacrificial aspect of the Mass. Already 20 years ago, doing a course for the catechists, I had taken the CCC on the Eucharist, which develops as it should be the sacrificial dimension of the Mass, and I had some catechists who rebelled because I did not speak enough of the Mass as a fraternal and festive moment... I take up again John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 10, quoted in my two circular letters:


"In various parts of the Church abuses have occurred, leading to confusion with regard to sound faith and Catholic doctrine concerning this wonderful sacrament. At times one encounters an extremely reductive understanding of the Eucharistic mystery. Stripped of its sacrificial meaning, it is celebrated as if it were simply a fraternal banquet."


And unfortunately this is seen very often. Everything seems arranged to make of the Mass a type of "one-man-show" of the celebrant, with many interventions that prolong much the Liturgy of the Word, sometimes very noisy, to then reduce the moment of the Consecration to a minimum. It also seems strange to me the fact that some celebrants, after the words of Consecration, they do not raise the Host above themselves: only up to their level, as if to say that Eucharistic Jesus is not to be raised up too much... The then with such hurry that it truly seems that one want to mistreat Him… But one must not judge; some may take long genuflections and be pure movie actors...


If you lose the sacrificial dimension of the Mass, then you lose the sacrificial dimension of the priesthood, and of Baptism.


If the mass is no longer the Sacrifice of Jesus, then it is no longer the center of the life of the Priest, who has to live, as he promised at his ordination, conforming his life to the Cross of the Lord, that is, making the Mass the center of his sacrificed life for Jesus and for souls. If for the priest is no longer the way to say with Jesus, "this is my body priestly offered in the same moment and in the same movement of the offering of Jesus to His Father," then everything is empty of meaning. It is the abomination of desolation.


If the mass is no longer the Sacrifice of Jesus, then it is no longer the center of the life of the baptized, of the Christian, the offertory is no longer the offering of his life with Jesus... Sometimes you see at the offertory dances, bringing all the fruits of the earth; okay, but, I'm afraid this is done losing sight of the true meaning of the offertory, the union of our life with the Sacrifice of Jesus.


Every life is a Mass, and every soul is a host, Marthe Robin used to say. This one can not lose sight of without losing the whole of Christianity. This would the abomination of desolation.


I think at the scene of Isaac who goes with his father Abraham to the place of sacrifice (Gen 22): "Father," he says. "Yes, my son, tell me" "I see well enough the wood for the fire, and the knife ... But I do not see the lamb for the sacrifice ...". So you can imagine the poor father who raises his agonizing eyes to Heaven asking God's help ... And I imagine that it is effectuated then the word that Jesus would say one day: "Abraham rejoiced to see my day; it he saw it and was glad" (Jn 8:56). Then he turns to his son: "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." It will be Jesus... And behold comes finally John the Baptist, after so many centuries, showing Jesus: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold the promised Lamb, behold the One who takes away the sin of the world!" (Jn 1:29) .


We say in the Gloria and shortly before the Communion: "Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us...." Sometimes we are so used to these words that we no longer care to Whom we are speaking to... Jesus, the Lamb of God pre-announced by the Father so many centuries ago, "foreordained already before the foundation of the world", as St. Peter (1Peter 1:20), it is He Who gives Himself to us in the sacrifice of Himself in every Mass. And the consecrated Host is Host because it means the victim. It is not a type of bread...


And we, priests, what do we say, then? We are the new John the Baptist: let us take the host and say, “Behold Him! Behold the Lamb of God established before the world to keep the world in existence, behold the One Who with His Sacrifice redeems the world "; without Him, without the Mass, without the priest, the world no longer has any meaning, no reason to even exist! And what does John the Baptist still say? "O mankind, I call you, come to your Spouse. The One who has the bride is the divine Spouse. The One Who has the bride, that is humanity, is the Bridegroom, Jesus, God who came to marry humanity. But I, a priest, am the friend of the Bridegroom, and I rejoice in hearing the voice of the Bridegroom, when He calls humanity to say yes to Him, to become His bride. (Because you can not have a marriage without a mutual yes).


The yes of Jesus is His Incarnation up to the giving of Himself on the Cross. The yes humanity is faith in Him, in His total and faithful Love. And this He does being the Lamb sacrificed for the Redemption of the world. And this is my joy, says John the Baptist (Jn 3:29); and it is my joy, says the priest, to bring humanity to Its Spouse through faith, and my joy is complete in this way: especially when I show to humanity, which is held here in front of me at Mass, the consecrated Host saying to the Bride: behold, I the friend of the Bridegroom, I tell you that you are blessed for your wedding with Jesus: behold the Lamb of God, blessed are the invited ones to the great eternal banquet of the Marriage of the Lamb! And I, a priest, I find my joy complete in this way, in my being a friend of the Bridegroom. I do not need to go to find other joys in the world, in the pleasure in the world, in seeking the vain glory of the world, or even in alcohol, or in amusements, in the compensations otherwise lawful or totally misleading ... My joy is complete to be a new John the Baptist who shows the Lamb of God, to the supreme witness.


Then I add, as Don Stefano used to say: do not be surprised if Satan has succeeded in sifting you, in biting the heel of Mary which we are, making us fall into his snares. Do not be discouraged. Come to confession and re-begin more confident of our mercy of our Friend, in order to be more compassionate towards our sheep.


All this to tell you that in the Mass, as sacrifice, we live our own mystery, inviting all to the Marriage of the Lamb, and by finding our joy in the sacrifice of ourselves together to Him: "Humanity belongs to You, Jesus, you have entrusted it to me, however, you must grow in their heart, but I must decrease, in the joy of seeing humanity go to you". "Today it is necessary to put in greater light the value of the Holy Mass, (the value of the priesthood, the value of Baptism) as a Sacrifice."


Tutto questo per dirvi che alla Messa, come Sacrificio, noi viviamo il nostro proprio mistero, invitando tutti alle Nozze dell'Agnello, e trovando la nostra gioia nel sacrificio di noi stessi insieme a Lui: "La umanità ti appartiene, Gesù; tu me l'hai affidata, però, tu deve crescere nel loro cuore, e io invece diminuire, nella gioia di vedere l'umanità andare a te" "Oggi è necessario mettere in maggiore luce il valore della Santa Messa, (il valore del Sacerdozio, il valore del Battesimo) come Sacrificio".
"In the Eucharist, Jesus Christ is truly present with his glorified Body and his Divinity. And so ecclesiastical Masonry, in many and subtle ways, seeks to attack the ecclesial devotion towards the sacrament of the Eucharist. It gives value only to the meal aspect, tends to minimize its sacrificial value, seeks to deny the real and personal presence of Jesus in the consecrated Host.
In this way there are gradually suppressed all the external signs which are indicative of faith in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, such as genuflections, hours of public adoration and the holy custom of surrounding the tabernacle with lights and flowers." (13 June 1989)


Thank you, Mary, for opening our eyes to these problems: they are not matters of taste or liturgical sensibility in the Church; no, they are a real attack against the Eucharist, all these ways of putting Jesus aside; to put the tabernacle on the side and often lower than the chair of the celebrant (which is often put at the center, big and wide as a prince); to make brown instead of white hosts; (they make them crumbly instead of compact, always with many fragments of which no one cares about; taking large hosts which then must be divided, with many drawbacks. Then I suffer, in so many Masses that live touring the world, the systematic simplification of the offertory, or the purifications after Communion: even there, a way to despise the signs of respect to Eucharistic Jesus. It would be necessary to read again well and obey Redemptionis Sacramentum of the Congregation for Divine Worship, 2004.


If one wants to make the Eucharist respected: genuflections etc., you become easily labeled as a traditionalist, a fundamentalist, a retarded person, behind the times… There is need the Defender in order to not let ourselves become disturbed by all these accusations!


You know that in the Bible the accuser is Satan; that the Defender (the defense Advocate) is the name that Jesus gives to the Holy Spirit in the speech after the last supper, when He announces the hatred of the world against the disciples ... One is no longer talking about tastes or liturgical sensitivity, one is talking about the great eschatological attack of the end times! This is a conviction that I tried to present in my Circular Letter of 2015:


The Antichrist must substitute himself for the true Christ in the Church. Where is "the same Christ, our Passover" (CCC 1324) in the Church? In the Eucharist. Thus the fight is focused on the Mystery of the Eucharist. In 2Thess 2,3-4 it reads that the Antichrist "exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship," that is above the Eucharist. He never does it openly, but always with subtle ambiguity, so that in the end the antichrist will succeed in "abolishing the sacrifice" (Daniel 12:11).


"By accepting the Protestant doctrine, people will hold that the Mass is not a sacrifice but only a sacred meal, that is to say, a remembrance of that which Jesus did at his Last Supper." (December 31, 1992, 485 g)


It is worth our while to look again at the entire paragraph in the our Book:
THE FOURTH SIGN (OF THE END TIMES) IS THE HORRIBLE SACRILEGE, perpetrated by him who sets himself against Christ, that is, the Antichrist. He will enter into the holy temple of God and will sit on his throne and have himself adored as God. [Our Lady cites Saint Paul:] “This one will oppose and exalt himself against everything that men adore and call God.
[What is it that men adore and call God, if not Jesus in the Eucharist? For me Saint Paul announces the attack in the end times against the Eucharist].
The lawless one will come by the power of Satan, with all the force of false miracles and pretended wonders. He will make use of every kind of wicked deception, in order to work harm.” (cf. 2Thes 2:4-9). [Jesus Himself speaks of this:]
One day, you will see in the holy place he who commits the horrible sacrilege. The prophet Daniel spoke of this. Let the reader [of Daniel] seek to understand.' (cf. Mt 24:15)
Beloved children, in order to understand in what this horrible sacrilege consists, read what has been predicted by the prophet Daniel:
Go, Daniel; these words are to remain secret and sealed until the end time. Many will be cleansed, made white and upright, but the wicked will persist in doing wrong. Not one of the wicked will understand these things, but the wise will comprehend.
Now, from the moment that the daily Sacrifice is abolished and the horrible abomination is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he who waits with patience and attains one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.” (Dn 12:9-12).
[Then Our Lady explains the sense of the prophecies of Daniel:]
The Holy Mass is the daily Sacrifice, the pure oblation which offered to the Lord everywhere, from the rising of the sun to its going down.
[Also here, Our Lady refers to a passage of the Bible, Mal 1:11, used in the Eucharistic Prayer No. 3]
The Sacrifice of the Mass renews that which was accomplished by Jesus on Calvary. By accepting the Protestant doctrine, [here is used the excuse of the value of Ecumenism] people will hold that the Mass is not a sacrifice but only a sacred meal, that is to say, a remembrance of that which Jesus did at his Last Supper. And thus, the celebration of Holy Mass will be suppressed.
[And no one will see anything wrong, because we are all blinded by so many bad habits and ways of thinking, that everyone will find this as good!]
In this abolition of the daily Sacrifice consists the horrible sacrilege accomplished by the Antichrist, which will last about three and a half years, namely, one thousand two hundred and ninety days. (December 31, 1992, 4th sign)


Thank God; Mary says that this time of abomination will not last long. Hard times, but ephemeral times. And I interpret: afterwards, all the promises of Fatima will be fulfilled, and all the promises of the Bible: the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the return of Jesus in glory, glorifying also His Real Presence in the Consecrated Hosts in all the tabernacles of the earth, to the admiration of those who will see Him whom they have pierced.


"Look! Jesus Christ is coming amid the clouds, and everyone will see Him, even those who killed Him; and all the races of the earth will mourn over Him. Yes, amen. I am the First and the Last, says God, the Lord who is, who was and who is to come, the Ruler of all the universe.” (Nov. 22, 1992)


But first, those who oppose this pseudo-universal fraternal reconciliation, which will seduce all of humanity - because few will have their eyes open to see that there is being sacrificed the truth of Jesus in the Eucharist (cfr. CCC 675), to see that this is the great apostasy of antichrist – they will be considered enemies of ecumenism, enemies of fraternity, enemies of reconciled humanity.


"You are being called more and more to become the apostles and new martyrs of Jesus, present in the Eucharist. And so you must increase your reparation, your adoration and your life of piety. The Eucharistic Heart of Jesus will work great things in each of you.” (13 July 1978)




I mentioned already twice in my two circular letters this phrase of John Paul II, but it is so relevant that I repeat it again: "The Eucharist is too great a gift to tolerate ambiguity and depreciation." (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 10).


The instruction "Redemptionis Sacramentum," also cites 11. Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 52: The Mystery of the Eucharist "it is too great for anyone to feel free to treat it lightly and with disregard for its sacredness and its universality". To the contrary anyone, even if Priest, who acts in this way, satisfying their inclinations, injures the substantial unity of the Roman Rite, which must be vigorously preserved, and performs actions in no way consistent with the hunger and thirst for the living God felt today by the people, neither does he carry out authentic pastoral activity or proper liturgical renewal, but instead, he deprives the faithful of their patrimony and of their heritage. For arbitrary actions are not conducive to true renewal, but detrimental to the proper right of the faithful to a liturgical celebration that is an expression of life of the Church according to her tradition and her discipline. In addition, they introduce elements of distortion and disharmony in the same Eucharistic celebration that, in an eminent way and by its very nature, aims to signify and to wondrously bring about the communion of divine life and the unity of the people of God. The result is uncertainty of doctrine, perplexity and scandal of the People of God and, almost inevitably, bitter reactions: all elements in our time, in which the Christian life is often particularly difficult on account of the inroads of "secularization", confuse and notably afflict many faithful." (Cf. Congregation, Instruction Inaestimabile donum, 1980).


Against this atmosphere of confusion and sadness, Maria gives us a great light and a great joy: her Movement! And her promises give us a great and powerful hope, superior to all the human motives to dispare: Jesus is about to glorify, and He will do so "now", His Real Presence in the Eucharist!


Père Laurent Larroque


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To read the second meditation of Père Laurent Larroque on the same theme, visit:
The Progressive Protestantization of the Catholic Mass


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