I’ve never understood this Bible passage from Matthew 11:12: “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of Heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force.” – Hugh from Massachusetts

Dear Hugh,

This passage from Matthew reads with a certain harshness to our ears, especially considering the plethora of passages that portray the contrary image of meekness as the model of Christian virtue. “A quiet and a meek spirit which is rich in the sight of God” (1 Peter 3:4; cf. James 1:21; 1 Corinthians 4:21). Moreover, Christ explicitly commands meekness: “Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart” (Matthew 11:29), and even enrolls it in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:4).

But the passivity in the above passages is only one face of Christian warfare. As Josef Pieper says,

There lies a broad field of active worldly endeavor and the struggle for the realization of the good against the opposition of stupidity, laziness, blindness and malevolence. Christ Himself… whose earthly life was entirely permeated and formed by His readiness for sacrificial death, to which He went “like a lamb to the slaughter”—Christ drove the money-changers from the temple with a whip.[1]

The kingdom of heaven is not attained by a weak, unresponsive, victim-oriented psyche, but rather a robust combative vigor is required for certain situations. The warrior image resides behind St. Paul’s lists of military armaments (Romans 13:12; 2 Corinthians 6:7; Ephesians 6:13-17). Albeit, we must always bear in mind that this warfare is primarily spiritual. “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty to God, unto the pulling down of fortifications, destroying counsels, and every height that exalts itself against God; bringing into captivity every understanding unto the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). Very often the combat required is against the flesh—“I so fight, not as one beating the air. But I chastise my body and bring it into subjection” (1 Corinthians 9:26-27). Christian life requires tremendous effort against all things which impede discipleship to Christ. It is a violent affair analogous to warfare. Thus, St. Paul’s final farewell to Timothy should be no surprise to us: “I have fought a good fight” (2 Timothy 4:7).

Though the word violence strikes us with force, its proper understanding is in the above citations. Not as something opposed to meekness, but as something that is required by the virtue of meekness. One must not let fear or despair forestall grace and sanctification. Some situations require forbearance, yet not all…“if thy hand, or thy foot, scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee” (a violent image indeed!). “It is better for thee to go into life maimed or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire” (Matthew 18:8).[2]

The key to the passage resides in the timeframe Christ places as an introduction, i.e., “From the days of John the Baptist until now.” Turn to the Baptist to understand the spiritual sense of “men of violence.” The Baptist was himself a dynamo, explosive and bursting in energy. According to Jerome, the symbol of Mark’s Gospel is a lion precisely because it commences with the voice of the
Baptist “roaring” in the wilderness: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord” (Mark 1:3).[3] The life of the Baptist was an example of what he preached. The Baptist lived a life of penance and proclaimed in earnest the necessity for his fellow men to repent, not only in words, “confessing their sins,” but also in deeds—“You brood of vipers!…bring forth fruit worthy of penance” (Matthew 3:8).

That voice which echoed in the hostile desert did not fall on deaf ears. Many repented in earnest, some eventually became apostles (Andrew and possibly John, cf. John 1:37-40). From the commencement of the Baptist’s preaching, Heaven was being stormed by those who heeded his message and as St. Jerome says, “There is great violence involved when we who have been born on the earth seek to possess a heavenly home through virtue.”[4]

The voice of the Baptist reverberates through the centuries and continues to teach. It moved St. Antony (†356) to flee into the desert. And upon hearing of St. Antony’s story a young Augustine (†430) seized his friend and cried out, “What is wrong with us? What is this? What heardest thou? The unlearned start up and ‘take’ heaven, and we, with our learning, but wanting heart, see where we wallow in flesh and blood!” Moments later Augustine converted and—after seizing Christ—would clutch the gates of heaven, even to his last breath.

Though a body nourished on locusts and honey was certainly emaciated, the Baptist remained unbent and his life was constantly colored with uncompromising confrontation, from pharisees to kings. Ironically, the Baptist who encouraged others to war, not against other men but against their own sins, suffered violence of the earthly sort at the end. Indomitable, even in prison and under the headsman’s axe, he violently grasped up toward Heaven and pointed others in the same direction (Matthew 11:2ff.). His head was laid low, yet no man greater has been born of woman (cf. Matthew 11:11). We would do well to heed his call, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand—and it only yields to the violent. +

Regnum coelorum suffers violence gladly
from fervent love, from vibrant hope—
only these powers can defeat God’s will:

not in the way one man conquers another,
for That will [God’s] wills its own defeat, and so
defeated it defeats through its own mercy.
Dante Alighieri, Paradiso, Canto XX, 94-99

Answered by:
Fr. Dominic Savoie, Assistant Pastor, FSSP Sacramento

1. Josef Pieper, The Four Cardinal Virtues, 131-132.
2. As a side note, there is no historical evidence of maimed one-eyed Christians processing
   through the centuries—save one suspected incident (Origen). This should serve as a
   warning against gross literal interpretation of Scripture and the necessity of reading it
   through tradition.
3. According to Jerome, see Homily 75.1 and Commentary on Matthew, preface.
4. Jerome, Commentary on Matthew, ed. Thomas P. Halton, trans. Thomas P. Scheck,
   vol. 117, The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of
   America Press, 2008), 131–132.

On Thursday, June 20th and Sunday, June 23rd, 2019, parishes throughout the world celebrated Corpus Christi, the great feast of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The feast falls on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, but is often commemorated as an External Solemnity on the following Sunday. One of the central features of the liturgy of this day is a beautiful procession after Mass with the Blessed Sacrament enthroned in the monstrance, the route traditionally including several altars set up along the way at which the procession halts and the Blessed Sacrament is adored. And so today we bring you, over 5 states, 5 countries and 5 time zones, the celebrations of the Sacrament that unites and transcends all three. +

Hic est panis, qui de cœlo descéndit. Non sicut manducavérunt patres vestri manna, et mórtui sunt. Qui mandúcat hunc panem, vivet in ætérnum.

This is the bread that has come down from heaven; not as your fathers ate the manna, and died. He who eats this bread shall live forever.

– John 6:58 (from the Gospel for the feast of Corpus Christi)

FSSP Dallas

Mater Dei Parish

FSSP Dayton

Holy Family Parish
Some parishes create elaborate carpets of dyed wood chips or flowers for the Corpus Christi procession. Dayton’s are real masterpieces. 

FSSP Harrisburg

Mater Dei Latin Mass Community at St. Lawrence Chapel

 

FSSP Houston

Regina Caeli Parish

FSSP Guadalajara

Templo Nuestra Señora del Pilar

FSSP Lyon

Collégiale Saint-Just, Lyon, France

FSSP Providence

St. Mary’s Church on Broadway

FSSP South Bend

St. Stanislaus Parish

FSSP Vancouver

Holy Family Parish
Photos by Crystal Matthews, Christine Uy, Claire Phillips

FSSP Warrington

St. Mary’s Shrine, Warrington, UK

Today, July 11th, 2019, St. Mary’s Church on Broadway, home of FSSP Providence, celebrates its 150th anniversary! This magnificent church, dedicated on July 11th, 1869 by Bishop Francis McFarland, became a Fraternity apostolate last summer when Bishop Thomas Tobin invited the FSSP to assume administration. The parish will celebrate their milestone anniversary with a Solemn High Mass this evening at 6:30 p.m., followed by refreshments and live Irish music. If you’re in town, be sure to join them!

The Rhode Island Catholic put out a splendid article today for the anniversary of the church. The story touches on the history of St. Mary’s and how the FSSP views its assignment here: as a mission to continue the work and sacrifices that generations of parishioners have dedicated to their beautiful church.

“From the beginning the current community has felt a great connection with the past history of St. Mary’s,” said pastor Fr. John Berg, as quoted in the article. “The church itself speaks constantly to us of its history and the sacrifices made . . . It was clear to us from the start that we inherited something which others had sacrificed a great deal for and now it was up to us to care for and give life to this historical edifice.”

Read the full story here! +

Mater Dei Latin Mass Community, our apostolate in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was recently featured as the cover story in the July 5th edition of The Catholic Witness, the newspaper of the Diocese of Harrisburg. The story covers Mater Dei’s recent chant camp in June, which brought together young people for classes that covered such topics as chant technique, notation and history and culminated in a Solemn High Mass where the campers tried out their new skills.

“The sacred music they’re getting from this chant camp is enabling them to reach back all the way to the beginning of the Church and experience the same chant that has helped so many other Catholics throughout the centuries,” said Mater Dei chaplain Fr. Gregory Eichman, as quoted in the article. “It also helps them get away from the strictly profane and secular music to the music that elevates our minds and our intellect and takes us to God.”

Read the full story here!

On Saturday, June 29th, 2019, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, six deacons from our seminary in Wigratzbad were ordained to the sacred priesthood by the Most Reverend Czesław Kozon, Bishop of Copenhagen. The region of Bavaria where the seminary is located certainly suffers no lack of fairy-tale landscapes, and the town of Heimenkirch, situated near the seminary and lit up by a flawless summer day, provided a glorious setting for such a momentous occasion in the lives of these men.

Four of the new priests come from France, Frs. Christophe Joly, Hubert Lion, Thibaut Matschek and Thomas Souville, and two from Germany, Frs. Janosch Donner and Julius Kappel. Please pray for them as they begin their priesthood! +

A happy Independence Day to all our American readers (and to our non-American readers who are celebrating with us)! As we spend time with our friends and families today, attend parades and watch the traditional fireworks displays, let us also take a moment to give thanks for the blessings we enjoy in the United States. This land was first consecrated by the blood of the missionaries who gave their lives that the Faith might be planted in the New World, and throughout the history of the USA, many men and women have labored, fought and died so that the home of the brave might remain the land of the free. Let us honor their sacrifices today and pray for our country, which has been under such severe spiritual attack in recent times. Prayer is certainly the most powerful weapon we can bring to such a fight, so let us beseech Our Lady, the Patroness of the United States, to defend and protect this land, and make of us a people well-pleasing to her Son.

The United States has proven to be fertile ground for the work of the Fraternity, which runs 55 apostolates in 41 American dioceses, in addition to a seminary that is brimming with vocations. We have also been entrusted with the care of several extraordinary pieces of American history, such as the National Shrine of St. Alphonsus Liguori in Baltimore, where St. John Neumann, the first American bishop (the first male citizen, in fact) to be canonized, served as pastor and was consecrated the fourth Bishop of Philadelphia. We thank God today for the success He has granted to us in the United States, and ask Him to bless our future work in these abundant vineyards. +

Anyone can pull off a stunt once, but if you can do it twice, you might be on to something. Last year, Mater Dei Parish, our apostolate in Dallas, Texas, hosted a successful inaugural Southwest Region Young Adult Conference, and this year, they did it again. 65 young adults gathered at Mater Dei Parish on the weekend of June 14th – 16th, traveling from as close as Dallas itself and as far as Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, El Paso and even Wisconsin.

The event began on Friday night with check-in and a Rosary in the church, followed by dinner and a talk by FSSP Dallas assistant pastor Fr. Timothy O’Brien, priest-in-charge both at this and last year’s conferences. Fr. O’Brien, who spent two years working in Nigeria after he was ordained in 2015, spoke on the history of Catholicism there, particularly among the Igbo people who once possessed a strong Catholic identity, and the unfortunate effects of Westernization upon the country. An attendee of Nigerian heritage assisted Fr. O’Brien with a demonstration of the traditional greeting of a Nigerian chief, some kind of hand-slap, finger-snap routine that looked like something two baseball players might do after a good double-play!

The next day kicked off early with Mass at 8am, celebrated by Fr. James Buckley, also an assistant at Mater Dei, with opportunities for Confession before, during and after Mass. Breakfast followed, along with the second talk: Fr. John Kodet, a classmate of Fr. O’Brien’s who currently serves as the assistant down in Houston, spoke on the four levels of happiness. “The talks were really good,” said Mary, an electrical engineer from California who recently moved to Dallas and attends Mater Dei. “They were very helpful and informative.”

Afterwards the attendees packed a lunch and headed to nearby Fritz Park, where they listened to a talk by Mr. Cedric Cortez, an FSSP seminarian entering his sixth year, and Mr. Savio Misquita, about to start his third. Mr. Cortez, from Hawaii, and Mr. Misquita, from Goa, India, spoke on the necessity of prayer in discovering God’s will for us and the image of Himself that He wishes to see in us. The two seminarians assisted throughout the weekend with tasks ranging from handing out the paperwork involved in Friday’s icebreaker games to leading games of volleyball. The afternoon in the park seemed to be a particularly popular element among the attendees. “I liked having the time in the park,” said Mary, as it was a chance to “get to know people at our own pace.”

Saturday concluded with a Texas-style fajita dinner back at the parish hall, after which the tables and chairs were cleared from the main floor for the evening’s contra dance, which featured instruction from an experienced caller. On Sunday, attendees had the option of attending any Mass they chose, and many came to the 9am Solemn High celebrated by Fr. Kodet, who was assisted by Fr. O’Brien and Mr. Cortez. The 9am is an especially well-attended Mass that usually fills to standing-room only, a testimony to the impressive and continuing growth of the world’s largest FSSP apostolate that is currently served by four priests and offers five Masses on Sundays to accommodate its numbers. After Mass many attendees partook of the pancake breakfast offered by the Knights of Columbus and spent a last couple of hours chatting with one another and the seminarians before going their separate ways.

Some other attendees told us their thoughts on the event. Alex, who comes from Atlanta, Georgia and attends St. Francis de Sales, our apostolate there, is new to the Latin Mass. She found St. Francis through Google and has been attending Mass there for the past three months. When asked what she thought of the conference, she said, “I loved it. I had a lot of fun. I made new friends.” One of those friends is Marie, a student at Benedictine College in Kansas. Averse to the Latin Mass as a teenager, she has grown to love it due to the reverence and respect that she finds there. She was a bit surprised at how much she enjoyed the conference, initially expecting that it might be a little bit dull. “It was really, really great,” she said. “It was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. It was a lot more fun.”

In a world where human interaction has been reduced to texts and emojis, and where being “friends” on Facebook is more often discussed than actual friendships, it is encouraging to see the success of the Southwest Region Young Adult Conference. The importance of good friendships cannot be overstated; friends who share the Faith are spiritual comrades-in-arms who encourage one another, challenge one another, help each other along the path of virtue and sanctity and keep each other out of the ravines. We all long for simpler times when people were less mobile, faith was more common and you didn’t necessarily have to look far to find those kinds of friends. But some problems come packaged with a solution. The inherent mobility of the current generation and their lightning-fast methods of communication provide an avenue of success for things like Mater Dei’s Young Adult Conference, which drew together young people from near and far for the sake of faith and friendship. +

A happy and most blessed feast of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus! Only a few days ago we celebrated the feast of the Sacred Heart, which many parishes celebrated yesterday as an External Solemnity, and today’s celebration stands as a great complement to that feast. The Precious Blood of Our Lord flows from His Sacred Heart, and was poured out as a fountain of mercy and salvation for us when this Heart was pierced upon the Cross. It is this same Blood that becomes present for us upon our altars at every Mass, and incidentally, we recently commemorated the feast of Corpus Christi, the great celebration of the gift of the Eucharist. Three feast days and the most eloquent praises are insufficient to render adequate thanks for such a superabundance of gifts: the love of this Heart, the salvation won for us by this Blood, the spiritual sustenance given us by the Eucharist! “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly,” says Our Lord in St. John’s Gospel, and certainly He spared nothing of Himself in granting us this abundance, giving Himself totally for us and for our salvation.

In addition to attending Holy Mass if you can today, we recommend taking a moment to recite the beautiful Litany of the Precious Blood. We also wish a happy patronal feast day to Most Precious Blood Parish, our apostolate in Tulsa, Oklahoma! +

The Litany of the Most Precious Blood

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.

God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.

Blood of Christ, only-begotten Son of the Eternal Father, save us. (after each line)
Blood of Christ, Incarnate Word of God,
Blood of Christ, of the New and Eternal Testament,
Blood of Christ, falling upon the earth in the Agony,
Blood of Christ, shed profusely in the Scourging,
Blood of Christ, flowing forth in the Crowning with Thorns,
Blood of Christ, poured out on the Cross,
Blood of Christ, price of our salvation,
Blood of Christ, without which there is no forgiveness,
Blood of Christ, Eucharistic drink and refreshment of souls,
Blood of Christ, stream of mercy,
Blood of Christ, victor over demons,
Blood of Christ, courage of martyrs,
Blood of Christ, strength of confessors,
Blood of Christ, bringing forth virgins,
Blood of Christ, help of those in peril,
Blood of Christ, relief of the burdened,
Blood of Christ, solace in sorrow,
Blood of Christ, hope of the penitent,
Blood of Christ, consolation of the dying,
Blood of Christ, peace and tenderness of hearts,
Blood of Christ, pledge of Eternal Life,
Blood of Christ, freeing souls from purgatory,
Blood of Christ, most worthy of all glory and honor,

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.

V. Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord, in Thy Blood.
R. And made us, for our God, a kingdom.

Let us pray:
Almighty and eternal God, Thou hast appointed Thine only-begotten Son the Redeemer of the world and willed to be appeased by His Blood. Grant, we beg of Thee, that we may worthily adore this price of our salvation and through its power be safeguarded from the evils of the present life so that we may rejoice in its fruits forever in heaven. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

A happy and most glorious feast day of Sts. Peter and Paul! Today is a first-class feast and a patronal one for our Fraternity, named for the Prince of the Apostles. Members of the Confraternity of St. Peter can gain a plenary indulgence today under the usual conditions.

St. Peter is the rock upon which Christ built His Church, the first of those Vicars that He has put in place to keep her on firm footing as she treads the often twisted and tempestuous paths of history. St. Paul’s mission was to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles, which he was uniquely suited to do, being both a Jew and a Roman. The Acts of the Apostles and his own letters to the various churches among which he worked bear testament to the incredible extent of his journeys and labors, which would start one fateful day on the road to Damascus, take him thousands of miles through Israel, Syria, Turkey and Greece and end with his martyrdom in Rome.

The lives of both saints are parables of God’s mercy and Providence: St. Peter is almost as well-known for his denial of Christ as for his confession of Him, and St. Paul, before becoming Christianity’s most avid missionary, was first its most avid adversary. “But by the grace of God, I am what I am; and his grace in me hath not been void”, says St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, proclaiming in the second letter to the same community that “power is made perfect in infirmity”. Certainly these two saints and their prayers on our behalf should give us every reason to hope that God will use our own infirmities as illustrations of His divine power, which is able to turn our frail humanity into just what He needs to accomplish His Will if we, like Sts. Peter and Paul, respond to the call.

Today’s Mass is primarily concerned with the Apostle Peter, the Epistle recounting his miraculous deliverance from prison by the angel, and the Gospel his confession of Christ’s divinity. This feast is normally followed on June 30th by the Commemoration of St. Paul, a Mass more specifically dedicated to the Apostle of the Gentiles, though this year the 30th falls on a Sunday so it will be superseded by the Mass of the Sunday.

Please remember all the priests of our Fraternity in your prayers today, especially the six deacons from our Wigratzbad seminary who will be ordained to the sacred priesthood today by the Most Reverend Czesław Kozon, Bishop of Copenhagen. +

O God, Who hast made this day holy by the martyrdom of Thine Apostles Peter and Paul: grant that Thy Church may in all things follow the precepts of those through whom she received the beginnings of the Faith. 

– the Collect for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul

This September marks the 24th annual Pilgrimage for Restoration to the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs in Auriesville, New York. The sixty-two mile trek is walked over the course of three days, beginning at the shores of Lake George and concluding in Auriesville at the sites of the 17th century martyrdoms of the Jesuit Father Isaac Jogues, lay brothers Jean de Lalande and René Goupil and several Native American converts.

This year’s pilgrimage will take place Friday through Sunday, September 27th – 29th, and will be led by FSSP Allentown pastor Fr. Gregory Pendergraft and assistant pastor Fr. Joseph Favole. Visit the pilgrimage’s website for more information and to register. Pilgrims receive a discount off the registration fee if they register by June 30th. +