Time to Fight Back

by Thomas A. Droleskey

Each of us is going to be thoroughly humiliated at the time of the General Judgment of the Living and the Dead. We will be rendered totally naked on the Last Day, stripped to the core of our souls just as Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was stripped of the only thing He owned, His tunic, when He arrived atop the dung heap known as Golgotha, Mount Calvary. Each of our secret thoughts and our public words and actions will be revealed to all. God will ratify and make manifest to all the Particular Judgment He had rendered on our souls at the moment of our deaths. Everyone will see whether we merited eternal punishment because of our prideful persistence in sin until the end or whether we had been the unmerited beneficiaries of the Divine Mercy as a result of our contrition and having persisted in a state of Sanctifying Grace.

Those who are more celebrated in this passing vale of tears, however, frequently get to experience here and now in this life just a bit of the humiliation that will be the lot of all men on the Last Day at the General Judgment of the Living and the Dead. The faults and failings of a believing, practicing Catholic who is in the public limelight become the fodder for news programs and for finger-pointers when some incident takes place or when some former friend or associate decides to betray a confidence in order to "tell all." As one who has run for public office and who learned after the conclusion of a particular campaign that a political adversary had gone to the brink of releasing for public consumption information about some of my own misdeeds that he had gone to the trouble to ascertain, I am very, very slow to comment on the problems of my fellow Catholics who get caught in embarrassing situations. Thus it is that I have not seen fit until now to offer any commentary on the events that transpired when Mel Gibson was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol a few weeks ago.

Although I have never been drunk because I loathe the taste of alcohol and have consumed less than thirty glasses of wine in my nearly fifty-five years of life, I have great empathy for anyone who falls prey to a particular weakness and is truly contrite about having done so. All of my own sins, I am afraid, have been committed when I have been fully sober. There is thus no excuse for each word I have said in anger, each deed that betrayed my desire to get home to Heaven, each careless, cutting remark that I have ever made. Demon run has had no hold on me. The devil and his minions, sad to admit, have had a hold on me more often that I would like to admit. Despite my sins, however, I do love God and am truly ashamed of each of my sins, hoping and praying that I am given the grace to live long enough to pay back the substantial debt that I owe for them as the consecrated slave of Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart.

God spoke through the Prophet Ezechiel about His desire for the sinner to turn away from his wicked deeds so as to live eternally:

Say to them: As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die, O house of Israel? Thou therefore, O son of man, say to the children of thy people: The justice of the just shall not deliver him, in what day soever he shall sin: and the wickedness of the wicked shall not hurt him, in what day soever he shall turn from his wickedness: and the just shall not be able to live in his justice, in what day soever he shall sin. Yea, if I shall say to the just that he shall surely live, and he, trusting in his justice, commit iniquity: all his justices shall be forgotten, and in his iniquity, which he hath committed, in the same shall he die. And if I shall say to the wicked: Thou shalt surely die: and he do penance for his sin, and do judgment and justice, And if that wicked man restore the pledge, and render what he had robbed, and walk in the commandments of life, and do no unjust thing: he shall surely live, and shall not die.

None of his sins, which he hath committed, shall be imputed to him: he hath done judgment and justice, he shall surely live. And the children of thy people have said: The way of the Lord is not equitable: whereas their own way is unjust. For when the just shall depart from his justice, and commit iniquities, he shall die in them. And when the wicked shall depart from his wickedness, and shall do judgments, and justice: be shall live in them. And you say: The way of the Lord is not right, I will judge every one of you according to his ways, O house of Israel. (Ezechiel 33:11-20)

God has also expressed His desire for us to have a humble, contrite heart as we express sorrow for our sins and to seek to amend our lives on a daily basis:

To whom thou hast spoken, promising that thou wouldst multiply their seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is on the sea shore. For we, O Lord, are diminished more than any nation, and are brought low in all the earth this day for our sins. Neither is there at this time prince, or leader, or prophet, or holocaust, or sacrifice, or oblation, or incense, or place of firstfruits before thee, That we may find thy mercy: nevertheless in a contrite heart and humble spirit let us be accepted. As in holocausts of rams, and bullocks, and as in thousands of fat lambs: so let our sacrifice be made in thy sight this day, that it may please thee: for there is no confusion to them that trust in thee.

And now we follow thee with all our heart, and we fear thee, and seek thy face. Put us not to confusion, but deal. with us according to thy meekness, and according to the multitude of thy mercies. And deliver us according to thy wonderful works, and give glory to thy name, O Lord: And let all them be confounded that shew evils to thy servants, let them be confounded in all thy might, and let their strength be broken. And let them know that thou art the Lord, the only God, and glorious over all the world. (Daniel 3: 36-45)

The king from whom Our Blessed Lord and Saviour is descended in His Sacred Humanity, David, the son of Jesse, wrote the following in Psalm 33:

The eyes of the Lord are upon the just: and his ears unto their prayers. But the countenance of the Lord is against them that do evil things: to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The just cried, and the Lord heard them: and delivered them out of all their troubles. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart: and he will save the humble of spirit. Many are the afflictions of the just; but out of them all will the Lord deliver them. (Ps. 33: 16-20)

King David was inspired by the Holy Ghost to write the following in Psalm 50:

Deliver me from blood, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall extol thy justice. O Lord, thou wilt open my lips: and my mouth shall declare thy praise. For if thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it: with burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted. A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Deal favourably, O Lord, in thy good will with Sion; that the walls of Jerusalem may be built up.

A similar theme was sounded by the Prophet Isaias:

The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me: he hath sent me to preach to the meek, to heal the contrite of heart, and to preach a release to the captives, and deliverance to them that are shut up. (Is. 61: 1)

While it may be appropriate in times of public scandal to apologize generally for our bad example and to ask forgiveness of those who have been offended by our words and actions, we must remember that our principal recourse in times of public humiliation is to Our Lord in the Sacred Tribunal of Penance and to Him in His Real Presence in the Most Blessed Sacrament. We confess our sins and do the penance assigned as the condition of the Absolution administered to us by an alter Christus acting in persona Christi in the confessional and then we get on with our lives as the consecrated slaves of Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, praying as many Rosaries each day as our states-in-life permit.

Yes, people are going to wag their tongues and shake their fingers at us when our sins become public knowledge. So what? There is more merit for us in eternity if we offer up the humiliation we bring upon ourselves because of our sins to the Blessed Trinity through Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. We do not need publicity agents to make "statements." We do not need to seek the help of the sworn enemies of Our Lord and of His Divine Plan for our return to Him through the Catholic Church. We do not need to do anything other than to get ourselves straight with God in the confessional and to rely humbly upon the maternal help and intercession of the Handmaid of the Lord who made possible our salvation by her perfect fiat to the Will of the Father at the Annunciation. We must understand that God Himself was humiliated by the stripes that our sins imposed upon His Sacred Humanity during His fearful Passion and Death.

Although we must abhor our sins and seek to commit them no more once we have gone to Confession, we should count it as a privilege to suffer a bit of humiliation now in anticipation of the revelation all of our sins at the General Judgment of the Living and the Dead on the last day. As the legendary Father Harry Marchosky told my wife Sharon as he suffered the effects of a stroke that robbed him of his once vital mind, "God loves to humiliate." Yes, He does, doing so to unite us to His own Cross, the instrument on which He shed every single drop of His Most Precious Blood, the laver that is poured over us in the baptismal font and in the confessional, to redeem us.

As one who does not know Mel Gibson, who is probably most unaware of this site, it would be more than a little presumptuous for me, a fellow sinner, to offer unsolicited personal advice to him at this time. I do have a few suggestions for him on the professional level, though, starting with the firing of his publicity agent. Oh, give the individual a nice severance package. A Catholic does not need a publicity agent. A Catholic needs a good confessor.

A Catholic does not need a phalanx of people who are concerned about his "image" in the world. A Catholic needs friends who will help him get home to Heaven through the true Church and who will assist him spiritually in times of trouble by having Masses said for him and remembering him in their daily Rosaries.

A Catholic need not be concerned about public opinion or the ignorance displayed by secular columnists who hate Our Lord and everything to do with the true Church He founded upon the Rock of Peter, the Pope. A Catholic must concerned only about the moment of His Particular Judgment, knowing that the humiliation of the revelation of his sins during the General Judgment of the Living and the Dead will pale in comparison to the gift of eternal life that is bestowed upon him if he dies in a state of Sanctifying Grace.

If I, for example, had the material fortune and the ability to transform ideas into motion picture productions possessed by Mr. Gibson, I would devote the rest of my life soleley to the production of motion pictures about the lives of the saints and of other major figures in the history of the Church, doing so in venues other than Hollywood!. Don't worry about finding theaters in which to distribute such films. Release them on DVDs for Catholics worldwide. I think that a particularly good saint to start with would be Pope Saint Pius X, whose compelling story would rivet audiences.

After all, Giuseppe Melchior Sarto rose from the humble farm boy of Riese, Italy, to the pontiff who opposed the Modernism plaguing the conciliar church in our own day is very. What a magnificent thing it would be to have such a production ready for release by the time of the one hundredth anniversary of the issuance of Pascendi Dominci Gregis, September 8 of next year, 2007. You can bet that Benedict XVI will issue a statement disparaging Pascendi, saying that it served "its purpose" at the time but that it had been an "overreaction" to various currents that are now the very life-force of the conciliar church. Wouldn't it be grand to have a cinematic celebration of the sainted pope who opposed Modernism in an era when the ostensibly reigning pontiff believes that it was necessary for the Church to reconcile herself to the principles of the Revolution which Pope Saint Pius X critiqued so well and condemned so completely?

A good resource to use for the production of such motion pictures of the lives of the saints would be the wonderful books written by the late Mary Fabyan Windeatt, who was a masterful story-teller, synthesizing the details provided in scholarly tomes into a very entertaining and readable manner. The story of Saint Hyacinth, who had such zeal for the conversion of souls (another contrast with conciliarism), would be another compelling one to place onto film. We could also use a good English language version of a life about Saint John Bosco (the one starring Ben Gazarra just did not do this saint--and his own zeal for the conversion of souls--any justice at all).

Another useful series of films could deal with the resistance of the English Catholics in the Sixteenth Century to the Protestant Revolt. Imagine what could be done with the life and martyrdom of Saint John Fisher under the reign of King Henry VIII and of Saint Edmund Campion, S.J., among the the other English martyrs who were chased down by Richard Topcliffe at the behest of Queen Elizabeth I, who was hardly "Good Queen Bess." 

Americans, in particular, could profit from films dealing with the story of Our Lady’s apparition to Juan Diego on Tepeyac outside of Mexico City and the miraculous conversions that took place as a result and with the work and the martyrdom of the North American Martyrs. A dramatization of the life of Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, to whom Our Lady of Good Success revealed many of the events of our own days, would help increase devotion to this important message. These would be inspirational stories to help Catholics to pray and to work for the Catholicization of the United States and the re-Catholicization of the rest of the Americas.

The piece de resistance of such a series of motion pictures, however, I believe, would be a film about the life and the work of Father Denis Fahey, C.S.Sp. The film could be set against the backdrop of the fight for Christ the King conducted by the Cristeros in Mexico and the work of Father Maximilian Mary Kolbe to oppose all forms of naturalism, including Zionism and Masonry, at the same time Father Fahey was writing his works in defense of the Social Reign of Christ the King and identifying the naturalist enemies of Catholicism who take their inspiration from the diabolical instrument known as the Talmud. The film would also focus on Our Lady's Fatima Message, which inspired the work of Father Kolbe and of Father Fahey in their respective apostolates.

It is time to fight back, ladies and gentlemen. Catholics have permitted the holiness of God and of His Most Blessed Mother to be mocked with impunity. Indeed, as I noted in In Full Communion with the Golden Calf yesterday, August 13, we have spent too much of our time and our money enabling the Jewish naturalists who control Hollywood to attack the truths of the Catholic Faith and have refused to point out this fact for fear of being labeled "anti-Semites," as Father Fahey noted in The Struggle of the Jewish Nation Against the Messias. It is time for a Catholic who has the interests of the conversion--and thus the salvation--of all men, including Jews, at heart to use his fortune and his considerable talent to make visually accessible truths that might inspire a few souls, at the very least, to embrace the true Faith. Mel Gibson is this individual.

Oh, sure, everybody and his brother with a website or some other apostolate has suggestions about how Mr. Gibson can dispose of his money to help them. However, Mr. Gibson has a specific talent that he has been given by God, namely, the production of motion pictures. He, better than anyone else alive at the present moment, has the ability to make these words of Pope Pius XI, contained in Vigilanti Cura, June 29, 1936, to become realized in actual point-of-fact:

The business of the production of cinema films which conform to good morals would be at once concluded if it were possible to produce pictures in accordance with Christian principles. Wherefore we shall always continue to praise those who have in the past, or who will in the future devote themselves to this art, with the intention of producing films designed to promote healthy education and Christian principles-and that not in dilettante fashion, but with all the technical skill of their profession, lest they expend their energies and money in vain.

Mel Gibson has the technical skill and the financial resources to leave behind a legacy of work that would inspire generations of Catholics and might just, by the grace of God that flows to us through the loving hands of His Most Blessed Mother, help to bring back a few fallen away Catholics, dispel some of the errors of conciliarism, and help to bring into the One Sheepfold of Christ a few sheep who have never heard the voice of the Good Shepherd and thus wander about among the goats of this passing world. Let us continue to pray for Mr. Gibson and those who are advising him at present, commending him to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, especially during this month of August.

The life of the Church does not depend upon this or that motion picture. Granted. The life of the Church does not depend upon any words that are published in anyone's newspaper or on anyone's website. Absolutely. Nevertheless, those who have specific talents must use them for the honor and glory of God, offering them to Him through Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. The use of our talents to give God the honor and glory that are His due through Our Lady's Immaculate Heart may not change the world. However, it might just be the means by which we can save our souls by using the graces sent to us to fulfill the intermediate ends that are ours as members of the Church Militant so that we might share in the glory of having realized our Last End when we die, the possession of Heaven for all eternity.

Vivat Christus Rex!

Our Lady of Good Success, pray for us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Eusebius, pray for us.

Saint Anne, pray for us.

Saint Joachim, pray for us.

Saint Athanasius, pray for us.

Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, pray for us.

Saint Louis de Montfort, pray for us.

Pope Saint Stephen I, pray for us.

Saint Stephen the Protomartyr, pray for us.

Saint Dominic, pray for us.

Saint Basil, pray for us.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, pray for us.

The Seven Machabees, pray for us.

Saint Vincent de Paul, pray for us.

Saint Augustine, pray for us.

Saint Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.

Saint Vincent Ferrer, pray for us.

Saint Sebastian, pray for us.

Saint Tarcisius, pray for us.

Saint Lucy, pray for us.

Saint Agnes, pray for us.

Saint Agatha, pray for us.

Saint Bridget of Sweden, pray for us.

Saint Catherine of Sweden, pray for us.

Saint Philomena, pray for us.

Saint John of the Cross, pray for us.

Saint John Bosco, pray for us.

Saint John Mary Vianney, pray for us.

Saint Teresa of Avila, pray for us.

Saint Therese Lisieux, pray for us.

Saint Bernadette Soubirous, pray for us.

Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, pray for us.

Blessed Pauline Jaricot, pray for us.

Blessed Francisco, pray for us.

Blessed Jacinta, pray for us.

Sister Lucia, pray for us.

The Longer Version of the Saint Michael the Archangel Prayer, composed by Pope Leo XIII, 1888

O glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil.  Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil.  Fight this day the battle of our Lord, together with  the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in heaven.  That cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels.  Behold this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage.  Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the Name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay, and cast into eternal perdition, souls destined for the crown of eternal glory.  That wicked dragon pours out. as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity.  These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on Her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck the sheep may be scattered.  Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory.  They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious powers of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude.  Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church.  Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly conciliate the mercies of the Lord; and beating down the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations.  Amen.

Verse: Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered ye hostile powers.

Response: The Lion of the Tribe of Juda has conquered the root of David.

Verse: Let Thy mercies be upon us, O Lord.

Response: As we have hoped in Thee.

Verse: O Lord hear my prayer.

Response: And let my cry come unto Thee.

Verse: Let us pray.  O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Thy holy Name, and as suppliants, we implore Thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin, immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all other unclean spirits, who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of our souls. 

Response:  Amen.