Dear Readers,
In a sermon now famous, in 1979 Archbishop Lefebvre launched a crusade of fathers of families in order to restore all things in Christ. (You’ll find the sermon in Apologia Pro Marcel Lefebvre, II, 332-344.) How much is this crusade still necessary today, 35 years later!
“Charity begins at home,” the saying goes. Indeed. Vocations too, by the same token. “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruits,” the Divine Master said. As a proof of this, most of the SSPX vocations in recent years have come from our own families and schools. “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit.” Here are a few wise comments of St. Pius X on this crucial subject, written more than 100 years ago.
“A well-founded and universal complaint can be found today on the lips of all kinds of people concerning the immorality and the corruption, not just of the young adults, but also of children, even the youngest ones. Of these, one can deplore that, from the very awakening of their reason, they are led by fatal tendencies to detestable vices, which should make tremble any one in society bearing some responsibilities. The Holy Ghost has said that children resemble their parents. With the exception of a few rare branches which do not correspond to the nature of the tree to which they are united, the wickedness of children must be attributed to the negligence, carelessness, and, God forbid, to the malice of the parents. That is why, if anything good can be expected for society, it must above all come from the family” (Oct. 29, 1907, The Christian Home, Solesmes, nn. 10-11).
“My program, my star, my banner, has never changed: to restore all things in Christ, that is, to ensure that all men, if that were possible, but especially all Christians, live according to the faith that they profess, that they live following the Christian law” (Oct. 12, 1908, Actes de St. Pie X, B.P., vol. VI, pp. 69).
Dear parents and future parents, the future of the Roman Catholic Church is in your cradles.
God be with you.
Father Daniel Couture