Extracts from the Jubilee sermon given by Archbishop Lefebvre, September 23, 1979

(...) It is not surprising that the Cross no longer triumphs: because the sacrifice no longer triumphs. It is not surprising that men no longer think of anything but raising their standard of living, that they seek only money, riches, pleasures, comfort, and the easy ways of this world. They have lost the sense of sacrifice.

What does it remain for us to do, my dear brethren, if in this manner we deepen our understanding of the great mystery which is the Mass? Well, I think I can say what we should have a crusade! A crusade supported by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, by the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by that invincible rock, that inexhaustible source of grace, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

This we see every day. You are here because you love the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. And these young seminarians who are in the seminaries in Ecône, in the United States, and in Germany—why do they come into our seminaries? For the Holy Mass, for the Holy Mass of All Time, which is the source of grace, the source of the Holy Ghost, the source of Christian civilization; that is the reason for the priest.

Spirit of Sacrifice

It is necessary that we undertake a crusade, a crusade which is based precisely upon these notions of immutability and of sacrifice, in order to recreate Christianity, to re-establish a Christendom such as the Church desires, such as She has always done, with the same principles, the same Sacrifice of the Mass, the same sacraments, the same catechism, the same Holy Scripture. We must recreate this Christendom! It is to you, my dear brethren, you who are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, that our Lord Jesus Christ addressed Himself in saying: “Do not lose the fruit of My Blood, do not abandon My Calvary, do not abandon My Sacrifice.” And the Virgin Mary, who stands beneath the Cross, tells you the same thing as well. It is she, whose heart is pierced, full of sufferings and sorrow, yet at the same time filled with the joy of uniting herself to the Sacrifice of her Divine Son. She says to you as well: “Let us be Christians; let us be Catholics.”

Let us not be borne away by all these worldly ideas, by all these currents of thought which are in the world, and which draw us to sin and to hell. If we want to go to heaven we must follow Our Lord Jesus Christ. We must carry our cross and follow Our Lord Jesus Christ, imitating Him in His Cross, in His suffering, and in His Sacrifice.

Thus I ask the youth, the young people who are here in this hall, to ask us to explain to them these things that are so beautiful and so great, so as to choose their vocations, whatever be the calling that they may elect—be they priests or religious men and women, or married by the Sacrament of Matrimony, and, therefore, in the Cross of Jesus Christ, and in the Blood of Jesus Christ, married in the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Let them comprehend the greatness of matrimony, and let them prepare themselves worthily for it—by purity and chastity, by prayer and reflection. Let them not be carried away by all the passions which engulf the world. Thus let this be the crusade of the young who must aspire to the true ideal.

Let it be as well a crusade for Christian families. You Christian families who are here, consecrate yourselves to the Heart of Jesus, to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Oh, pray together in the family! I know that many of those among you already do so, but may there always be more and more of you who do so with fervor. Let Our Lord truly reign in your homes!

Cast away, I beg of you, anything which impedes children from entering your family. There is no greater gift that the good God can bestow upon your hearths than to have many children. Have big families. It is the glory of the Catholic Church—the large family! It has been so in Canada, it has been so in Holland, it has been so in Switzerland, and it has been so in France—everywhere the large family was the joy and prosperity of the Church. There are that many more chosen souls for heaven! Therefore, do not limit, I beg you, the gifts of God; do not listen to these abominable slogans which destroy the family, which ruin health, which ruin the household, and provoke divorce.

And I wish that, in these troubled times, in this degenerate urban atmosphere in which we are living, that you return to the land whenever possible. The land is healthy; the land teaches one to know God; the land draws one to God; it calms temperaments and characters, and encourages the children to work.

And if it is necessary, yes, you yourselves will make the school for your children. If the schools should corrupt your children, what are you going to do? Deliver them to the corrupters? To those who teach these abominable sexual practices in the schools? To the so-called “Catholic” schools run by religious men and women where they simply teach sin? In reality that is what they are teaching to the children: they corrupt them from their most tender youth. Are you to put up with that? It is inconceivable! Rather that your children be poor, that they be removed from this apparent science that the world possesses, but that they be good children, Christian children, Catholic children, who love their holy religion, who love to pray, and who love to work: children who love the earth which the good God has made.

Catholic Leaders

Finally, a crusade as well for heads of families. You who are the heads of your households, you have a grave responsibility in your countries. You do not have the right to let your country be invaded by socialism and communism! You do not have the right, or else you are no longer Catholic! You must fight at the time of elections in order that you may have Catholic mayors, Catholic deputies, so that France finally may become Catholic again. That is not mere politics, that is to wage a good campaign, a campaign such as was waged by the saints; such as was waged by the popes who opposed Attila; such as was waged by St. Remy, who converted Clovis; such as was waged by Joan of Arc, who saved France from Protestantism. If Joan of Arc had not been raised up in France, we would all be Protestants! It was in order to keep France Catholic that Our Lord raised up Joan of Arc, that child of seventeen years, who drove the English out of France. That, too, is waging a political campaign.