{"id":18877,"date":"2023-12-09T14:00:25","date_gmt":"2023-12-09T19:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kolbecenter.org\/?p=18877"},"modified":"2023-12-22T11:40:43","modified_gmt":"2023-12-22T16:40:43","slug":"kolbe-report-12-9-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kolbecenter.org\/kolbe-report-12-9-23\/","title":{"rendered":"Kolbe Report 12\/9\/23"},"content":{"rendered":"
Dear Friends of the Kolbe Center,<\/p>\n
Glory to Jesus Christ!<\/p>\n
During the holy season of Advent we see in the liturgical traditions of the Roman Rite a powerful confirmation of the Biblical chronology of the world.\u00a0 In the words of the incorrupt Benedictine monk and expert on the sacred liturgy Dom Prosper Gueranger:<\/p>\n
With what gratitude ought they not to assist at that divine Sacrifice, for which the world had been longing for four thousand years! God has granted them to be born after the fulfillment of that stupendous and merciful oblation, and would not put them in the generations of men, who died before they could partake of its reality and its riches! . . . Let them think of this in assisting at the holy Sacrifice.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In his reflections on the Feast of St. Barbara on December 4, the Servant of God explains that the four weeks of Advent are actually meant to be a liturgical\u00a0re-living<\/em>\u00a0of the four thousand years from creation to the birth of Christ. \u00a0He writes:<\/p>\n
The new birth of our Redeemer takes place after four weeks, as the first Nativity happened after four thousand years, according to the Hebrew and Vulgate chronology.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
As demonstrated in the article Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi on the Kolbe website, the prayers of the authentic liturgical traditions of the Church all bear witness to the literal historical truth of the first eleven chapters of the sacred history of Genesis.\u00a0 However, in this newsletter we will see that they also bear witness to an important eschatological reality\u2014the fulfillment of the social reign of Christ Our King on the Earth, before the final Judgment and the end of the world.<\/p>\n
The Feast of Christ the King was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 precisely to reaffirm that, in the words of the Gradual for the Feast:<\/p>\n
He shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. V<\/em>. And all kings of the earth shall adore Him: all nations shall serve Him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In God\u2019s Providence, the Feast of Christ the King was originally placed\u2014and in traditional parishes and religious communities remains\u2014at the end of October, several weeks before the First Sunday of Advent.\u00a0 However, when the Novus Ordo was introduced, the Feast of Christ the King was moved to the last Sunday of the liturgical year.<\/p>\n
What was the significance of this change?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Now My Kingdom Is Not From Hence\u201d<\/h3>\n
I believe that an answer can be found by meditating on the Gospel for the Feast of Christ the King, which remains the same in the Traditional and the Novus Ordo readings for the feast.\u00a0\u00a0 In the Gospel of St. John, Chapter 18, Jesus stands before Pilate and Pilate interrogates Him, saying, in the Latin Vulgate as faithfully translated in the Douai-Rheims :<\/p>\n
Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered: Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or have others told it thee of Me? Pilate answered: Am I a Jew? Thy Own nation, and the chief priests, have delivered Thee up to me: what hast Thou done? Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now My kingdom is not from hence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The Novus Ordo celebration of the feast retains the same Gospel, but Our Lord\u2019s response to Pilate changes from \u201cnow My kingdom is not from hence\u201d to \u201cas it is, My kingdom is not of this realm\u201d in the New American Bible translation. \u00a0\u00a0This tiny change\u2014or should I say \u201cmutation\u201d?\u2014profoundly alters the meaning of Our Lord\u2019s reply.\u00a0 In the Latin Vulgate, faithfully translated in the Douai Rheims Bible, Our Lord uses the word \u201cnunc\u201d or \u201cnow\u201d to indicate that \u201cat that moment\u201d His Kingdom was not from the earth, implying that in the future it will be realized, as prophesied by the Gradual verse, \u201cAll kings of the earth shall adore Him: all nations shall serve Him\u201d from Psalm 71.<\/p>\n
The original placement of the Feast of Christ the King a few weeks before Advent implies that some significant fulfillment of the feast will take place on earth before the Second Advent of Our Lord when He comes again to judge the living and the dead.\u00a0 By contrast, however, the transfer of the Feast to the last Sunday of the liturgical year in the Novus Ordo calendar implies that there will be no further fulfillment of the social reign of Christ Our King until the Final Judgment and the end of the world.\u00a0 This interpretation follows logically from the acceptance of theistic evolution by the architects of the Novus Ordo liturgy, since theistic evolution denies \u201cthe first perfection of the universe\u201d in the beginning and does not anticipate any drastic divine intervention in the course of human history that could result in the restoration of the Church and of a Christian order in society.\u00a0 On the contrary, theistic evolutionism as promoted by Fr. Teilhard de Chardin and his many disciples among the hierarchy, envisions an evolutionary ascent to the omega point of human history rather than any kind of restoration.\u00a0 However, we know that \u201cGod does nothing without telling His servants the prophets\u201d (Amos 3:7), and in this newsletter we will see that we have sufficient testimony from saints who had the gift of prophecy to confirm that the traditional placement of the Feast of Christ the King was correct.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod Does Nothing Without Telling His Servants the Prophets\u201d<\/h3>\n
Two of the outstanding saints of modern times who had the gift of prophecy were wives and mothers who lived in Rome in the tumultuous decades after the French Revolution.\u00a0 Blessed Elizabeth Canori Mora (1774-1825) suffered terribly from the abuse and infidelity of her husband while doing her best to raise their children in holiness.\u00a0 Our Lord gave her a particular mission to pray and suffer on behalf of the papacy.\u00a0 Through her prayers, Canon Mastai, the future Blessed Pope Pius IX, was healed of epilepsy, so that he could fulfill his mission to become a successor of St. Peter and a great defender of the Faith against revolutionary errors.\u00a0 Through her prayers, Pope Paul IV was released from Purgatory after having been confined there for 15 years.\u00a0 According to her biographer:<\/p>\n
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