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Dec. 1, 2018
THE PLAGUE IN EGYPT
This painting of the exile of the Holy Family, by artist Jean-François Millet, shows us that Christ should be the focus of our every thought during the Catholic Church's time of exile. May we persevere in loving Him!
When the Holy Virgin had to flee, with Saint Joseph, to the land of Egypt, it was there that, for the first time, her Heart was bleeding from a wound that would not close anymore.
Joseph was less sensitive than Mary. He contented himself with suffering interiorly more easily than she. It was because he had not tasted or felt all that the Virgin had already experienced.
During the stay in Egypt, a violent plague1 arose on this people. The Holy Virgin spent day and night looking after the afflicted. In this land, many persons were giving presents to the Holy Family, which they were selling in order to relieve misery.
The plague redoubled in force during the last two weeks. Joseph and Mary gave the little that they possessed, to the point of they themselves going without the necessary food. Jesus, a very small child, consoled them:
“We will not be without anything in this land,” He said. “I have all Power. Give even the little that is left to us. This time of suffering on this land will not be long.”
These words consoled His parents, and they used them to excite the poor people to hope in an end to this misfortune. (14 March 1882)
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1 See the time of the plague in Heliopolis, according to the life of the Blessed Virgin (Mary of Agreda, Saint Michel-Saint Céneré Publishers, p. 180).
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[Source: p. 33, Le Ciel en Colloque avec Marie-Julie Jahenny, by Fr. Pierre Roberdel].
Reflection:
The flight of the Holy Family into Egypt was a flight into exile. They had to remain in exile until Herod had died.
The same is true of the silent exile of Popes Gregory XVII and XVIII, and the Holy Catholic Church since October 26, 1958. Let us consider then, what we are to learn:
“When the Holy Virgin had to flee, with Saint Joseph, to the land of Egypt, it was there that, for the first time, her Heart was bleeding from a wound that would not close anymore.”
The Blessed Virgin Mary suffered deeply from the exile of the Messiah from His people. For the Holy Fathers, Popes Gregory XVII and XVIII, and their few faithful cardinals, the great suffering of the silent Exile has been the separation of Catholics from life-giving sacraments, sacraments that release them from their bondage to sin.
“Joseph was less sensitive than Mary. He contented himself with suffering interiorly more easily than she. It was because he had not tasted or felt all that the Virgin had already experienced.”
The more we know and experience, the greater our sufferings. Pope Gregory XVII. They contented themselves with suffering interiorly more easily than he. It was because they had not tasted or felt all that Pope Gregory XVII had already experienced.
“During the stay in Egypt, a violent plague1 arose on this people. The Holy Virgin spent day and night looking after the afflicted. In this land, many persons were giving presents to the Holy Family, which they were selling in order to relieve misery.”
During the silent Exile, a similar violent plague broke out, the violent V2 Council, which arose upon Catholic people across the world. Just as the Blessed Virgin Mary spent day and night looking after those afflicted from the plague, Pope Gregory XVII spent the rest of his life trying to protect and save who and what he could. While in the silent Exile, the faithful cardinals were presenting strategies to Pope Gregory XVII, which they were employing in order to lessen the damage to souls. Recall, for example, The Ottaviani Intervention.
“The plague redoubled in force during the last two weeks. Joseph and Mary gave the little that they possessed, to the point of they themselves going without the necessary food. Jesus, a very small child, consoled them:
‘We will not be without anything in this land,” He said. “I have all Power.
Give even the little that is left to us. This time of suffering on this land will not be long.’ ”
Like a rampant plague, the effects of the V2 Council redoubled in enforcement toward the end. In 1965, the Holy Mass was changed to the Lutheran atrocity. In October 1968, Holy Orders was nullified, stripping the world of any new ordinations. Pope Gregory XVII and His cardinals tried all they could to change the outcome, but it was not to be.
And the consoling words of the baby Jesus to His Mother and to Saint Joseph surely continue to console the Church in Her exile:
‘We will not be without anything in this Exile,… I have all Power.
Give even the little that is left to us. This time of suffering in this place of Exile will not be long.’ ”
Likewise, we also are not left without God’s spiritual graces. We may be unable to be physically present for the Holy Sacraments, but we can join spiritually to the Holy Mass every day, sending our Guardian Angels to go in our stead, and making a Spiritual Communion.
It has now been sixty years since the Silent Exile first began. This plague has not yet stopped. Pope Gregory XVIII has succeeded Pope Gregory XVII, and Christ’s words to His parents, at the time of their painful exile, continue to console us.
These sixty years may seem a long time to us, but this time is short to God, whose patience is allowing the last of the Saints, whose names are written in the Book of Life, to be born.
Deo gratias!
LINKS: The Great Crisis Pope Gregory XVII St. Michael Prayer
"We declare, say, define and proclaim to every human creature that they by necessity for salvation are entirely subject to the Roman Pontiff ." - Decree of Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam, Nov. 18, 1302, ex cathedra