Bishop Vigano : "upon the Throne of the Prince of the Apostles, sits a usurper who, abusing a subverted authority, actively fosters dissolution and hinders good Pastors from fulfilling their Ministry."
Beata gens, cuius est Dominus Deus eius.Holy Church rejoices today in celebrating the historical event of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and upon the Most Holy Virgin Mary, fifty days after the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The rank of this feast is equal to that of Holy Easter; indeed, on the vigil of this blessed day – according to the rites predating the ill-fated Holy Week reform enacted by Annibale Bugnini – a Vigil is celebrated, just as on Holy Saturday, featuring the chanting of the Prophecies and an identical baptismal liturgy. The Paschal Candle reappears during this night of grace, a symbol of the Incarnate Word, the Light of the world (Jn 8:12). And amidst the lush splendor of the month of May, Pentecost was known as the “Easter of Roses,” for their crimson petals call to mind the tongues of fire that descended upon each of the one hundred and twenty disciples gathered in the Upper Room.
Let us, therefore, celebrate the Holy Spirit: the Paraclete, the Divine Counselor of the soul; the Life-giving Lord, who bestows life – the breath of life – πνεῦμα in Greek. The Third Person of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity: that Divine Love who breathes between the Father and the Son in a manner so sublime that He is God Himself, Qui ex Patre Filioque procedit – He who proceeds from the Father and the Son. This Love, dearest brothers, is God. Deus caritas est, says Saint John (1 Jn 4:16). God is charity; God is love; and whoever abides in charity abides in God, and God in him. It is a Love who, being divine, cannot but desire to communicate Himself. He cannot but desire to give life. He cannot but create, redeem, and sanctify. For in God, Love – Charity – is His very essence. A Charity grounded in Truth, just as, in a flame, heat and light are distinct yet emanate from the same fire.
Spiritus ubi vult spirat (Jn 3:8) – the Spirit blows where He wills. These are words from the Gospel, which Our Lord addressed to Nicodemus, words that acquire their true meaning only when read in light of the sentence immediately preceding them: Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit (Jn 3:5-6). Yet there are those, within a “Church” that claims to be inspired by a “new Pentecost,” who would seek to compel the Holy Spirit to blow not where He wills, but rather where rebels and heretics desire, so as to ratify that which is born of the flesh. These individuals peddle their frauds, their doctrinal errors, the “Conciliar Spring,” the “Synodal Path,” deaconesses and female bishops, sodomitical unions, the ecumenical pantheon, and the worship of Mother Earth – all as the work of the Paraclete. But how could the Holy Spirit promote that which contradicts what He Himself has spoken through the Prophets and through the infallible voice of the perennial Catholic Magisterium? How could the Spirit of Truth teach falsehood? How could the Consoler sow confusion and division among His faithful?
The conciliar and synodal church – a grotesque counterfeit of the true Church of Christ – goes so far as to fashion for itself a god for its own use and consumption: an ecumenical and inclusive god, a god who demands neither conversion nor penance, a god who did not become incarnate to redeem us through His own Passion, but who “abdicates,” so to speak, His own divinity to allow Himself to be supplanted by man – man who makes himself god, and who deifies alongside himself a Magnifica humanitas in rebellion, a dignitas infinita forged of pride and a rejection of the Cross.
In the face of the apostasy of the highest echelons of the Hierarchy, the Holy Spirit continues to blow where He wills – that is, in the same place where He has always willed and where He always will – perpetuating, through the outpouring of His gifts, the work of Creation, Redemption, and Sanctification of the Most Holy Trinity. It is a work that Holy Church is called to accomplish principally through the Sacraments. To this task are called the Apostles, who received the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room, and to this task are called their Successors. They have received the fullness of the Priesthood, which perpetuates Holy Orders and the Holy Mass, the beating heart of the Church, within the unbroken line of Apostolic Succession. It is to them that Our Lord has entrusted the task of pouring forth the Holy Spirit, even when crisis strikes the very summit of the ecclesial body; even when, upon the Throne of the Prince of the Apostles, sits a usurper who, abusing a subverted authority, actively fosters dissolution and hinders good Pastors from fulfilling their Ministry. The Holy Spirit blows where He wills – the same place where He has always willed and where He always will – for He acts with absolute sovereignty, invisibly yet unequivocally, and without following the convoluted paths dictated by those who act according to the flesh. The fruits of the Paraclete – repentance, conversion, peace, charity, and holiness – are not engineered in synodal assemblies or discussion groups; nor are they achieved by adulterating the Truth, corrupting Morality, or through intrigue and falsehoods. He is the Spiritus sapientiae et intellectus; the Spiritus consilii et fortitudinis; the Spiritus scientiae et pietatis. He is the exact opposite of how the Prince of this World and his servants operate, both within and outside the Church.
Just as in antiquity the Font was blessed at Pentecost as well, so today we have administered Holy Baptism and Holy Confirmation to our dearest Mary Isabella Rhye, on the very day when the Paraclete descends upon the disciples.
With the Baptism and Confirmation of Mary Isabella Rhye, Marcello and Rhye – who are already legitimately married – perfect their nuptial union, which Christ now elevates to a visible sign of His love for the Church. Sanctifying Grace, through the Sacraments, is a gift of the Holy Spirit: it is the supernatural help with which the Holy Trinity allows us to do good and avoid evil, being pleased to multiply His Blessings if only we are docile to His counsel. What an unfathomable abyss of magnificence towards us! The Father recognizes us as His children, His heirs and co-heirs in Christ (Rm 8, 17), in the Holy Spirit. And we, in our nothingness, can respond to this magnificence not with our own efforts, but with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, understanding, piety, and fear of the Lord. It is thanks to these supernatural Gifts that the Divine Majesty deigns to arm us in the fight of this earthly pilgrimage. And these powerful defenses are implored for us by the Most Holy Virgin, She who is the Bride of the Paraclete, Mediatrix of all Graces, who had the privilege of receiving the Holy Spirit along with the Apostles. Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful: and light in them the fire of your love. It is the prayer of the Mystical Body, the prayer of the militant Church, the prayer of those who prepare themselves through asceticism and fasting to fight with the enemy of the soul.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord – sings the Psalmist (Ps 32, 12). Truly blessed is this nation: composed of citizens of Heaven, on pilgrimage in a hostile land, strengthened by sanctifying Grace, and nourished by the supernatural food of the Most Holy Eucharist. This nation – the Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church – is today under siege and eclipsed by usurpers. Yet it will be hearts divinely inflamed with Faith, Hope, and Charity who will prepare the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the glorious return of the Lord, and the definitive defeat of the infernal enemy.
Dearest brothers and sisters, let us make our own the prayer of the Post-Communion of this Mass: Sancti Spiritus, Domine, corda nostra mundet infusio: et sui roris intima aspersione fœcundet. May the infusion of the Holy Spirit, O Lord, cleanse our hearts and make them fruitful through the intimate sprinkling of His dew. And so may it be.
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
Viterbo, 24 May MMXXVI Dominica Pentecostes
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