The complete reproduction of any article published in this review is forbidden without previous authorization of the editors of MAGNIFICAT magazine. ©All rights reserved MONASTERY OF THE MAGNIFICAT OF THE MOTHER OF GOD 290 7e Rang – PO Box 4478 – Mont-Tremblant – QC J8E 1A1 TEL. 819-688-5225 magnificat.ca Lovable Jesus, powerful enchanter of hearts, bring back to the port of Your Heart the many souls who have been cut adrift. The world does not love You, because it does not know Your beauty or Your goodness. And because it does not love You, it remains in death. Saviour of the world, will You let the world perish? Peaceful King, use the graces of Your young age to win the love of men, and by the charms of Your childhood, establish Your happy and prosperous Kingdom everywhere. Prayer to the Holy Infant Jesus of Prague OUR COVER: INFANT JESUS, KING OF THE WORLD (O.D.M. painting) The Order of the Magnificat of the Mother of God, requested by the Most Blessed Virgin Herself at La Salette, France, was founded in Canada in 1962. The Order includes priests and religious Brothers and Sisters, some of them coming from other Congregations for the purpose of preserving their respective identity and goals, but all following a common Rule: the one dictated by the Mother of God at La Salette in 1846 and approved by Leo XIII in 1879. The Order also includes disciples, that is, lay members, either single or married, who live in the community of goods with the religious and share their labors. It also includes tertiaries, lay members living in the world, but more deeply involved in the activities of the Order than the ordinary faithful. The Order of the Magnificat of the Mother of God exists and operates under its own Hierarchy. Its faith, doctrine, tradition and practices are Catholic Christian. Firmly wishing to return to the evangelical simplicity of the early days of Christianity, the Order wants to keep intact the doctrinal teachings conveyed with continuity, throughout the ages, by the Saints and Doctors of the Roman Catholic Church. The Order of the Magnificat of the Mother of God, also known by the name The Apostles of Infinite Love, is legally recognized in Canada by a federal charter as well as a provincial charter in Quebec. It likewise possesses charters in the United States, France, Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Ecuador. The Order is also established in Italy, South Africa and Argentina. Besides perpetual adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament, prayer, study and work of all kinds, the Community lends itself to all the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. However, the particular goal of the Order is the preservation of the Deposit of the Faith by religious teaching in all its forms to adults and children. Another specific goal is the fight against all the abuses that have brought about the decadence of the clergy, the religious state and Christian society. The Order also labors in view of Christian unity, so desired by Jesus Christ: unity in truth. � TABLE OF CONTENTS VOL. LX, No. 1 January 2025 Watchword for 2025: Forget yourself – Wish: Follow Jesus our King on His Royal Road, by Father Mathurin of the Mother of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 3 Watchword and wish – Jesus, our great Model – Love of God and neighbor – The lessons of Jesus our King – The story of young Gaston – In love with Lady Humility – Blessing by Father Mathurin of the Mother of God at Christmas Midnight Mass 2024 Our Father who art in Heaven, by Father Paulin de Jésus, O.D.M. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 He who sees Me, sees the Father. – The adorable Will of God – Learning to obey «Do you believe?» . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 – A young man healed by Holy Communion Transformed by early Communion: Guy de Fontgalland (1913-1925) – Centennial of his death . . . 20 Attraction: Guy attracted by “Little Jesus in the Host” – The effects: “Little Jesus in the Host” transforms Guy – An angel takes flight: Last sufferings and death of a little predestined child – Insert: The importance of the Eucharist (from the Encyclical Peter Speaks to the World, by Gregory XVII) Dépôt légal – Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, 2025 Envoi de Poste-publications ISSN 0025-0007 2501-102-3124 Imprimé au Canada Monthly publication of the Apostles of Infinite Love. Subscription cost for the Magnificat is a minimum yearly fee of $20.00 in Canada, $25.00 in the United States, and 30 Euros ($35 USD) in other foreign countries. Any additional donation to help us cover printing costs would be appreciated. Also available in digital format, $ 10.00. This magazine is published ten times a year. (Translated from the French.)
Magnificat Vol. LX, No. 1 3 N THE NAME OF the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and of the Mother of God. Amen. On this first day of the New Year, first of all, I offer my wishes to our Eternal Father, to whom all honor and glory belong, as we have just prayed in the liturgy. Every twenty-five years, it is a custom that the Church proclaims a Holy Year. To mark the occasion, the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica – which in the meantime remains sealed – is opened: a symbolic gesture that gives tangible expression to the opening of the Holy Year.1 A holy year – the word says it all – is a year in which we sanctify ourselves. We had already made 2024 a holy year to draw attention to the 800th anniversary of the stigmatization of Saint Francis of Assisi. To satisfy a desire that was made known to 1. Jubilees have generally been celebrated every 25 or 50 years, with extraordinary jubilees in addition depending on need. Catholic jubilees generally involve a pilgrimage to a sacred site, normally the city of Rome. The current jubilee year began on December 24, 2024.
4 Vol. LX, No. 1 Magnificat you, many of you made the way of the cross every Friday. Spontaneously and with generosity, all those who were able did so on Mount Via Crucis, in all sorts of conditions and weather. I thank you for it, my brothers and sisters. I believe that the love of the sufferings of Jesus for us increased in your hearts through this exercise of the way of the cross. Therefore, it was a holy year. Well, I am inviting you to make this year, 2025, a year that is still holier. It is possible, holier is always possible. When God grants life to His child, it is because He destines him for more. And each moment of our life granted to us by God is because He destines us for more. From the beginning of time, the ministers of the Church present religion to us in all kinds of ways, but at the base there is always the same truth: Jesus came, He showed us the road to Heaven, He preached it to us, and then He died, giving us a striking example of what He expects of us. This year, 2025, marks another anniversary, and it is with this in mind that we will increase our motives to sanctify ourselves. In 1925, Pope Pius XI instituted the feast of Christ the King, setting it on the last Sunday of October. Thus it has been a hundred years since the feast of the kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ was established in the Church. For those of you who like fine phrases, I invite you to make 2025 a royal holy year, royal in the manner of our King Jesus. Watchword and Wish This year, We wish you this: may Jesus truly be our King. My brothers and sisters, I wish that each of you, in your heart, will ardently desire to be the true servant, the true disciple of our King Jesus. To achieve this, I give you a watchword that may seem rather simple: FORGET YOURSELF. Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified said in ecstasy, “It is the me – the ego – that ruins people.”2 That is why We give you this watchword: forget yourself. This year, may each one of you endeavor to forget yourself. May each one strive to disregard his me, his ego, in all his actions, but first and foremost in his thoughts. As you know, the same ideas come up again and again, and if I often repeat the same story of our origins, it is so that it may be well engraved in our mind and heart, in order that this notion may guide our entire life. Before he was the Serpent, Lucifer, the reprobate angel, was the most beautiful angel God had created. But when God presented him with His plan for the Incarnation of the Word, Lucifer’s selflove, his ego, was offended, hurt, frustrated. This provoked his “non serviam, I will not serve, I do not subscribe to this.” Lucifer’s inordinate love of his me, his ego, led him to revolt against God, and the Apocalypse teaches us that he drew a third of the angels into that same revolt.3 That is what made hell. When man was eventually created, Satan led him into the same vice, selflove: “God does not want you to touch the apple, for if you eat of this forbidden fruit, you will be like gods, you will be equal to Him.” Adam and Eve lived in intimacy and familiarity with God, our Heavenly Father. However, the Serpent – a serpent! – managed to make them fall by flattering their ego, their self-love. Satan’s ruse worked wonderfully with our first parents, even though they did not have original sin.4 When our first parents fell into sin by biting the apple, it was as if the Serpent had bitten them. They were bitten by the 2.Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified, Sayings and Elevations (Editions Magnificat: Mont-Tremblant, 2000), p. 141. 3. Cf. Apocalypse 12:4. 4.Incidentally, it is since this fatal fall of our first parents that we are all born with original sin.
Magnificat Vol. LX, No. 1 5 ginning and down through the ages, we do not need an ecstasy to understand this great truth: that it is indeed pride, the ME that ruins people... But if God reminds us of this by means of an ecstasy, it is because we humans are blinded and deluded, both by our frivolity and by our excessive ego, which impairs our judgment. Each one of us finds our ego rather special, rather singular. Sometimes, too often even, we think that our ego is better than our neighbor’s. Worse yet, even if we do not admit it to ourselves, God’s will, His projects, His plans are weighed against our ego. Our ego evaluates everything. Jesus, our great Model The great Model, here as elsewhere, which motivates us to practice all the virtues, but especially that of self-denial, is Jesus, the Redeemer, the Repairer. He is the witness to man’s sin; He is the One who is offended. He sees us fall into this stupidity. That is the most charitable word one can employ, because in reality we are pretty stupid, we behave like idiots. It is precisely because of our lack of intelligence that God shows us mercy. We are obviously far more stupid than the Serpent, because he did not receive the mercy of God. What do you expect? Our God has mercy on us. At least let us acknowledge that we lack intelligence. To get us out of our mire, Jesus comes to show us the royal road. Do you recall the occasion when Jesus proclaimed His kingship? It is precisely the Gospel of the Mass on the Sunday of Christ the King. The multitude of the Jews dragged Jesus before the tribunal of Pilate, who asked Him: “They say You are a king. Are You really a king?” – “Yes, says Jesus, yes, I am a King.” venom of self-love, vanity for their little person, their ego. The same pride that ruined Satan and the angels ruined our first parents. This pride of a free creature is virtually a mystery! And yet, we all experience it, we all carry it inside us. I will repeat the little sentence spoken by Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified in ecstasy: “The me is what ruins people.” When we see what has happened from the very be-
If you have the me, you do not have God; and if you have God, you do not have the me. You do not have two hearts, you have only one... Everything succeeds for the one who does not have the me; everything satisfies him... Where there is the me, there is no humility, nor meekness, nor any virtue. You pray, you implore, and the prayer does not rise, does not reach God... The one who does not have the me has all the virtues and peace and joy.” The me is what ruins people. Those who have the me: that is, those who are full of their me. But is there anything that inhabits every one of us more than our me? How do we get rid of our me? For it is the me that ruins people. And those who have the me carry sorrow, anguish with them. Listen to the next sentence: You cannot have God and the me together. The more we put to death this ego, this me, this vain self, in order to put Jesus there, the more we become divine beings. This is the royal road to which I invite you this year. God and the me cannot live together. Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified repeats this in three sentences that say the same thing, then she reverses the two. You cannot have God and the me together. Impossible. If you have the me, you do not have God. If you have God, you do not have the me. The ecstasies of Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified were divine, real, she did not invent those words. God was truly speaking through her. This message refers to what might be called the central statement of the Gospel. If you find it hard to remember the entire Gospel, you can sum it up in this one word from Jesus: If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.6 When 6. Cf. St. Matthew 16:24; St. Mark 8:34; St. Luke 9:23. 6 Vol. LX, No. 1 Magnificat Since the previous day, His enemies and all the rabble had been assailing Him. Jesus had been publicly struck by lackeys before the court of Caiphas and Annas. He spent the night in the dungeon. The soldiers had not hesitated to beat Him, slap Him, spit on Him and worse yet. All night long, they heaped insults and blows upon Him. The insults they hurled at our God, our Jesus, are appalling. What they did is abominable. It is in this pomp, this setting, that Jesus appears before Pilate and answers his question: Are You a King? – You have said it, yes, I am a King. And Jesus continues immediately: I was born, I came into this world to bear witness to the truth. Whoever is on the side of the truth hears My voice.5 This is why Jesus came, to make the truth heard, and whoever is on the side of the truth hears His voice. Pilate is skeptical, and he adds: “What is the truth?” Without waiting for an answer, he rises and walks out. But the truth! Jesus proclaims it throughout this scenario that we contemplate in which He is scorned, degraded and trampled underfoot like a worm. “I am a King. And those who are of the truth, who are of the party of the truth, hear My Voice, they understand Me and recognize Me as their King. Those who want the truth, who truly desire it, recognize it. They will follow Me.” That is Our wish for this year: Follow the royal road of Jesus. Contemplate Him, implore Him. Tell Him how much you want to follow Him, and above all apply yourself to forgetting yourself. That is Our watchword: put your ego, your ME, to death”. I will read you the full text from Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified in ecstasy: “The me is what ruins people. Those who have the me carry sorrow, anguish with them. You cannot have God and the me together. 5. Cf. St John 18:33-38.
Magnificat Vol. LX, No. 1 7 He spoke these words, He had not yet proclaimed His kingship. “But if anyone wants to acknowledge Me and follow Me as his King, and wants to be My servant, My disciple, wants to be Mine, then let him deny himself. Let him deny himself and follow Me.” Love of God and neighbor I invite the preachers to develop the theme this year. It is an enormous subject! The me is as enormous as man’s vanity, as subtle and cunning as man’s pride. Good Lord, how subtle and cruel that me is! My brothers and sisters, I invite you to show no mercy to your me. Unmask it. Be all love for God, all love for your neighbor. At any rate, that is the formula. Do you want to put your ego to death? Apply your heart and your thought to Jesus, to God and your neighbor. Surely you have already experienced this. Experience it more and more. We apply ourselves to God through obedience, through the practice of the Gospel and the Commandments, through humble submission to superiors, through the accomplishment of the rules and regulations, of our duties. All of this is seeking God. And love of neighbor is equal to the first commandment.7 Let us apply ourselves to this, forgetting our ego, and we will have a royal year. Oh, it will be a holy year! The lessons of Jesus, our King I would like to contemplate with you the example of Jesus, make the portrait of our King in this centennial year of the feast of His kingship. How did our King manifest Himself? While the Infant Jesus was in the manger in Bethlehem, three kings from the East arrived in Jerusalem and inquired: “Where is the King of the Jews who has just been born? We have seen His star in the East, and we have come to worship Him.”8 And the people answered, “What do you mean, a king?” God, the great King of the Jews, our eternal King, becomes incarnate, He comes to manifest Himself to man, and He is so hidden and unknown that no one knows it. He descends into such lowliness that nothing indicates His coming – nothing! This is how He begins His kingdom, His reign. We need to be very attentive, my brothers, to fully grasp the lessons our King gives us right from the manger, from the very start of His coming into this world. Intrigued, King Herod summons the sages and scribes who know the Scriptures concerning the coming of the Messiah: “Ah yes!” they say, “it is in Bethlehem that He is to be born.” The good kings go 7. Cf. St. Matthew 22:37-39 – Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, with thy whole soul, with thy whole strength, with thy whole mind. That is the greatest and first commandment. But the second is like it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 8. Cf. St. Matthew 2:1-6 ff.
8 Vol. LX, No. 1 Magnificat there at once. And the Gospel says – the words are crucial – King Herod was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. My dear brothers and sisters, beware! Is it for the glory of God that you become troubled? Normally, the glory of God does not trouble anyone. It fills men with zeal, but it does not trouble them. When we are willing to follow our King, we are not troubled. When the soul is troubled, that does not come from God. If the trouble is not from God, then where is it from? From the ego, the me. When the ego is offended, humans get troubled. Herod is troubled, all Jerusalem is troubled. The King has just been born, they are troubled. The Son of God comes into this world, they are troubled, because they are not disposed to follow Him. Conversely, when we are disposed to follow our King, to take the Royal Road, we are not troubled. The Kings were not troubled because they were upright souls. They went to find Jesus in the simplicity of their heart, without any devious thoughts. When we are motivated by all sorts of devious thoughts, when we take crooked paths, we are led by our pride. We are not disposed to follow our King. We are troubled by all sorts of little withdrawals into ourselves, often unacknowledged. These are almost always little vanities that we do not want to give up. When you feel trouble invading your heart, do not look to the side, and rather than blaming it on others, examine your heart well, under the eye of God: “My God, if I am troubled, it is because something in me is not in conformity with You, my King.” Our King gives us beautiful lessons, and it is interesting to point them out. In this royal year, you will go over His lessons. Here is another example from our dear Jesus: The Gospel9 tells us that one day, 9. Cf. Rev. Can. Alfred Weber, The Four Gospels in One (Éditions Magnificat: Mont-Tremblant, 2006), pp. 174-177. Narrative taken from St. Matthew 14:13-36; St. Mark 6:30-56; St. Luke 9:10-17; St. John 6:1-21. Jesus had spoken at length to the multitude about the Kingdom of God. The day had begun to decline, evening was at hand. Jesus had pity on the people, and He said to the Apostles: “They are hungry. Have you anything to give them to eat?” They found a boy who had five barley loaves and two fish. And with five barley loaves and two fish, Jesus fed the multitude. The Gospel relates that there were about five thousand men, not counting the women and children. There were a lot of people! Add at least as many women, and it amounts to ten thousand. And add as many children and we reach fifteen thousand. It is very likely there were many more, but let us keep this conservative figure of around fifteen thousand people. The crowd was enthusiastic. Jesus spoke to them of the Kingdom of God, as He knew how to do so well. He multiplied the loaves. The reaction of the multitude was to have Him proclaimed king. “See what He does! He is indeed the Son of David foretold by the prophets; He is the One we have been waiting for.” It is plainly written in the Gospel: the multitude wanted to proclaim Him king. Then Jesus tells His Apostles to leave: “Go, return to the other side of the lake.” Meanwhile, Jesus dismisses the crowd: “It is a little too late for ceremonies. You may withdraw.” He Himself retires to the mountain, and He prays. What a lesson! This is not the kind of King He wants to be, His Kingdom is not of this world.10 God permitted this entire scenario to teach us, we who are so vain. Most humans seize the slightest occasion of vanity to raise themselves up and enhance their image. We find profit in the least little vainglory, we feed on it. There are a few exceptions to this temptation, notably the Saints, including our deceased saints. I was telling our friends about Father Sylvio,11 10. Cf. St. John 18:36. 11.Father Sylvio du Cœur de l’Immaculée, O.D.M. (19342021), born Sylvio Salvas, who passed away in the odor of sanctity in Guadeloupe, where he was a missionary.
Magnificat Vol. LX, No. 1 9 who did not seek any occasion for vanity; quite the opposite, he was a phenomenon of humility and self-forgetfulness. Contemplate Jesus, look at His examples, beseech Him. He withdrew to the mountain and prayed. Was His prayer for the vain people who were to come? I wonder. Perhaps He was praying for us, so that we may not fall into that accursed sin of vanity; that we may stop wanting to enhance our image at the slightest opportunity and ceaselessly seek the esteem of those around us. While Jesus is praying, the Apostles are in their little boat. A storm is brewing. God set up this entire scenario to teach us. The Apostles are still thinking about the multitude that wants to proclaim Jesus king... They do not really understand what is going on. They are caught up in their ego. They too are caught up in their me. And the tempest comes. When we are caught up in our me, it stirs up storms, and what storms! The worst storms of a soul occur when vanity is at stake. As we mentioned, Herod and all Jerusalem were troubled... The storm breaks over the Apostles. They may not have as strong a me as the others, but God allowed this scenario to make us think, make us ask for His wisdom, His thought. The storm the Apostles go through is the image of souls in the grip of their vanity. The multitude may get away with it, but the Apostles are chosen by God. It is important for them to rid themselves of their ego. Often the storm is necessary to rattle our cage and make us realize that we are full of self-love. The storm lasts as long as necessary. It shakes things up. Meanwhile, Jesus is praying. And when, in His divine wisdom, He deems the moment opportune, He steps out onto the water. Good Peter is there, not yet a saint. “Lord,” he says, “if it is You, bid me to come to You.” And Peter starts walking on the water. After a few steps, he realizes he is between the two: Jesus in front of him and the boat behind: “My God, my Lord, what is going on?” Starting to doubt, he begins to sink into the water. “Lord, help!” he cries. And Jesus pulls him out of the waves and back into the boat. The Gospel says, As soon as Jesus was aboard, the wind fell, and they were immediately at the place they were going to. Strange to say, when you succeed in getting rid of your me, when you remove it and put Jesus in its place, you arrive at your destination. God can work through you, and you become a useful instrument. The Apostles, caught in a terrible storm, saw Jesus, walking on the water, passing by their boat... “Lord,” cried Peter, “if it is You, bid me come to You upon the water.” – “Come!” said Jesus. Peter went out of the boat and walked forward upon the water to come to Jesus. But seeing that the wind was strong, he was afraid; and as he began to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” And immediately Jesus, stretching forth His hand, took hold of him. “O man of little faith!” He said, “Why did you doubt?” The other Disciples wanted to take Him into the boat. As soon as Jesus was aboard, the wind fell, and they were immediately at the place to which they were going.
10 Vol. LX, No. 1 Magnificat His kingdom is established. This is the kind of servant He is looking for. This is the kind of disciple, the kind of apostle our King needs. This is how He establishes His kingdom: on the ruin of our ego. Unfortunately, human beings have to go through many storms to get rid of their ego. It is always the same logic. That is why I remind you of the circumstances surrounding the kingship of Jesus from the moment of the manger, through the Kings. The proud, those who do not want Jesus’ kingship, are troubled. As mentioned above, the next occasion that Jesus speaks of His kingship is before Pilate. Are you a King? – I am a King. This is why I was born, and why I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice. After Jesus proclaimed Himself King before Pilate, the latter sent Him to Herod, who had Him decked out in a white robe for his amusement. In those days, to identify madmen, they were decked out in a white robe; it was the robe of fools. The Gospel tells us that Herod and his entire guard scorned Jesus and made fun of Him.12 I tell you all this to bring our King to light, to invite you to follow Him. It is hard to find appropriate adjectives for Herod, that vile creature who made fun of Jesus; he decked Him out in white to ridicule Him, scorn Him, mock Him. Beware, my brothers! When we give in to our ego, our self-love can drive us to the vilest depths. We must not give ourselves any chances, we must be pitiless towards our little self. Then Herod sends Jesus back to Pilate. The Roman Procurator is looking for a way out. In an attempt to appease the hatred of the multitude, Pilate presents Jesus to them, saying: “Do you wish that I release to you the King of the Jews? Which one do you want? Barabbas, the 12. Cf. St. Luke 23:11. greatest criminal in Palestine, or Jesus, your King?” – “Barabbas! Barabbas! And that One, crucify Him!”13 That is how they treated Jesus. “We do not want this King!” My God, what a terrible lesson! Let me repeat: if we give in to our vanity and do not attack it head-on, if we do not put the axe to the root of the tree of this vanity, this ego, we end up choosing Barabbas. We do not want this King,” shouted the crowd. We do not want Him to reign over us.14 Not Him! He is not the kind of King we were dreaming of. This is not the kind we want.” What the people did then, all human beings are threatened with if they are not on guard, if they are not careful of the enemy. It is the me that ruins people... Let us get back to Pilate, who does not know what to do. He wants to find some kind of expedient: he is going to have Jesus chastised and then set Him free. So he hands Him over to the soldiers, who take Him to their quarters to scourge Him. They begin by stripping Him of His clothes. If you want to follow your King, my brothers, in this royal year, strip off your ego. Strip off your ego. To make fun of Him, the soldiers clothe Jesus in a scarlet cloak: “You want to be a king? Fine!” That scarlet cloak is just an old rag found in a corner somewhere, probably all soiled. “You are a king? A king needs a crown.” They crown Jesus with thorns. The crown of thorns is the foremost symbol of the ignominy of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It was the emblem of Our predecessor, Gregory XVII, and it is Ours also. Our Father John Gregory had a passionate desire to follow Jesus, scorned and debased. We wish to follow in his footsteps, and wish to communicate to you, my dear brothers and sisters, this same passionate desire to follow our King. 13. Cf. St. Matthew 27:15-26; St. Mark 15:6-15; St. Luke 23:13-25; St. John 18:39-40. 14. Cf. St. Luke 19:14.
Magnificat Vol. LX, No. 1 11 Having clothed Jesus in a scarlet robe and crowned Him with thorns, His executioners put a reed in His right hand as a scepter, like a king. They genuflect in derision before Him, covering Him with mockery. This is how things are related in the Gospel. What is the reason for all these outrages? Because He is KING! And it is with mockery and diabolical derision that the soldiers proclaim His Kingship: “Hail, King of the Jews, Hail to the King!”15 My brothers, behold our King. He is the One we must follow. Jesus. You will do it far better than I can. Even this young boy in the congregation can do it. Some of his friends will understand it better if he says it in the vocabulary of his age rather than me. I invite all of you who are able, to communicate these truths to those around you. Communicate it first to your heart, to your soul, in prayer, in supplication. Together, we want to follow our King. The story of young Gaston Let me tell you a little story that will interest you. One day, a young boy of fifteen or sixteen asked his father if he could become a Brother. The boy in question was very gifted, he was at the top of his class everywhere, he had received diplomas and was even awarded the Lieutenant Governor’s medal as the best student in the area. When he asked his father if he could be a Brother, his father replied: “What? You want to be a Brother? With the talent you have, you could go far... Go to the seminary! You will be ordained a priest. Then, brilliant as you are, you will become a bishop, and a famous one at that. Not a Brother, my son! I know you love religion. I have noticed it for a long time, ever since you were a little boy. You are a real chapel rat, you’re chewing up all the kneelers. We are about to receive a bill from the parish council for wear and tear on the pews! I know you love religion, but if you love religion that much, don’t become a Brother! You know, my son, if I met up with a dog and a Brother at the same time, I would say hello to the dog before the Brother,” said the father of the little boy called Gaston. And young Gaston replied: “Dad, that is precisely why I want to be a Brother.” 15After having ridiculed Jesus so ignominiously, they bring him back to Pilate, who presents Him to the multitude: Behold the Man.16 The great prophet Isaiah had described the Man, the Man of Sorrows,17 the Man designating the Messiah foretold by the prophecies. Behold the Man, for He is the One that the world had been anticipating for ages, the Son of God made Man. Brothers and sisters, this is the King we follow, and He is the One I invite you to imitate in a special way during this Holy Year. May it be holy in every sense of the word. And you, dear friends, when each one of you returns home, communicate this to those around you. Tell them that we are making 2025 a holy year, that we are going to follow 15. Cf. St. Matthew 27:29. 16. St. John 19:5. 17. Cf. Isaiah 53:1-7. ECCE HOMO
What an extraordinary destiny young Gaston Tremblay had! At sixteen, he joined the Brothers of St. John of God. Obeying the voice of God, confirmed by ecclesiastical authority, he left his beloved Community in 1952. Sixteen years later, submitting to the express order of Heaven, he became the Successor of Peter under the name of Gregory XVII. To a religious who asked him how he had been able to persevere amid the countless trials, scorn and persecution his mission had drawn upon him, Father John Gregory replied without hesitation: “Love of scorn and of those who scorn me.” “What do you mean?” said his father. “That’s why I want to be a Brother, because you just told me that if you met up with a dog and a Brother, you would say hello to the dog before the Brother.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” “Because I want to be less than a dog.” “You want to be less than a dog? What’s gotten into you, son?” “Dad, you’re the one who taught me religion; Mom, the priest, the catechist, you all taught me. God, the Son of God, came to the earth and lowered Himself to man. The distance between God and man is immeasurable. Not only did He do that, but after He adopted the condition of a man, He was trampled upon by men like a worm. He was held in contempt, dragged through the mud, spat upon and died like a criminal. Jesus, God Himself! You are the ones who taught me that. I believe deeply, Dad, that if I become less than a dog, I am doing much less than Jesus did, and Jesus is my model. I want to be like Him so much, it is the passion of my life. I want to be like my Model.” “Well,” said his father, “if that’s what you want to do, my son, go ahead and become a Brother.” Young Gaston Tremblay became Brother John Grande in the Order of the Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God, and Brother John Grande became Father John of the Trinity, who became Father John Gregory XVII. Do you understand why I am telling you this story? In the heart of that child, God placed this extraordinary light of the greatness of humility, the great- ness of contempt, the greatness of abjection. He understood that this is the main example that our God, our King, our Jesus gave us, that this is the principal example we must follow. God put this light in the heart of that little child, that young boy, because he was destined to establish this Community of the Latter Times and to be the head of the Renewed Church. In love with Lady Humility To close the year 2024, the Sisters staged a few episodes from the life of Saint Francis of Assisi. As a young man, during the process of his conversion, Francis had a vision of something he called Lady Poverty. Poverty presented itself to him under the appearance of an attractive, charming young lady. He understood that it was the poverty Jesus had embraced, and so he fell in love with Lady Poverty. And with her, he renewed the Church of his time (13th century). My Bothers, I would like to draw a parallel here. God spoke to the soul, the heart of 12 Vol. LX, No. 1 Magnificat
our Father John Gregory XVII. And it was Lady Humility who manifested herself to him, Lady Abjection, Lady Universal Contempt, Lady Rejected, Lady Debased, Lady Abnegation, who forgot herself to give all the room to Jesus. Father John Gregory was enchanted by her. She was the compass of his whole life, his guide, his light. It was by this light that God wanted to begin the renewal of the Church, which – and I think we can all agree on this – is currently in a far more pitiful state than it was in the time of Saint Francis of Assisi eight hundred years ago. God showed our Father John Gregory Lady Humility, and through her the image, the figure of Jesus, this Jesus lowered, this Jesus debased, this Jesus who humbled Himself: our King. Father John fell in love with his debased King and wanted to follow Him. This is my invitation, my wish, my watchword for this year. Here is the text from the Apocalypse that the Church inserted into the liturgy of the Mass on the Sunday of Christ the King: Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. The Lamb is the immolated King I have just described. Our religion, the Gospel, the teachings of God: it is all one. It is always the same single teaching that coincides everywhere. Jesus said it to Pilate: You have said it, I am a King! I was born, I have come into the world to bear witness to the Truth. Whoever is on the side of the Truth hears My voice. And for those who hear this voice, the Kingdom of God is at hand. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain – this slain King – to receive power, divinity, wisdom, strength and honor. To Him be glory and power for ever and ever.18 His kingdom will come, my brothers and sisters, if we follow this immolated Lamb, our King. Jesus was speaking to the crowds about the Kingdom of God. His kingdom is at hand. God will manifest His power, His divinity, His wisdom, His strength. His honor will be exalted. To Him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen. Holy New Year, dear friends, dear brothers, dear sisters! I wish you a royal year, in the full force of the word you have just heard. It is the royal road. M 18. Cf. Apocalypse 5:12-13. Blessing e ask Jesus, our King, to pour forth His blessing upon every one of you present here, upon all our brothers and sisters around the world, in our missions, and especially upon those who are in greater solitude on this New Year’s Day. e ask our King to come and bless each one of us, our cenacle homes, all those who are united with us in heart, soul and spirit. We ask our King to bless them. We ask Him, for each one of you, to communicate His spirit to us, to give us His thoughts. This year, may each one of us follow our King in all His ways. W W
DEAR brothers and sisters, dear friends, We wish to bless all our missions, each and every one of our missionaries, especially our Brothers or Sisters who may be in more solitary missions, who may be passing this Christmas Day in solitude. We ask the Infant Jesus to bless them, visit them, manifest Himself to them. WE wish to bless our cenacle homes, all our friends, all those who support us in any way. WE have a special thought during this blessing for those who suffer for the Faith. So many Christians are suffering today throughout the world! So many are helpless! So many others are persecuted morally, persecuted physically. There are countries where Christians are persecuted and tortured. We are thinking especially of them. WE also bless all the poor. The poor have always been the chosen portion of Jesus, but especially on this Christmas Day. The poor, the little ones, the humble, the prisoners, the sick, the infirm who suffer in all sorts of ways in body and soul. We are thinking of them, we pray the Infant Jesus to bless each one. IN the hearts of those who doubt, may He rekindle faith, faith in His love. This year, we have thought a great deal about Saint Francis of Assisi, who cried out, Love is not loved! He had seen, he had understood the love of God. But there are souls who doubt. What suffering! They want to have faith, but they are suffering. We ask the Infant Jesus to be their light. He alone can give light. M Blessing by Father Mathurin of the Mother of God at Christmas Midnight Mass 2024 14 Vol. LX, No. 1 Magnificat
Magnificat Vol. LX, No. 1 15 N JANUARY 1, we pay homage to the Eternal Father, the first Person of the Most Holy Trinity. All great feasts begin with a vigil, that of the Eternal Father straddles the end of one year and the beginning of another: He is indeed the Alpha and the Omega,1 the beginning and the end. The Eternal Father is God, the Good Lord – infinitely good, infinitely lovable. He is love in essence. God is love,2 says Saint John. He is almighty. He is eternal, without beginning or end. He is the one and only God; there can be no other. From all eternity, Almighty God engenders His Son, and this Son is in every way equal to His Father, sharing His divine nature. The Father loves the Son with infinite love, which 1. In the Book of the Apocalypse (1:8), God presents Himself as “the Alpha and the Omega”, meaning that He is the One who is, who was and who is to come, the Almighty. These two words, Alpha and Omega, designating the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, express the complete and eternal nature of God, presenting Him as the source and the end of all existence. 2. I St. John 4:8,16. is His essence, and the Son returns this infinite love to His Father. The spirit of love proceeding from the Father and the Son is the Holy Spirit. This is the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, the greatest of Christian mysteries and the source of all truth. To symbolize the Trinity, one God in three Persons, the Church makes use of the triangle. In electricity, we speak of a delta connection: a single current in three phases. Electricity is an image of the Divinity. It is invisible but it exists, and we feel its effects. “He who sees Me, sees the Father.” Saint John says in his Gospel: No one has ever seen God. The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has revealed Him.3 To honor God the Father properly, correctly, we need to know Him. And the only way to know the Father is to enroll in the school of His Son, to contemplate Him. 3. St. John 1:18. O By Father Paulin de Jésus, O.D.M.
16 Vol. LX, No. 1 Magnificat He Himself teaches this to us in His Gospel. Saint Philip the Apostle had become enamored of the Father, of whom Jesus spoke so beautifully. He exclaimed, “Lord, show us the Father, and that is enough for us!” Our Lord replied: Philip, he who sees Me, sees the Father.4 Basically, Philip was right, but what he desired is reserved for eternal life. On Mount Sinai, Moses had already asked God to show him His face. The Most High had replied that no mortal can contemplate the face of God without dying. The Eternal Father showed Himself to him from behind. Moses had to be satisfied with that.5 If we wanted to quote everything Our Lord said about His Father, we would have to read the entire Gospel. That would not be a bad thing. I strongly encourage you to do so, if only one page a day. On this day, when we want to pay special tribute to the paternity of God, let us be good, compliant little children and put ourselves in the school of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who though He was by nature God, did not consider being equal to God a thing to be clung to, but emptied Himself, taking the nature of a slave and being made like unto men. 4. St. John 14:9. 5. Exodus 33:18-23. And appearing in the form of man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death, even to death on a cross.6 O my brothers and sisters, what examples! What lessons! As God, the Word could not obey. So He became man to honor His Father perfectly in our name and place. Father, here I am. Behold, I come to do Thy will, O God.7 The adorable Will of God The Eternal Father is God’s will, His creative will, His mighty hand that made all things. Scripture tells us: The heavens show forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of His hands.8 Our Lord Himself invites us to contemplate creation in order to know the Creator. Look at the birds of the air, consider the lilies of the field.9 After creating, God the Father governs His creation. He preserves it and brings it to its end: this is Providence, a new manifestation of the adorable Will of our Heavenly Father. God’s creative will is adorable; creation, on the other hand, is not. It is important to make this distinction. Apart from the holy humanity of Jesus Christ, no creature, not even the most perfect, is adorable. We adore the body of Jesus Christ because He is God incarnate. The Word of God is hypostatically united to the humanity of Jesus. The same is not true of the Saints in Heaven. They are fused with the Divinity, becoming one with It, but they retain their personality. That is why we do not adore them. We adore God alone. But we must honor them, for it pleases God. God’s will is adorable; the creature’s is not. Jesus, standing before Pilate, said to him: You would have no power at all over Me had you not received it from above.10 Our Lord recognized Pilate as the representative 6. Philippians 2:6-8. 7. Cf. Hebrews 10:7; Psalm 39:8-9. 8. Psalm 18:2. 9. Cf. St. Matthew 6:26,28. 10. St. John 19:11. SAINT PHILIP THE APOSTLE “Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us!”
Magnificat Vol. LX, No. 1 17 of His Father, and in him He adored the Will of God at work. Pilate was certainly not adorable, but the Will of God was. In the Gospel, we see Our Lord announcing His Passion. It was His Father’s Will, and He wanted it, desired it, adhered to it with all His being. But behold Peter, His Apostle, said to Him, Far be it from Thee, O Lord, that this should ever happen to Thee. And Jesus exclaimed, Get away from Me, Satan!11 Our Lord adored His Father’s Will; however, the instruments employed to carry it out were not adorable. His executioners were far from adorable! But they carried out God’s Will. This is the great mystery of the Cross, the unique truth taught by Our Lord, and one that Christians must contemplate unceasingly. If we want to know the Father, we must study Christ. If we wish to study Christ, we must contemplate the mystery of the Cross, for they are inseparable. Learning to obey Let us also contemplate Our Lord in order to learn how to obey our Heavenly Father. Jesus made obedience His food. My food is to do the Will of My Father.12 No one will ever be able to rival Christ in obedience. The entire Gospel proves it. The only way to worship God in spirit and in truth13 is to submit to His will. This is wisdom, perfection. The Church teaches us that in Our Lord there are two wills: a divine will 11. St. Matthew 16:22-23. 12. St. John 4:34. 13. Cf. St. John 4:24 – God is spirit, and they who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. and a human will. The Divine Will of Jesus is in perfect conformity with that of His Father. He is one with Him in the Holy Spirit. As God, therefore, Our Lord cannot obey. But Jesus, the Son of God, took on our human nature and vested Himself completely with it. The human soul is endowed with free will, enlightened by reason. This is human freedom. Our Lord sacrificed this human freedom absolutely. He submitted His human will and obeyed perfectly. This perfect obedience was of infinite merit. See Our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane. Feeling apprehensive, He cries out: Father, let this cup pass away from Me! But immediately, Not My will, but Thine be done.14 Let us contemplate Our Lord from the crib to the crucifixion. From Him we will learn to know our Heavenly Father, to pray to Him, to obey Him. Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. May this be our passion, our vehement desire. We shall learn from Our Lord how to love and serve God the Father – not out of constraint, but with a great love, a filial love. This is the secret of happiness, in this world and in the next. From a sermon given at the Monastery of the Magnificat on the feast of the Eternal Father – January 1, 2024 14. St. Matthew 26:39; St. Luke 22:42. JESUS, OUR MODEL “Jesus is our model. Even though He is the Son of God incarnate, He was obedient to His creatures. He was obedient in Nazareth until the age of thirty. God continues to be obedient at the altar to all the priests who make the consecration. There is no one more obedient than God Himself.” Father John Gregory of the Trinity
18 Vol. LX, No. 1 Magnificat Here is the report of the healing of Renault Pierre, a seminarian, sent by his superior, Fr. Lambert, to the Bishop of Versailles.1 This prodigious event took place in the seminary chapel. Renault Pierre, born in Paris on July 3, 1825, entered the Minor Seminary of Versailles in October 1838. During the summer of 1843, he was plagued by heart palpitations and went home for a while. He wanted to resume his studies at the end of the school vacation that same year, but soon he was suffering again from violent attacks and horrible convulsions, during which four men could barely contain him. Our school doctor spared nothing to heal him – all in vain. The attacks recurred in an alarming way. Despite his diligent care, the patient’s condition continued to worsen, and on April 1, the convulsive heartbeats, compared by our doctor to violent piston strokes, caused a discharge in the brain, resulting in paralysis of the optic nerve. The outcome was complete blindness and absolute insensitivity of the pupil, to the extent that the doctor could touch it with his fingers without the patient feeling the slightest impression. The eyelids were drawn back and left the eyeball uncovered, showing them to be as motionless as a marble statue. For three days and three nights, the poor patient endured pains that made him utter heart-rending moans. The chief physician of the Versailles Civil Hospital, a doctor of great reputation and consummate experience, came for a consultation on Thursday, April 4. He examined him, reckoned that he would probably 1.Appeared in: Les miracles en France au XXe siècle (Miracles in France in the 20th Century), cited in “L’Ami du Clergé”, (Paroissial 1928), pp. 38-39. never recover his sight, and said that he had an irreversible heart condition. He added that we could expect to lose him sooner or later. In our sorrow, we turned to Heaven. That same day, Thursday, April 4, 1844, the entire Community began a novena to the Blessed Virgin. On Friday the 5th, a prolonged seizure and the patient’s extreme weakness prompted us to give him Extreme Unction shortly before one o’clock in the afternoon. Meanwhile, the students who were gathered in the chapel recited the Miserere. The patient was unconscious. His eyes were fixed and wide open, and he appeared to have stopped breathing. We made haste, lest he should breathe his last before the ceremony ended. His mother was there, bursting into tears. About a quarter of an hour after being administered, Renault regained consciousness and stated that he was no longer suffering. He had been lying in bed for a long time, unable to take any food due to a complete loss of strength, and now he asked to get up; from that very day, he was able to walk around the infirmary. He was no longer in pain, but he was still blind. We now had only one hope for his sight. The novena was to end on Friday, April 12. Our dear patient received Communion that day, but his sight did not return. From then on, we understood that we would have to resign ourselves, and it was decided that the poor child would leave us on Sunday, April 14. On the day set for his departure, he attended the first Mass and spoke to his confessor. He told him how painful it was for him to think that many of his young classmates might be shaken in their faith, seeing that, despite their fervent prayers, he remained blind. He begged him to speak to them in “DO YOU BELIEVE?” A young
Magnificat Vol. LX, No. 1 19 order to revive their confidence. Afterwards, he wished to attend the Community Mass one last time, in the Minor Seminary chapel. At the moment of Communion, the orderly gave him his arm and led him to the altar. I placed the Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ on his tongue, gave Communion to several other people and finished my Mass. Returning to the sacristy, I blessed a crucifix that the blind man had deposited before Mass, and that he was to take with him. At that moment, the door opened and I saw, with unspeakable surprise and joy, young Renault descend the six steps that join the sacristy floor to the chapel, then come, rush into my arms and press himself to my heart. Sharing his gratitude and admiration, I mingled my tears with his and said: “What have you experienced, dear child, and what has happened to you? Your sight has been restored?” “Yes,” he answered, “when I was kneeling at the foot of the altar, waiting for Holy Communion, a voice said to me: ‘Do you believe? Do you believe?’ and I replied: ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that You can give it back to me.’ As soon as the Sacred Host touched my tongue, I was blinded by light; I saw everything and nothing. Since I remained motionless, the orderly gave me a gentle push to tell me to get up. Then I clearly saw the altar step. Turning around, I saw a pew, and I moved towards it, rejecting my guide’s help. There were several books there; I picked one up and opened it to see how clearly I could see. It was an Imitation of Christ; the characters were in small type; I read several pages which contained the Ordinary of the Mass and came upon these words which I read distinctly: He who follows Me does not walk in darkness,2 says the Lord. So I closed the book and began to pray...” Two hundred students, not counting their teachers, witnessed this miraculous healing. Father Lambert, the superior of the Minor Seminary of Versailles, gave this further testimony: “Ever since he was healed in such an astonishing manner, Renault sees and is doing as well as if he had never been sick or blind. There was no convalescence, and the return of his sight was as sudden and perfect as the return of his health.” For the triumph and exaltation of Jesus Host, let us ask, for ourselves and for all Christians, a renewal of faith in this great Sacrament of love and infinite mercy. Let us remember that the power of the Eucharist is not diminished! What wonders and transformations, both physical and above all moral, would be brought about by contact with God in the Host, if our faith in Him was stronger. M 2. St. John 8:12. man healed by Holy Communion
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM4MjU1NQ==