Forget

Yourself

to Follow Jesus our

King on His Royal Road

by Father Mathurin of the Mother of God In 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 800 th anniversary of the stigmatization of Saint Francis of Assisi. To satisfy a desire that was made known to 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 self-love, 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, self-love: “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 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 beginning 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 .” 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. 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 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. 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 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 Gospel 9 tells us that one day, 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 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. 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 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. 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. After 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 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.” “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 greatness 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 (13 th century). My Brothers, I would like to draw a parallel here. God spoke to the soul, the heart of 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 of 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.