100 Years to the Devil Dear Friends and Benefactors,
"One day Satan presented himself before the throne of God and asked for permission to put the Catholic Church to the trial for a certain length of time. God granted him 100 years to do so. These 100 years are under the power of the Devil, but when the secrets entrusted to you have come about, his power will be destroyed. He is already beginning now to lose his power and he has become aggressive – he is destroying marriages, sowing division amongst priests, causing diabolic obsessions and murders. You must protect yourselves from him by fasting and prayer, above all by praying together. Carry sacramentals with you. Place them in your homes, and start using Holy Water again."
Now this quotation from a letter written on December 2, 1983 by a Franciscan priest to Pope John Paul II may or may not be the Blessed Virgin herself speaking at Medjugorje in Yugoslavia, but it certainly fits our present situation. For instance, many people know that on October 13, 1884, Pope Leo XIII, just after celebrating Mass, had a frightening vision of the future in which he heard Jesus granting to the Devil on his request 100 years in which to attempt to destroy the Church, and in which the Pope then saw the unspeakable horror of countless devils tearing the Mystical Body of Christ to pieces, corrupting vocations, silencing bishops and priests, emptying out convents and monasteries – today's scene. That is when Pope Leo composed the Prayer to St. Michael, the Devil's great adversary, to have it said by priests at the end of every low Mass.
Certainly God may choose to give power in this way to the Devil, as we see in the Book of Job. Certainly the Devil has power today he has never had before, as we see from the evil fruits. What is not certain is that these 100 years came to an end in 1984, because for all we know the Devil may have applied for and obtained an "extension"! And so the division of priests and the destruction of marriages may continue for a while yet.....
Concerning priests, Catholics today often ask why all the good Traditional priests cannot get together and work together. A large part of the answer is, besides their human weaknesses, the lack of authority in the Church. It is Our Divine Lord and nobody else who designed the Catholic Church, and within it He gave authority to Peter alone (John XXI,17) to feed the sheep, i.e., the Bishops. Hence when Peter is seen to be leading them in pastures of false ecumenism (eg the visits to Canterbury and to the Lutheran Church in Rome), there is nobody else who has the authority to unite and lead the Bishops and Priests staying with Tradition. If anyone else could unite them, then the Catholic Church would be operating differently from how our Lord Himself designed it to operate. Impossible.
Now such considerations may be only small consolation to the faithful for all the damage flowing from discord amongst their Priests, but let Catholics wisely resign themselves to what cannot be cured having to be endured, and let them pray with might and main for the restoration of Peter -- two priest friends of mine were more than a little depressed on a recent visit to Rome: "The order has gone out not to reply to Archbishop Lefebvre, and not to tackle the fundamental problems..... We must pray a great deal for the Church."
Concerning the destruction of marriages, let husbands and wives today be especially on their guard against the Devil striving, as in his last available moments (Apoc. XII 12), to tear apart their marriage. Were this situation before long to clear up, how a marriage partner might regret having just beforehand abandoned the struggle to keep their marriage together! How the Devil exaggerated the difficulties, and hid from view all the gifts and graces of marriage! How much harder he worked on our marriage than we did ourselves! And we gave up. And now I see it all, and it may be too late!
Patience! Let one penance for the rest of Lent be the exercise of this great virtue by which we know how to suffer and to endure whatever hardships it pleases God to send us.
News of the Seminary is contained in the "Verbum" enclosed. We continue quietly to thrive, but do not think we do not need your help! Brother Joseph has to push snow off the flat roof; otherwise it leaks in the Chapel four floors below!
Presently seminarians and friends of the Seminary are embarking on preparations for the Major Ordinations on May 13, when Archbishop Lefebvre will ordain here in Ridgefield four new Priests, four deacons and two sub-deacons (program enclosed). If you have never attended an Ordination of Priests, it is an extraordinary experience – into the ceremony went a young man, who is merely a deacon, out comes a Priest, another Christ! We commend to your prayers the ten seminarians due to receive Major Orders, and we look forward to seeing you on this grand occasion!
With all good wishes and blessings in Our Divine Lord,
Fr. Richard Williamson
"One day Satan presented himself before the throne of God and asked for permission to put the Catholic Church to the trial for a certain length of time. God granted him 100 years to do so. These 100 years are under the power of the Devil, but when the secrets entrusted to you have come about, his power will be destroyed. He is already beginning now to lose his power and he has become aggressive – he is destroying marriages, sowing division amongst priests, causing diabolic obsessions and murders. You must protect yourselves from him by fasting and prayer, above all by praying together. Carry sacramentals with you. Place them in your homes, and start using Holy Water again."
Now this quotation from a letter written on December 2, 1983 by a Franciscan priest to Pope John Paul II may or may not be the Blessed Virgin herself speaking at Medjugorje in Yugoslavia, but it certainly fits our present situation. For instance, many people know that on October 13, 1884, Pope Leo XIII, just after celebrating Mass, had a frightening vision of the future in which he heard Jesus granting to the Devil on his request 100 years in which to attempt to destroy the Church, and in which the Pope then saw the unspeakable horror of countless devils tearing the Mystical Body of Christ to pieces, corrupting vocations, silencing bishops and priests, emptying out convents and monasteries – today's scene. That is when Pope Leo composed the Prayer to St. Michael, the Devil's great adversary, to have it said by priests at the end of every low Mass.
Certainly God may choose to give power in this way to the Devil, as we see in the Book of Job. Certainly the Devil has power today he has never had before, as we see from the evil fruits. What is not certain is that these 100 years came to an end in 1984, because for all we know the Devil may have applied for and obtained an "extension"! And so the division of priests and the destruction of marriages may continue for a while yet.....
Concerning priests, Catholics today often ask why all the good Traditional priests cannot get together and work together. A large part of the answer is, besides their human weaknesses, the lack of authority in the Church. It is Our Divine Lord and nobody else who designed the Catholic Church, and within it He gave authority to Peter alone (John XXI,17) to feed the sheep, i.e., the Bishops. Hence when Peter is seen to be leading them in pastures of false ecumenism (eg the visits to Canterbury and to the Lutheran Church in Rome), there is nobody else who has the authority to unite and lead the Bishops and Priests staying with Tradition. If anyone else could unite them, then the Catholic Church would be operating differently from how our Lord Himself designed it to operate. Impossible.
Now such considerations may be only small consolation to the faithful for all the damage flowing from discord amongst their Priests, but let Catholics wisely resign themselves to what cannot be cured having to be endured, and let them pray with might and main for the restoration of Peter -- two priest friends of mine were more than a little depressed on a recent visit to Rome: "The order has gone out not to reply to Archbishop Lefebvre, and not to tackle the fundamental problems..... We must pray a great deal for the Church."
Concerning the destruction of marriages, let husbands and wives today be especially on their guard against the Devil striving, as in his last available moments (Apoc. XII 12), to tear apart their marriage. Were this situation before long to clear up, how a marriage partner might regret having just beforehand abandoned the struggle to keep their marriage together! How the Devil exaggerated the difficulties, and hid from view all the gifts and graces of marriage! How much harder he worked on our marriage than we did ourselves! And we gave up. And now I see it all, and it may be too late!
Patience! Let one penance for the rest of Lent be the exercise of this great virtue by which we know how to suffer and to endure whatever hardships it pleases God to send us.
News of the Seminary is contained in the "Verbum" enclosed. We continue quietly to thrive, but do not think we do not need your help! Brother Joseph has to push snow off the flat roof; otherwise it leaks in the Chapel four floors below!
Presently seminarians and friends of the Seminary are embarking on preparations for the Major Ordinations on May 13, when Archbishop Lefebvre will ordain here in Ridgefield four new Priests, four deacons and two sub-deacons (program enclosed). If you have never attended an Ordination of Priests, it is an extraordinary experience – into the ceremony went a young man, who is merely a deacon, out comes a Priest, another Christ! We commend to your prayers the ten seminarians due to receive Major Orders, and we look forward to seeing you on this grand occasion!
With all good wishes and blessings in Our Divine Lord,
Fr. Richard Williamson