Dear Friends,
As we roll quickly through this month of June, the month of the Sacred Heart, I want to inform you that I will be away for a little bit of time this upcoming week to attend a summit with Fr. Phil Smith, the Director of Vocations, and other priests to pray about, discuss, and strategize for promoting vocations to the priesthood. Next week, I will be away most of the week for the priest convocation, which is held every other year.
Earlier in this Year of our Lord 2022, Pope Francis canonized the 16 Carmelites of Compiègne. These Carmelite sisters were cloistered nuns living according to the rule of their order. They were also living in France during the so-called Enlightenment and during the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution. Time and again, there have been movements of expelling nuns and monks from their convents and monasteries, away from their prayer and work because what they do “does not contribute to society.”
The Reign of Terror and the French Revolution was no different; in fact, it was probably more severe and more extreme than in other similar movements. All Church property was confiscated; churches were turned into “Temples of Reason”; the seven-day week was replaced with a ten-day week (everyone really would then be working for the weekend!); the year number was based on the birth of the Republic rather than the birth of Christ—which is not all that different from the attempt today to replace A.D (Anno Domini, Year of our Lord) with C.E. (Common Era). The Carmelites of Compiègne, like many other nuns, monks, and friars, were expelled from their convent and told to stop living as nuns. Although the Carmelites of Compiègne lived in four separate groups, they continued meeting together for Mass and for their daily act of consecration, offering themselves to Christ for peace in the Church, for peace in France, and for a decrease in the number of people sent to the guillotine.
In 1794, the local authorities arrested Carmelites of Compiègne and sent them to Paris. What had they done? They lived their Carmelite lives, which was illegal; they were considered perfidious traitors against the Republic, wishing for freedom’s destruction. They were charged with fanaticism because of their attachment to Christ and Catholicism, which made them enemies of the people. There was a kangaroo court, a show trial, with judges proclaiming human rights.
The Carmelites of Compiègne were sent to the guillotine. On the way, something strange happened. Usually, there was mockery and reviling of the condemned. As the Carmelites of Compiègne went to the guillotine, there was silence. Silence, except from them, for they sang hymns of praise: vespers, compline, the Miserere, the Salve Regina. At the guillotine, they sang the Veni Creator Spiritus and the Te Deum. Climbing the steps up the guillotine, they sang the Laudate Dominum (It is Thee we praise, O God!). Daily had the Carmelites of Compiègne offered themselves for peace in the Church and in France for an a lessening of those sent to the guillotine. On July 17, 1794, they made their final offering for those intentions, killed at the guillotine, and ten days later, the Reign of Terror came to an end.
Within our country right now after recent mass murders, there is a movement afoot in which people say, “enough with thoughts and prayers.” I am not an expert on what needs to be done next, save for one thing: now is not the time for less prayer; now is the time for even more prayer—prayer is always meant to lead to proper action. “For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens (Ephesians 6:12).” Our battle is against the powers of darkness, and therefore, the best place to start is with prayer. How many of us are actually praying for the victims of violence? How many of us are actually praying for an end to violence and for a flourishing of peace? If not already, we can begin today. This month of June, the month of the Sacred Heart, is an opportunity to begin praying at minimum the Morning Offering. The offering of the 16 Carmelite martyrs of Compiègne helped end the Reign of Terror. A daily offering of our lives and prayers may bring about an end to violence in our own country.
We are saints under construction, offering our lives and our prayers for peace in the Church and in America. Have a great week!
In Christ,
Fr. Matt