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This sermon was put out only today by the Fathers of Faith and the Rosary in Brazil. They are a small religious community associated with the resistance.

A highlight, from the end: "But I only wanted that you gentlemen understood a little bit that this question of the resistance is not without meaning. The resistance is not without meaning. It is not out of rebellion, it is not for, no, not dispute, no, no, no. There is a real motive that gave origin to this movement called resistance that gave origin. And I know that it is a very delicate question, eh, to manage to truly understand the, the need for the resistance. The SSPX is not, is not sufficient. It, it does not, does not transmit tradition either."



Full Sermon:


The Holy Ghost and His Gifts

We celebrate today the sixth Sunday after Easter, or the Sunday within the octave of the Ascension of the Lord. This Sunday is a, constitutes a transition from the Ascension to Pentecost. It is like an echo of the Ascension and a preparation for Pentecost.

Our Lord promises the disciples the Holy Ghost. When the Consoler comes, the Holy Ghost is the third person of the Most Holy Trinity. He descends in an ineffable way into our souls. Thus giving us the gifts that Jesus Christ conquered for us. The Holy Ghost is not only the water of grace, but is the fount, is the living fount of grace, as the Gospel of, as the Gospel of Saint John says, in spirit he saw, saw water spring up and says: "He who drinks of the water that I give him, will thirst no more and it will be for him a water of, of a crystalline spring unto eternal life."

Saint John 4:14 also Saint John sees a river that flows from the throne of God and from the Lamb and upon its, its bank a tree, which has 12 fruits and its fruits, each fruit is produced in each month. During 12 months each fruit of that tree is produced.

Water of, of that river, eh, the gifts of the Holy Ghost or the Holy Ghost Himself by reason of the gifts He spreads. And the gifts of the Holy Ghost are seven, right?

    Spirit of wisdom and of understanding

    Spirit of counsel and of fortitude

    Spirit of knowledge and of piety

    And spirit of fear of the Lord.

For 12 fruits symbolize the virtues in general, the twelve fruits of the Holy Ghost seen by Saint John in that vision also that tree, the leaves had the property of healing the nations. And Saint Paul also enumerates these 12 fruits in particular: charity, joy, peace, patience, sweetness, goodness, longanimity, mildness, faith, modesty, continency, and chastity. Galatians, 5:22.
Gifts vs. Virtues

Our Lord seeing the necessity of leaving the spirit, Holy Ghost to the Church to vivify the Church, before departing, He clearly wants to leave promised this gift, because it is said that the Father is the Creator, the Son is the Redeemer and the Holy Ghost is the Sanctifier. Each one has His particular attribution, although all these persons have the same divine nature, but by, by attribution it is said then that the Holy Ghost has the property of sanctifying souls. He has the function, the task, the mission to sanctify souls.

And to the extent then that these souls are docile to the, to the Holy Ghost, they are illuminated, they are guided by the Holy Ghost. In truth, the great difference of the gifts to the virtues are these. The virtues are acquired with effort, with effort, with constancy. Yeah, so you acquire the habit, the good habit. And the gifts they come gratuitously, they, they come without our effort, like the boat on the sea propelled by the sails. Thus the Holy Ghost also propels our souls, it is always beyond our effort. But this, this impulse will be given above all when one places no resistance to the action of the Holy Ghost. And one of the resistances is sin. When sin enters, it is as if a resistance is placed to the action of the Holy Ghost.
Persecutions and Witnessing to the Truth

Our Lord also speaks that the moment of persecutions was going to arrive and that from the beginning the Church faced persecution. Our, so He warns them, saying to them that they should not, should not be surprised when what our Lord had prophesied arrived and they would be expelled from the ѕуηαgσgυєs and also would even suffer death by their persecu, persecutors, believing even that they would be rendering a service to God, because they knew neither God nor Jesus Himself. These persecutors.

And our Lord permits persecution. God permits the Church to be persecuted for five reasons:

    So that the disciples may resemble the master.

    To prove His elect.

    So that the virtues, shining with more strength, would make recognized the divine strength of grace and the greatness of God.

    So that the disciples of Christ may have confidence only in God.

    So that the faithful may comprehend that they must sacrifice everything for eternal life.

And thus with the Holy Ghost, our Lord, promises the apostles, the faithful disciples, that they would be witnesses of the truth. They would be witnesses of the truth. And we, Catholic, current Christians, are always witnesses, witnesses of the truth.

How many times does human respect prevent us from giving this witness, a simple gesture, many times intimidates the, the Christian; taking out a text in the street to pray in public, passing before a church, making the sign of the cross, being in a, in a celebration with non-Catholic friends, not having the courage to pray, to make the sign of the cross there to have the meal. These are small things that show that we need to be attentive to not yield to human respect and thus fail to be the witness of our Lord.

The young ladies, how many times do they not feel inhibited in presenting themselves to the public with their modest dress, modesty, with, with their dress worthy of a Catholic young lady. Criticism how many times can intimidate religious, how many times do they also not feel intimidated in presenting their cassock (veste talar), their tunic that goes down to the heels to, to imitate the tunic that our Lord wore and to bear the sign of consecrate, crated.
The Example of Constantine's Father

It is told that Eusebius, the father of the emperor Constantine a general, knew that in his army there were many Christians. And he one day summoned the, the Christians having gathered the army, saying: "Those who are Christians, place yourselves to my, to my right." It was a challenge because Constantine had not yet made the Edict of Milan. The world was still pagan, it was not permitted to manifest oneself in public, right? As a Christian. And if one presented himself thus, certainly he would incur martyrdom.

But a good part of those soldiers presented themselves. A good part, but he knew that there were many, many Christian soldiers and that they were intimidated. And then the general's reaction was the most curious. He said to those who presented themselves: "You are consistent, you are courageous, you are trustworthy, you will remain in my army in the most dignified positions. But those who inhibited themselves in presenting themselves, denying thus their belief, their principles, will also not have an elevated post in my army, because just as they betray their God, they will betray me also before my enemies."

In truth, it is the lot of every traitor. It is always this. The world always acts like this, attracts then they, they crush, right? That the, the world guided by the devil and will cast you out of the ѕуηαgσgυє is very similar to the current situation of the Church, of Christians.
The Crisis in the Church: Modernism and Tradition

The ѕуηαgσgυє was a kind of chapel of the Jews. There was the temple in Jerusalem, where the sacrifice was offered. And in each Jєωιѕн city there was a ѕуηαgσgυє, like a kind of chapel, a temple equivalent to a Catholic chapel, where, where they gathered there frequently for prayers.

After Saint Pius X, with his supernatural light, condemns the most terrible heresy, modernism, but by impenetrable design, another saint does not succeed. To Saint Pius X. And thus the modernists remain camouflaged within the Church, they do not withdraw. And time passing comes Benedict XV, comes Pius XI, comes Pius XII, combats modernism, but certainly not with that firmness of the saint. Finally, John XXIII arriving, convoking the council. The modernists who were there camouflaged, they come to the surface and triumph, not completely, but triumph almost completely there in that false council.

And from then on, the Christians, the Catholics who wanted to maintain in tradition, were expelled from their chapels, were poorly viewed, were rejected. And thus until today we suffer this consequence. We cannot arrive at a parochial chapel and have access, they do not permit us. Why? Because we continue with the Church of always, with the Mass of always, with the sacraments of always. And the, and the modernist he does not tolerate tradition. Does not tolerate tradition. And the more traditionalist, the more rejected.

Right there within that, that assembly of the conciliar fathers, 2000 bishops, better speaking, 2000 conciliar fathers. There were also the, the Superiors General who participated too. There was reaction. There was reaction. That is, firm bishops who wanted to maintain tradition, who did not want. Perceived, perceived that there was there a half dozen cardinal fathers, quite revolutionary and who wanted really, eh, to transform the Church. And there was a very firm reaction from a good part of these bishops and some of them took this reaction to the ultimate consequences.
Archbishop Lefebvre and Bishop de Castro Mayer

The most clearly combatant were Monsignor Lefebvre, the French bishop, and Dom Antônio de Castro Mayer, the Brazilian bishop of the diocese of Campos. Curiously, it was the only diocese in the world with the bishop, with his priests, about some 30 priests, who did not accept the changes of the new church, the novelties of Vatican II. This, unfortunately, only until 2000, 2002, when dying after the death of Dom Antônio Castro Mayer. Dom Licínio Rangel remained for some time consecrated, according to tradition, but Dom, Dom, Father Rifan later substitutes and ends up making an agreement with Rome and thus a diocese in weight that in those beginnings Dom Antônio de Castro Mayer fought hard to rebuild new churches because they were expelled from their parishes, the priests. Rome did not spare him. So, with all the work, with all the faithful, they went to rebuild everything from zero.

Now, after some, some decades, Dom, Dom Father makes this agreement with Rome, being recognized officially and today he already celebrates the Mass, accepts Vatican II, accepts the New Mass. It is always like this, always like this. Tradition approaches modern Rome, it comes out losing, always like this. These groups through the Vatican, since Vatican II, these traditionalist groups when they approach Rome too much, the end is always this. Tradition comes out losing, comes out mutilated.

Archbishop Lefebvre, who made the a priestly congregation of Saint Pius X and who fought what he could, that is, begged what he could backwards with various popes, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, that he let, that he let him continue with the experiment of tradition, he begged, but always finding resistance, finding resistance. And he, to guarantee that tradition would continue, since everything had changed, he was worried above all about the sacraments, about the Holy Mass, the priesthood. And he wanted to guarantee that if he died there would surely remain bishops and they would transmit this apostolic tradition without alteration. Rome promised, but that day never arrived to realize.

A little in 1988, after several attempts Dom Lefebvre went so far as on one occasion to make an agreement with Rome, but he in the, in the agreement, of course, Rome is not going to give, not going to give everything for free. He signed terms that afterwards his conscience did not leave him in peace. He yielded somewhat to liberalism and who says he slept, right after he went back to withdraw that, undo that agreement because he perceived that he did not make a, a good, a good act.
The 1988 Consecrations

So, in 88, in 1988, when he after praying a lot, was well decided on making an act, a courageous act, which was to consecrate the bishops without the consent of Rome. It is not such an unaccustomed thing. In the past there have already been in times of crisis consecrations like this, for example, in the time of Saint Athanasius, he consecrated several priests bishops without the consent of Rome because of a situation of necessity.

So Archbishop Lefebvre, living the state increasingly of decadence of the conciliar church, was still asking God for more, more lights. And it was when the first ecuмenical meeting occurred in Assisi, in the city, in the city of Assisi, in Italy, in a Catholic church. Pope John, John Paul II convoked all the leaders of the false religions to pray in, in this church to ask, ask for peace. So, after this event Archbishop Lefebvre had one more impulse really in perceiving that Rome was increasingly distancing itself from tradition.

And so he set the day, set the date, the date to make these, these consecrations. It was public, I don't know if public. On the eve of the day set for the Consecrations, Rome sent an official car. The Vatican sent an official car inviting Archbishop Lefebvre that the pope wanted to speak with him urgently. Saint Paul I [John Paul II]. But he illuminated by the Holy Ghost, he refused to attend even because he remembered: "I have been in Rome for whole weeks and the Pope never had the luxury of wanting to converse with me. He sent a cardinal, Cardinal Ratzinger, who was the interlocutor normally." "No, they are wanting," Archbishop Lefebvre perceived, "they are wanting to pull me from my, from my purpose, I will not go."

Because he already, he went so far as to say, Archbishop Lefebvre: "I went, went too far. I, I did what I could to be able to obtain from the, from the authorities the permission to continue tradition. Today if Rome sought me out I would make my demands to him." Not his personal demand, he wanted simply to defend tradition, to continue tradition.

And thus they make that courageous act. Only the Brazilian bishop Dom Antônio Castro Mayer was there as co-consecrator. Just imagine a man who does an act like this against all the bishops, and against the pope, a rebellion, a schism. No, no, no. The motive for the consecration was simply to maintain tradition, maintain the sacraments, maintain surely the salvation of souls. And Rome, even knowing that the excommunication was not valid, made a docuмent of excommunication, because it also knew that it was a, a blackmail. And the faithful without knowing these canonical questions were going, and were going to be shaken and, and stop following tradition.

Despite that, not even so was it a motive to stop tradition. Tradition grew because the faithful to the extent that they instructed themselves began perceiving the reasons that led, that led Archbishop Lefebvre to take, make that, give, make that attitude and looked at the conciliar church, the traditionalist church looked at the lot of each one, the reality of each one, increasingly in profound decadence of, of dogma and of morals the modern church. The traditionalist parishes fortifying themselves, sanctifying themselves.
The Resistance and The Current State of the SSPX

But the, the heresies many times they, they are not of long, of long, of, of short period. Many times they endure a lot, the Arian heresy, endured decades plus decades plus decades. Also this modernist heresy that Saint Pius X defines as the, the sewer, the, the lake. The lake where all heresies gather. Because modernism, it has the, principally it has the capacity, it has the capacity to explain all mysteries, capacity, in quotation marks, rationally. So it neutralizes everything rationally, it explains everything. So, it removes the supernatural from minds.

And the SSPX founded by Monsignor Lefebvre, after the death also of Archbishop Lefebvre, began to approach Rome seeking a recognition in 2012, when Monsignor Fellay was superior, being Pope Benedict XVI, Bishop Fellay with the superiors sought Rome with a proposal desiring a recognition. That is, he was bothered by the abnormal state of tradition, was bothered by the state of necessity, was not well secure, well attentive to the warnings of the founder, Archbishop, Archbishop Lefebvre, who said: "A practical agreement is not possible without a doctrinal agreement first. First, if Rome, agreement with tradition, firstly Rome has to recognize the modern errors, recognize the errors of Vatican II and thus guarantee that Rome has converted for there to be a practical agreement."

In this decade of 2012 there had already been in Rome a, for 2 years an attempt at an agreement with, between the, the specialists, the theologians of the SSPX and of the Vatican. 2 years of secret theological debate that no one knows what was discussed there. But after these two years, the SSPX ceased these theological debates there in Rome. It is not known what was discussed there, what were the, the proposals and the, and the counter proposals, it is not known, it was secret. Anyway, a doctrinal agreement was not possible. This was, this was clear. A doctrinal agreement was not possible.

So, in this attempt by Bishop Fellay, of his secret recognition, because the bishops, the others, the four did not know where it is, Bishop Williamson and Bishop de Galarreta did not know of this agreement, but this, this proposal, this docuмent, a letter leaked on the internet, leaked and then it became public and the... So the three bishops come to have knowledge to which they reacted strongly against that attempt by, by Bishop Fellay. Bishop Fellay answers this, this warning of the three bishops, it is a very captious warning. It is a sagacious warning.

The fact is that after this warning from Bishop Fellay, Bishop Tissier, may God have him in a good place, and Bishop de Galarreta fell silent, they fell silent. Only Bishop Williamson is the one who continued reacting, reacting against that attempt. And then it remained in that, in that situation, right? The faithful of tradition began to, to, to distrust. Many began to truly distrust this firmness of tradition, of the, of the superiors of tradition, of tradition.

Anyway, Bishop Williamson, because of this resistance of his, leaves the priestly fraternity. And many priests, many priests preferred to follow Bishop Williamson because surely he continued with the same combat of Archbishop Lefebvre. Among, among these priests, Father Jair, I remember that in that, in that beginning, Bishop said, Bishop de Galarreta was in the north of, of Brazil and scheduled to, on his, on his return pass here at the monastery to do confirmation. But when all this news came out, the, Father Jair reacted right immediately saying that it is not, he was very disappointed with this lack of firmness of the bishops and that he not, unfortunately he did not, did not have any more way to trust the SSPX because of this procedure, of this, of this weakness, and cut the confirmation here by Bishop, by Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta.

In truth, it is from this, from this point there that we, we, we distanced ourselves from the SSPX from then on. And so it remained that, that talk in this, the SSPX is seeking Rome, the fraternity is going to make an agreement while in contrast the, the fraternity said, answered: "Show the agreement, there is no agreement, it is calumny."

In fact, until today, until today we do not know of a, of a written agreement, an official thing, eh, but practice was showing that, that the SSPX compromised itself in a way, a way, I say, imprudent with modern Rome, even because it, it went accepting the proposals of Rome. First proposal, Pope Benedict XVI: the lifting of the excommunications, in quotation marks, if they accept this, this lifting, he then, they believed in this, in the validity of these excommunications. And look what Rome did. It suspended these excommunications, in quotation marks, did not demand a retraction from the heretics, in quotation marks, and only suspended it from the four consecrated bishops. The two, two consecrators, no. Archbishop Lefebvre, Dom Antônio Castro Mayer remain excommunicated, in quotation marks, by modern Rome. Is it not an injustice to see the excommunication lift from my skin, but on my father it still falls? Would this not be an, an ingratitude?
The Legacy of Bishop Williamson

Bishop Williamson afterwards he is very, he was very prudent. Bishop Williamson seems that it is of the English temperament itself, right? This prudence, he was not a precipitate man, a man that he said was a lot with us. He said jokingly, the English to act need to be pressured. He said: "The English are cold". So, after much hesitating and seeing too, and he was close, close to being called by God, he worried about tradition, he wanted to leave successors.

And thus he first consecrated Monsignor Bishop Faure, who was a priest of the SSPX. Even this priest Monsignor Miguel, eh, Miguel Faure, he had been summoned, he had been requested at the time of, at the time of the consecrations. Archbishop, Archbishop Lefebvre invited him for him to accept the, the consecration. He out of humility did not accept on that occasion. And this time now he seeing the, the state of the SSPX, he no longer refused, did not want, could not refuse anymore to accept this consecration. Now done by Bishop Williamson.

Afterwards Bishop also consecrated Bishop, Bishop Tomás das, Bishop Tomás de Aquino, who was superior, who is superior of the monastery of the Holy Cross, giving to us here in Brazil a particular grace. He is one of the 10 miracles in the Church today. He is an orthodox bishop, a bishop who maintains the Catholic faith, the safe Catholic tradition. This now plus another two or three bishops to attend to the other parts of the world.

When Bishop Williamson consecrated Faure, ah, a part of tradition was quite scandalized, thinking that there was no state of necessity. How, observe, oh, from 1988, Archbishop Lefebvre left four bishops to attend to tradition. More than 30 years have passed, tradition has multiplied, the priests have multiplied, the faithful have tripled I don't know how many times. So, the, the tradition needs more, needs yes more bishops, more bishops to, to be able to attend to these faithful. Behold that after 36 years, if I am not mistaken, tradition, that is, the SSPX only finds itself with two bishops only. Bishop Tissier, sorry that I don't know called, Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta who, who is quite sick, with a spine problem, quite sick. And Bishop Fellay, practically today it is Bishop Fellay alone to attend to all tradition.

I think that, I think that they delayed too long. I think that they facilitated too much in this delay. Now it is reported that the SSPX wants to consecrate, wants to consecrate bishops. It is also reported that the SSPX is under threat of excommunication. My observation is: was all this, this wear and tear needed? No, it was not needed. If it had continued with the same orientation of, of Archbishop Lefebvre, it did not, it was not, it was not needing, needing this whole wear and tear of tradition. Now if they are worried about excommunication then I don't know. We pray, let us pray for, for the fraternity.

Bishop Williamson did not cease to pray. So he always prayed for the SSPX, always prayed and we are also grateful, right, to its founder, to its, its good priests, right, we are, we are grateful too. After all, the resistance came from there, came from there.
Final Exhortation

But I only wanted that you gentlemen understood a little bit that this question of the resistance is not without meaning. The resistance is not without meaning. It is not out of rebellion, it is not for, no, not dispute, no, no, no. There is a real motive that gave origin to this movement called resistance that gave origin. And I know that it is a very delicate question, eh, to manage to truly understand the, the need for the resistance. The SSPX is not, is not sufficient. It, it does not, does not transmit tradition either.

It is this small difference that many times hinders, hinders, hinders. I remember that after the, the heresy, at the end of the, the Arian heresy, came neo-Arianism, which was, is that part of the heresy in which the most hard-hitting attacks cease to exist. And then part, as they see that they lost, the heretics see that they are losing, then they depart for an agreement conceding many points, but underneath there are still things harmful to the, the sound doctrine. Sound doctrine.

So this, this small, these small points of difference that sometimes are quite subtle, these are quite, quite dangerous. Eh, to ask the Holy Ghost to guide us, that He give us firmness, and give us firmness, give us lucidity and give us the, the grace to not delude ourselves with liberalism and, and to keep our faith, our faith tranquil, without wavering, without doubt, secure that our Lord left, left this promise that the gates of hell will never prevail against this, this church.

Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ.