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From the Monastery of Our Lady of Faith and Rosary

A resistance monastery based in Brazil.
Sermon from the 26th April 2026



[00:03:26] I remind everyone that the lecture Dom Tomás de Aquino gave recently—due to a sound system defect, it wasn't possible for everyone to hear it, but it is available on our channels. [00:03:54] And also the lecture by Dom Zendejas... Dom Zendejas gave this lecture at the Monastery of the Holy Cross recently; it's very recent, dealing with a very current topic about the SSPX (Fraternity) and the new consecrations. [00:04:15] I ask everyone to carefully listen to Dom Zendejas's lecture. It's good to follow it in Spanish. If you have difficulty understanding, just slow down the playback speed, and you can understand it. [00:04:33] It's not difficult. Spanish is very similar to ours, right? It's not difficult. And his appearance is even like mine. [00:04:42] Some have been translating it into Portuguese, but I advise you to follow it better to have a better understanding—go to a primary source, or let's go to the text or the audio in Spanish, which can be understood. It's not difficult at all.

[00:05:07] The Fraternity, unfortunately, has moved away from the spirit of Monsignor Lefebvre's teachings and has gotten too close to modernist Rome. [00:05:29] Unfortunately, we are not happy about this in any way. We are saddened by their fall, and we pray for them. [00:05:39] But let's stay attentive, because all our effort is for the Catholic tradition. Otherwise, it would make no sense for everyone here to make such a trip, on such a bad road as it is, right, after the rains. [00:05:56] All the effort we make is in search of the Catholic tradition. And a half-tradition... a half-tradition, a piece of tradition, is not the Catholic tradition yet. [00:06:10] Pieces, fragments, no. We want the entire Catholic tradition, and for that, we need to fight to preserve it. [00:06:23] We live in a time of apostasy, of loss of faith. If the priest loses the faith, he loses it. Do not doubt it. And we are in this time of loss of faith. [00:06:41] And the worst tragedy that can occur in a person's life is to lose the faith. [00:06:48] It is not losing health, it is not losing money. All of that is very bad, true. But the worst tragedy for someone's life is losing the faith. That, yes. [00:07:04] Whoever lost the faith is desperate, and we do not want to be among their numbers. So we need to keep the Catholic faith. That is our task at this moment. [00:07:14] Those martyrs there died in the beginning of Christianity, they died for the faith. We must live by the faith. I hope you understand this well.

[00:07:25] I've heard some say: "But why this division? Why is there tradition? Why is there this movement, that movement? There's the Fraternity, why not join everyone together and everything would be fine?" [00:07:46] But that was the exact same reasoning made during the Second Vatican Council. [00:07:56] "Ah, why this difference, because the Protestants are outside the church? Why not receive the others who are from other religions? Why not also welcome groups that are minorities?" I won't say the name here so as not to hurt the ears of our faithful. [00:08:16] "Ah, the minorities must also participate, and the other denominations, and everyone in peace and everyone happy. And the civilization of love." [00:08:45] John Paul II repeated this many times. The civilization of love, the civilization of love, he repeated it all the time. [00:08:52] Well, they want to set the same trap for us too, right? "Let's make the tradition of love, everyone gathered, everyone together, everyone happy, and everyone smiling. Sedevacantists, IBP, everything, everything, and everyone happy." [00:09:18] And the end of this experiment of the Second Vatican Council? Everyone knows it, right? The disaster it was. Ours will be worse. [00:09:28] If we want to make this "tradition of love," we will end up worse, much worse than the modern church of the Second Vatican Council. [00:09:39] So I need to understand these issues and keep the faith. It is necessary to separate error and evil from good. Error and truth. They need to be separated; they cannot walk together. [00:10:00] When you join error and truth, when you join good and evil, who is losing? Good, the truth. Any doubts? I think not. [00:10:12] It is not possible to mix good and evil. It is not possible to mix error and truth. [00:10:23] So I ask everyone to follow these lectures which are of great importance, which bring a lot of content made by good bishops, men of God. People firm in the faith. [00:10:42] What is needed now is this. Bishops and priests firm in the faith. That, yes.

[00:11:01] The epistle of Saint Peter, first Saint Peter, chapter 2, verses 11 to 19. We can't go through everything, but we will try to extract the apostle's main idea. [00:11:22] Have good conduct among the pagans, so that, instead of slandering you as evildoers, seeing your good works, they may glorify God. We have to set good examples. Words convince, examples drag. No one will understand that I am truly Catholic if I don't set an example. There must be an example. [00:11:51] We religious, we laypeople, everyone: fathers and mothers, employers, employees, military, civilians... everyone must spread the good odor of Christ. And he continues: "Be subject, then, to every human institution for the love of God, whether to the king as sovereign, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of the good." [00:12:21] Further on he also advances, saying: "Servants, be obedient with all fear to your masters, not only to the good and moderate, but also to the ill-tempered, because this is a grace of Christ Jesus our Lord." [00:12:47] And here he touches on, he enters into aspects of the social doctrine of the church, the social moral doctrine of the church. [00:12:56] Also in the letter to the Romans, chapter 13, verse 2. Now it's Saint Paul, right? Saint Paul is not in the missal, the priest is quoting here: "All authority comes from God, and all that exist have been ordained by him. Whoever resists authority, resists the ordinance of God, and condemns himself." Romans chapter 13, verse 2. [00:13:31] This text that I just quoted is in the Mirari Vos of Gregory XVI. The great popes dedicated themselves to this subject of the whole relationship of the question of the social doctrine of the church, the relationship of Christendom with princes, with civil rulers. [00:13:52] The church, she is unequal, right? Formed by hierarchies: the pope, the bishops, the priests, and the faithful people. [00:14:05] The Catholic Church is not an equal church, it is not the church of equality, no. [00:14:14] But the church also recognizes the civil power that has its laws resting upon divine laws. Divine laws are the base, the pillar of civil laws. [00:14:30] Thus, when Catholic countries condemn abortion, it is because abortion goes against the fifth commandment: do not kill. [00:14:41] So the laws, the law of God, is the base, the pillar of civil laws. Civil laws draw their arguments from the law of God.


[00:15:02] Conversely... conversely, when civil law defines abortion, when it legalizes abortion, it strikes against divine law which says "do not kill." [00:15:36] And Pope Gregory XVI continues: "Therefore, let those who with base machinations of rebellion withdraw the fidelity they owe to princes, to rulers, wanting to strip them of the authority they possess, hear how all divine and human rights cry out against them." [00:15:58] Mirari Vos. I recommend reading the encyclical of Gregory XVI. One that we could read... take advantage of the time, reduce phone time. [00:16:20] Sometimes Catholics dedicate so much time to courses and classes, but don't read the Pope's docuмent, what the good popes left. The church had bad popes, true. But it had good popes too, excellent pontiffs, saints even. Recently, the church canonized Pius X, a pope contemporary to us. [00:16:44] So these docuмents from these men of God need to be read and reread for instruction. Then yes, much more than these philosophy and theology courses for laypeople where the person sits through it all. Read the church's docuмent. [00:17:00] Yes, instruction for the faithful people. Very good. Church docuмents, good authors, the lives of the saints. Yes, it is time well spent. [00:17:16] Read the lives of the saints. In a little while I will quote some saints here who bring us good examples, they are our heroes. [00:17:34] While the world's heroes are singers, artists... our heroes are saints. Let us try to read their lives and instruct ourselves with church docuмents, with classic authors, great doctors like Saint Thomas Aquinas, Saint Augustine, all the works of Saint Louis de Montfort... so much good to read to instruct oneself.


[00:18:10] An important idea arises here in the reading of Saint Peter; he speaks of obedience to those who are civil rulers. [00:18:25] But how to maintain obedience if the civil ruler goes against divine law? [00:18:34] If civil power promulgates laws contrary to divine law? Well, obedience is the fair measure, the point of balance between servility and rebellion. [00:18:44] Servility, where a person believes they must obey everyone and anyone indiscriminately. So they obey, they are commanded, they do it, either because they didn't understand the order, or because they enjoy doing what is wrong. Because sometimes a superior might give a wrong order, and they do it because they actually like it. [00:19:19] Or they disobey because they are rebellious. [00:19:24] And obedience is the point of balance. Because remember that obedience is a moral virtue linked to the virtue of justice. [00:19:40] Remember the catechism. The four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. They are four cardinal virtues, and around them revolve the other moral virtues. [00:20:00] But the virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance are moral virtues. Above them are the theological virtues, which have God as their direct object. What are they? Faith, hope, and charity. [00:20:54] "Father, where did you read that?" It's in the catechism. Just read it. It's there. I didn't invent it. Pick up the catechism, take a look, it's there. [00:21:05] The theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. Well then, faith is above the cardinal virtues. And obedience is a moral virtue linked to the virtue of justice, which is a moral virtue. [00:21:33] I hope everyone has understood this well. Thus, first is faith, which is the theological virtue directed to God. By faith I believe in God and in what He has revealed. [00:21:59] When in the primitive church, in the beginning, Arius said that Jesus Christ is not God, the priests, the church reacted: "No way. He is God, yes." [00:22:15] It's there, when the priest finishes the Holy Mass. The priest reads the last gospel: "In the beginning was the Word..." it's there. Just read it there. "The Word was with God, and the Word was God." It's there, the last gospel, Saint John. [00:22:38] And all civil society, everything else, will be built upon this foundation. But when these civil laws, or even our religious superiors like the Pope, the bishops, and priests are now contrary to the law, contrary to the faith, contrary to divine law, contrary to the Catholic faith... I must prefer the Catholic faith, I must prefer divine law. [00:23:13] It's not difficult to understand this. Thus, our effort for tradition: the popes from the Second Vatican Council onward started teaching a doctrine contrary to what Jesus Christ taught, started administering to the faithful a doctrine contrary to the tradition that Jesus Christ and the Apostles taught us, unfortunately. [00:23:51] And what are we going to do? Prefer what? Prefer the Catholic faith, prefer the church's tradition. That does not change. [00:24:02] And there is the balance point of obedience. I recognize the authority, logically, but observing the authority when it is in accordance with the law of God, when it is in accordance with the Catholic faith. [00:24:22] That explains the martyrs who often disobeyed the laws of the Roman emperors. Out of rebellion? No, because the law of God comes first, the Catholic faith comes first. [00:24:46] Saint Augustine says the following: "Christian soldiers served infidel emperors faithfully. But when it came to the cause of Christ, they recognized no other emperor than the one in heaven. They distinguished the eternal Lord from the temporal lord. And nevertheless, for the sake of the first, they were obedient to the second." Said Saint Augustine.

[00:25:32] In our Gospel, our Lord speaks: "A little while, and you will not see me... but a little while and you will see me again, because I am going to the Father." [00:25:53] Our Lord even prepared the apostles for His ascension into heaven. [00:26:03] And further on He continues: "Truly I say to you, you will weep and lament while the world will rejoice. You will be sad, but your sadness will turn into joy." [00:26:20] And He even makes the comparison: "A woman, when she gives birth, has sorrow because her hour has come. But as soon as the child is born, she no longer remembers the affliction, for the joy that a man has been born into the world." [00:26:41] Here our Lord reminds us of the transitory nature of this world. We will pass through suffering, through trials like the one we are going through now, where we need to keep the Catholic faith in this turbulence the world is in. [00:27:02] "You will weep and lament while the world will rejoice, you will be sad, but your sadness will turn into joy." Keeping the Catholic faith... weeping and lamenting and keeping the Catholic faith, which gives us hope, the strength to fight the fight of faith and wait for eternal life. [00:27:43] Hope in our Lord and eternal rewards. This the saints practiced. The saints lived through difficult times. Much is said about the Middle Ages as the golden age, right? The golden age of the church. True, it was true, but it was not without sacrifice, without difficulty that the people then kept the Catholic faith too. Back in their time, in the Middle Ages, they also had problems. Yes, they did. Not everything is roses. [00:28:25] And we follow the examples of the saints who give us a guarantee that we are on the right path, that we are doing the right thing. [00:28:37] And the charity that must reign among us is the hallmark that distinguishes us from the pagans. Charity, love for God first, and love for our neighbor for the sake of God.

[00:28:59] Saint Edburga of Winchester in the 10th century. A noblewoman, daughter of King Edward (he is called Edward the Elder, he had that nickname). When she was a girl, she was three years old, her father offered her some jewels and the Holy Scripture to see what she preferred. And the 3-year-old girl took the book and hugged the book of Holy Scripture. [00:29:44] The lives of the saints are an example for us. She became an adult, became a religious, became an abbess. And she is very well known in her story, Saint Edburga of Winchester, that at night she secretly took the sisters' sandals, cleaned the sandals, and put everything back in the same place. [00:30:13] There is always a curious one, right? Someone there one night discovered she did this. She did it secretly. Service to neighbor. Service to neighbor without expecting a reward. So much so that she did it at night so no one would see. [00:30:40] Blessed Anne of Saint Bartholomew, who was a close friend, a very close friend of our great Saint Teresa, tells that when she, on the occasion of her death, was on the day of dying, the saint wanted to change her clothes, to clean herself up. [00:31:00] And the saint noticed, right, Anne of Saint Bartholomew noticed, and changed her clothes, left her all clean. She was full of gratitude, and that same day she died in the arms of Anne of Saint Bartholomew. She tells this story, this last day of the life of Saint Teresa, where she performed this charity for this great saint of the Catholic Church. Beautiful examples of the saints.

[00:31:41] And I conclude with Saint Catherine of Genoa, a noblewoman of the 15th century, died at the beginning of the 16th century. Very rich family. Later, due to a series of setbacks, the family became poor, quite poor. [00:32:05] Not in extreme misery, but in great poverty. So they decided to marry the girl to a rich person to balance expenses—those marriages that don't always work. And in the case of our great saint, it didn't work because her husband, her spouse, Giuliano Adorno, was a spender, he squandered money on things, it was madness with household expenses. [00:32:40] And he saved nothing, burned through all his money. He was rich when they married, but at the end of the marriage... after 5 years, he had blown through all the money. And the marriage that was supposed to balance the expenses became another problem, at least financially. Not spiritually, no, because the saint knew how to draw profit from it. [00:33:11] In the end, he lived a very wrong life of sin, had a daughter outside the marriage, very bad, but he repented, right, and became a Franciscan. In this whole process, our saint, Saint Catherine of Genoa, gave herself to a very bad life. Not a scandalous life exactly, but a very bad life of partying, escaping reality, seeking worldly things to forget problems. [00:33:48] It cost her dearly, many wrong things, many sins. One day, she entered the church, the church of Saint Benedict, and touched by repentance for her wrong life, she asked the saint to give her three months of illness to see if she would convert. [00:34:19] She was Catholic, right? Of good formation, but gave herself over to worldly pleasures, and now wanted to convert. She asked this grace of Saint Benedict. But Saint Benedict did not take this very seriously. [00:34:34] Instead, what happened? She had a vision. She had a vision of our Lord carrying the cross. [00:34:51] She saw our Lord Jesus Christ carrying a cross. She saw it, and she was so touched, so moved by repentance, that she said this prayer: "O Love, if necessary, I am ready to confess my sins in public." [00:35:14] There she knelt in tears; it was her conversion. Known to perhaps our brethren who might know her works, principally her book, the Treatise on Purgatory, very well known, right? I think everyone here knows it. And another book called Dialogues Between the Soul and the Body. That one is little known. [00:35:46] The saints. Examples of virtue, examples of obedience. How to obey. How to pass through the things of this world without getting stained. Models of conversion, great saints who started out very badly in life and later changed their lives, like our Catherine of Genoa. [00:36:16] Others who lived a very pure life, others who were martyrs, died for the faith, were killed. You will weep and lament. You will weep and lament. [00:36:42] While the world will rejoice, you will be sad, but your sadness will turn into joy. I ask everyone at the end of the Holy Mass not to disperse, I ask you to stay because at the end of the Holy Mass, two of our brethren will make the abjuration of the Protestant heresy, they will do it here at the altar. [00:37:10] I ask that everyone be present because this act must be done publicly, for the community of the faithful. I ask that you remain here at the end of the holy mass. Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ.