These challenging times call for warriors of the Church Militant. Follow the example of the saints and join the battle!
St. Therese of Liseux: St. Therese may have been a contemplative, but she was immersed in the world’s concerns through her prayers which is why she is the patron saint of missionaries. We prepare ourselves for the fight through prayer, the sacraments and acts of atonement. “I feel as if I were called to be a fighter…as if I could never satisfy the needs of my nature without performing, for Your sake, every kind of heroic action at once. I feel as if I’d got the courage to be a Crusader, a Pontifical Zouave, dying on the battlefield in defence of the Church.” Are you willing to fight and die for the faith?
St. Francis de Sales: The battle begins with conquering ourselves. Just as a soldier goes into basic training to prepare for what he will face during a conflict, we need to first defeat the enemy within. “It should be our principal business to conquer ourselves, and from day to day, to go on increasing in strength and perfection. Above all, however, it is necessary for us to strive to conquer our little temptations, such as fits of anger, suspicions, jealousies, envy, deceitfulness, vanity, attachments, and evil thoughts. For in this way we shall acquire strength to subdue greater ones.” Have you been to Confession lately?
Pope Leo XIII: Christ is our King, Mary is our 12 star general, and the clergy are our field commanders. Pray that all the officers on the field will be wise and holy as they lead us to battle evil! “We urge and exhort you concerning the preparation and welfare of the clergy. For the clergy are like an army, which, as they obey the laws and perform their duties so that they may be of service to the Christian multitude under the authority of the bishops, will bring honor and stability to public affairs in proportion to their number and discipline. Wherefore this has always been the first care of the Church that she should choose and bring up to the priesthood those young men, whose dispositions and desires afford a hope that they will persevere in the ministry of the Church…and again, that the young men should have been educated from their early years in piety and religion, before evil habits have gained possession of them as young men… and for them she founded proper seats of training and seminaries, and laid down rules full of wisdom, especially in the holy Council of Trent, so that this college of the ministers of God might be a perpetual seminary…. it behooves Us now as at other times openly to speak Our mind on this matter, which is of the greatest possible interest, and to preserve the holy law of the Church inviolate by every means in Our power. For indeed the Church, as a body, which is by its nature perfect, has an inalienable right of ordering and instructing its own forces, hurtful to none, helpful to many in that kingdom of peace which Jesus Christ founded upon earth for the salvation of the human race.”