Last spring I saw in a magazine some pictures extracted from a video showing Iraqi soldiers being tortured and degraded by American soldiers in the Abou Ghraib prison. I was shocked. How could a human being possibly treat his brother in such a barbaric manner?  As I was soon to discover, I was not alone in asking this question. Muslims worldwide, likewise, were upset and angry.  On the other hand, a friend of mine from the United States recently told me about a certain website, which I took the opportunity to visit. To say the least, it was not for the faint of heart. Accompanied by both heart wrenching sounds and gruesome images, I witnessed the cruel form of beheading performed by some Muslims against innocent Westerners whom they had kidnapped. It was not done with the swiftness of a guillotine or a sword. No. They used kitchen knives. It was a fairly long procedure: about ten to fifteen seconds of horrible agony for the victim as the butchers seesawed through their neck. The sound of the victims screaming like butchered pigs was even more upsetting, and was probably intended by the demented (how could a normal person do that?) assassins to bring more fear in the hearts of all those who would see the videos, including the families and friends of the victims. The terrorists claim to avenge their brethren tortured at Abou Ghraib. I continued to ask myself: Have I really seen such pictures, these videos, or was it just a nightmare? Is it possible that such things happen in the world around us?

But then I asked myself another question: How is it, in the first place, that the scenes of torture in an American prison were recorded on videotape? And how is it that these tapes were released to the media, for all (including the Muslims) to see? In the same manner, how is it that, for the sake of the victims' families and friends, nothing has been done to impede the availability of the tapes of the beheadings on the Internet for everyone to see, especially on American websites? And what were the effects of such tapes in both cases? An escalading spiral of anger and hatred. The darkening of reason on both sides by these powerful passions. Such a tactic will normally generate more and more violence and unrest in the world, maybe even to the point of a worldwide fight between the Muslims (Arabs and others) and the rest of the world. I said worldwide because Muslims are now present in good numbers in almost every country. Now, if that unrest were to be purposely provoked, as we have seen in the case of the tapes (and there has been countless other examples throughout the years, remember Yugoslavia), what would be the goal? It is a twofold one:

The first goal is not attained by means of exacerbating hatred and anger in the hearts of men alone, as we have seen before, but also by favoring all the other passions: greed, lust, pride, envy, sadness, etc. For that, all kinds of means are employed:  advertising, fashion, luxury goods, music, movies, degenerate education in schools and universities, and so on and so forth. Another great tool to bring about the enslavement of man to his passions and emotions has been to transform the Catholic Religion into a religion of subjectivity, of feelings. It started with Luther and his "dogma" of the free and individual interpretation of Sacred Scripture, and it continues today with Modernism. The goal of Catholicism is not any longer to elevate man above his passions and to bring him to the service and worship of God. It is rather to bring people of all creeds together, and make them feel good about it, without fussing about their differences. Needless to say, these tactics work! Man is now so engulfed in a world of feelings, that he is confusing lies and truth, bad and good. Lust is called love; the tyranny of fashion is called the liberation of woman; the love for truth is called a divisive fanaticism. Man does not any longer resort to the use of his God-given logic and reasoning power, but rather he resorts to feelings, which dominate in their place. And as I said, things happen to make it more so everyday.

Now, who could ultimately benefit from the attainment of the two goals I have mentioned? Who could be so clever and have so great a longevity as to be able to change society in that manner over a period of centuries? Who could move a pawn on the chessboard with the objective to be attained years and years afterwards? The Evil Spirit, of course! With his angelical powers, he has scrutinized and tested man since the Garden of Eden. For example, he knows which kind of false religion and heresy will suit best this or that people. He knows that if he can push enough of the Capitalists toward excessive greed that he will be able to use it as a justification to rusticate Socialism and Communism. He knows that World Wars are needed to change the social and political structures of countries. He knows that mixed marriages will bring about the loss of Faith in the Catholic party, and indifferentism to the Faith in the hearts of children.

So what does he want to attain with his clever plans? He wants to turn away from God as many souls as possible. He has worked on this ultimate objective since the beginning of mankind, and his greatest achievement will be to create a dictatorial State from which the true God will be banished. He wants a One World Government over which his special devotee, the Antichrist, will have total control. That is why he needs men whose thoughts are confused. Men who are directed by their emotions, by their feelings and passions. Men who hate, torture, and kill each other. Men who are full of fear in a violent world, and who are ready to sacrifice everything to obtain security and peace. Men who could be easily led to eliminate all those who seem to be divisive by their believing in God and in objective truth.

So, my dear friends, this is the cosmic battle between Good and Evil that we are witnessing ever more clearly today. The question is where do we stand? If we stand at all? Are we men and women of reason or of passion? Are we infected by the confusion and subversion of thoughts we live in, or are we able to recognize the temptations of Satan and to resist them? Are we completely on the side of God, or do we neglect our religious duties? Are we using the Sacraments, good books, and prayer, to bring about our salvation and that of mankind? Or are we going with the flow, thus helping the Evil One to attain his goals? Let us examine our consciences, Priests as well as laity, bachelors as well as couples, parents as well as children. Let us take the opportunity of Christmas to convert fully, and to merit to receive the Peace promised by the Angels to all the men of good will. THIS IS THE WISH I OFFER YOU FOR CHRISTMAS.

 Some News:

1- Rev. Father Stanislas Paradis, of Quebec City, died recently at the age of 97. He was the first, and for almost twenty years the only, traditional Priest in the Capital of Quebec. Around him the faithful would gather up on Sundays and Feast days, as well as every evening during Lent. We would receive the Word of Truth from his lips, and the Bread of Life from his hands. He would absolve us from our sins, and baptize the babies. He was my first contact with the Mass of All Time, as he has been for many others. So please, dear readers, pray for the repose of his soul, so that he can obtain quickly his eternal reward!

2- There is a project of building a port for giant ships carrying Methanol near our school in Lévis. Not only would such a port cause the expropriation of some of our faithful, but it would also constitute a security risk for the region, as some catastrophes in the world have shown us. Please pray for the abandonment of that project. You can use the powerful Novena to Saint Martha.

3- ABOUT SUBSCRIPTIONS: Please dear subscribers! Do not wait to renew your subscription when I am sending you the renewal form. It is not normal that I have to send that form time and again to some people. It is very time consuming to keep track of all that. Remember: The Communicantes Office has only one staff member: Me! And I am not a Superman! So please, have mercy on me, and renew your subscription as soon as possible. I thank you in advance for your cooperation.

4- His Excellency Bishop Bernard Fellay, General Superior of the SSPX, toured Canada in November, to give lectures on "The New Ecumenism". Following a series of advertisements in the Winnipeg newspapers, we had the joy of seeing many newcomers come to the conference here, including five priests from the diocese. Moreover, the next day His Excellency James Weisgerber, Archbishop of Winnipeg, came to our Priory to meet with Bishop Fellay. They talked together for half an hour, and the Archbishop left happy from his visit. Fr. Rusak and I had him visit our church too, and he said that it had all the characteristics of a catholic church. Let us pray for him, so that he would become favorable to Tradition!