Chapter VI:
Jesus Christ, By Whom Is Accomplished The Return Of Man To God
(end part)

In the first part of this chapter, (see issue #19) Archbishop Lefebvre was talking about the three great graces given to Jesus at the Incarnation: Union of the human nature to the divine one; highest level of sanctifying grace, Jesus becoming Himself the source of grace for us; all the marvelous gifts and powers of His body and soul (miracles, prophecies…). Now we will see that He started enjoying the Beatific Vision and knowing everything from the fist moment of the Incarnation. We will see how this places Him at the center of the struggle against Satan.

In time, as in eternity, the reign of Satan is opposed to that of Our Lord. Satan is not the head of the wicked in the sense that he can communicate evil from within as Jesus Christ communicates good, but in this sense that, in the order of external government, he tends to turn men away from God, like Jesus Christ tends to bring them to Him, and that all those who sin imitate the rebellion of Satan and his pride, as the good imitate the submission and obedience of Jesus Christ. (IIIa q.8 a.7)

Battle between Jesus and Satan

We will never fully understand the struggle between the good and the wicked throughout history, as long as we do not see it as the personal and unyielding battle for all time between Satan and Jesus Christ.

What duty befalls upon every man because of this fundamental and unyielding battle between the two opposed leaders of mankind? It is the duty never to compromise, on whatever it may be, with that which is of Satan or his followers, and to enlist ourselves beneath the standard of Jesus Christ, and there to remain always and fight valiantly (Pegues, p. 383).

Let us not forget that every grace, that every increase of grace, the blessings of sanctifying grace coming to us through the hands of the priest and the Catholic Church, comes to us from the inexhaustible source of the grace of Jesus, and can only come from Him, our only Savior.

This reality of Jesus' divine life circulating in our souls and our bodies should be for us a subject of continual thanksgiving and also a source of active vigilance so that we don't let our lamps go out like those of the foolish virgins.

Let us meditate and contemplate the transpierced Heart of Jesus, whence come the fountains of eternal life.

The ornamentation of this sanctuary which is Jesus is not limited to these three graces about which we have spoken. The union of the person of the Word to the human soul of Jesus confers on this soul the unique privilege of the Beatific Vision from the instant of His creation.

Certainly, Jesus-God has no need of this knowledge. His divine knowledge infinitely surpasses the knowledge of the Beatific Vision, but nevertheless the Creator of all things having wanted to personally assume a human soul and body, assumed also their faculties of knowledge and understanding and carried them to their greatest possible perfection.

It was thus that the soul of Jesus possessed the Beatific Vision, the infused knowledge of the angels, and experiential knowledge of men and this, to the most perfect degree which can be given to an angelic creature and a human creature.

Thus from the very first instant, the Incarnate Son of God could see by His human nature everything and all things in the Divine Word that He was Himself, in such a way that there is nothing whatsoever in the present, past or future, whether actions, words or thoughts, with respect to whomever and of whatever time period, that the Incarnate Son of God did not know from the first instant of His Incarnation, by the human nature that He hypostatically united to Himself, in the Divine Word that He was. (cf IIIa q. 10 a.2 and 4)

	Lamb of God

These divine realities in Jesus Christ clarify His intimate and personal relations with all the created spirits in Heaven and on earth. Even in His human soul, Jesus knew us all, and in all the details of our lives. Nothing escapes Him, neither as Creator nor as Savior. And this knowledge gives rise to a boundless love for the souls who turn towards Him, who give themselves to Him, who accomplish His will. His soul ardently desires to communicate His glory to them. That is why Jesus will be the Judge of all souls.

Let us be aware of these realities, of the absolute necessity of offering ourselves to Jesus, as the prayers at the Offertory of the Mass say, and of living this offering unceasingly. Let us be a part of the "quotquot autem receperunt eum-as many as received Him," in order to be His children: "Dedit eis potestatem filios Dei fieri-He gave them power to be made sons of God" (Jn 1:12). These words weigh heavily in the history of souls. They are eternally powerful and will separate the just from the unjust.

Jesus is not optional. "Qui non est mecum, contra me est - He who is not with Me is against Me." To deny this is the fundamental error of religious liberty and ecumenism.

The consequences of the union of the Word of God, of God Himself, with a human soul and body (over and above those of which we have just spoken in the last few pages), are such that they truly make of this human creature a subject unique in His kind, more divine than human, and more spiritual than corporal. Our Lord's entire life proves it. He lives more in Heaven than on earth, for He is Heaven. His Person has all power over His soul and His body, even to separate and reunite them as He wishes and when He wishes.

His glory, His power, His sanctity, His wisdom, the permanence of the eternal mission which comes from His Father, in the exact realization of His temporal mission of salvation, all these shine forth in His life, in His acts and in His words.

That is what St. Thomas discloses in detail in studying every step of Jesus' life and His mysteries up to the Ascension.

This meditation on the life of Jesus in all its details puts us little by little in an atmosphere of supernatural reality, and delivers us from the customary way in which men live, so deceived as to take no account of this great reality. Sin, and the results of sin, have succeeded in creating a world of mirages, illusions and errors. This has developed to such an extent that men finish up by becoming accustomed to this world, sensitized, sensualized, humanized, no longer being able to see that all this is vain and ephemeral in relation to the true spiritual and supernatural life, in relation to eternal life.

The holy and admirable life of Jesus is a constant reminder of the spiritual and divine realities which are alone valuable and alone eternal. Everything in Jesus returns to God, to the truth, to reality, to wisdom and to sanctity.

Would that we might always be more convinced of the necessity of following Jesus, as He asks His disciples. "Si quis sequitur me non ambulat in tenebris - He who follows Me does not walk in darkness. If someone wishes to be My disciple, let him carry his cross and follow Me." For there is no other choice: either follow Jesus or rejoin Satan.

It is not at all surprising if Jesus suffers to see men prefer the darkness to the Light-and what Light! It is the Light which created the world, which supports it in existence, which enlightens every man who comes into this world, which brings to them the Light of salvation and of eternal glory. But they prefer the darkness of the world, of this world which is against Our Lord, of this world of the flesh, of money, of egoism, of pride-the threshold to Hell!

Before leaving the person of Jesus Christ, so as to fix ourselves on understanding His redeeming work of salvation and on meditating on the means instituted by Jesus to communicate anew the grace of salvation, let us strive to mark indelibly in our spirits the real, living image of Jesus, Who should illuminate and direct all of our lives.

Here is the perspective of Father Pegues in his catechism (p. 411):

"Yes! When one says Jesus Christ, one indicates the only Son of God, Who, being from all eternity with His Father and the Holy Ghost the same, one and only True God, by Whom all things were created and Who sustains them, and governs them as Sovereign Master, took our human nature on Himself in time, by reason of which He is truly man like us, but yet continues to be with the Father and the Holy Ghost, the same God that He is from all eternity.

Consequently He has in His human nature, and is assured of having inasmuch as He is a man like us, privileges of grace in a certain way infinite. First of all shines His quality as Savior of mankind, which constitutes Him, as man, unique Mediator between God and men, Sovereign Priest, Supreme King, Prophet without equal and Leader and Head of all the assembly of the elect, angels and men, all forming His true Mystical Body."

 

On September 29, 2004, Mrs. Lana Maureen Myers, 61, and mother of one of our Saskatoon parishioners, was dying of cancer in that same city. She had not been raised in any religion by her mother, and never joined any either. Prayers had been said for her conversion. She was wearing a Miraculous Medal for the last few months. The week before, she accepted to receive the Blessing for Sick Adults from a priest of the Society. At 12:30 pm, on that feast day of St. Michael the Archangel, who leads the souls to Heaven, she accepted Baptism from the hands of a Catholic Ukrainian Priest. She died at 1:00pm She is now in Heaven! Let us thank the Blessed Virgin and the Most Holy Trinity for such a great grace!