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Our Lord Jesus Christ the King
21 November 2010
Dear Friends in Christ,
1. The New Year of Grace begins next week with the First Sunday of Advent, and Pope Benedict XVI has asked Catholics all over the world to join him this Advent in praying for the protection of all children in their mothers’ wombs — or, to use the obscure Latinate language preferred by the Church — to pray for the protection of nascent human life. Each parish is asked to join in this supplication for unborn children, and we will do so at our regularly scheduled celebration of Vespers at 5 pm next Sunday afternoon. Throughout the coming Advent days, as we prepare to celebrate with joy the birth of the Messiah, let us lift up to the Throne of Grace those children who are exposed to the danger of being murdered in the womb before they can be born. And may the Lord of mercies move in the hearts of those who commit these murders and lead them to conversion and repentance of this grave crime against humanity, as well as in the hearts of those who make this slaughter of the innocents possible by political justification, legal protection, and financial support.
2. Today we celebrate with great joy the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King, but we do so mindful that the sovereignty of Christ is a disputed sovereignty. On Tuesday of this week, the Church keeps the feast of a 20th century martyr who bears witness to this truth. Miguel Agustin Pro was born in Mexico in 1891 and entered the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in 1911, the same year the Mexican Revolution began. Because of the fierce persecution of the Church inflicted by the revolutionaries, Miguel Pro spent most of his life as a Jesuit outside of Mexico; he studied in California, Spain, and Belgium and taught in Nicaragua. Father Pro returned to Mexico in July 1926, shortly before the start of the Cristeros Uprising — a counter-revolutionary movement led by Catholics who fought the brutal persecution of the Church in Mexico which was enshrined in the Mexican Constitution of 1917. The dictatorial regime responded to the Cristeros Uprising with savage force, and during seven years of struggle, thousands of Christians were executed or expelled from the country, particularly priests. In 1926 there were 4500 priests working in Mexico, but by 1934 that number was reduced to 330.
Father Pro was executed by firing squad on 23 November 1927, without even the fiction of a trial, simply because his priestly ministry was considered subversive by the government. He asked for a moment to pray, then stood and faced his murderers before raising his arms in a cruciform shape. As the rifles fired, Father Pro shouted with his last breath: Viva Cristo Rey! or Long Live Christ the King! The murder of Blessed Miguel Pro is the first Christian martyrdom of which we have a photograph, and his faith reminds us of the cost of discipleship. Viva Cristo Rey!
Father Newman