Brian McCallSeptember 2019 Edition Now Available – Preview HERE
Dear Friends of Catholic Tradition,
Every September, the Church celebrates the great feast of St. Michael the Archangel (Sept. 29). In the Age of Faith when all of Europe was Catholic, this was one of the greatest feasts of the liturgical year. The feast of Michaelmas (St. Michael’s Mass) eventually gave its name to the season of Autumn. The first academic term of universities was identified with this great feast and called Michelmas Term. In many countries, a special goose was slaughtered and a feast held to honor this great angel saint.
In our post-Christian world and desacralized Church, the feast of St. Michael goes mostly unnoticed except in traditional chapels. Yet, we need this great defender of God’s sovereignty even more in these great times of battle with his old enemy the devil. When Pope Leo XIII experienced his famous vision in which he heard the devil obtain 100 years of greater power to try the Church, his immediate reaction was to compose a prayer to St. Michael the Archangel. A shorter version of this prayer of exorcism and protection is still required to be recited after Traditional Low Masses. Yet, notwithstanding the growth in Traditional Masses in recent times, its recitation is still small compared to the millions of times it would have been prayed by priest and faithful each day after every Low Mass.
The Conciliar Church is not interested in celebrating St. Michael and does so only begrudgingly. He represents the militant aspect of the Church’s mission. He does not dialogue with the devil or attempt to be ecumenical. He defends the honor of God. He boldly responds to Satan’s false claim of divine sovereignty with his famous rhetorical question, Quis ut Deus? (“Who is like unto God?”). He doesn’t ask who am I to judge the devil. He acts firmly and resolutely to defend the truth of God’s sovereignty and to cast the devil into hell.
In honoring St. Michael, we remember that we are daily in a battle against the devil and need a “safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil.” To aid you in this daily battle, I am happy to offer anyone who subscribes or renews a subscription to Catholic Family News in this month of St. Michael, a prayer card and medal of St. Michael the Archangel. We are anxious to send you this holy gift, so please renew or subscribe today (either for yourself of out of charity for a friend or family member). It is only through the continued subscriptions of people like you that we can afford to keep producing Catholic Family News every month.
In Christ the King,
Brian M. McCall, Editor-in-Chief
Matt Gaspers
