War, crime, ruin — the Reformation removed Christ and Church as King (sermon text)

Feast of Christ the King
Fr. Anthony Brankin
Homily: Matt. 25:31-46 As you did it to one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me.
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Full sermon text: Just a few weeks ago in the Latin Mass, we celebrated the Feast of Christ the King. Now interestingly enough, that is the Sunday the Protestants would celebrate Reformation Sunday.

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To show you at what low ebb the church was when I went to the seminary—the 60’s and 70’s—the era of the Spirit of Vatican II—our seminary—at least one year celebrated Reformation Sunday—instead of Christ the King.

Luther made a hero

How incredible—that the disaster called the Reformation—the huge—seemingly irreparable break in the Body of Christ—where Martin Luther and John Calvin and a whole host of other reformers—all of whom were Catholic—and most of whom were former priests—the reform movement that eliminated six of the seven sacraments—demoted Mary to Jesus’ wet nurse—the revolution that overthrew the Pope and told us we didn’t have to be good in order to get to heaven—the religious fervor that allowed the now Protestant monarchs to shut down Catholic churches and hunt down her priests and arrest her Catholic people—how unthinkable that that was to be celebrated in at least one seminary of the Mother Church by the great-great-great-great grandsons of all those persecuted Catholics.

Maybe our masters were trying to tell us that the old religion—which they didn’t believe in anyway—was over and done with—and in fact that the old days and the old ways were finished—and we as modern Catholic seminarians needed to get on with the modern project—of which the reformation was the herald.

Man without God

And what was the modern project? And what did Martin Luther and John Calvin and Zwingli and Knox mean by their Reformation? Nothing less than the complete exaltation of man—it is all about us—our nations, our governments our investments, our achievements. That eventually meant the complete taking over of every aspect of life by the philosophers and the bureaucrats and politicians and bankers.

In other words—after the Reformation, the world began to revolve around man—and not Christ nor the teachings of His Church.

And that is exactly what happened. All over Europe, all the kings’ friends—the money-men, the financiers—the petty nobles who had no more religion than their hounds—became Reformers; and they confiscated all the monasteries and convents and churches and universities and burned them down or despoiled them—ransacked cemeteries—scattered the countless bones of countless saints—stole all the vessels and melted them down for even more profit and sent all the monks and nuns packing—so that they could possess the land and grow ever more powerful and rich than they were before.

Kicked out of their homes

Those poor monks and nuns—and eventually the farmers and their families—were kicked out of their sanctuaries and off their lands—and ended up wandering around in the big cities—and for the first time in a thousand years, there was widespread poverty in the cities of Europe.

Oh the government wasn’t poor—the government is never poor. But everyone else was.

It certainly happened in Ireland. The rich reformers came in—took the land of the Catholics and said to the people—if you remain Catholic, then you can go to the west of Ireland or you can go to hell—but this land is not yours any longer. And that happened over much of Europe. (Spain and Italy, to name two countries, were spared such depredation.)

Shoved into shacks

Within another hundred years steam power was invented and the Industrial Revolution was under way—and now the people—our people—our ancestors—were shoved into tenements and shacks and rooms to let—and everyone—women, children, the elderly—were forced to work in the factories and mills of the grandsons of the reformers for pennies an hour and 14 hours a day.

I mentioned this once before, but my grandfather who was born in 1860—was six years old and working in a linen mill in Belfast for the great grandsons of the Reforming robber barons. He was just six years old—a little slave to the Industrialists winding bobbins so that the rest of his family—who also were working—could survive.

No one can say no

Now what has all this history to do with the feast of Christ the King? Because this is what happened historically when the Reformation dethroned Christ and His Church—and removed the Church from any position of influence in the public life of the people. Because if Christ is not King and the teachings of His Church are ignored and ridiculed by those who rule, then there is no one who can stand in front of the rich and powerful and say “No! You may not do that. You may not abuse people and families and children.

For Christ Himself says ‘No!’ And this not just ancient history. This is the world in which we still live—our modern world. The active principle is this—Where Jesus is no longer the King—and the Church is no longer allowed to teach, someone else will take over and always to their advantage and always to the detriment of the people whom they rule.

The powerful replace the Church

When Christ is not King (and Christ has not been our King for a long time now), and when the Church’s teachings are not heeded then it will be the politicians and the media and the celebrities and the merchants and bankers who will tell us right from wrong—true from false—good from bad.

How else were we persuaded to think that the killing of little babies in the womb was somehow an inalienable right found in the Constitution? Or that gay marriage—inconceivable for thirty-thousand years—must be accepted by law and defended by us?

How else did we get to the point in our society where 40 percent of our children are born to mothers who are not even married—and nobody even cares—not even the fathers who don’t marry the mothers.

Our souls and our money

Who persuaded them that all this was good? Or that it didn’t matter? Who said “Don’t worry. Our way is more fun than the way of Christ and the Church?” And then proceeded to bombard our homes and families with zombie Apocalypses and vampires in love and internet pornography and dirty music and fashions. This is social control by other means—so that oh so subtly but surely they tell us what we should value so that we can give them all our money—after we have given them our souls.

When Christ and the Church have been thrown out of public life—and the process began with the Reformation—then little by little we start to give our lives over to the power people—the politicians and the money men.

When Christ is not King, and we are not following the teachings of the Church—well that is when our families get crippled by divorce and abortion and birth control.

When Christ is not King—then we end up with homes where everyone is fighting—mothers and daughters—fathers and sons—wives and husbands.

Seductions and persuasions

When some poor modern family spins out of control—its sons in the lock-up and its daughters pregnant outside of marriage, the members of that family in some sense are not to blame. All they ever heard all their lives—24/7—were the seductions and persuasions of the buyers and sellers—the merchants and bankers, the real estaters and politicians with their message of greed and pleasure and consumerism.

Whenever or wherever Christ is not King our families suffer and horribly so. They suffer emotionally, physically and materially and spiritually.

And then the powers try to silence the followers of Christ the King who are only trying to rescue the people! How many times have I received anonymous letters saying I should stop talking about life and love — about abortion and birth control — about marriage and divorce? I should stop mixing politics and religion—and what! Leave the teaching of morality to the politicians? To the Sun-Times? God forbid!

Dance of ruin

Who else but the pols and the media have placed us where we are right now—on the verge, on the edge of total societal ruin? Who brought us to this dance of perpetual war, monumental real estate swindles, and family collapse? No one but those for whom Christ is not King.

We are at this point in history thanks to a long line of anonymous ciphers like Barak Obama or George Bush—yes, and even Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan—and all their masters and all their handlers and all their donors over all these years. Who are they really? Any of them! Republican or democrat! And they with the media and all their rich friends will tell us what is right and just and important—and how we should live and love and have our being?