September 2003 Print


Our Lady and Modesty

 
Rev. Fr. Jacques Emily


Are we in the last times? Is our soul in greater danger of being lost forever in these times than it was in centuries past? Are the words of Saint Paul to Timothy for our time:

...There shall be a time when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires they will heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and will indeed turn away their hearing from the truth, but will be turned unto fables. (II Tim. 4:3-4)

Our Lady of Fatima
Our Lady
Our Lady of La Salette


The Last Times

To answer these questions Our Lady herself came to the mountain at La Salette and warned us:

In the year 1864, Lucifer together with a large number of demons will be unloosed from hell; they will put an end to faith little by little, even in those dedicated to God. They will blind them in such a way, that, unless they are blessed with a special grace, these people will take on the spirit of these angels of hell; several religious institutions will lose all faith and will lose many souls.

Evil books will be abundant on earth and the spirits of darkness will spread everywhere a universal slackening in all that concerns the service of God. The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God have neglected prayer and penance, and the devil has bedimmed their intelligence. They have become wandering stars which the old devil will drag along with his tail to make them perish.

Yes, the priests are asking vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads. Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives are crucifying my Son again! (The Blessed Virgin at La Salette, Sept. 19, 1846.)

Our Lady goes on in her apocalyptic message to describe very precisely all the scourges that will strike mankind: the coming of the Antichrist together with his persecutions against the faithful and against the Church. She then ends by describing the final defeat of Satan and his angels and thus the final triumph of God over His enemies.

Now, when Our Lady said in 1846 that these terrible times would begin in 1864 once Lucifer and a great number of devils were unloosed from hell, she truly meant that from that date mankind would no longer be in the normal course of history. In 1864, mankind would have entered into the last period of mankind's earthly saga, a period in which Satan would lead his final and bloodiest battle of seducing and destroying souls.

Pope Leo XIII, who received on the October 13, 1884, a revelation that God had given permission to Satan to try to demolish His Church, took this warning very seriously and composed the Leonine Prayers to be said after each Mass. He then published for priests and faithful the famous exorcism of St. Michael against Satan and the rebellious angels to protect mankind against the plagues to come.

Later on St. Pius X, himself, did not hesitate to refer the present calamities, the great perversity of minds and the furious efforts "to blot out the memory and the knowledge of God," as "the foretaste and perhaps the beginning of these evils reserved for the last days" (E Supremi Apostolatus, Oct. 4, 1903).

Sister Lucy, the seer of Fatima, is also absolutely convinced that we are now living in the last times: here is what she explained to Fr. Agustin Fuentes, the postulator for the cause of beatification of Francisco and Jacinta, in a conversation held on December 26, 1957: "The Most Holy Virgin did not tell me that we are in the last days of the world but she made me understand this for three reasons."

1) THE FINAL BATTLE: The first reason is because she told me that the devil is in the midst of waging a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. And a decisive battle is the final battle where one side will be victorious and the other side will suffer defeat. Hence from now on we must choose sides. Either we are for God or we are for the devil. There is no other possibility.

2) THE LAST REMEDIES: The second reason is because she said to my cousins as well as to myself that God is giving two last remedies to the world. These are the Holy Rosary and Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. These are the last two remedies which signify there will be no others.

3) THE SIN AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST: The third reason is because in the plans of Divine Providence, before He is about to chastise the world, God always exhausts all other remedies. Now, when He sees that the world pays no attention whatsoever then, as we say in our imperfect manner of speaking, He offers us with a certain trepidation the last means of salvation, His Most Holy Mother. It is with a certain trepidation because if you despise and repulse this ultimate means we will not have any more forgiveness from Heaven because we will have committed a sin which the Gospel calls the sin against the Holy Ghost. This sin consists in openly rejecting with full knowledge and consent, the salvation which He offers. Let us remember that Jesus Christ is a very good Son and that He does not permit that we offend and despise His Most Holy Mother. We have recorded through many centuries of Church history the obvious testimony which demonstrates, by the terrible chastisements which have befallen those who have attacked the honor of His Most Holy Mother, how Our Lord Jesus Christ has always defended the honor of His Holy Mother.

If we now consider the tragic collapse in the Catholic Church, since the last Council, which is made obvious with the breathtaking drop of religious practice and of vocations, with the closing and sale of so many churches, convents, monasteries, the loss of faith and basic moral values among the priests and the faithful, together with the appalling, vast spread of homosexuality within the seminaries and dioceses–who cannot see the literal application of Our Lady's words at La Salette to our own times?

If we consider that the Gregorian University (the most prestigious of arguably Roman seats of learning) not only teaches ecumenism, but entrusts the course to a formal heretic and schismatic such as Doctor Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury (cf. The Universe, 119, June 4, 2003), who cannot see that we have come to the completion of the above quoted prophecy of Saint Paul to Timothy? Is it unreasonable to think that such conduct fulfils likewise the prophecy of Our Lady at La Salette that "Rome will lose its Faith?"

When we consider that, since 1975, men have been legally killing 45 million babies a year, more than 1.27 billion babies who have been butchered by the command of their own mother! How can we not see that the rage of Satan used to blind and corrupt mankind has reached an unparalleled level in History?

When we consider what has been achieved worldwide by the Masonic governments to destroy the family and to turn upside down all the moral values on which Christian civilization was based, are we not the appalled witnesses of a world engulfing itself in a state of barbarism, which can end only in its own destruction? Can we fail to see in the construction of this Masonic One World Government the realization of the prophecy of Our Lady warning us that:

All the civil governments will have one and the same plan, which will be to abolish and do away with every religious principle, to make way for materialism, atheism, spiritualism, and vice of all kinds.

It is dizzying to consider even a few of the realizations of this "one and same (Masonic) plan": legalization of divorce and abortion, the accessibility even to children of all kinds of contraception, the sexual education in the school programs, the degrading of women through immodest fashions, homosexuality, euthanasia, violence and pornography in the media, films and theater... Who cannot see that these crimes are calling to heaven for vengeance and that the vengeance must be at our very doors?

The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink form the chalice of the wrath of God (Our Lady at La Salette).

 

Is Our Soul in Greater Danger?

Bearing such considerations in mind, it seems quite obvious, that we have indeed entered into the last times. And to answer the second question asked at the beginning of this letter, (i.e., what danger to our soul?), we must unfortunately say that the answer is equally obvious. When churchmen of the highest ranks act contrary to the interests of the Church and the good of souls, when Society legislates against Divine and Natural Law, when all kinds of corruption and vice are widely, constantly, and easily accessible to all, even the youngest–what else could be expected than that a far greater number are losing their souls now than in the past!

Our Lady had also particularly announced in her message to Sister Maria Anna of Jesus in the Convent of the Immaculate Conception in Quito, on February 2, 1634, this terrible situation for our times. Consider what Our Lady had to say 200 years before her message at La Salette about the events which will strike mankind in our day:

At the end of the 19th century and for a large part of the 20th, various heresies will flourish on this earth which will have become a free republic. The precious light of the Faith will go out in souls because of the almost total moral corruption: in those times there will be great physical and moral calamities, in private and in public. The little number of souls keeping the Faith and practising the virtues will undergo cruel and unspeakable suffering; through their long drawn out martyrdom many of them will go to their death because of the violence of their sufferings, and those will count as martyrs who gave their lives for Church or for country. To escape from being enslaved by these heresies will call for great strength of will, constancy, courage, and great trust in God....

In those days the spirit of impurity which like a deluge of filth will flood the streets, squares and public places. The licentiousness will be such that there will be no more virgin souls in the world.

By having gained control of all the social classes, the sects will tend to penetrate with great skill into the hearts of families to destroy even the children. The devil will take glory in feeding perfidiously on the heart of children. The innocence of childhood will almost disappear. Thus priestly vocations will be lost, it will be a real disaster. Priests will abandon their sacred duties and will depart from the path marked out for them by God. (Quito, Ecuador, February 2, 1634.)

Our souls are in tremendous danger of being swallowed by this formidable tide of apostasy and corruption, which is devastating the Church and the world. So great is the danger that I feel compelled before leaving you to respond once more to the wish of Our Lady and to pass on to you her warnings: "And so, my children, you will pass this on to all my people."

 

The Three Messages

The knowledge of these messages that we have quoted or referred to (Quito, La Salette, and Fatima) are so important in understanding the dreadful social and religious situation of mankind in our times that we have undertaken to reprint them in order to make them more widely available to as many as possible. "The more it is spread the more it will arouse salutary fear and numerous returns to God" (Melanie, seer of La Salette).

The publication of this booklet which we have entitled The Three Messages, will unfortunately be delayed by a few weeks due to my departure to the US, but you can already order it from the Bookstore at St. George's House for approximately $5.50 plus shipping and handling [contact: St. George's House, 125 Arthur Road, Wimbledon Park, London, SW19 7DR, United Kingdom.]

These warnings of Our Lady also make it evident to every Catholic that the duty of keeping the Faith and preserving one's soul in the state of grace is much more demanding in our days than it was in the past because of the greater power of the devils, the unprecedented crisis of the Church, and the general state of corruption and apostasy of the world. In order to keep the true Faith and to keep his soul pure and clean of any sin, the Christian will have then to make special efforts in the practice of the virtues, in regular prayer and the reception of sacraments, along with flying from the vanities, pleasures and fashions of the world which are the cause of all kinds of temptations and sins.

Sister Lucy told Fr. Fuentes about the necessity for each Catholic to take upon himself the work of his own sanctification and not to wait for Rome's help or assistance before beginning. What a dreadful statement towards Rome from the seer of Fatima, when we think of it, but how relevant to our own lives when we see complete failure of the modernist Roman hierarchy in drawing souls to Christ!

Father, we should not wait for an appeal to the world to come from Rome on the part of the Holy Father, to do penance. Nor should we wait for the call to penance to come from our bishops in our diocese, nor from the religious congregations. No! Our Lord has already very often used these means and the world has not paid attention. That is why now, it is necessary for each one of us to begin to reform himself spiritually. Each person must not only save his own soul but also the souls that God has placed in our path....The devil does all in his power to distract us and to take away from us the love for prayer; we shall be saved together or we shall be damned together. (Sister Lucy to Fr. A. Fuentes)

What a terrible risk are those Catholics taking, for their own soul and for the souls of their children, who deliberately ignore the warnings and requests of Our Lady, neglect their prayers, the rosary, and the sacraments. These poor Catholics let the spirit of the world enter into their home; gradually they become lukewarm and, thinking themselves good Catholics, they see no more the great peril threatening themselves and their families.

 

Spiritual Legacy Through Mary and with Mary

That is why, my dear faithful, as it is now the last letter that I am writing to you before my departure to the United States, I wish to leave you, as a kind of spiritual legacy, these warnings of Our Lady herself, who wants more than anyone else to preserve you and your families from the corruption of this world, who wants your sanctification, who wants earnestly your salvation and that of your children. My priestly heart wants to echo once more for your souls the words of our heavenly Mother and like her, in her, through her and with her, I wish to cry to you again: Beware, my dear children, the times are bad, the world is corrupt, the Catholic Church itself is profoundly wounded by its own members, the wrath of God is at hand, and terrible chastisements must come to purify the world of its sins!

Do Not Follow the New Religion-Do Not Follow the Fashions

So, my dear friends, take care and listen carefully: do not follow the modernist Churchmen and their new religion, neither those who compromise with them! Do not follow the world and its fashions, do not let your dear children be corrupted by the school system, the television, bad company, bad music, bad literature...May also our dear mothers always give, in the image of Mary, a good example of Christian modesty to their children. "As long as modesty will not be put in practice, the society will continue to degrade" Pope Pius XII said. "Society reveals what it is by the clothes it wears" In the same way, a person reveals himself by the clothes that he is wearing. For example, the fashion today for women is to have low necklines, tight shirts, tight trousers, tight and/or short dress. Until not so long ago that manner of dress was indicative of a woman of ill repute enticing her clients to sin. By what mystery or logic are these fashions now practiced in Catholic families?

Are we not the appalled witnesses of such persons who, to the greatest desolation of the Heavenly Court, for the joy of the devils, and to the scandal of innocent souls, dare to come in such attire to Church and even to approach the communion rail? And what is the most shocking is to see a certain number of people (few fortunately among our faithful) who find this perfectly normal and acceptable. Did I not tell you that we have entered into the last times? Are not these fashions pointed out and condemned by Our Lady at Quito and La Salette? It is, unfortunately, to be feared that only the chastisements to come will be able to open the eyes of so many blinded people.

These impure fashions, which exalt the forms of the body and display the flesh, reveal, as Pope Pius XII says, what this society actually is and for what it stands. But we know that this society, which promotes these impure fashions, is the same one which promotes sexual education to children, which sells and displays contraceptives and pornography everywhere, which aborts its babies and promotes homosexuality. How is it then, that our Christian women can follow these abominable fashions, symbols and expression of all these crimes of this decadent society? May our dear Catholic ladies, who bear the grace of baptism in their souls, consider their responsibility in so doing! May they ponder upon the tears of Our Lady on the Mount of La Salette and may they, for God and Mary's love, never any longer follow these fashions which are dragging souls into hell. It is not because it is the "up-to-date fashion" and because "everybody does it" that immodesty is no longer sinful. God has not changed His law and the words of the Holy Ghost by the mouth of Saint Paul still apply in 2003!

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty....Of which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God. (Gal. 5:19-21)

For know this and understand, that no fornicator, or unclean person, or covetous one (for that is idolatry) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one lead you astray with empty words; for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience. Do not, then, become partakers with them. (Eph. 5:5-7)

Once more, let us pay attention to the warning of Our Lady: "There will come a time when certain fashions will offend Our Lord very much. The persons who serve God must not follow these styles" (Our Lady at Fatima, 1917). These "certain fashions" are those of today that we are denouncing "in season, out of season" because so many have lost the sense of decency and completely ignore the nobility and value of modesty. So few are listening to the warnings of Our Lady! It is so much easier to follow the fashions of the world in order to avoid being portrayed as "old-fashioned," narrow-minded," "fanatical," and the like. So many Catholics, alas, think that this question of fashion is a matter without importance and we might have agreed with them if only the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Paul, the Popes and so many saints had not insisted so much on this subject, thus indicating that it is far from being just a trifle. Here is what Jacinta, repeating nearly word for word Our Lady's warning, has to say about it: "The sins which hurl most souls into hell, are the sins of impurity. Certain styles will be invented that will offend Our Lord very much. The persons who serve God must not follow these fashions."

A Masonic Plan

Here lies the key to this mystery or logic mentioned above. How is it possible that these fashions that offend Our Lord very much, and which were before the distinctive mark of the most notorious profession in the world, have come to be adopted by Christian families? The little Jacinta, inspired by Our Lady, answers the question and tells us that these fashions will be invented. Let us be well aware, my dear Friends, that they have been invented by none other than the Masonic sects intent on serving the devil and destroying the Catholic Church. Please, pay a particular attention to what they have to say about this diabolical invention that they have fomented in their Lodges:

Catholicism does not fear a very sharp sword any more than the monarchies feared it. But, these two foundations of Social Order can collapse under corruption; let us never tire of corrupting them. Tertullian was right in saying that from the blood of martyrs Christians are born; let us not make martyrs; but, let us popularize vice among the multitudes; may they breathe it through their five senses; may they drink it and be saturated. Make vicious hearts and there will be no more Catholics.

It is corruption on a big scale that we have undertaken...a corruption that should one day enable us to lead the Church to its grave. Lately, I heard one of our friends laughing philosophically at our projects saying: "To destroy Catholicism, we should do away with women." The idea is good in a certain way, but since we cannot get rid of women, let us corrupt them with the Church. Corruptio optimi, pessima. The best dagger to strike the Church is corruption. (Letter of Vindice to Nubius; [pen-names of 2 leaders of the Italian Alta Vendita] dated August 9, 1838)

This letter revealing the diabolical invention denounced by Jacinta was written only eight years before the message of Our Lady at La Salette! We have the strong impression reading the message of La Salette and this letter of Vindice that Our Lady was, in a sense, making the latter public to warn the Church and all Catholics against the coming danger of this vicious and diabolical attack by the Masons. It is a great pity that so many Catholics have given up this battle for modesty when the Masons have not! If for liberal Catholics modesty is a trifle, it is certainly not so for them! This following quotation from a letter written ninety years after that of Vindice, shows the striking determination and tenacity they have of bringing their plan to fruition.

Religion does not fear the dagger's point; but it can vanish under corruption. Let us not grow tired of corruption: we may use a pretext such as sport, hygiene, health resorts. It is necessary to corrupt, that our boys and girls practice nudism in dress. To avoid too much reaction, one would have to progress in a methodical manner: first, undress up to the elbow; then up to the knees; then arms and legs completely uncovered; later, the upper part of the chest, the shoulders, etc. etc. (International Review of Freemasonry, 1928)

That is why, my dear friends, it is on my knees and on behalf of Our Lady that I beg you, after reading these quotations in the light of the three great messages of Our Heavenly Mother, to understand from where these immodest and indecent fashions come. They are the realization of a diabolical plan to destroy your families, society and the Catholic Church. This collapse of all moral values, which destroy everything bearing the name of Christ has been announced by Our Lady for the times in which we now are. That is why, after having been informed of this Masonic plan and of the messages of Our Lady, we can no longer naively think that these "new-fashioned" ways are just the normal result of the changes in society and that they are not as seriously wrong as they were before! No, my dear Friends, do not be seduced by the sirens' song of modern times and do not think that this filthy tide, which has devastated our Western countries and the Church, is an innocent evolution of mores that we can follow with impunity.

That is why, with Mary and for Mary, I beg of you again, for the sanctification and the salvation of your soul: "Do not follow these new fashions, they offend Our Lord very much and they hurl souls into hell."

The words of Our Lady, the teaching of the Popes, the examples of the saints and the knowledge of the diabolical plans of Freemasonry to destroy the Catholic Church through the immodesty and "liberalization" of woman should suffice to convince every single Catholic to bar such fashions and principles from entering their homes. But let us not forget that this teaching of Our Lady and of the Church is first of all and primarily based on the teaching of Our Lord in the Gospel and on the abundant references in the Epistles of St. Paul to this subject. When Jesus says: "But I say to you that anyone who so much as looks with lust at a woman has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Mt. 5:28), we may be sure that if men are seriously guilty for their lustful look on women, so too, women are certainly not innocent for offering again the apple to eat, nor for breaking the norms of modesty set by the Church. It is then upon this clear statement of Our Lord that we must base our judgement towards fashions, modern music, dances, movies, and all these kinds of entertainment. The question a Catholic must ask himself about these things is not whether they are up-to-date, fashionable, or if every one is doing it, but whether they are for himself and for others an occasion of sin? It is for no other reason, for instance, that Rock n' Roll music is so evil, because this music and its dancing are a direct and voluntary incitement to passions and to all kinds of impurity. "Flee from sin as from the face of a serpent, for if thou comest near them, they will take hold of thee" (Eccl. 21:2).

Courage! Grace Has Abounded Yet More!

Well, my dear friends, it is now time for me to conclude this already too long letter and to recommend to you again a greater vigilance in these troubled times for your souls and for the souls of your children. Our souls are, indeed, in greater danger in these days of the last times, but let us not be discouraged and let us not forget that God in His infinite mercy will give us even more abundant graces to overcome this tremendous difficulty. He promised that He will never let us be tempted beyond our strength, and St. Paul reassures us that: "where the offense has abounded, grace has abounded yet more" (Rom. 5:20).

Go then with confidence to this source of graces which is the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and He will pour His mercies in abundance upon your souls. Have your families consecrated to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and pray the daily rosary with all the family. Remember the words of Sister Lucy: "That is why now, it is necessary for each one of us to begin to reform himself spiritually " That is why I earnestly encourage you to go for a good retreat in Bristol, to make all possible efforts to go regularly to confession, and to make of your fervent and frequent communions the most important and the most solemn moments of your lives. May the Immaculate Heart of Mary be the refuge which will lead your souls to heaven, and may she keep always your dear families under her most special protection.

 

Fr. Jacques Emily studied at the Society's seminary in Ecône, Switzerland where he was ordained in 1978. His first assignment was prior of Holy Family Priory of the Society of Saint Pius X in Dijon, France. In 1984, he was named Superior of the Society's District of Canada. Arriving in Canada. From 2000-2003 he was Superior of the Society's District of Great Britain. He is currently assigned to Post Falls, Idaho.