Cardinal Raymond Burke, who has been at the center of news in recent weeks following reports that Pope Francis had withdrawn his salary and Vatican apartment, offered an in-depth reflection on the state of the world and the Church during the Mass he celebrated for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.
“At the time of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the missionary Church in what is now Mexico faced seemingly impossible challenges: the violent conflict between the Native Americans and the Spanish explorers and settlers, and the diabolical practice of massive human sacrifices by the pagans,” recalled the 75-year-old cardinal in his homily delivered at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
The cardinal, prefect emeritus of the Apostolic Signatura – the Vatican's highest court – recalled that in 1531, “Our Lord sent Our Lady to show the way of order and peace in our personal lives and in society, namely Christ.”
“Through her apparitions and her permanent presence on the miraculous tilma of Saint Juan Diego, Our Lady of Guadalupe showed the bishop and the entire Church that the way to overcome evil and spread good is to teach the truth, to pray at all times and to offer all our love to God in sacred worship, and to practice the truth in love,” he continued.
The Mission of the Church Today
The prelate went on to note that “the Church, in our time, faces similar seemingly impossible challenges. Human life itself, marriage and the family, and the practice of the faith are under constant attack from a culture that refuses to acknowledge God and submit to His commandments.”
“Many today are violently rebelling against God, who reveals Himself to us through reason and, most fully and perfectly, through the Catholic faith. The rebellion has seduced even members of the Mystical Body of Christ, leading them to abandon Christ and His way, leading them to apostasy. What are we to do? What is the Church to do?” he asked.
The seasoned cardinal observed that “some, even among the bishops, would tell us that the Church must change its doctrine, its sacred worship and its discipline in order to adapt to the culture.”
“They speak of a necessary paradigm shift or a poorly defined synodal path, which declares that all are welcome in the Church without specifying the conversion to Christ that is necessary to be a member of His Mystical Body,” he lamented.
Burke then emphasized that these members of the Church “forget that the king in the parable of the wedding feast, who had welcomed everyone, ‘both good and bad,’ to his son's wedding, when he saw ‘a man who had no wedding garment,’ had that man cast out from the banquet. Our Lord concludes the parable of the wedding feast with the warning: ‘Many are called, but few are chosen.’”
Yes, he emphasizes, Our Lord wants us all to partake in the banquet of divine grace, but we can only do so if our hearts, united to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, rest in His Most Sacred Heart, if we allow ourselves to be clothed with Him in our daily lives.”
Holiness in Daily Life
The prefect emeritus stressed that “the Church's path in the current crisis is the same as it has always been: Teaching the deposit of faith and all the riches of the Catholic faith, daily prayer, the worship of God ‘in spirit and in truth,’ and a good and holy daily life.”
After recalling that Saint John Paul II explained that the world will not be saved by discovering “a magic formula” or by “inventing a new program,” the cardinal emphasized that the path of salvation is “Jesus Christ living for us in the Church.”
“The program that leads to freedom and happiness is, for each of us, holiness of life in accordance with our state in life and the particular gifts with which God has endowed us,” underscored the cardinal.
“It is to holiness of life in Christ that the Virgin of Guadalupe draws us. By leaving the ordinary of our daily lives to come on pilgrimage to her holy place, she manifests to us the extraordinariness of our daily life in Christ,” explained Burke.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Leads Us to Christ
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The prelate noted that “the cause of our joy today, the cause of our lasting joy, the cause of our eternal joy, is Christ, God the Son incarnate, whom His Virgin Mother brought into the world and towards whom she always draws us, showing us that He, seated at the right hand of God the Father in glory, is also with us in His holy Church which, with the Virgin Mary, we rightly call our Mother.”
“Christ is the fulfillment of man's deepest desire: to know God, to love Him and to serve Him,” he continued.
“The Mother of Christ, whom He gave to us as our Mother as He was dying on the Cross, in her maternal love, always takes us to Him with the words she spoke to the servants at the wedding at Cana: ‘Do whatever He tells you,’” said Burke.
In conclusion, Burke encouraged the faithful: “Under the maternal protection of Our Lady of Guadalupe, let us now give our hearts entirely to Our Lord in His Eucharistic sacrifice. May the holiness of our heart's union with His Most Sacred Heart through the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar shine forth in each of our thoughts, words, and actions,” he concluded.
This article was originally published in English by Catholic World Report (Article Link). It is republished and translated with the author's permission.