Posted on 05/13/2014 2:36:43 PM PDT by NYer
Against all odds, last night became a great victory for the Catholic faith in the Archdiocese of Boston. Rather than a desecration of the Eucharist, the most noteworthy public event in Cambridge was a Eucharistic procession that stretched for several blocks. At Harvard, St. Paul’s church was packed, with many people standing outside the doors, for an hour of adoration ending in Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
The black mass that had been scheduled for the Harvard campus did not take place there. Although Harvard’s President Drew Faust refused to intervene, the extension-school students who were sponsoring the event (and who, tellingly, had never identified themselves) backed out at the 11th hour. After issuing a series of conflicting messages, the Satanic Temple members who had planned the outrage announced that the black mass had finally taken place later Monday night, in an upstairs room at a nondescript Chinese restaurant.
Did the black mass actually take place? As evidence for that, we have nothing but the word of people who say that they serve the Father of Lies. The bartender at the Hong Kong acknowledges that some members of the Satanic Temple were drinking there. If indeed a satanic ritual was enacted, it was done furtively, in darkness—rejected rather than welcomed, even at a university that generally scoffs at faith.
On the way home after the Eucharistic holy hour at St. Paul’s, a friend ran into some of the Satanic Temple followers in Harvard Square. She reported:
They seemed angry, had really embraced the ugly, and some of them were even masked or hiding their faces behind a cape. I was thinking that one doesn't hide oneself if he feels good about what he is doing.
Inside St. Paul’s church, there were no feelings of anger: only a deep, quiet, firm faith. It is impossible to capture the mood of the assembly, but the photos on the archdiocesan Facebook page offer some clues. A Boston Globe photographer captured an image of the crowded church, and several moving shots of the procession. The young people kneeling on the stone steps, the reverent hush in the church, the booming resonance of the Tantum Ergo all radiated the vigor and joy of the Catholic faith.
As the procession made its way slowly down Massachusetts Avenue, some passersby dropped to their knees before our Eucharistic Lord; others joined in the hymns. I could not count the people who crowded into the MIT chapel to start the procession, but I know that many others joined along the route. When was the last time that the city of Cambridge, bastion of secular liberalism, saw such a strong display of the Catholic faith?
Something special happened in Cambridge last night, and I confidently predict that we shall see the results for years to come. Grace is real, and grace works in unpredictable ways. How many non-Catholic Harvard students went to St. Paul’s to show respect for their Catholic friends, and saw something there that will spark an interest in the faith, and draw them to the Church? How many young men, as they renewed their devotion to the Eucharist, felt the first stirrings of a call to the priesthood? We didn’t merely win a battle in the spiritual combat; we launched an offensive.
And all this happened because a few deluded students scheduled a blasphemous mockery, and the Catholic community responded appropriately: not with an impotent fit of anger but with a confident show of faith. Satan overplayed his hand, and got burned again.
In case you missed it, check out the photo gallery from last night.
Ping!
A happy ending! I’m so pleased!
Hallelujah!!!
Great victory, but our Lord can turn anything into a victory.
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Truly a miracle. Amen!
It’s like the Feast of Corpus Christi in my old hometown, 40 or 50 years ago. The streets got quiet. People knelt on curbs, sidewalks, porches. The Lord was honored.
Outside of EWTN on Corpus Christi and my parish on Holy Thursday evening, this is the only other time I see a procession.
Won the battle but, if you look at everything else going on in that Godless Hellhole, we still aren’t winning the war.
BTTT!
The honor and glory is God’s and God’s alone.
No, but this was very important. Harvard dropped the ball, because this was not a matter of “free speech,” which would be something like the Satanists coming out and saying “I hate the Catholic Church” or “I hate ...whatever...”
It was a parody of a Catholic rite; I doubt that Harvard would have supported a parody of the Muslims gashing themselves on the head during the day of the ascension of Mohammed’s horse or whatever it is.
Also, notice that the Satanists know where the truth is - and that’s where they attacked. But fortunately, this seems to have galvanized Catholics.
**As the procession made its way slowly down Massachusetts Avenue, some passersby dropped to their knees before our Eucharistic Lord; others joined in the hymns. I could not count the people who crowded into the MIT chapel to start the procession, but I know that many others joined along the route. When was the last time that the city of Cambridge, bastion of secular liberalism, saw such a strong display of the Catholic faith?**
Things that bishops dream of.
**A Boston Globe photographer captured an image of the crowded church, and several moving shots of the procession. The young people kneeling on the stone steps, the reverent hush in the church, the booming resonance of the Tantum Ergo all radiated the vigor and joy of the Catholic faith.**
God bless them one and all.
Tantum ergo Sacramentum
veneremur cernui!
But the seeds of new or renewed Christian/Catholic faith has been planted.
Traditional Catholics have continued the custom and hold processions such as this one multiple times throughout the liturgical year. Note the large contingent of traditional Catholics from Still River, SSPX, and TFP who were leading the procession in defense of Our Lord.
Thanks for that link.
That video left me in tears...
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