It has become increasingly clear that the year 2020 was, by God’s providence, a wake-up call on many levels. Massive disruption was caused by civil and episcopal responses to COVID-19, and these may well worsen in 2021. The errors of Communism, which Our Lady of Fatima warned would spread throughout the world, have spread over the decades, like a light rain that slowly saturates the ground—first winning over the intelligentsia, then percolating through the media and popular culture, and finally dictating the policies of the oligarchs who exercise power.
In our churches, where we might have expected to find strength and consolation, the faithful have faced demoralization from liturgical tinkering, shutdowns, arbitrary rules, institutionalized abuses. The message has been transmitted that Mass is optional, resulting in what appears to be a permanent dramatic dropoff in attendance. Crowdedness now seems to be a “problem” only at traditional Latin Masses, where, thanks be to God, many Catholics have found the reverence and orthodoxy for which they had been longing. This, indeed, is the silver lining on the otherwise dark cloud.
We are witnessing an acceleration in the sinfulness of mankind—including, alas, in the lives of baptized Catholics—whereby more and more extreme forms of evil are becoming more and more “normal.” Our sins are piling up in number and gravity, as if we want the inevitable divine reckoning to be as terrifying as possible. At least a few should “stay awake and watch” with Our Lord in His agony in the garden, uniting themselves to His Cross and begging the Lord for His mercy. The Lord assured Abraham He would spare a city where only a few just men lived. Chastisement has come and will come, but our prayers and sacrifices will strengthen us in bearing the storm and bearing fruit for the eventual restoration of the Church and of the Faith. In some mysterious way, our involvement is part of the unfolding of God’s plan, and we should not stay on the sidelines, shocked into inactivity.
For all these reasons, Sophia Institute Press has announced a “Novena for the Eucharist,” to take place over the nine days from January 24 to February 1. The website is https://eucharisticpenance.com. Those who sign up pledge to:
• pray a daily Rosary and Divine Mercy chaplet
• attend daily Mass
• fast by skipping one meal
• give alms
• abstain from media
What is important is not the flawless execution of all of these things (it’s a pledge, not a vow!), but rather doing all that one can to live a spirit of penance and reparation for sins committed against the Holy Eucharist.
The Novena of the Eucharist is linked with the release of my book The Holy Bread of Eternal Life: Restoring Eucharistic Reverence in an Age of Impiety. In Holy Bread, I take a no-holds-barred look at the evils committed daily against the Blessed Sacrament due to decades of liturgical deformation and abuse, and argue for immediate and urgent concrete solutions. Not all of us are in a position to implement most of these solutions, yet we should do what we can. At very least, we should pray and do penance.
I will certainly be doing this novena and I strongly encourage Rorate Caeli readers to join the over 5,000 who have already signed up for it. Even if you don’t think you can do all of the recommended practices of piety, it would be worthwhile to do at least some. When you sign up at the website, Sophia will send you, for each day of the novena, a short daily meditation from Scripture and a prayer.
In these opening days of 2021, I have a greater foreboding than usual about what the future holds. We need to ramp up our prayer and sacrifices. Prayer and fasting will save us, and nothing else. As Jesus said, some demons are driven out in no other way—and there are a lot of demons on the loose right now.
(Adapted from an article published at LifeSite on January 19.)
