The following message is adapted from a greeting Professor Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira gave to Supporters of the Brazilian TFP during the Christmas season of 1992.
As 2006 comes to a close, we should reflect on what has happened this year. As in all recent years, chaos reigned throughout the world. The risks, inherent to this chaos, became increasingly universal and dangerous. Understandably, an atmosphere of general apprehension continues to spread throughout the whole world.
It is therefore fitting to recall the angelic canticle heard by the shepherds on the first Christmas night: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will.”
The angels spoke of true peace, which is found in the Holy, Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church. In this sense, what does “peace” mean? Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches: “Peace is the tranquility of order.” Where there is order, there is true peace. Where there is merely a lack of open conflict, true peace does not exist, but merely a veiled and camouflaged disorder.
That is why we find death, putrefaction and the decomposition of men into dust in cemeteries and not true peace. Graveyards may be home to immobility, sadness and silence, but not peace.
Nevertheless, true peace still exists in a few scattered places. It exists in churches where Catholic doctrine is professed in its integrity and where the rites of the Faith are performed in total harmony with Catholic worship and dogma. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Who is the Spirit of Peace, people in these churches are united by similar thoughts and sentiments.
These faithful Catholics possess this peace and in turn bring it into their homes, where they also bring the Faith, order and the reign of Christ. All who allow true Church doctrine to penetrate their souls also become advocates of true peace.
Our Lord Jesus Christ wanted to bring this peace to the world. He expressed this in these magnificent words: “Pacem Meam vobis, pacem Meam relinquo vobis” (My peace I leave with you: my peace I give unto you (John 14:27)). He left us the tranquility of order as a gift when He rose to Heaven.
In search of this peace, we should turn towards the manger and consider that Jesus Christ, the King of Peace, rests there. Saint Joseph and Our Lady, who are descendents of the most noble and illustrious lineages on earth, incline toward the Child Jesus in the humble forms of a carpenter and a housewife.
God wants the humble creatures to come and be received with love, before the great men of earth, represented by the Three Magi Kings, come to bring their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
He welcomes not only shepherds, but also animals. The oxen are invited to warm the Child Jesus with their breath, just as the shepherds warm Him with their love as they pay Him the first acts of adoration.
Contemplating this peace and order should inspire us to become soldiers in the struggle for peace and order. We should want to be soldiers of Christ in the reign of Christ.
At first glance, this seems contradictory. How can someone be a soldier of peace, when peace, by definition, excludes belligerence? How can someone be a soldier of order, when struggle presupposes disorder?
It is important to remember that peace does not only exist where there is no fighting. There is also peace wherever people struggle for order against disorder.
That is why peace did not cease to reign in Heaven, while the good angels were fighting to expel the demons from their celestial abodes. Then, Saint Michael the Archangel and the faithful angels fought against Satan and the unfaithful ones in a battle so great that the Scriptures say: “Proelio magnum factum est in caelum” (There was a great battle in Heaven).
They fought for that which should exist and against that which should not; for health and against sickness; for the light of life and against death and for good and against evil. Their actions were aimed at reestablishing order and thus even in the midst of their fight, they were agents of order and peace.
Similarly, we bring the world peace to the extent that we struggle against the bad angels and their henchmen, fight against the Gnostic and egalitarian Revolution1 and combat modern immorality that has sunk to an unimaginable depth. Wherever we fight to uphold the perennial values of tradition, family and property, there is true peace, because this is a fight for peace against disorder and of good against evil.
The peace that we desire for you this Christmas is the peace of order. In other words, we wish you the peace of a hard-fought struggle against disorder.
Hopefully at this time next year, we will be able to say that during 2007, we were agents of order, meaning not only that we abstained from useless and condemnable fights, but also that we fought the good fight of which Saint Paul spoke, when he said: “Lord, I have fought the good fight, now give me the reward of Thy glory.” Then, we will be able to finish the year tranquilly and full of hope.
Whatever turmoil, evil will have brought to the world; whatever resulting threats will loom on the horizon, we will be able to say: we were the agents of peace; we were the children of Mary; we were those who fought for good order. With the grace of Our Lady, we will be able to repeat what we now say: “Lord, give us during this year, the reward of Thy Glory on earth!”
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1. “Gnostic and egalitarian Revolution” here refers to the centuries-old process that dominates the modern world and aims at destroying Christian civilization. This process was described in detail in Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira’s book Revolution and Counter-Revolution.
2006-12-22 13:35:38
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answer #9
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answered by Francis 4
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