“Who is she that riseth up as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?”
1789, the French Revolution broke out, that great demonic force and forerunner of the Antichrist. The rebellion stirred up hatred against everything sacred. Cathedrals, altars, priests, icons, men, women, and children were desecrated. But the French people did not give in passively. In the Vendée region of Western France, an uprising surged. Poorly clad peasants, armed with prayer beads and a sacred heart pinned to their breast, marched forward against the revolutionists. Knowing the odds all too well, they anchored their hope on heaven. Three times a day, the battalions prayed the rosary. Three times a day they called to their general above, the Blessed Virgin Mary, marching to their death.
At a grave point in the battle, the Vendée loyalists retreated. They had no chance for victory, and ran back. Who do you think they met behind them? Their wives and daughters, waving frying pans and buckets, urging them back to battle: “Turn around! Fight!” The war roared on. Half a million Christians were massacred that day, half a million martyred, for God and country, willing to give up their lives, rather than settle for the idolatry of secularism.
“Who is she that riseth up as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?”
This is a prayer from the Divine Office on the Feast of the Assumption. “Clear as the sun.” “Terrible as an army.” Who indeed? The Blessed Queen, our Lady and Mother.
St. John was taken up into heaven and foreshown the end of the world. Who does he find combatting the dragon? Our Queen.
“A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars . . . And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems” (Revelation 12:1-3).
The devil hates the Blessed Virgin. He was warned at the start that she would be his demise: “I will put enmities between thee [the serpent] and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel” (Genesis 3:15).
“Clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?”
Who is this great woman, Queen and Warrior?
She is the young, humble maiden who said, “Thy will be done.”
Picture this little girl. She did not have any lofty degrees. It never crossed her mind to be successful or accomplished. She did not wear flashy dresses or demand rights and recognition. She lived at the temple, wore simple clothes and a head covering, was quiet, submissive, and prayerful. The angel’s “Ave Maria” did not mean any earthly honor for the maiden. Her pregnancy would be a scandal to the world. She would be a disgrace, a shame, despised and probably stoned. How did she respond, in her quiet, little heart: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to thy word.”
The irony of Christianity: everything is flipped upside down in Jesus Christ. The grand and magnificent become petty and insignificant. The poor and humble become mighty and powerful. What the world celebrates, God casts to the ground. What the world considers weak and puny, God lifts up and honors.
Who does God use to defeat the devil? Not a celebrity, nor a politician, not an Oprah Winfrey, or Margaret Sanger, or even someone like A.O.C. You would not see a picture of the Blessed Virgin in a feminist promotion, flexing her arm, saying, “We Can Do It!” No. God chooses someone smaller and less noticeable. Indeed, he chooses a girl that would not even be noticed in today’s pop culture — the handmaid of the Lord.
“When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you.”
“Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14. 8-11).
This is our path.
What is great in the eyes of the world, is nothing in God’s eyes. What is petty to the world, is everything to God.
“The cross is folly to those who are perishing,” St. Paul preaches. “But to us who are being saved it is the power of God . . . Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:17-2:5).
“[He] emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7).
The world we live in is going to hate us.
There is an underlying hatred towards God and the Church brewing in our culture today and . We need to prepare ourselves.
Do you remember the churches in Canada? 83 homes of God vandalized, burned down, or desecrated just a couple years ago, on the premise of unmarked graves. It is like something out of the French Revolution. It was all fake, and that is thoroughly documented and testified now. There were never unmarked graves, but you do not hear that do you, and it does not matter. This is just the beginning. There is a movement in our times which has always marked the end of a Christian world. Lies about our faith are festering everywhere, lies about our beliefs, morality, and lives, lies about the past and Christianity’s profound impact on the world, lies about the present and the unparalleled morality and charity of Christians all around us. Good people have swallowed up these lies. Friends, peers, children have been fed them.
We need to buckle down and get serious. Expect to be hated. Expect to be the shame of the world, among your peers, and your community. Expect to hear scandals said about your priest and your bishops. Expect to be laughed at. Expect to suffer. Expect that it will be very, very easy, to betray Christ and give in to the pressure — just a little incense, burn a little incense to the emperor. What will it hurt?
Do you remember our Corpus Christi procession last year. We took the Blessed Sacrament downtown and did an exorcism and dedication over our community. Did you know protestors went to the police station beforehand? They wanted permission to riot and mock us? The police intervened this time. They refused and sent out patrols to guard us while praying.
This is how you know we are doing God’s work. The world will hate us. It will not be so easy in the future. Things are getting worse, and quickly.
How does this make us feel? Is it unsettling? Is it our greatest joy? There is no better life than to share the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
How do we prepare?
“Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14. 8-11).
We need to become smaller.
Start fasting. Starve yourself a little. Let the muscles in your arms atrophy. That is how you become a soldier of Christ. Pray more fervently. Sacrifice your time and strength on your knees. That is the best kind of prepping. Arm yourself with the rosary. The Blessed Mother has the final victory. She holds the weapons that sleigh the dragon. If we want to be soldiers in the 21st century, it is time to heed the call of our general.
This is our war, our joy! We were born for it. Fight it well!
“Who is she that riseth up as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?”
