VOCATIONS THROUGH THE IMMACULATA

VOCATIONS THROUGH THE IMMACULATA

Dear Knights of the Immaculata!

We belong to the Immaculata, we want to do her will, to do everything possible so that her desires can be fulfilled. But what are Our Heavenly Mother’s deepest desires? To give as much glory as possible to her Son (St. Maximilian Kolbe said: “ad maximam Dei gloriam – for the greatest glory of God”), to save as many souls as possible from the fire of hell and to lead them to heaven (see his urgent appeals in Lourdes, La Salette, Fatima etc.).

However, there is only one way to give the maximum glory to God, it is through the very sacrifice of Our Lord on the Cross, renewed every day on the altar. Here only through Christ, with Christ and in Christ is given to the Most Holy Trinity all honour and glory. Likewise, there is only one possibility of redeeming souls and giving them back the life of God, it is through the Blood of Our Lord which flows into souls through the channels of the sacraments, to deliver them from the prison of original sin, to cleanse them from all filth, to purify them and heal them of their spiritual leprosy, to fill them with light and all the divine treasures.

According to the will of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who alone is able to accomplish on earth the work of redemption, to continue to give God all glory and to shed the Blood of Christ into souls? The priest. Consequently, what most preoccupies the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin, so eager for the salvation of her poor lost children, is the priesthood. Our Queen’s deepest desire is to give to her Son continuers of His work of salvation, so that through these instruments, intimately united with her Son through the priestly character, the flame of His Sacred Heart may burn everywhere on earth: the Way, the Truth and the Life.

We know well that every Christian is already called by the sacrament of Confirmation and the commandment of love for the neighbour to help Our Lord for the salvation of souls and the extension of His Kingdom on earth. And we also know that this can only be done if we submit ourselves to Our Lady as an instrument in her immaculate hands so that she – Mediatrix of all graces – can pour into souls graces of conversion and sanctification. And since she usually can only give her graces to souls with the help of her instruments, she desires so much to have as many as possible.

However, Saint Maximilian said that the difference between a good lay Catholic and a priest is the same as between heaven and earth. For if the laity can be an instrument of actual graces, especially graces that prepare and dispose souls to the Truth and Life, it is only the priest who can give and restore to souls the sanctifying grace, the Life of God, the eternal Light, the Christ himself.

How great, then, must be the desire of the Blessed Virgin that everywhere these dispensers of divine graces, Christ’s instruments “par excellence”, may multiply. For it is through them above all that she can fulfill her mission to give Jesus to the world, to sanctify souls and to transform them into other Christs. Without them, those souls for whom she prayed so much and suffered so much and sacrificed her Son, those souls, her beloved children, would risk being eternally separated from their Mother, eternally damned.

This is why she wants to perform her office of Mediatrix of all graces, especially among generous souls, in whom she raises up the vocation, calls them to a higher life with graces of light and strength to overcome hesitations and obstacles, also numberless graces of direct preparation to the priesthood, until the blessed moment when she can present the ordinand to her Son who, through the hands of the Bishop, really makes him another Himself. Truly, “If the Virgin, Mother of God, loves all souls with an ardent love, she has a predilection for priests who are the living image of Jesus Christ” (Pius XI).

The essence of the Knight of the Immaculate is to make every effort to help her to convert and sanctify souls. All conversion and sanctification passes through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the sacraments that only the priest can give. What, then, will be the noblest help that we, her instruments, can bring to Our Queen? To be her instruments to awaken and then preserve vocations!

In Fatima she explains why so many souls go to hell: because they have no one to pray and sacrifice for them, because Our Lady finds no one through the prayers and sacrifices of whom she can give the graces of conversion. Analogically we can ask ourselves:

Why are there so few priests and religious, and even fewer holy priests and religious? Because the Immaculata finds no one through the prayers and sacrifices of whom she can awaken and then preserve vocations!

This is why Saint Maximilian repeatedly insisted that the Knights pray a lot for priestly and religious vocations, explaining that through these consecrated souls the Blessed Virgin can pour countless graces over the whole world.

Let us therefore make our own the urgent call upon our Mother that Saint Grignion so wonderfully expressed in his “ardent prayer”, to beg the Holy Trinity, so that she may give to the world in danger, true and numerous “Apostles of Jesus and Mary”. I think that one cannot give more delight to the Immaculata than to do everything possible for vocations! It is moreover the express will of our Superior General, the supreme authority of the MI of traditional observance, that all the Knights strive to pray with fervour and constancy to obtain good and holy priestly and religious vocations through the Immaculate.

For the year 2019 the resolution was proposed to live our consecration to the Immaculate, thus to be more fervent and more constant instruments in her service. Today we are learning that we cannot be a better instrument in her hands than to help her to bear and shape other Christs on earth, good and holy priests. It should be a real prayerstorm accompanied by sacrifices that each Knight should give to his Queen as a token of gratitude for so many graces received – and did we not receive all these graces precisely through the priest?

Of course, we cannot force you to do this, because apart from the daily ejaculatory prayer you are not obliged to do anything. But please hear through this letter, the Immaculate herself who invites you (always speaking to us through the way of superiors as Saint Maximilian so often repeated) to do great things for her, even the greatest!

So we propose to all the Knights to repeat throughout this year at least three times a day the invocations: “Lord, grant us priests! Lord, grant us holy priests! Lord, grant us many holy priests! Lord, grant us many holy religious vocations! BY MARY!”

To the Knights who wish to do more for her, we propose to recite a decade of the rosary or even a whole rosary for these intentions, and this throughout the year. We can also offer to our Queen the months of May and October in a special capacity, with the prayers and sacrifices we will make in her honour, especially for this intention.

And since we are in Lent, why not add to our Lenten resolutions this great resolution by which certainly the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary will be deeply touched and consoled! This is how we prepare more effectively for her triumph and the achievement of Our Lord’s eternal victory.

Wishing you a Blessed and Holy time of Lent

And blessing you with all my heart

Fr. Karl Stehlin
Bajerze, 13 March 2019