“Viva Christo Rey!” — “Long Live Christ the King!”

That was the cry of Blessed Miguel Pro and so many of our Catholic brothers and sisters in Mexico and in Spain during the persecutions of the Church in those countries in the 1920s and 1930s.

After the recent elections in the United States, many of us Catholics may feel discouraged.  Our country (and its “Catholic” citizens, by a 50-48 margin) voted for a President who is pro-abortion, pro-embryonic stem cell research [which involves the killing of tiny babies], and pro-“gay marriage”.  We have been told that we MUST all pay into a fund to provide “free” abortions [even if a woman doesn’t pay for her abortion with her own money, can we ever say that she does not “pay” for it in other ways:  guilt, grief, post-abortion trauma, etc.?].  What are we coming to?

Brothers and Sisters:  we are at a cross-roads.  Which way will we turn?  Will we turn to the way of the world, the easy and broad path that leads to destruction, will we simply “do what we are told” to avoid trouble; or will we turn down that hard and narrow way, the way that leads to eternal life?  To each man, and each woman, there will be hard choices, difficult tests as to where our true loyalty lies.  Which way will we choose?

The Catholic Church endured more persecution, and had more martyrs, in the 20th century than in the previous 19 centuries combined.  If our Catholic brothers and sisters in China, Russia, the Ukraine, Poland, Croatia, Spain, Mexico, Algeria, East Timor, Germany, and many other countries suffered for the Faith, if they chose to remain loyal to Jesus Christ as their true King and only Lord, then we must do the same!  May you and I, like Blessed Miguel Pro and so many others, proclaim “Viva Christo Rey!”

As we enter into the holy season of Advent, let us also remember to pray for our bishops and priests, that they may all be courageous shepherds of the flock of Christ during these troubling times.  May God bless all of you, and hold you close to His Heart!

— Fr. Ben Cameron, C.P.M.

About Fr. Ben Cameron

Fr. Ben Cameron was born in Kokomo, Indiana, and grew up as a member of St. Patrick Catholic Church in that city. During his junior high and high school years, he attended a small Christian school that was operated by a local Baptist church. It was in that non-Catholic environment, where his faith was often challenged, that he began to study the Catholic Faith. Fr. Ben is a 1991 graduate of Christendom College, a small Catholic liberal arts college in Front Royal, Virginia, where he became involved in a lay apostolate known as the Legion of Mary, which awakened his desire to share his Catholic Faith with others. Upon receiving his degree in Political Science and History, Fr. Ben planned a career in the political arena, but soon found that God had other plans. He joined the Fathers of Mercy in 1992, studied theology at Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut, and was ordained to the Holy Priesthood on May 31, 1997.