Citius, Altius, Fortius

Faster, higher, stronger—the motto of the Olympic Games, which are now taking place in Paris, France.  Some of you may have been unfortunate enough to have witnessed the opening ceremony on Friday, in which we were meant to understand that the Olympics has lost all connection with athletics.  Instead we were treated to the woke spectacle of various historical events being parodied by a seemingly inexhaustible supply of drag queens and other unsavory characters.  Given the modern appetite for all things perverse and unnatural, it came as no surprise that even the Olympic Games should now be infected by this pandemic of vice.  The last straw, however, was their mockery of the Last Supper in which our blessed Lord and his apostles were replaced with an array of transvestites and rainbow-clad left-wing activists.

God is not mocked.  Last week we saw our Lord driving the moneylenders from the temple, and we may be excused for wondering how much more God is prepared to take.  While we mourn the loss of athletic purity in the Olympics, we must remember that this is nothing compared to the loss of integrity of our faith in the halls of the Vatican—As the Church goes, so goes the world.  This latest travesty in the natural world is nevertheless a timely measure of the level to which that world has descended, and we should take due note as western civilization continues its accelerating decline into the abyss.  We are at a point where it seems that nothing can stop us from destroying ourselves in a paroxysm of sinful self-indulgence.

Today’s Gospel warns us how not to react.  We must not look down in disdain at those who seek to obliterate God from our lives and think of ourselves as somehow superior to them.  This kind of thinking ultimately leads to hatred and violence, neither of which are effective in converting the children of darkness, nor indeed are according to the will of Almighty God.  As Christians, as men of good will who love God and our neighbor, we must strive to seek charity within ourselves and pray now for the direct intervention of God.  “Save us, O Lord, for we perish!”  Rosary after rosary must be dedicated to the illumination of the souls of the wicked, “Lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy!”  We must never lose hope, remaining always conscious of our blessed Lady’s promise that in the end her Immaculate Heart will triumph.

In short, it seems like a good time to make the Olympic motto our own.  We should become faster, higher and stronger—faster and more eager to pray during the course of our day, higher in our intentions and moral behavior, and stronger in our faith, hope and charity.  The fact that the original motto is in Latin is a good sign that we are on the right path!  Memorize it, and repeat it to yourselves often.  Citius, altius, fortius!  It will be our reminder to do what’s needed, which, although it may seem but little, is actually, in the eyes of God, our own essential contribution to the communal Prayer.  And God will hear our prayers.