[SSPX Chapel Cape Town] Sermon of Fr. Denis Puga, in times of epidemic

[Fr. John Jenkins]

Dear Faithful,

Below is a text of a sermon pronounced by Fr. Denis Puga, a priest 
of the Society of St. Pius X in France. Note that Fr. Denis Puga 
is a medical doctor, graduating before entering the seminary at 
Econe.

Father Daniel Couture, a SSPX priest from Quebec, provided this 
translation as well as an audio recording here:

http://url.fsspx.me/1a

Perhaps the link will be of interest to those who are suffering 
from the distortions of the media today.

God bless,
-- 
+ Fr. John Jenkins, SSPX <jenkins at sspx.org.za>
Roodepoort, South Africa - PGP: 533B FBFF 7A42 6CB7
Help the Apostolate! https://paypal.me/frjohn

=====

Sermon pronounced on Saturday 7 March 2020 by Fr. Denis Puga, 
SSPX,

At the church of Saint Nicolas du Chardonnet for the votive mass 
“in times of epidemic”. Subtitles added to divide the text.

The Catholic answer to Epidemics

My Dear Brethren,

It has always been the habit of the Church, since the dawn of time 
on the occasion of public calamity to turn to the Lord, especially 
in times of epidemic. This is not the first, and it is not the 
last, no doubt, in the history of mankind. But epidemics always 
have something worrying about them, because like demons, you 
cannot see what is attacking you. Thus, the Church turns to the 
good God, especially through this Mass which is very ancient, 
which we celebrate to ask the good God to preserve us from evil.  

* What the Church asks of God

What does the Church ask in these prayers? It asks God, of course, 
to repel these diseases that attack us, if we are afflicted with 
them, that we overcome them; if it is the hour of our death, that 
we prepare ourselves for it. But the Church does not only ask for 
this, the Church asks for the light of God, she asks that, on the 
occasion of these events, which are always a little peculiar, 
which are often the cause of social disorder, the Christian should 
manifest his faith, the Christian should manifest his virtue which 
is sometimes put to the test: there can be a danger of lack of 
trust, of selfishness, of lack of charity. She also asks for 
assistance to all those who, especially among Christians, in these 
more difficult times, will have to carry out their duty of state 
in a Christian way. I am thinking especially of doctors, nurses, 
all those who care for the sick, because it has always been one of 
the missions of the Church to concern herself with those who 
suffer and with the sick. The Church also prays for the public 
authorities, because this kind of trial, this kind of calamity, 
demands that we be governed in an upright way, with prudence, with 
wisdom, even if we do not share, far from it, all the positions 
and opinions of those who govern us. There are times when we have 
to ask the good Lord, as St Peter said so well, to enlighten them 
so that we can submit to wise rules.  

* The meaning of these events

The Church also prays that we understand the meaning of these 
events. Our first reflex must be a reflex of supernatural gaze, 
and this is perhaps the most worrying thing right now, my dear 
brethren, in these days we are living. It is not so much this 
epidemic, it is not so much what is happening, it is to see that 
in the Church, fear has entered, as well as anxiety and lack of 
faith. It is not the time to empty the holy water fonts, it is not 
the time to close the churches, it is not the time to refuse 
communion to the faithful, or even the sacraments to the sick. On 
the contrary, it is a time to come closer to God, to understand 
the meaning of these calamities. From time immemorial the Church, 
on the occasion of plagues and epidemics, has made public 
processions with manifestations of faith, this has been the 
occasion for the Church to preach penance.  Penance, penance! As 
you know, this is the very beautiful passage from the Old 
Testament that we read earlier in the epistle: the sin of pride of 
King David who wanted to count his people to have the satisfaction 
of knowing that he was leading a great nation. And the consequence 
of this was a punishment by God. Yes, because God punishes as a 
father can punish his children. The punishment for this pride was 
a terrible plague, but as soon as God saw that hearts were turning 
towards Him, God made the angel of sickness stop taking revenge.  

* The Time of Penance

This is the time of penance, the time to return to God, whoever we 
are, the just and the less just, sinners, all of us must do 
penance. God does not always punish, and events, calamities, are 
not always caused directly by God, it can happen in exceptional 
cases, it is the laws of nature such as earthquakes, 
epidemics. These are the consequences of the fact that since the 
original sin, man is no longer master of everything. Yes, man is 
no longer master of everything, my dear brethren. But God has said 
with the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ : “I will protect you 
from these public calamities, I will protect you from them if you 
are faithful to Me”. The problem today, my dear brethren, is not 
that we are using human means to try to repel these calamities, 
that is quite normal, all this is in the order of things; the 
problem is that we are saying to God “leave us alone, let us 
control this”. But the only one who has the situation “under 
control”, as we say today, is the good Lord. So, what does God do? 
God says, “you don't want my help? Well, you're on your own”, and 
that is the worst thing, the worst thing.  Let us turn to the good 
Lord

Let's turn to the good Lord. As I was saying, this is not the 
first epidemic that the world has known, nor perhaps the most 
serious. Just think of the Spanish flu at the end of the First 
World War, which caused more than fifty million deaths, I mean 
deaths! The Church was in the front line.  If you are a little 
curious go and see the photographic archives of the time, you can 
see those nuns who were going to take care of the sick and who 
were already wearing the famous mask that we are talking about 
today, nothing new under the sun. Christians were in the front 
line to practice charity, sometimes at the risk of their lives, 
and this is an opportunity to manifest one's faith. During this 
terrible epidemic of the Spanish flu, the Church continued to 
celebrate worship, using the sacraments, sacramentals, recourse to 
the intercession of the saints, a great tradition of the 
Church. We must do the same, my dear brethren, let us not be, and 
it is for us priests that I am speaking, let us not be like those 
bad shepherds who, when they see the wolf - or the virus - appear 
in the distance, run away! But let us be like the good shepherd.  

* Victims with Our Lord Jesus Christ

Dear brethren, we always wonder in front of such events, 
disasters, because the good ones are also affected, not only 
sinners, but also the good ones.  I was speaking to you a moment 
ago about the Spanish flu, remember that it was during that flu, 
which was terrible, that Jacinta and Francisco Marto, the two 
children of Fatima, died, in quite terrible conditions, and they 
offered their lives for the conversion of sinners. This is a law 
that will last until the end of the world. The good Lord needs 
victims, victims who atone in union with the one who is the Victim 
par excellence, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

One day in the Gospel, the apostles questioned Jesus because there 
had been a massacre in the temple of Jerusalem, Galileans had come 
to pray, to offer sacrifice, and on that occasion Pontius Pilate 
had them massacred. This had “challenged”, as we say today, the 
apostles and disciples of Jesus. “What?  Holy men who offer the 
sacrifice are being massacred? What sin have they done that God 
should punish them in this way?” In the same way, the apostles 
asked Jesus because there had been a catastrophe in Jerusalem, a 
tower had collapsed, the tower of Siloam, and eighteen people had 
died, and the apostles had asked the question, “What did they do 
to die like this, coming on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and to be 
crushed like this under a tower?” What is the answer of Our Lord 
Jesus Christ? Our Lord said, “Do not think that they were greater 
sinners than others, but I tell you, if you do not do penance, you 
will all perish likewise.” This is what Our Lord says.  Calamities 
are the consequence of sins...

Calamities must make us think that if we do not do penance, we 
will all perish. God is good, He does not want the death of the 
sinner but He wants him to convert and live. Public calamities are 
often the consequence of the sins of public authorities, that is 
so. Today we can be worried because all the evil laws that are 
multiplying, all the violations of natural law, the apostasy - 
even in the Church - that we see today, cannot leave the good God 
indifferent. In the Old Testament we even saw the Jews who 
protested to God when he did not punish them, because they said, 
“But do you no longer love us?” They preferred God's punishment to 
God's silence, and God’s silence is perhaps the worst thing.

My dear brethren, all day long on the television sets, we are 
shown the curves of the sick or o the dead, and it is true that it 
is impressive, but let us not forget that, for example, recently, 
in a country not so far from us, in Belgium, in one year three 
thousand people were euthanized - that is the official figure - 
and among them children as well were euthanized. And I am not 
talking about the number of abortions today. These are all sins 
crying out to heaven. My dear brethren, we have to think about 
this, we have to do penance: God does not want the death of the 
sinner, but He wants him to convert and live.  

* The traditional way of dealing with epidemics

My dear brethren, among you there are people who are coming here 
perhaps for the first time, I have met some of them this week, and 
the priests of this parish too. People who have been refused 
communion in the churches because they asked for it in the 
traditional way in the mouth, and they come here because they want 
to receive communion. We see here the weakness, to say the least, 
of the leaders in the Church, not all of them, fortunately. There 
is no greater risk of spreading the virus by communion in the 
mouth than by communion in the hand. Fortunately, there are still 
some bishops, such as one bishop in the United States, who 
reminded us of this. In a letter to his faithful, this bishop 
said: “I consulted a committee of experts, of doctors, before 
writing this letter, and they say that (communion on the tongue) 
is not a greater danger for the spread of the disease”.

Communion is not the source of death, communion is the source of 
life.  There is a right, that was recalled by the Holy See a few 
years ago, there is a right for the faithful to receive communion 
on the tongue, one does not deprive those who are in calamity of 
the sacraments. So, I say to them: you are at home, here, because 
here you will always find the Church's usual, traditional way of 
dealing with epidemics. Let us also entrust ourselves to the 
miraculous medal, wear it, let it be worn, it is a bulwark against 
all the temptations of the devil.

In a little while, after this Mass, you will have the possibility, 
for those who wish, to come to the communion table to receive the 
blessing with relics that we have, among others, relics of Saint 
Pius X, Saint Pius V, our dear holy Curé d'Ars, and Saint John 
Eudes, there is also a relic of Saint Thomas Aquinas that we are 
celebrating today. This is not done in vain, but it is to receive 
the protection of these saints, to live a Christian life, to 
endure illness and to be protected from it if it is God's will.  

* Becoming like children again

I'll just close by saying that the peculiarity of this disease as 
we see it today is that it doesn't seem to affect children, or at 
least not seriously. Perhaps this is a sign from God because in 
the Gospel Jesus Christ tells us: “unless you become as children 
again, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven”. Not to enter the 
kingdom of heaven is to be damned, that is the worst of perils, 
that is the worst of calamities.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy 
Ghost. Amen.

Father Denis Puga
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 487 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://sspx.org.za/pipermail/capetown/attachments/20200318/bebe8a69/attachment.sig>