Blogs
Featured Image
Cardinal Walter Brandmüller

May 22, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Dubia Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, in his May 13 homily on the occasion of an initiative promoting “The Rosary for Austria,” spoke about the dangers that are threatening the faithful today and affect “our living together and destroy our culture.”

“It is again about calling upon the help of the Mother of God, in contemplating in the Rosary the mysteries of our redemption,” he said in his homily. 

The elderly cardinal was not able to participate in person at the festive traditional Mass in the Karlskirche, Vienna, but his homily was read aloud. (Here are some pictures of the event as provided by Father Edmund, a Cistercian monk, and here is a little video of the Mass as celebrated by priests of the Fraternity of St. Peter. The whole homily in German has been published here by Kath.net.)

The festive celebration of the Holy Mass in Austria is dedicated to the promotion of the Rosary and also commemorates the fact that, in 1955, Austria had been freed from Soviet occupation after the population had intensely prayed the Rosary.

Cardinal Brandmüller reminded his audience of some historical events where the Rosary played a pivotal role, including the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.

Today, he explained, “it is not anymore about strange armies that threaten us – it  is about inhuman ideologies, it is about moral aberrations which have affected our societies like illnesses and which destroy our living together and our culture.”

The German cardinal called on his hearers to pray the Rosary and thereby to remember that it was Our Lady who said at the Marriage Feast of Cana: “Do whatever He tells you.” 

Regarding what it is that Our Lord tells his followers to do, Cardinal Brandmüller quoted Our Lord's own words: “I am the Way, the Life, and the Truth.”

And indeed, the prelate added, “we have left the path. Moral aberrations are now being described as normal.” In addition, our life and health are being threatened by “the distribution of bad groceries and medications,” as well as even the builders of homes are using “deficient material and thus are causing buildings to collapse.” 

“Children are being abducted, mutilated, killed, so that one can do trade with their healthy organs.” “Behind doubtful biotechnical research,” he added, “is to be found financial interests.” 

“Added is the unbelievable scandal of abortion,” as well as the scandal of “so-called euthanasia – what a euphemistic word for murder!” at the end of life, Brandmüller explained. 

“We have erred and gone far away off the path, away from Jesus Christ Who says: 'I am the Way.'”

Cardinal Brandmüller reminded Catholics that it was the Creator who has “given us a compass, which shows the true way to life.” Man has to “follow guidelines and standards” of the natural moral law as it has been written by God into human nature. These standards “are always and everywhere valid and are not subject to change.”

Quoting Pope John Paul II's Veritatis Splendor (96), the German cardinal pointed out that “these norms in fact represent the unshakable foundation and solid guarantee of a just and peaceful human co-existence.” These norms, he added, “are rooted in the innermost nature of man,” as St. Paul has also pointed out. 

“In light of these words,” Brandmüller continued, “it is also important to resist the manifold threats to the marriage between a man and a woman that comes to us from modern ideologies, as well as from the much-propagated morally lax sexual education of children and of the youth.”

However, if we follow the moral law, he said, “we will find Him Who says: 'I am the Way. Nobody comes to My Father but through Me.'”

The Cardinal exhorted his listeners to “return individually and as a whole people to this path, let us follow the word of the Mother of Our Lord: 'Do whatever He tells you!”

Featured Image

Dr. Maike Hickson was born and raised in Germany. She holds a PhD from the University of Hannover, Germany, after having written in Switzerland her doctoral dissertation on the history of Swiss intellectuals before and during World War II. She now lives in the U.S. and is married to Dr. Robert Hickson, and they have been blessed with two beautiful children. She is a happy housewife who likes to write articles when time permits.

Dr. Hickson published in 2014 a Festschrift, a collection of some thirty essays written by thoughtful authors in honor of her husband upon his 70th birthday, which is entitled A Catholic Witness in Our Time.

Hickson has closely followed the papacy of Pope Francis and the developments in the Catholic Church in Germany, and she has been writing articles on religion and politics for U.S. and European publications and websites such as LifeSiteNews, OnePeterFive, The Wanderer, Rorate Caeli, Catholicism.org, Catholic Family News, Christian Order, Notizie Pro-Vita, Corrispondenza Romana, Katholisches.info, Der Dreizehnte,  Zeit-Fragen, and Westfalen-Blatt.