“O God, who hast constituted the services of Angels and of men in a wonderful order, mercifully grant, that they who ever stand before Thy face to do Thee service in heaven, may also defend our life on earth.” Collect, Feast of St. Michael
“Bless the Lord all ye His Angels: you that are mighty in strength, that do His will. O my soul, bless thou the Lord: and all that is within me praise His holy name. Alleluia, alleluia. Holy Archangel Michael, defend us in battle; that we may not perish in the dreadful judgment. Alleluia.” Gradual, Feast of St. Michael (Ps. 102, 20, 1)
ORIGINAL PRAYER TO SAINT MICHAEL, POPE LEO XIII, ~1886
“O Glorious Prince of the heavenly host, St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in the battle and in the terrible warfare that we are waging against the principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the evil spirits. Come to the aid of man, whom Almighty God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of Satan.
“Fight this day the battle of the Lord, together with the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in Heaven. That cruel, ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels. Behold, this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage. Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay and cast into eternal perdition souls destined for the crown of eternal glory.
“This wicked dragon pours out, as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity. These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where the See of Holy Peter and the Chair of Truth has been set up as the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety, with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck, the sheep may be.
“Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory. They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious power of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude. Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church. Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly find mercy in the sight of the Lord; and vanquishing the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations. Amen.”
Mark – I’m sure you caught Fr. Ripperger’s interview on U.S. political situation? 10 days ago. I only mention it now, to make sure 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZOwndJKcoY
Around 9:20 – “The principle of the lesser of two evils is ultimately about preserving the good that would be lost, if you didn’t vote for the lesser evil. Some people say you’re voting for evil. […No,] you’re actually voting to reduce, to minimize the damage or minimize the evil to the degree that you actually can…. [and] the Church says that if you live in a democracy, you have an obligation to vote….I tell people [too,] we get the leaders we deserve, so we need to be praying, doing prayer suffering & good works, so that we merit [better] leaders.”
It all sounds about right.
“if you live in a democracy” being the key phrase. Most people I know who aren’t planning to vote don’t believe we live in a democracy any more.
I thought we once lived in a Constitutional Republic…never a democracy.
” The Republic is dead, the rule of law is dead.” quoted from one of Annie Barnhardt’s posts from “long ago.” Right around the time of the MF Global debacle.
Probably posted around the same time she opined, ” Anyone who runs for a political office is “de-facto” a “psychopath.” I think she referred to it as one of her “Barnhardt Axioms.”
You live in a Democratocracy.
And if we had valid elections, which we don’t…..
And what is the lesser evil? We have Kamala Harris, the Democrats. They want abortion, open borders, a tearing down of the country. We have Donald Trump. Donald Trump wants to “Make America Great Again”, but his galling lack of judgment led to the mass poisoning of millions of people with a vaccine he authorized.
Donald Trump was the first president to authorize lethal aid to Ukraine. Donald Trump persuaded SPeaker Mike Johnson in the spring to join Democrats to pass the massive aid to Ukraine bill. He says he’ll end the war. Are you sure?
Donald Trump only secured our border with executive orders. When it came time to establish a border wall, when he had both houses of Congress as Republican, he chose not to push the issue.
Donald Trump is a slave to Israel. We’re already eyeballs deep in the war there. Do you think Trump would end it?
Ripperger makes it sound easy, but what is truly the lesser evil? Donald Trump talks big, but he is easily swayed. And the worst thing any president has ever done is what he did with authorizing the C19 vaccine.
Vote for Trump if you want. But he’s not the “lesser evil”. As for me I won’t vote for president.
Mike – I pray for you.
Wait, you are praying for me because you think I’m making the wrong/immoral decision?
You should explain why you think I need praying for. This requires you to explain Trump as being the lesser of 2 evils. And in your reply, don’t make excuses for Trump, don’t say anything beyond what he has said himself. Don’t put words in his mouth.
80 percent of America is going to get sick and die from the Covid 19 shot. We’re already at record low fertility rates. Cancer diagnoses are up over 20 percent, heart attacks among children are up 4600%.
Tell me why you need to pray for me. I may have problems with anxiety (OCD), but I’m definitely not stupid.
So tell me.
The United States is not a democracy, it is a constitutional republic.
Mark – I hear that.
To counter: The U.S. follows democratic forms, and when something is form-only or empty, doing your part can sometimes help to expose it, humiliate it.
If everyone votes for the lesser evil (rightfully to preserve good, as Fr. Chad says) and yet the greater evil still fakes a win – what does that say? The greater evil stands “all the more” condemned & exposed.
Because you, and many others, did their part.
The more that evil must resort to fakery, the more its legitimacy is drained.
P.S. Did you know that Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception is patroness of the United States? Since 1846.
Fr. Ripperger said it, then I looked it up.
I don’t think father realizes politics is kayfabe yet.
T – Father does. You saw his interview, right? & know he’s an exorcist. He knows more anout kayfabe than anyone. He mentions (briefly, generally) U.S. politicians in demonic manifestation.
If he knows about demonic manifestation, why would he ask you to vote for a “lesser evil” at all? If he’s saying Kamala Harris is evil, and Donald Trump is evil, why would an exorcist even opine about voting for a “Lesser evil”?
See, this is the issue, and this is why ole Crazy Mike here doesn’t think much of Ripperger. Jesus Christ most famously brought up the issue of “lesser evils” when he mentioned that the people who brought Him to Pilate had the “greater sin”.
But would Jesus want you voting for Pilate over the Sanhedrin? Don’t think so.
Evil is evil. THere are degrees of it. But in no circumstance should you condone it. WHich is what you do when you vote.
If anyone thinks Trump is good-hearted, I bring you back to the Covid 19 vaccine. He is unrepentant about it, he’s doubled down on it.
Ripperger is either fake or not much of an exorcist.
Reality is that your vote doesn’t matter anyway. The next president, whoever it will be, has already been selected. It’s rigged, and both parties are in on it.
I knew this long ago but fell for pro Trump prophets. In hindsight it makes sense what the whole Q Anon thing years ago was about. I wonder how many prophecies are there to make people think he’s God’s chosen even if he is evil and supports intrinsic evil, just like dispensationalist prophecies are fooling Prots into unconditionally supporting Israel no matter what, even when they are the baddies.
Yes, probably, but:
1) we could be mistaken, in which case by not voting we have surrendered the field, and,
2) by voting, we force the Enemy to maintain the overhead of the ballot-stuffing organization and expend ~$15 additional cost per ballot, and lastly
3) Local elections e.g. state abortion amendments can be captured.
So quit blackpilling and do something, even if it is only of marginal utility.
Ah yes, the Catholic case not even registering one’s own personal vote against Greater Evil.
America is heading in a direction where not only is there no legitimate democracy, it’s own “leaders” are openly calling out to end free speech, end “obsession” with the Constitution, and get rid of the Supreme Court.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/what-happened-25th-amendment
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/slow-motion-nationalization-economy
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/musk-warns-if-trump-not-elected-will-be-last-election
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/john-kerry-says-quiet-part-out-loud-first-amendment-stands-major-block-govern
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/lebowitz-calls-biden-harris-dissolve-supreme-court-turley
https://jonathanturley.org/2024/09/25/the-counter-constitutional-movement-the-assault-on-americas-defining-principles/
America will be Communist, as Sr. Lucia said.
The only recourse left will be for states that still have sense left to secede. But they won’t, because of idolatry of the idea of America, and having to face the reality that “Liberty” failed, and that no Empire lasts which turns its back to God and the One True Religion.
On that note, Vigano’s the only legit bishop we have now. Shame on Conservative Inc.
https://x.com/CarloMVigano/status/1840459317247447361