We live in an age where words like "fidelity" and "submission" have taken on a negative connotation, a world where "the word fidelity seems to have lost all meaning, to have dropped out of human usage. The fickleness of man and woman, their changeableness is the virtue of the age. One must not be too rigid, too dogmatic, too steadfast; maturity indicates the ability to change, even to call back one's promises and vows made to God" (Fr. Vincent Miceli, Permanent Consecration: Anchor of Religious Community).
And yet, we are all - each and every one of us - warned to, "..submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you." (James 4: 7). This submission to God, and to the Church He founded, is intimately connected with defeating the Devil in our lives. Without such submission, we place ourselves in peril.
Vatican II, in its Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium) No. 25, says that: "This religious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra; that is, it must be shown in such a way that his supreme magisterium is acknowledged with reverence, the judgments made by him are sincerely adhered to, according to his manifest mind and will. His mind and will in the matter may be known either from the character of the documents, from his frequent repetition of the same doctrine, or from his manner of speaking."
At La Salette, France, on September 19, 1846 - 165 years ago - Our Lady appeared to Maximin Giraud and Melanie Calvat and warned that, "If my people will not submit, I shall be forced to let fall the arm of my Son. It is so strong, so heavy, that I can no longer withhold it."
It is very easy to dismiss the relevance of La Salette today. After all, 164 years have come and gone and we are still here. The arm of Our Lord has not fallen on mankind. There is a temptation to succumb to indifference and to replace submission with self-assertion and
the spirit of this age. But our first Pope, Saint Peter, has warned: "..do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard 'delay,' but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3: 8, 9).
Various signs are beginning to emerge. Anyone who is still spiritually awake is able to discern that the world is in a state of grave crisis. Soon, the world will collapse into chaos and violence* - a punishment for repeating that ancient rebel cry of Lucifer: Non serviam! - I will not serve! Many in the world today face both spiritual annihilation and eternal damnation because they refuse to submit to the Lord Jesus.
*
And this by design.
Whether this recent crisis will mark the beginning of such chaos remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: there are forces behind the scenes which are planning for such an event and to usher in the Man of Sin.
