Cardinal Burke: ‘There is nothing more true’ than following Christ
‘Today’s feast renews in us the realism, the respect for objective truth, which leads us to live ever more fully in Christ’
FLORENCE (PerMariam) — Delivering his Easter Sunday homily, Raymond Cardinal Burke urged Catholics to turn to the Resurrected Christ and His Mother, saying that “only the life of Christ in us conquers evil and dispels the darkness which is its fruit.”
“Today’s feast renews in us the realism, the respect for objective truth, which leads us to live ever more fully in Christ,” stated the U.S. prelate.
Cdl. Burke’s homily came at the conclusion of the Holy Week ceremonies celebrated with seminarians and clergy of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP), at their seminary outside Florence.
“While the world would tell us that it is unrealistic to pursue the life of the virtues, the grace of the Risen Christ teaches us that there is nothing more true, more real, than following Him faithfully each day on the way of the cross, which leads us to eternal life,” he stated.
In the face of the evil which seeks to cover the world in darkness and to corrupt the souls of men, menacing the very Mystical Body of Christ, let us arm ourselves with the divine grace which has its eternal source in the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in His glorious-pierced Heart. Only the life of Christ in us conquers evil and dispels the darkness which is its fruit.
The Pontifical Easter Sunday Mass was celebrated by the cardinal in the city of Florence itself, at the church of Sts. Michael and Cajetan served by the clergy of the ICKSP for the faithful of the city.
READ: Cardinal Burke launches 9-month novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe for ‘crises of our age’
Cdl. Burke, who has been recently celebrating liturgies at his Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Wisconsin, also urged Catholics to partake in his recently launched 9-month novena to the Virgin of Guadalupe.
Let us invoke, in a particular way, the intercession of the Virgin Mother of Christ, the Mother of Divine Grace, to obtain the grace which we need to be, with Christ, faithful and courageous “fellow workers in the truth.”
Our Lord gave us His Mother as our Mother when He was dying on the cross for our eternal salvation. Over the Christian centuries, especially in times of grave sin and darkness, He has sent His Mother to us by way of apparitions to bring us back to Him Who alone is our salvation.
In 1531, while the Protestant Revolt was raging and menacing the Church in Europe, and the diabolical practice of human sacrifice and the bloody conflict between Native Americans and Spanish explorers and settlers enveloped Mexico, Our Lord sent His Virgin Mother under her title of Our Lady of Guadalupe to bring countless hearts to her Immaculate Heart so that they might rest in His glorious-pierced Heart, finding there the good order of Divine Law and Love.
“To address the sin and darkness in us and in our world, I urge you to join me in a Nine-Month Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe to be completed with the Solemn Consecration to Our Lady on her feast, December 12th,” he concluded.
The full text of His Eminence’s homily can be found here.