From the editor

Much of what this edition of Calx Mariae covers is rather grim, dark and distant from the joy of Christmas, soon to be heralded by the angels over the fields of Bethlehem. However, this reflects the birth of Our Lord at the darkest time of the year, allowing His light to shine all the brighter. Even the deepest darkness, therefore, is at the service of the light! Similarly, the spiritual darkness of our world today could deepen, until it becomes clear – to every man, woman and child – where our true hope lies. It is in a Newborn Child, cradled in a manger, in the stillness of night.

A brief examination of this past year (p. 3) reveals how quickly a world that has abandoned God descends into darkness. Many today have been seized by the temporal realities created by the Coronavirus crisis. So much so that increasingly ruthless attacks on human life on multiple fronts go virtually unnoticed, because our attention is firmly fixed on a potential apocalypse believed to be looming on the horizon. We could ask ourselves what will today’s soldiers find when they will return from the Covid battlefield? – home abortions, rampant euthanasia and more and more children robbed of their innocence by sex education and gender theory. It is more vital than ever, therefore, to maintain the priority of fighting for life – as ordered by God towards eternal happiness with Him in heaven – because the temptation is always to throw ourselves into a fight for life as ordered by men. There has been, as Fr Lanzetta reminds us (p. 27), a lack of supernatural wisdom in handling this situation.

We could also ask ourselves: if the battle against the Covid directives is won; that is, if all restrictions are lifted and vaccination policies scrapped; would this bring Christ’s people back to Him? Would it bring us to our knees at the manger? Would it fill our souls with humble adoration? Or can our current trials, like the epidemics of the past (p. 18), help us realise how inconstant this world is and that we can do nothing without that same Almighty God who will soon lie helpless in the arms of His Blessed Mother?

His Mother Mary was the only person who was present both at the crib and the cross. If we follow her from one to the other, we will surely follow her to the joy of heaven. She is the Mistress of every correct step in the Truth, which is Christ. She is the Church that we love and defend. Today we must not only fight for the Truth of the Church, but also for her honour, at a time when she is so grievously offended, even by her own children.

“What the Fathers and Saints valued and defended, we also feel called to value and defend,” explains the new President of the Una Voce Federation, Dr Joseph Shaw (p. 45). By honouring the tradition of the Church, we honour her motherhood and the way in which she wants to raise her children.

If, by the grace of God, our faith is strong and our hope alive, then they must still be united in true charity. This is what is required of us more than anything at this moment. St Louis de Montfort instructs us to implore Mary to lend us her heart, so that we may receive her Son with her dispositions: “Tell her that, if she will take up her abode in you to receive her Son; which she can do because of the sovereignty that she has over all hearts; He will be received by her in a perfect manner, without danger of being affronted or forced to depart… Tell her…that Jesus, whose love for her is unique, still wishes to take His delight and repose in her; even in your soul; even though it is poorer and less clean than the stable, which He readily entered because she was there. Beg her to lend you her heart, saying, ‘O Mary, I take you for my all – give me your heart.’”

EDITOR Maria Madise

EDITORIAL BOARD Liam Gibson John Smeaton

DESIGN & PRODUCTION EDITOR Selina Fang

VOICE OF THE FAMILY 7 Bell Yard London WC2A 2JR United Kingdom

Email: editor@voiceofthefamily.com www.voiceofthefamily.com/calxmariae

DISCLAIMER: Great care is taken to credit photos and seek permission before publishing. If you have a query regarding copyright, please contact the Editor. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission. Donations for the continuation of this magazine in print will be gratefully received by Voice of the Family at the address above or online via: www.voiceofthefamily.com/donate

Calx Mariae seeks to contribute to the rebuilding of Christian civilisation by providing features and analysis in the areas of life, family and culture. Our aim in producing this magazine is to strengthen our readers in the faith and in their witness to the truth about human life and the family. Calx Mariae is published by Voice of the Family, formed in support of Catholic teaching on the family. The following truths are particularly at the heart of Voice of the Family’s work:

9 Marriage, the exclusive, life-long union of one man and one woman, is the foundation of a stable and flourishing society and is the greatest protector of children, born and unborn. 9 The procreative and unitive ends of marriage cannot licitly be separated; the rejection of this truth lies at the root of modern attacks on life and the family. 9 Parents are the primary educators of their children and the protection of this right is essential for building a new

“culture of life”.