The trouble with revolutions

In the first chapter of The Scarlet Pimpernel, Baroness Emma Orczy paints a gruesome image of the dark side of revolutions. She writes that the people watching executions like a spectator sport are “a surging, seething, murmuring crowd of beings that are human only in name, for to the eye and ear they seem naught but savage creatures, animated by vile passions and by the lust of vengeance and hate.” And of those being executed, she writes, “Their ancestors had oppressed the people, had crushed them … and now the people had become the rulers of France and crushed their former masters.”

It is astonishing how easily the negative aspects of revolution get buried and forgotten. The murders of bloody, violent revolutions take place far from home—or those who are murdered are unborn and invisible. In North America, revolutions are fought as much with stinging Facebook posts and sarcastic t-shirts as with guns. Battle is waged with subtle mind games, peer pressure, and constant blather. G. K. Chesterton wrote, “How quickly revolutions grow old; and, worse still, respectable.” Indeed, we are surrounded by revolutions that are not only considered respectable, but fashionable as well. Revolutionary technology, revolutionary medicine, revolutionary ideas about families, revolutionary vacuum cleaners, and on, and on.

Because these revolutions are not often violent, well packaged, and make life easier, it is easy to forget the skills and the simple pleasures that have been buried. Of course, there are times when the outcome of the revolution is far better than what came before—when the things subverted ought to have been lost in the past. Here in the US, we’ve spent the week celebrating a revolution that turned out pretty well. But revolutions in general throw the baby out with the bath water: they are all or nothing, us vs. them, no compromise sort of situations with a lot of pointless damage.

Revolutions are destructive because they require that Men relinquish elements of humanity. Rather than individuals who think and debate, revolution calls for masses to act as one obsessed group that does as it is instructed. Revolution is dehumanizing—so the solution is to refuse to sacrifice our humanity. After all, we are not called to be revolutionaries; we are called to be saints—individuals made in the image of God.

Here, in this time and this place, we have the unbelievable good fortune to have the opportunity to stand for a cause that is important enough to shake the entire world. Countless men, women, and children have sacrificed to give us the freedom that we have today. Giving in to the call of a dehumanized mob seems a very poor way of repaying that sacrifice. So don’t be a mindless mob member. Think for yourself, follow the Faith, and fight for the only revolution that matters in the end—God’s.

Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress

This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→

Remembering Father Alphonse de Valk

(Today marks the sixth anniversary of the death of Father Alphonse de Valk, C.S.B., a faithful, courageous and indefatigable Basilian priest, pro-life-and-family apostle, and the founder of Catholic Insight magazine. Here is what we wrote those on his entering into eternity five years ago, as we continue to remember him in our prayers and thoughts)[…]Continue reading→

My Name is Bernadette

April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→

Canonizing Sister Faustina and Divine Mercy

HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER  MASS IN ST PETER’S SQUARE FOR THE CANONIZATION OF SR MARY FAUSTINA KOWALSKA Sunday, 30 April 2000   1. “Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus, quoniam in saeculum misericordia eius”; “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever” (Ps 118: 1). So the Church sings on the Octave of[…]Continue reading→

Divine Mercy Sunday – An Echo of Every Mass

Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe’…  ‘My Lord and my God!’ (Jn. 20:18)). Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, and as we celebrate the end of the Easter Octave, we contemplate the wounded side of our Saviour, the Church’s source of life. On Good Friday in the[…]Continue reading→

First Holy Communion: Sermon from May 16, 1943

 Here is a sermon from the good old days by +Rev. Msgr. Vincent Nicholas Foy (August 14, 1915 – March 13, 2017), from 1943. Readers may recall that Pope Saint Pius X, by the decree Quam Singulari in 1910, lowered the customary age of reception of Holy Communion – after the rigours of the plague[…]Continue reading→

In the Glorious Light of Easter, Alleluia!

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory (Col. 3:3-4). The Resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour[…]Continue reading→

An Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday

The time between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is one of waiting, in silence, as the world wonders – anticipates – what will happen, after the death of Christ. We re-live this time each year in the anamnesis of our liturgy, and in turn look forward to the glorious re-creation of all things at the[…]Continue reading→

Europe’s Long Descent

(As we meditate on this day on Christ’s burial, and His descent into hell, it is fitting to ponder here with contributor Peter Marcus how the world seems to be heading there as well. The difference is that, although God cannot ‘redeem’ hell, nor those therein, He can and did redeem the world. There is[…]Continue reading→

Pope Saint John Paul II’s First Good Friday Homily

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS AT THE COLOSSEUM Good Friday, 13 April 1979   When we make the Way of the Cross from one station to the next, in spirit we are always at the spot wherethis journey had its “historical” place: where it[…]Continue reading→