The Queen of Angels

The chief fear that Satan has about his tactics misfiring is his memory of the warning of God about enmity from a woman, and about his “head being crushed,” in Genesis 3:15. Perhaps, too He might also feel disquiet about interference from that Woman mentioned in Revelation 12:1, arrayed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and crowned with twelve stars, as prayed in the Rosary’s Glorious Mysteries. For those of us hoping for salvation in spite of a world descending into mire, praying the Rosary offers a solution to the spiritual derangement mentioned in previous blogs on this topic. I am reading James Hitchcock’s The History of theCatholic Church. As professor Hitchcock takes up twentieth- century modernism and the aftermath of the 1960s, the event that caught my attention was the story, which I discussed at length in my book, of the destruction of the order of the California Immaculate Heart Sisters.

As I take up in my chapter on religious life, after Vatican II, instead of growth, the number of sisters in the United States declined by over 65 percent in the period from 1965 to 2010. The most celebrated “renewal” story in the United States was that of the Immaculate Heart Sisters of Los Angeles, whose program of aggiornamento was guided by the psychologist Carl Rogers (d. 1987), a one-time student for the Protestant ministry who had developed a negative attitude toward religion. The Immaculate Heart “renewal” was a paradigm for many others that followed: many religious, having abandoned both traditional spiritualties and traditional ministries, created a void waiting to be filled by new "absolutes"—progressive politics, environmentalism, and of course radical feminism.

Ironically, nuns dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, shedding their habits and often their vows, became innovators leading the way to developments far removed from the intentions expressed by Our Blessed Mother. The assured weapon against the onslaughts of Satan, is confidence in, imitation of, and devotion to the Queen of the Angels, who is far ahead of the strategies and nefarious designs of the fallen angels. This weapon, best exemplified by Her Most Holy Rosary, recommended by saints and the traditions of the Church, may seem a last recourse. but still offers the best hope for the defeat of the subtle moves of a supremely evil Mastermind.

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