Our personal convictions must translate into action in the public square.

London is decorated for the Queen’s 60th Jubilee.

Apart from the decorations and public ceremonies, two things which will stand out from the observance of these 60 years.

First, yesterday at the Brompton Oratory after the principle Mass, celebrated for the Queen’s intention, with thundering organ the choir and congregation sang God Save The Queen.

Second, this extraordinary image came to my inbox:

If Elizabeth has been queen for 60 years, she also has been married for 65 years.

In an time when marriage and family are under attack by what can only be called, and without exaggeration, forces of evil, we must not only hold personal but private convictions that marriage is meant by God’s design to be between one man and one woman, but it is meant to be for the whole of life thereafter.  This cannot be, for us, a matter of private conviction alone.  Our personal convictions must translate to action in the public square.  When there are votes to be cast and positive peaceful demonstrations to be made, we must get out and do something.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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15 Comments

  1. New Sister says:

    Indeed. I *think* (am not sure) that I pulled this off Etheldredasplace some time ago: “Not to oppose error is to approve it; and not to defend truth is to suppress it; and indeed to neglect to confound evil men, when we can do it, is no less a sin than to encourage them.” — Pope St. Felix III

  2. brotherfee says:

    Wonderful pair of pictures, really made my day. Although I reside in the colonies (USA), God Save the Queen indeed.

  3. Bryan Boyle says:

    Another colonial saying “God Save The Queen” with good wishes for many more years on the throne of the Commonwealth.

    She’s reigned for 60 years. Longer than I’ve been around. Through 11 of our Presidents, countless congresscritters, how many prime ministers, etc. A true symbol of class and propriety. You can say what you want, and her family has certainly given her reason for aggida…but, somehow, Elizabeth II has weathered it all. Simply marvelous.

  4. PA mom says:

    Beautiful photos! I do believe that all of this discussion of true marriage should include restoring its permanence, otherwise we are still not really fighting for the genuine article. It’s a perfect time to revisit this piece of it, to remind people that marriage’s primary goal is not just a vehicle for health insurance coverage.

  5. irishgirl says:

    And another colonial here saying ‘God Save The Queen’ as well! And one who is half-Irish to boot!
    Lovely pictures of Her Majesty and Prince Philip! She has always been one classy lady. Her family has a lot of times given her ‘agita’, but she has always been a steady rock. A good Christian she is, well-disposed towards her Catholic subjects.
    I would have loved to have been at the London Oratory yesterday! I would have sung the [British] National Anthem with the congregation! How nice that the Mass was ‘celebrated for the Queen’s intention’!
    I can’t do much ‘in the public square’ as a lowly middle-aged single woman, aside from ‘holding my nose’ when I go to vote; but at least I can pray! And pray we must!

  6. cumecclesia says:

    I support Christian monarchies–long may they reign. Queen Elizabeth II has been better than most of the Chrstian leaders in Britain in recent years. Yet, she is still the head of a heretical and apostate church and still signed her name to the Abortion Act in 1967. A Mass for the Queen’s intentions is, I guess, an acceptable practice, but a Mass for her conversion may be a btter idea.

  7. inara says:

    Indeed! I saw a pertinent bumper sticker yesterday: “The price of apathy is to be ruled by evil men.” ~Plato On the same car was also: “Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ~ Voltaire

    LOVE the photos!! So sweet! I still have the Wedgewood jewelry box that my father bought me during the Queen’s Silver anniversary while he was there working (welding undersea oil pipelines). He wanted to fly me & my brother over to visit, but our mom wouldn’t let him. Ah, well. He also brought me a tartan scarf from Edinburgh, since I was completely gaga for the Bay City Rollers, LOL!

  8. AvantiBev says:

    As an actress whose day job is in a law firm that practices what is euphemistically called “Family Law” (divorce, child custody, parentage, and now The State of Illanoyed civil union splits) I can attest that there is something malevolent and demonic undermining our commitments to each other. As the priest said at my parents’ 50th Anniversary Mass: “Love is not merely a feeling but also a decision.” There is a presence that wants us to decide against love. When you pray for babies in danger from abortion, do not forget the children of divorce and pre/extramarital promiscuity. God bless the Queen and Prince Philip’s marriage and all those marriages that endure in this age of fickleness.

  9. yatzer says:

    I have a couple of pictures of my parents that are quite similar as well. One is on their wedding day in May 1940 and the other in the autumn of 1989 a few months before her death. The folks didn’t exactly reach 50 years, but it was close, and I keep the two pictures together.

  10. ghp95134 says:

    What a lovely set of photographs! HM appears also to be wearing the same brooch on her lapel.

    –Guy

  11. Clinton says:

    God bless her. Her decades of unstinting devotion both to her country and to her spouse
    are inspiring. Long may she reign.

  12. gambletrainman says:

    Yes, God Bless Her Majesty. But, also, at this time, I guess prayers are needed for Prince Philip, currently hospitalized for bladder infection—and, at age 91, people in that condition need to be watched very carefully.

  13. ContraMundum says:

    I’m just curious: How many people here are absolutely insistent that the Mass be said in Latin, and at the same time favor the English monarchy for the simple reason that they speak what is to you the vernacular? More than are willing to admit it!

  14. PAT says:

    I favor the English monarchy because half of my heritage is English, Irish, Scots-Irish. I am American, but the folks across the pond are my cousins.

    I absolutely insist that the Mass be said in Latin because a catholic (as in universal) Church should have a catholic language. When the Mass is in Latin, I can take my trusty Latin-English missal to a Mass in Mexico, or one in France, or Germany, or China, and follow along quite well. Deliver the Homily in the vernacular, of course. Fine. That’s not the important part of the Mass. For Catholics, Latin is the language of the Church and it should be a uniting factor for us — a common language for our Liturgy, as is Hebrew for the Jewish roots of our Faith.

    Further, Latin has the added benefit of being ancient. It brings a sense of mystery, of the sacred in that Latin has been the language of the Church, the Mass, the Sacraments, etc., for many centuries, going now on millennia. It brings a timeless and unchanging quality to our worship.

    It’s little to ask of us that we should pick up enough of the Latin to understand the Mass.

  15. ContraMundum says:

    Do you know these cousins? I’ll concede a difference if you have known relatives in England, or if you’ve lived there or have some other personal connection. Those are valid private reasons to like one foreign nation more than another, but of course they are only private reasons.

    I don’t see people with Dutch heritage referring to Queen Beatrix as “the Queen”, people with Danish heritage referring to Queen Margrethe as “the Queen”, or people of Spanish descent referring to King Juan Carlos as “the King”, though — let alone expecting other Americans to accept this as the proper way to speak and think of a foreign head of state.

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