Living the Spirit of Reparation by Plinio Correa de Oliveira

Catholic Virtues

Living the Spirit of Reparation

Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

Question: You have said many times that we, as counter-revolutionary Catholics, have the obligation to make reparation in our thoughts, words and deeds for the suffering through which Holy Mother Church is passing. However, we have difficulty putting this into practice. Could you teach us what we should do to make reparation for the passion of the Church and the sorrows of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in our daily lives?

Answer: This question is very good because it reflects, on one hand, seriousness in facing the situation of the Church and, on the other hand, the difficulty the new generations experience in applying the doctrinal counsels given.

As reparation, Our Lady asks us to have an interior indignation against her enemies

What Our Lady wants from us in these times is a particular interior disposition of soul. She wants an internal act of spirit by which we express indignation for and lament the present day situation of the Catholic Church. Beyond this internal disposition, she desires some words or actions which reflect that internal disposition.

Thus, first, I need to have indignation against those who are causing the passion of the Catholic Church. Second, at times I need to say a prayer or other words of reparation that express this indignation in a deliberate way.

To have the spirit of reparation, we should be convinced of the unity of the Revolution, a principle explained in the book Revolution and Counter-Revolution. This means that all the acts of impiety and all the offenses made against the Catholic Church in our days are just a part of the thousand tentacles of the same hydra, of the thousand blasphemies from the same foul mouth, of the thousand aims of the same heads of the Secret Forces that want to invert God’s order in everything and to establish a disorder diametrically opposed to the Commandments of God.

The Secret Forces want to deform the Holy Catholic Church and then to destroy her. We should be aware that everything that goes against the Church and Christian Civilization obeys a plan, even when the person who executes it is not conscious of it. Consciously or unconsciously, he or she is being induced to do this work by a manipulating propaganda.

For example, we read about the enormous increase of immorality tending to nudism on the beaches of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco and other Brazilian States. It is obvious that the person who engages in this nudism commits an offense against God. However, there is something more here than the simple personal offense. The persons who frequent those beaches are following a propaganda being spread everywhere that encourages them to dress in that bad way. The general ambience approves and praises this way of acting. This atmosphere is promoted by the heads of the Secret Forces, who are individuals who want to install rampant immorality with the aim of annihilating public morality, dissolving the family and destroying society.

Therefore, even without knowing it, the ones who go to the beaches wearing immoral clothes are executing plans that are worse on a whole than their own particular immoral behavior. Their example will have consequences that help to destroy society, a goal that they may see only quite obscurely or not at all.

Modern art inverts the order God put in creation; above a public work in Calgary, Canada

Another example is found in modern art. Every building of modern art states principles opposed to the order of the universe established by God and the natural rules of aesthetics. Modern art aims to literally turn the human spirit inside out so that it becomes incapable of knowing and loving the work of God. Obviously, there are many modern artists who do not realize this. Notwithstanding their ignorance, they are executing the dreadful plan made by others who understand perfectly what they are doing.

Modern art and nudism are but two tentacles of that same Revolution. The great majority of the evils we suffer today stem from the same conspiracy, in which the world over shares the same aims: to replace Christian Civilization with its opposite and to disfigure the Catholic Church as much as possible in order to destroy her. We know that she is indestructible, but they are trying to make her diminish as much as possible.

If, as a counter-revolutionary, I am strongly convinced of this, then I will see two things in each aberration: one is the evil of the work of modern art or the sin of wearing immoral clothes; the other is the plan of the Revolution. Seeing how the evil ones plot methodically and intelligently, and also how the good are often indolent and traitorous, I must make an act of censure against this situation. I must be conscious of how bad these things really are because they prevent men from giving glory to God. Consequently, I should become indignant.

I am not saying that I should be agitated or nervous; rather, I should have a strong but serene mental indignation: “Accept, my God, through the intercession of my Lady and Mother, my censure of this evil and my wrath.” I believe this is a fully sufficient act of reparation.

This is what a counter-revolutionary should do when he sees a sin. He should abhor the sin and the Revolution that is promoting it. This abhorrence should be offered to Our Lord and Our Lady.

Indignation & love

Someone may object: But this is an act of wrath, and reparation should be an act of love.

Without fighting the enemies of the Church our love is not complete

I respond that this wrath is love. Imagine if you, who are my friends, would witness someone enter this room and start to make one offense after another against me. Someone would start to weep saying: “Poor Dr. Plinio! He did not deserve this. Why is he being treated this way?” And so on. On the other hand, another one of you would become indignant, step into the scene, expose the offender's lies and send him fleeing from the room with a pair of punches. Which action would better reflect an authentic friendship? The latter one, I believe. The tearful whining does not demonstrate anything.

I understand that sometimes it is not possible to punch the offender and set him straight, and that at times the only recourse is to lament. But still it should not be that sniveling whining: “Poor Dr. Plinio.” This is ridiculous.

If we lament, we should lament like men. We should make an act of wrath against those who perpetrate offenses against God. An act of indignation is a perfect complement to the act of love. This indignation is the act of reparation. I believe that love without a corresponding indignation is inexpressive.

I hope this explanation may help the new generation to put the doctrinal principles into practice. Step by step I hope you will acquire the good habit of doing it in a subject that is so important to us.

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