Stir Up Thy Might O Lord The Beginning of the Reconquista of Spain

Excita, Domine, potentiam tuam, et veni, ut salvos facias nos. Stir up, O Lord thy might and come to save us. Words taken from today's Alleluia verse, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen. The situation looked very, very bleak. The Moors, those Muslim infidels had invaded Spain and the Iberian Peninsula in the year 711 AD. A wave of Islamic warriors gained victory at a major battle against the Christians in the south of Spain. The Christian King Rodrigo had been killed, and so unfortunately, the Archbishop of Seville and his followers turned traitor, betraying their own people in the cause of Christ and went on to fight for the Moors. Again, things looked very bleak as Muslim hordes attacked and conquered nearly the entire land. But there was one man, one Christian nobleman named Don Pelayo, who came on the scene and brought hope. Pelayo led what remained to the Christian army to the northern tip of Spain where they found refuge in the mountains, in the cliffs, and in a cave known as Covadonga, also known as the Cavern of Our Lady or St. Mary's Cave. As the Moors took over nearly all of Spain, refugees would come to Pelayo at Covadonga. Here would be the last small Christian outpost, a Christian remnant where the fire of true faith remained in the midst of an Islamic winter. Now, the Moors were not interested in this northern tip of Spain, this mountainous territory. In their minds, Spain was conquered. It was all over. But at the same time, the Moors did not want this rebellion and refusal to bow towards Allah and Mecca to spread and to infect other parts of Spain. So 11 years later in the year 722 AD, the infidel marched north to Covadonga with 60,000 highly trained men to face a small band, an ill-equipped group of Christian soldiers. But Don Pelayo and his men had one great advantage, namely, Our Lady of Covadonga. Pelayo had placed a statue of the Blessed Mother in a cave, and he and his men begged her for protection in the coming battle, and that the Christian faith, the only faith that saves, would be preserved. Don Pelayo and a thousand of his best men would wait in that cave until the infidel approached. Yes, they were outnumbered literally 60 to 1. But the Christians were determined either to conquer the enemy or to perish in the fight. So when the Moors arrived, they sent that traitor, the former Archbishop of Seville, to negotiate a surrender, seeing how outnumbered the Christians were. This Judas promised Pelayo honors and much riches if he would but raise the white flag and give up. But Don Pelayo answered the following, You would now try to persuade us to bend our necks to a yoke of servitude, a fate worse than death? No, Archbishop, we are determined to put an end to the evils we suffer either by defeating the Moors or by giving up this miserable life for eternal happiness above. The next morning at dawn, the Moors advanced in battle formation. Moorish archers began to shoot volley after volley of arrows towards the cave above the cave of Our Lady. But the arrows either bounced off the cliffs and the rocks or they literally turned towards the Moors and killed them. Pelayo and the Christians saw Our Lady's hand at work and they began to throw rocks and even parts of trees onto the Muslim hordes below. But then an even greater miracle occurred, which demonstrated that Our Lord is a great conqueror who stirs up his Almighty power to save us. A terrible storm broke out. Thunder roared, lightning hit the dark mountain slopes, and heavy rains caused mudslides that sent boulders and trees tumbling upon the mountainside down towards the Arab troops below. Struggling in the mud, the Moorish soldiers slipped and fell into a flooding river nearby and drowned. In short, Almighty God, through the intercession of Our Lady of Covadonga, made the mountain literally fall over the soldiers of Muhammad and completely defeated them. With this great victory, Don Pelayo was named king of Spain and the Reconquista, the centuries long reconquering of Spain, would begin. That was the first battle. Today, a great basilica in honor of Our Lady of the Cave, Our Lady of Covadonga, rises above the site of that miraculous battle. And at this holy place, the body of Pelayo is laid to rest. The inscription on his tomb reads the following quote, Here lies the Holy King Don Pelayo, who in this miraculous cave began the restoration of Spain, unquote. Now, it would take 770 years altogether, but after the Battle of Covadonga, Spain would slowly but surely remove the infidel from their land. And so pure was the Catholic faith in Spain at that time that no heretic nor Judaizer would find welcome in the entire Iberian Peninsula. Now, on this Gaudete Sunday, on this third Sunday of Advent, in which the priest is robed with rose-colored vestments, we rejoice that the Savior is so near, that the birth, that the vanquisher of Satan is about to be renewed, as the Creed so rightly states, For us men and for our salvation, He came down from heaven. Now, at this time, more than 2000 years ago, paganism and idolatry were the dominant religion in nearly every corner of the earth. Satan had it all, almost. Satan unjustly ruled as a tyrant over men, enslaving them in sin, error and idolatry. Total darkness, almost. But there was a remnant that held on to the true faith at that time, the children of Abraham, and they had an outpost in the place called the Holy Land. A world that lay in darkness would find one miraculous star shining brightly over Bethlehem. And from this city of David, this house of bread, the great King of the Jews and ruler of the nations would deliver His people from bondage and bring peace to men of good will. Now, such a conqueror to come had always been prophesied. In the Book of Wisdom in the Old Testament, it states the following, quote, For while all things were in quiet silence, everything was still. And half spent was the night, the Bible says, twelve midnight. Thy almighty word, the word of God, the Son of God, leapt down from heaven, from thy royal throne as a fierce conqueror into the midst of the scene of destruction, unquote. Gaudete, rejoice for the vanquisher of Satan comes. God rest ye merry gentlemen, the song goes. But then it adds, Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day. To save us all from Satan's power, we were gone astray. And as for the tyrant, well, Satan's fall from the throne had also been prophesied. In the prophecy of Isaiah's, we read the following, quote, it's all in the Bible. Quote, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer? Thou said in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will be like the most high. It continues in Isaiah's, But yet thou shall be brought down to hell, Lucifer, into the depth of the pit, unquote. But it should be noted that Isaiah's prophecy in the Bible also includes the fact that Lucifer fell to the earth first. And that he, quote, did wound the nations, unquote. In order to fully rejoice on this day, we must go back to the beginning, to the very fall of man. Adam's sin not only signaled the fall from grace, but it also portended a change in masters. You see, God had originally created mankind as overseers, as stewards of all creation. The good Lord had given our first parents dominion over all the fish of the sea, over all the fowls of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Adam and Eve were properly under the Lord, and therefore all was subject to them. I'll repeat that. It's how it used to be. Adam and Eve were completely subject to the Lord, therefore all was under them. But then with that original sin, Adam and Eve gave their obedience and their allegiance over to the rebel, to the serpent. As Saint Paul writes in one of his letters, don't you realize that you become the slave of whatever you obey. What you obey is your master, in other words. In our first parents, the human race became the servants and, yes, subjects of a new master. And, yes, Lucifer was quick to proclaim his dominion. Satan became the prince and ruler of this world, as Christ says in the Bible. He even became, as Saint Paul adds, the god of this world. He became that unjust pharaoh, and we became his slaves. Lucifer and his demons conquered kingdom after kingdom on earth, placing countless men in the darkness of error and idolatry. But there are always remnants that our Lord kept faithful, little outposts of those who refused to bow before idols and to serve this unjust master. Adam's son, Seth, kept the faith, as well as many of Seth's children. Enoch, the Bible tells us, would not submit to the rule of the tyrant, and as a result, Enoch did not die, but he walked with God. Noah obeyed the Most High, the Bible says, and he and his family were saved from a worldwide flood through the wood of the ark. And, yes, there was Abraham and his children, who would remain faithful in an outpost in Canaan. Moses would lead a remnant back to the Holy Land after an exile in Egypt, and, yes, Joshua would conquer that land as Yahweh's instrument. And even during times of infidelity and exile, God always sent faithful prophets to call the Israelites back all the way up into the book of Maccabees. It's so close. Gaudete, rejoice, because when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his son born of a woman. And the time of the vanquisher draws near. A conqueror far greater than Pelayo is coming, the one who will accomplish the great reconquista. And it began, surprisingly, in a little cave in Bethlehem, where the infant God came forth from the virgin, leaving her fully physically intact. Dogma, physically a virgin. Shepherds would come and would submit to this ruler of the flock. Kings would come down and bow before their Lord. The conquering of Satan's unjust tyranny would continue with a mortal blow struck on Mount Calvary. And through his apostles and their spiritual children, the risen king would eventually conquer the entire Mediterranean world. After a number of centuries, Europe and parts of Asia would be conquered for Christ. And with the age of exploration and discovery, Christ the King and the Virgin of Guadalupe would vanquish Satan in the New World. Eventually, Africa would fall more and more into the hands of Christ. The reconquista seemed so very near. But then it happened. Like Judas and that Archbishop of Seville, Christ was betrayed by his own. It always takes a Judas. At the instigation of Satan, who never sleeps and who never willfully surrenders one inch, he wants to reign. Catholic countries, every one of them, revolted against Christ the King and his Catholic Church, which is the only way to salvation. Liberal and modernist revolutionaries rose up as the devil's instrument and they wreak such havoc upon the kingdom that we find that Satan is back on the throne today of every nation on earth. The Prince, ruler and God of this world has reestablished his unjust tyranny as he rules the nations once again. And even more, he seems to have entered into the cracks and crevices of the very church that Christ founded, as if he were enthroned. Pope Paul VI said the following, quote, the smoke of Satan has entered into the sanctuary, unquote. Note the phrase the sanctuary. Sister Lucia, the great visionary of Fatima, often spoke of a quote unquote diabolical disorientation present within the membership of the church. The situation is certainly bleak. And with this being the state of the modern world, many traditional-minded Catholics long for a place of refuge. Give us a cave. They look for a Covadonga for the cavern of our lady. We look for miracles. But the cave that we ought to look for now is that of Bethlehem, where both our Lord, our Lady and even good St. Joseph found refuge. The Holy Mass during this season of Advent prepares us for a true renewal of the coming of the conqueror. He comes again. For while all things were in quiet silence and half spent was the night, thy almighty word leapt down from heaven, from his royal throne, as a fierce conqueror into the midst of the land of destruction. And so stir up, O Lord, thy might and come to save us. He can save us as individuals even if we are very, very far from him. If we have one outpost of the Catholic faith in one corner of our body and soul, he can reconquer it all. And from there, he can also find conquering of all our enslaved nations, because everything is under Lucifer now, it seems. And from there, you will see the conqueror arise and he will vanquish our enemies. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.