crucial truths to save your soul

CRUCIAL TRUTHS
TO SAVE YOUR SOUL
The following is an excerpt from a speech given by Father Gruner at
Our Lady’s Army of Advocates conference in Burlington, Ontario
in late 2014. It is a beautiful, heartfelt plea to all of us to hold fast to
the truths of our Catholic Faith. Read his book, Crucial Truths to
Save Your Soul, over and over again and pass it on. Clearly, his plea
and his book were one of his final legacies to us to assist us through
these apocalyptic times.
I
by Father Nicholas Gruner, S.T.L., S.T.D. (Cand.)
ask Our Lady to help us to
understand what I’m really
trying to say in my book,
Crucial Truths to Save Your Soul.
I have had the threads of
this book in my mind for years
but one of the problems that I
have had and still have is: “Why
is it that most people don’t get
Fatima?” Maybe I am unfair to
the general public and I don’t
mean to be, but it occurs to my
mind that the Message of Our
Lady and Her appearance at
Fatima is so simple, so straightforward, so beautiful, and so
good.
We are all made to love the
truth and beauty and goodness,
but we can’t do that fully
without the grace of God. Even
unredeemed men, even man
without grace, is drawn to the
beautiful, the good and the true.
Why is it that, somehow or
other, Fatima does not have a
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larger audience? Millions of
people in Portugal and other
places do acknowledge the
goodness of Our Lady. They
come to visit us, to talk to us, and
to remind us to pray the Rosary.
Various apostolates promote
those spiritual parts of the
Fatima message, but then we get
down to the question of: “What is
controverted?” Not controverted
because it’s controversial – but
because it’s been opposed. What
I don’t understand is: why is it
that most people don’t stand
up for Our Lady – but rather, go
along complacently?
The first thing that comes
across, is that there is not a
sufficient love for the truth. I
have heard the argument – even
in college back in the 60s – that
you don’t have to believe in
Fatima. I have dealt with that
in 75 pages of my first book,
World Enslavement or Peace – It’s
The Fatima Crusader | Summer 2016
Father Gruner always insisted that the Pilgrim Virgin statue of Our Lady be beside him
– at all times – during his speeches. Often gesturing to Her, he would be heard to say:
“After all, this is all about Her, not me.”
Up to the Pope. I have dealt with
it over and over again, but the
argument is still raised.
So, first of all, we might as
well deal with it. I remember
writing a paper in philosophy
– on the same subject – my first
year in the seminary. There were
two arguments of philosophy.
One argues from the light of
reason alone, without the basis
of theology and without the
basis of revelation. The other one
argues from revelation – that it
is a private revelation and that
you have no obligation to believe
it. I can show that we do have
an obligation. The point I am
The Fatima Crusader | Summer 2016
getting at is that most people still
don’t get it.
Most People
Do Not Love the Truth
Why is that? It is because
people don’t love the truth.
I started reflecting upon this
in Scriptures – Saint Paul,
in the Second Letter to the
Thessalonians, Chapter 2 –
which says the Antichrist is
able to come for one reason,
and one reason only. That
reason is because the faithful
have lost their love for the
truth. Perhaps today, because
everything is so specialized –
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whether it is medicine or law or
accounting or even in education
– we tend to defer to the experts
because, after all, we can’t know
everything.
However, some things are so
fundamental that we should not
be deferring to the experts. You,
yourselves, have the obligation
to seek the truth, embrace the
truth, defend the truth, and
advance the truth.
Take the analogy of a frog
being boiled. If you turn up the
heat by one degree at a time,
the frog – which I might add
scientifically is a cold-blooded
animal – doesn’t notice that
there’s a change in temperature
and eventually is boiled to death.
Similarly, we, ourselves, have
been treated the same way.
We have had these changes
gradually introduced into our
thinking one at a time and after a
while, we lose our bearings – just
as our bishops and priests have
lost their bearings over the years.
In 1983, a bishop told me he
had learned theology before the
Council, but after the Council
he went to get himself reeducated – to erase everything
he had learned – and learn new
teachings. I thought to myself,
“What a tragedy!” He had solid
Catholic teaching and he threw it
away because everybody around
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him was telling him that he had
to re-learn theology. That’s why
it’s very important for us to get
things correct the first time.
You cannot teach Algebra, you
cannot teach Geometry – or
anything else – if you don’t know
how to add two plus two, if you
don’t have that basic math.
Having your foundation
correct is very important,
even more important than in
mathematics or theology. You
need to go back to the basics to
save your soul because there
is so much confusion. We’ve
deliberately been experimented
with to take us away from the
Faith. You need to know that.
Why Should I Listen
to Father Gruner?
You may have been told:
“Why should I listen to Father
Gruner?” Well, if I am not telling
you the truth, don’t listen to me.
How do you know that I am
telling you the truth? Go back
to the foundations and you will
find that I am.
In another speech here today,
the idea was touched upon that
we don’t think any more, we
only feel. They say: “What do
you feel about this?” not “What
do you think about this?” It’s not
a matter of taste or feeling; it’s a
matter of saving your soul!
The Fatima Crusader | Summer 2016
We have the obligation to
hold on to the Faith and that
Faith is very specific – much
more specific than most people
realize. For everyone to save their
soul, they have to believe the
Apostle’s Creed. Saint Thomas
Aquinas is the greatest Doctor
of the Church. Don’t just take my
word for it – read him for a day
or two and you’ll understand.
He is a great mind and a great
teacher, and he answers all your
questions. Saint Thomas points
out that we have the obligation
to believe explicitly each of the
twelve Articles of the Apostle’s
Creed to save our souls.
We have the formula of the
Creed – which is one of the ways
of summarizing dogma – but
there is more to the teachings
of the Church than just the
twelve Articles of the Apostle’s
Creed. Certain questions are not
covered by that. First of all, it’s
important that we have the right
attitude, that we love the truth.
We should love our comfort,
to some extent – but not more
than our truth. We should love
our family; we should love our
bishops and the Pope – but not
more than the truth. We should
love our brothers and sisters,
husbands and wives and our best
friends – but not more than the
truth. The truth is primordial;
nothing takes precedence over it.
The Fatima Crusader | Summer 2016
Saint Paul says: “Charity
rejoices in the truth.” If we
don’t rejoice in the truth then we
don’t really have charity, or very
much of it, and we can’t save our
souls without charity. The truth
is crucial. That’s the first truth
among all other truths – to love
the truth.
The Truth Is One
When I deal with this
question of Fatima and why
people don’t pay any attention
to the Message, it’s because their
priest, or expert, or their favorite
author tells them they don’t have
to believe in it. Case over; close
the book; forget it. That does not
display a love for the truth. As I
mentioned in my book, Padre
Pio says:
“If you don’t believe truly
authenticated modern day
miracles, then you will end
up denying the miracles in
the Gospel.”
The First Vatican Council
tells us that the truth is one –
we learn this by reason, it’s not
an opposition to the truth; we
learn by the Faith. God testifies
to the truth of the Gospel by His
miracles. Our Lord, Himself,
said: “If you don’t believe My
words, believe My work” –
meaning, “If you can’t believe
the truth I am telling you in
doctrine itself, then at least
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believe the truth I am showing
you by working miracles”.
God worked the Miracle of the
Sun in our time for thousands of
people to witness to the truth
of the Fatima Message. Does it
really matter that the Message
of Fatima is believed on the
basis of human testimony, or
because it’s approved by the
Church, or because it’s part of
Divine Revelation that’s yet to
be defined?
The point is, it’s the truth!
That should be enough for us.
If you want to discuss it with
theologians as to what degree
of certitude it comes from, in
some ways it doesn’t matter. But
if some don’t have the love for
the truth – unless they are told
that they have an obligation to
save their soul to believe it – then
some people tend these days to
ignore it.
There are several reasons why
we pay such little attention to
Fatima. Recently, at a conference,
I received two apologies. A man
who wrote against me in 1996
wanted to apologize to me. The
other was from a doctor who
never wrote anything about
me, but when he read what I
had written, he didn’t believe
me. He thought I was making
these things up or exaggerating.
After a few years, he realized I
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was really telling the truth and
that I was right – so, he wanted
to apologize that he had got me
wrong the first time.
God Sends Prophets To Remind
the People What They Must Do
To Save Their Soul
My point is that these people
had a love for the truth – the truth
is important. Without that love
for the truth, if we don’t give it
that priority, then we will not get
the message and end up putting
our souls in grave danger.
Why is it that God sends a
message through Our Lady of
Fatima, or through Lourdes, or
through La Salette, or through
Guadalupe, or some other place
that the Church recognizes?
Saint Thomas again explains it to
us: “God sends prophets to every
generation.” Why does God send
prophets to every generation?
Not to give a new doctrine, but
to remind the faithful what they
must do to save their souls. We
are in a very unique situation in
Church history.
I’m not going to give you a
lecture on Church history –
although I find it very fascinating
– but we are in a very unique
situation. In its 2000-year
history, the Church has never
been in this situation before.
The dangers are graver and
the mistakes are easier to make
The Fatima Crusader | Summer 2016
Anniversary of Father Gruner’s Passing
On the first anniversary of
Father Gruner’s death – April
29, 2016 – Father Marc Potvin
offered a Requiem Mass in
the Fatima Center’s chapel.
During his sermon, Father
Potvin recounted how Father
Gruner’s Fatima Crusader
continues to show up in
remote and surprising places.
While on a mission in rural
Alberta,
Father
Potvin
prepared to offer Mass – only
to discover at the last minute
that there were no hosts. The
only solution was to knock on
the door of the local diocesan
church. There, Father was
met by the parish priest who
offered whatever was needed.
Grateful and relieved, as
Father Potvin was leaving,
he saw on the priest’s table –
The Fatima Crusader!
now than at any other time in
Church history. We didn’t choose
to be born at this time and,
unfortunately, in some ways,
we have the bad example of
our forefathers for generations
before us.
How can we find a way out
of this trap of lies? God, in His
Mercy, sent His Holy Mother
to show us what we must do,
and what we must not do. If we
refuse the light of the prophetic
Message, under whatever
pretext you want – Father soand-so says you shouldn’t listen
to Father Gruner, that we don’t
need Fatima to save our souls;
it’s only a private revelation; and
on and on ad nauseam – then,
what happens is, we put it aside.
It may be the one light that, if
you take it, you’ll find your way
to Heaven and if you don’t,
you’ll find that you’re following
the herd – “The blind who are
leaders of the blind,” the Lord
said, “and both fall into the pit
of hell.”
It was instructive to me when
John Paul II said that the Message
of Fatima is addressed to every
human being. But he also said
that the Message of Fatima is
a divine warning not to follow
the tail of the dragon that drags
down one-third of the stars of
Heaven. Unfortunately, he didn’t
explain these ‘stars of Heaven’.
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However, we have extended
books on theology which tell you
the stars of Heaven represent
the Catholic clergy. One-third
of the priests, the bishops, and
the Cardinals, are working at the
service of the dragon – the devil
– and you need to know that.
Be on Guard
Our Lady wanted you to know
that so you can be on guard and
you can choose. Just following
and going along to get along,
is not good enough in our time.
How are you going to judge
between the one-third and the
two-thirds? How are you going
to know which ones are right
and which ones are wrong?
The answer is, by the truth.
How do you know the truth?
By the dogmatic definitions.
I’m sure you’ve heard the words,
“dogmatic definition” and you’ve
heard the words, “infallible
dogmatic definition.” We say this
word “infallible” but we don’t
even reflect upon what it means.
“Infallible” means it cannot fail.
So, when the Church
defines something, we have the
guarantee of God Himself that
this is the absolute truth and it
cannot be wrong. If you follow
this truth, you are following
dogmatic definition and you
cannot fail. It’s a very simple
concept, but as was pointed out
The Fatima Crusader | Summer 2016
here today, this is an old concept
– we come into circumstances
in life that come up against the
dogmatic truth and we have to
judge the circumstance by the
dogmatic truth, not the other
way around.
So, it may be convenient for
me. I may like it; I may not like
it. But that’s not the important
thing. Am I going to conform
my mind and my heart to the
truth or not? That is the question
each of us has to constantly ask.
That’s why Our Lady came at
Fatima – to continue to point us
to the truth, and show us what
we need to do in our time, in our
own circumstance, today.
Resolve To Love the Truth
The simple thing for us to do,
first of all, is to resolve to love
the truth. Our Lord says: “Seek
and you shall find; ask and it
shall be open unto you.” If you
think we have missed something
somewhere, you can at least ask
Our Lady to show you the truth
and help you understand and
live by it.
I recall a gentleman who,
in a speech, spoke about his
experience in seventh grade
when a Sister told him that
Councils of the Church are
infallible. For a seventh grade
student I’m sure that sounded
perfectly good – after all, we
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simplify and summarize things
to get to the point and sometimes
we oversimplify. But if you
take that simplification into
another context, it sometimes
doesn’t apply. In the seventh
grade example, had he looked
up the First Vatican Council, it
defines exactly when a Council
is infallible and when it isn’t. But
the Second Vatican Council does
not qualify by the terms of the
Church’s definition of what is
infallible.
So his whole point was, since
the Council had an error in it and
since all Councils are infallible,
therefore, they can’t be the popes
and they can’t be the bishops and
so they are all out of the Church.
I will grant you that the Second
Vatican Council is a scandal for
both those who know something
about theology and those who
don’t know much about it – but
that fact doesn’t make the Pope
not the Pope.
There is a theory advanced
by those associated with
sedevacantism that Cardinal Siri
was elected Pope. A Frenchman
who had met Cardinal Siri asked
him if he was elected. Cardinal
Siri, when asked that question,
put his hands in front of his
face and bowed down for about
a minute or so. The Frenchmn
said: “In those two minutes,
Continued on pg. 59
13
CRUCIAL TRUTHS
Continued from page 13.
when Cardinal Siri pulled his
hands away from his face, he
had aged 20 years. Cardinal Siri
responded: ‘I cannot answer that
question because I am bound by
the Secret.’”
Upon hearing this, I said:
“Very well, if he’s bound by the
Secret, then he can’t be the Pope;
because the Pope could absolve
himself from the bounds of the
Secret if he wanted to.” I said
that to all of them and one of
the most famous sedevacantists
there said to his friend: “Father
Gruner has a point”. He dropped
that particular theory after that.
Not Everything That Looks Like
the Truth – Is the Truth
My point being: the truth
is important and we must love
the truth, but not everything
that looks like the truth is the
truth. While the sedevacantists,
on their part, recognize some
things which are scandalous,
their solution causes worse
problems. If you follow their
theory, we haven’t had a Pope
since 1958 and that alone is
against the doctrine of the
Church. There has never been a
point in Church history where
the Church has been without a
Pope for more than four years
– between elections. The four
The Fatima Crusader | Summer 2016
marks of the Church – One,
Holy, Catholic and Apostolic –
are all things which are external
to the Church. As Pope Leo XIII
points out, the very papacy is an
external mark of the Church. To
be emptied of the papacy from
1958 to the present time would,
itself, be proof that the Church
wasn’t divine.
Coming back to my book,
Crucial Truths to Save Your
Soul, Our Lady came because
She loves you and She wants
to save your soul. Do what She
asks – it’s not just believing Her
message. Every time She came,
She spoke about the Rosary,
and when She spoke about the
Rosary, She said:
“Pray the Rosary, pray the
Rosary every day. Continue,
My children, to pray the
Rosary.”
The faithful must pray the
Rosary. To be faithful, we need
grace.
Perhaps the greatest heresy is
the error of Naturalism. The error
that we can do it by ourselves. It
was known as Pelagianism in the
time of St. Augustine, and semiPelagianism and Naturalism in
the time of the Council of Trent.
Pelagianism or Naturalism is
the very air we breathe, the
very atmosphere we have. It
is everywhere. We can’t do it
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without grace; and to be very
practical and very simple and
very much to the point, you must
pray the Rosary every day so you
have the grace that you need to
continue on the path of God.
“I Love the Rosary”
You may like the Rosary. I
love the Rosary. But whether you
like it or not, pray the Rosary
and, sooner or later, you’ll
understand. If we just try to do it
by our own strength, even by our
own intellect, it won’t be enough.
That’s why Our Lady insisted on
the Rosary. That’s why She held
out the Scapular. If you wear the
Scapular all the time, you will
find it easier to pray the Rosary
every day. She makes this all
simple, step-by-step. If you can’t
pray the whole Rosary, pray a
decade of the Rosary. If you can’t
do that, at least pray three Hail
Mary’s every day. Don’t go less
than that, but even for that, She
makes great promises.
We must use the means of
grace that God gives us. Part
of the Message of Fatima is
not understood – even by most
theologians, and most priests.
Perhaps it’s because they’ve
never reflected upon it, or maybe
never had it brought to their
attention. The role of the Blessed
Virgin Mary in our salvation is
so great that there is nothing
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compared to it, except, of course,
the role of Our Lord Himself.
The Blessed Virgin’s role or
purpose or what She does for
you, is beyond anything you can
really imagine. An English poet
compares the Blessed Virgin
to the air that we breathe.
Everything we do – that we live,
move, and have our being, so to
speak – is in Her presence and
under Her influence. Pope Leo
XIII puts it this way:
“All graces come from
God the Father, through the
Sacred Humanity of Jesus
Christ, through the hands of
the Blessed Virgin – to us.”
Nothing received from God
comes to us, except through the
hands of the Blessed Virgin. Even
the sacraments and their grace
comes through Her.
Mary – Mediatrix of All Graces
As far as we could think about
Her, we might think of Her as
infinite but She’s not infinite,
She’s a creature. There are some
limitations to Her but it’s well
beyond our imagination what
that is. It is this dogma, which has
not been defined but has been
taught infallibly by the Ordinary
and Universal Magisterium – She
is the Mediatrix of all Graces.
This truth God wants to establish
in the world and He’s going to
The Fatima Crusader | Summer 2016
establish it. From this truth, will
come this devotion which has
never happened in the Church
yet – not to the extent that
God wants the devotion to Her
Immaculate Heart.
It is this truth, that God has
reserved for our time to be
glorified. He’s left it to us, as poor
and incapable as we are, to bring
this truth to the attention of the
world in a most dramatic way. He
has reserved the grace of world
peace to Our Lady’s intervention.
Our Lady gives us many things
that She doesn’t get credit for.
Most of us, or all of us, don’t
recognize all that She does for
us – but this grace He’s not going
to give unless Our Lady is given
The Fatima Crusader | Summer 2016
the credit.We have many sins in
the world today – the number
of abortions worldwide is about
42 million a year. So, there’s the
doctor, there’s the mother, there
is quite likely the father, and a
number of other assistants, all
committing mortal sin to bring
about these abortions.
Our Lady tells us that Our
Lord is already too much
offended – yet God wants to give
us this grace of world peace. In
6,000 years of recorded history,
we’ve had 14,400 plus wars –
6,000 into 14,000 means there
were two and a half wars every
year. There’s never been a time
of peace – other than at the
time of Our Lord’s birth. There’s
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been some sort of war going on
somewhere; yet we’re promised
– upon compliance of this simple
request – that a period of peace
will be given to mankind.
St. Augustine tells us that: in
His love for us, God wants to give
us great graces, and He wants to
give us great gifts. But God has a
problem. He can’t give them to
us because we’ll become proud
if we somehow think we deserve
them. St. Augustine also tells us
that God has found a way around
this dilemma. God has reserved
certain graces to the intercession
and the merits of the saints.
One of the greatest graces
that God has reserved for our
time is the grace of world peace
– but He has reserved it for Our
Lady to give us, and ONLY Our
Lady.As Jacinta put it: “God
has entrusted the peace of the
world to the Immaculate Heart
of Mary.” For God to give this
credit to the Blessed Virgin, He
has asked for this simple prayer
of Consecration from the Pope
and the bishops – they must
all say this five-minute prayer
together, in a solemn and public
way so the world knows that it’s
being done. Then, in response for
this little gesture, this little act
of obedience, the whole world
will experience peace. On the
other side of it – if the prayer of
Consecration does not happen,
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we will have the annihilation of
nations.
Only ONE Answer
... There is only one answer.
There are no other answers.
Military men, international
financiers, people from every
discipline, have thought about
the need for Divine intervention.
In our conferences in Rome,
for three years running, an
economist told us that there is no
way out of going to World War III
– except, by Divine intervention.
People either don’t know the
truth, don’t care, or don’t think
anymore. Even people in high
places in the Vatican don’t use
their minds; they don’t draw
a logical conclusion from a
premise and a fact. Let us not
lose ourselves by following them
– the blind who are leading the
blind. Let us stay with what we
know is true. Let us stay with
the infallible definitions of the
Church.
In my book, Crucial Truths
to Save Your Soul, I also give
examples of how Popes, Councils
and bishops have been wrong,
but infallible definitions have
never been wrong – they never
can be. God bless you. |
Order your CD or DVD of the
entire speech. See pg. 32.
The Fatima Crusader | Summer 2016