subject: Long Live Christ The King! [print this page] The trip Pope Benedict XVI took to Mexico last week reminded me of the many trips we took there in the 90's to document some of the history of the early part of the 20th century.
Briefly, the central government of Mexico began to study Marxism shortly after the Russian Revolution in 1917. They adopted many of the practices the Russians were using, particularly attacking the Christians, Mexico was then and is now over 90% Catholic and consequently, the Catholic Church became enemy number one.
Many oppressive steps were taken, and the next step would be progressively more severe. First, the government created a religion and tried to force all the people to declare allegiance to the state church with absolutely no success. Next they declared all the Priests and Bishops to be non -citizens. They even changed their constitution to accommodate this law, which was unlawful by the previous constitution.
Finally, they ordered all the Priests to leave Mexico or face execution.
We traveled to Guadalajara and Mexico City to create video documentaries on some of the martyrs of that period. In the town where our family came from, Cuquio, we discovered that our uncle narrowly escaped being executed for walking the cow that belonged to the local parish Priest. We traveled to places like the jungles of Tequila and went to the places where the Priests were found and executed. In the state of Jalisco alone, over 10,000 were killed for their Christian faith.
In Mexico City, we went to the spot where Father Miguel Pro was shot by a firing squad. Now this Priest had a reputation for eluding the police. He masqueraded to avoid capture. Just before he was shot, he shouted "Viva Cristo Rey" - which translates "Long Live Christ the King." This became the rallying cry of the Mexican faithful to this very day. Currently there is a movie coming out this summer, about all this called: For Greater Glory.
Furthermore, if you were watching the airing of the Papal visit, you would have seen a magnificent Shrine the Pope visited near Leon, which is called the Viva Cristo Rey Shrine to honor Christ, the King and remember all the Martyrs of that period.
Finally, each year Mexican men come from all over Mexico, USA and Central America and ride their horses and walk by the thousands to this Shrine to remember what can happen if government gains too much power and takes away citizen rights. I also remember thinking as I landed back in the USA, "Thank God I live here in America, where that could never happen." Let us be sure it does not happen here.
Thought for this week - Pray for America - that we follow the Lord's Will.
