[00:00] My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church remembers St. Louis IX, King of France, as one of the saints who is associated with the Franciscans, not only with the Franciscans, this is a novelty to me, new information, I just read in a biography that I consider

[00:35] to be from a reputable source, catholicculture.org, that he was also a tertiary of the Trinitarians, the Order of the Holy Trinity, so that's something I didn't know, but his fame as a Christian leader was so great that St. Bonaventure, the great bishop and doctor of the Church, great Franciscan minister general, moved at one of the general chapters of the Franciscans

[01:07] that King Louis be given a kind of a stipend, you could say, on an annual basis, which was generally something that was only reserved for saints, canonized saints. So high was his regard for King Louis, and I also read in a different biography, also from what I consider to be a reputable source, Marion Habig, a Franciscan writer of the lives of the saints, of the Franciscan saints, said that as a young king he entered into the third

[01:44] order of the Franciscans, so it seems like there's a little bit of noble rivalry going on here, I think they probably, both orders can make a claim, but that's the kind of man that we're talking about who was the head of probably the greatest European kingdom at that time, France, and so we're talking about the time of the Crusades, and King Louis personally led the Christian army, at least the armies of France, against the Muslims

[02:18] in the Holy Land who were occupying the Holy Land and basically persecuting Christians, making it difficult or impossible for a Christian pilgrim to venerate where our Lord lived and saved the world. So, as we read in the first reading today, what the Lord wants is a just

[02:51] society based on the principle of charity, which is the definition of a Christian society. In fact, there is no society based on the principle of charity that isn't a Christian society, because Christ is the mediator and the source of grace, He's the one mediator between man and God, so there is no true charity outside of a truly Christian society.

[03:31] Interestingly, it's very appropriate to talk about a situation that is both integral to the life of St. Francis and the times that he lived in, and pertinent today, which is this conflict between Islam and Christianity, and we have in America a rising, you could say, appreciation or infatuation with Islam, and there's parts of this country, still relatively

[04:06] restricted areas where Islam is becoming the prevalent influence on society. Some people think this is good, well that's, they're a, at least it's a form of social organization centered on God, but as I say, you can't have the kind of society that God truly wants, as expressed here, or as expressed by our Lord in the Gospel today, while excluding

[04:37] Christ, while not recognizing Him as the mediator. And so, I want to make an appeal to Americans, and Christians I should say, who we, if you've grown up in this country, you've grown up in a prejudiced mentality, an anti-Christian kind of idea of what government is supposed

[05:08] to be, the famous, but misinterpreted idea of separation of church and state, so that it becomes, the Church has no influence on the state anymore, and that's not what that principle is supposed to mean, it's certainly not what any Christian should endorse. We should be advocating for a Christian society, just like St. Louis, who went and risked his life twice, and died while on a crusade to liberate the Holy Lands, so that it could

[05:45] be a place for Christians to go and venerate the Lord. And certainly his society, the society of the Kingdom of France, under his rule, was a very Christian society. And I'll just read to you a few lines from the letter he left to his son, who would be the future king. "My dearest son, I exhort you above all else to love the Lord your God with your whole heart and with all your strength. There is no salvation apart from this. Keep yourself

[06:21] free from everything you know to be displeasing to God, that is, from every mortal sin. You must be willing to suffer any kind of martyrdom rather than commit a grievous sin." So this is the kind of mentality that Louis himself had and wanted to impart on his heir and his son. And then he advises him to be faithful to the Church, not just in a political sense

[06:56] of supporting the Church, but truly in a spiritual sense, to revere Christ in the Church and participate piously in the Holy Mass and to conduct himself with all of the virtues. And then regarding government, be kindly disposed toward the poor, the wretched and the afflicted. Help them as much as you can and console them. Thank God for all the blessings He has bestowed

[07:31] on you so that you may be worthy to receive greater ones. Be just toward your subjects. In matters of justice, adhere to the line departing neither to the right nor to the left. Incline to the poor man's side rather than to the rich man's until you are certain where the truth lies. Take care that all your subjects are safeguarded in justice and peace, especially ecclesiastics and religious. Be devoted and obedient to our mother, the Church of Rome,

[08:06] and to the supreme pontiff as your spiritual father. Work to eradicate all sin from your country, especially blasphemy and heresy." So there is the mind of a leader of civic society who puts God above all else. Now I'm not saying that there are no good Muslims or ones that don't uphold

[08:36] many of these same principles, at least in theory, but I can tell you any Christian society where Islam has taken a foothold and imposed Sharia law is not a happy society. And I want to say to Americans, don't be so American that you stop being Christian or stop advocating for a Christian society. But this mentality of separation of church and state and therefore don't talk about

[09:11] religion in the public square is opening the door to Sharia law because the Muslims who come here don't think that way. And they certainly aren't going to do anything short of even a holy war to impose that religion upon the society where they dominate. And they will dominate as just a matter of time if our way of life, not only the American way of life, but the Christian way of life is not defended and even vigorously as King Louis understood. Because right now,

[09:51] unfortunately, Christians have gone the way of the world when it comes to contraception. And the, you know, in a totally secular source, the other day I was surprised to read, it was in the back of the catalog of the Uline catalog, if you're familiar with it. It's warehouse supplies and things like that. And the owner of that company was writing about the problem of the birth rate in America. It said 1.6. That was like at the top of the page. I was like, what is that?

[10:26] Because most people don't know what this means. That's the birth rate in America right now. Or, yeah, I think she was affirming that it's the birth rate in America. And that's below replacement. A society that's not procreating above that, at least 2.1 children per couple is going to be extinct. And that's part of, you know, if you want to talk about politics, that's why the

[10:59] open borders was pushed by, you know, a certain faction within our country to partly just replace society. You know, it's a necessity. You have to have warm bodies to fulfill the positions in a company. That's what this woman who's writing in the Uline catalog, she's the owner of the company. What she was saying is that we need people to fill, you know, the warehouse positions that we can't keep up. And she was actually praising Canada for their immigration policy. But not to stray too far

[11:34] from the point here. If we Christians don't begin to advocate for a Christian society based on the principles of charity and fidelity to the teaching of the Church, which would solve the problem of a low birth rate. If we don't do that, Islam will replace Christianity as the prevalent form of social organization. And I don't think King Louis IX would be at all happy to hear that that's kind

[12:14] of the way things are going here. It's not what he laid down his life for. And it's not why the Church made him, declared him a saint. He's a saint because he's holy. But we look to the saints for an example of how to live life on earth. And so as we remember King Louis IX, saint, patron of the Third Order, the Franciscan Third Order recognizes him as their patron saint. Let us

[12:45] try to get into that mentality that motivated him to live his life on earth as a servant of Jesus Christ in his proper role, doing what he had the opportunity to do, to lead his nation in a holy way of life and protect the Church, protect the interests of Christians, which in the end is, you know, the word Catholic means universal. If we uphold the Catholic Church, we're

[13:20] looking out for the interests of everybody, including the Muslims, who we should be praying will embrace Christ and become Catholic. Certainly not agreeing to allow Sharia law to be imposed on any area where we can have any influence. So may the King of France, St. Louis IX, patron of the Third Order, inspire all tertiaries of the Franciscan Order, all tertiaries of the Trinitarians, and all

[13:55] of us Catholics in America to believe in the legitimacy of a Christian society and protect us against any mentality that would make us move away from that idea or fail to defend it. Praised be Jesus and Mary.