Welcome to the website of Fr. Gerardo Zendejas. For some years, Father has been the author of a newsletter entitled The Blue Paper, a publication which has been enjoyed heretofore by only a limited audience. Now, however, he has determined to publish future issues in the form of a blog, which we present to you here. Come back weekly for the latest edition, or just use the subscribe button (at left) to receive updates via e-mail. Please send a message to webmaster@thebluepaper.org if you have any questions or comments pertaining to this site.

—The Webmaster

“It is in Him that all things have been created, those that are in the heavens, and those that are on the earth … all has been created by Him and for Him… all things subsist in Him…. God … has willed to reconcile all things to Himself through Him, those which are on the earth and those which are in the heavens, by making peace by the blood of His cross” (Colossians I, 16–21).

Indeed, with this conviction of faith many martyrs have poured forth their blood, as testimony of the true Holocaust of Calvary: Our Lord Jesus Christ died for the salvation of mankind and the remission of sins. And the conviction of our faith is this: Our Lord Jesus Christ is true God. The central truth of our faith is the Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Such was the case of the Cristeros in Mexico during the Religious Persecution of 1926–1929, when many priests and religious gave up their lives—crying with their last breath, “¡Viva Cristo Rey!”

As result of professing their faith publicly, they had served Jesus Christ as the God of eternal life, and not as a mere man. Why? No doubt it was to say, “It is by Jesus Christ’s humanity that He has sanctified us, through sanctifying grace, which filled His holy soul.”

Nowadays there is a dreadful danger to make-believe that Our Lord is only a man, perhaps an extraordinary man (a sort of super-hero, or a great human Prophet), but not the Son of God. Therefore, if Jesus is only a man, then everything changes because “he” is one among many, maybe the greatest man; as the French philosopher Renan wrote in his book about Christ: “If Christ is not God, at least he deserves to be made God.”

On the contrary, Jesus Christ is true God and true man, as we have learned by the doctrine of the Gospel, transmitted by the Catholic Church. So, He is the Master of all things! His Divinity united to His sacred Humanity is the driving force that flows in all the attributes of acknowledging Him as truly God, as supreme causality (cause principle) in regards to everything. Hence, He is King, and King of the universe, as in the Latin word uni-versus–alia—one through all things. Consequently, no creature—either an individual or a group—is able to decline His sovereignty of power and of grace, without misleading itself to a corrupted ending in this world and in the one to come.

What can we do about it? We can stand against those who would corrupt our soul and heart. We must have Christian principles, not only at home but also at work, not only in a private manner but also in the public sphere. Our Faith should be alive. Certainly, it is a great joy to see our children professing their Catholic Faith when they are praying the Rosary, or hearing Mass. Indeed, the Kingdom of God is for those who are child-like, behaving with innocent conscience and purity of teaching. For them, Jesus Christ is King. It is not a complicated issue. For a child who is willing and desirous to receive Holy Communion, Jesus Christ is all. He wants to keep the state of grace, renouncing his own petty will and fighting against sin, because a sin is an obstacle to be with Our Lord. His Faith is strong, and his practice is stronger.

Jose del Rio

This was the case of Jose del Rio, called “Joselito.” He was stabbed to death because he repeated again and again “I love You, Jesus, in the Blessed Sacrament. ¡Viva Cristo Rey!” He was only twelve years old. Yet he understood well what it is to live for Jesus Christ only—True God and true man. The one thing he fought against the most was the spirit of HUMAN RESPECT. Even his own godfather was taken by it. His uncle, and godfather, wanted Joselito to give up the Blessed Sacrament—Jesus Himself. The anti-Christian soldiers also wanted him to tell where Catholic priests were hidden in the mountains (in Jalisco and Colima) so that the anti-Christian Mexican Army could put them to death. Joselito preferred to die on behalf of the Catholic priests. Why? Because he understood it well: Jesus Christ comes from Heaven through the words of the consecration at Mass, when a validly ordained Catholic Priest is performing the Holy Sacrifice of Calvary. Joselito saw and was present at the execution of his parish priest, shot by a firing-squad while dressed as if going to the Altar.

As a matter of fact, many children have made their heart the City of God, where Almighty God remains, giving them strength and courage to fight against temptation. St. Tarcisius is a patron saint for our devotion to the Blessed Sacrament: he was stoned to death for Christ’s sake. St. Maria Goretti received the grace of purity in body because she was pure in her soul: she was a teenager. St. Lucy suffered martyrdom for witnessing Christ’s love by preserving her virginity. Many other very young people were willing to be citizens of the City of God on Earth, as it is in Heaven. Do you want be an active member of the Kingdom of God? Do you want to believe that Jesus Christ is indeed King of Heaven and Earth?

Moreover, there is a temptation on our way to conversion. It is to conform to the spirit of the world! This is a first step into that comfort zone we love the most, leaning towards the modern world in detriment to the Kingdom of God. Let us remember that the Prince of the World is Satan. He will not offer himself at first, but only to love the world through riches, for the sake of honor, and with a spirit of pride or self-sufficiency, saying, “I shall never serve God.” It is, little by little, going downhill in morals and beliefs. Such decline is noticeable when an exterior act of faith is required to profess the Divinity of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom in the public sphere, and we do not go through with it. For truly, a pacifist spirit is different from that of a peacemaker, which is named in one of the eight Beatitudes taught by Our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount.

We can understand now some pacifist words spoken by Pope Paul VI regarding the Church and the modern world, in his closing speech at Vatican II (on December 7, 1965). These words are one of the reasons for the celebration of the Year of Mercy, lately proposed by Pope Francis. He says:

“The Church of the Council, it is true, has not contented itself with pondering over its own nature and over the relations that unite it to God; it has been very much occupied with man, with man such as in reality he presents himself in our time: the living man, the man entirely occupied with himself, the man who makes himself not only the center of all that concerns him, but who dares to assert himself as the principle and the ultimate reason for all reality….

“Secular and profane humanism has finally appeared in its awful stature and has, in a certain sense, challenged the Council. The religion of God, who became man, has met with the religion (for it is one of them) of Man, who makes himself god. What has happened? a shock, a fight, an anathema? That could have happened: but it did not take place. The old story of the Samaritan has been the model of spirituality for the Council. A sympathy without limits has completely overturned it. The discovery of human needs (and they are so much greater as the son of the earth becomes more grown-up) absorbed the attention of our synod. Grant at least this merit to it, you, the modern humanists; and know how to recognize our new humanism: we also, we more than anyone, we have the cult of man.”

As St. Augustine said, there are two loves in the world: that one which despised self for the love of God, and the other which despised God for the love of self. The first one had founded the City of God; the second, the City of the Devil.

Truly, St. Ignatius of Loyola (speaking about the Two Standards) has made sure we understand that confusion and despair belong to the Devil’s standard, with its seducing temptations—wealth, honor and pride. Opposed to that, the standard of Our Lord Jesus Christ depends on poverty, rejection and humility, with the knowledge and understanding about what man was made for—to know God, to love Him and to serve Him on Earth, so that one day we may enjoy Him for eternity in Heaven.

At least, with today’s irreligion and dispute of authority, we can say that St. Paul has prophesied concerning the loss of the Faith in the latter days of the world: “God Himself will send them a power of incoherence so that they believe in lies” (II Thessalonians II, 10). What chastisement could be more terrible to the hierarchy than to lose the leadership!

More than ever Christ must reign. We have to rebuild our crumbling societies and families by preserving the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Catholic priesthood with all its traditional formation. While the modern world and Conciliar Church are demolishing, we should enjoy rebuilding for Christ the King and His Kingdom on Earth, as it is in Heaven. 

¡Viva Cristo Rey!
Father Zendejas