"Do you have any last words?" The captain of the fire squad asked Fr. Miguel Pro. "Yes." Stretching out his arms in the form of a cross, with a rosary clasped tightly in the fist of his right hand, the faithful priest cried out with his last breath, "VIVA CRISTO REY!" Long live Christ the King. The gunshots rang out. The Fr. Pro fell to the dirt. The Catholic Church was in the heat of a fierce persecution by Mexican authorities. In 1917, they drafted a new constitution whose explicit aim was the wholesale destruction of Catholicism in the country. They outlawed our schools, barricaded our churches, forbade the public expression of our faith; anyone who defied the government faced the fate of Fr. Pro. Yet this should come as no surprise. It’s nothing new in our long 2,000 year history. Tyrants, dictators, emperors, and kings, have all feared Christianity and our dangerous Book that you hear each Sunday. Whether it’s the Roman emperor Diocletian who decreed all Christian Scriptures burned in the year 303, or Kim Jong-un of North Korea banning the Bible in the year 2022, the goal is the same — keep the people ignorant of Jesus Christ. He threatens our grip. Is it any wonder that the Communists in China are, as we speak, rewriting the Bible themselves, trying to strip the divine claims of our Savior. Jesus Christ sets us free! This Lent, our parish is embarking upon a deep dive into this seditious book. We will learn our story that built our Western Civilization. Come and see what shaped our ancestors and why the Bible strikes dread in those who wish to control us. By the end of our Bible Study, you will hopefully be a more dangerous creature. The devil fears no one else more than a Christian fully aware.