Christ's Members Follow the Head

[Weedy]

Christ's Members Follow the Head

" You must realize that when the Father shows his works to Christ's
members, it is to Christ that he shows them. He shows them to the
members through the Head.
Suppose you wish to take hold of some object with your eyes closed.
Your hand does not know where to go, yet your hand is your member.
Open your eyes, and your hand will now see where it must go. The
member follows the way indicated by its head!"
--St. Augustine--Sermon on John 21, 9

Prayer: Lord, only this do I ask of your great kindness: that you
convert me totally to you and allow no obstacle to hinder me as I wend
my way to you.
--St. Augustine--Soliloquies 1, 6

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5 September – Saint Bertin the Great

(c 615-c 709)
Benedictine Monk and Abbot – born in the early 7th century at
Constance (in modern Germany) – died in c709 of natural causes. Saint
Bertin practiced great severities throughout his lifetime and was in
continuous communion with God. He travelled far and wide to share
God’s message and trained his disciples to carry on his ministry after
he was gone

Bertin was born near Constance, then in the Frankish Duchy of
Alamannia. At an early age, he entered the Abbey of Luxeuil, where,
under the austere rule of its abbot, St Columban (540-615), he
prepared himself for a future missionary career. About the year 638 he
set out, in company with two fellow Monks, Mummolin and Ebertram, for
the extreme northern part of France in order to assist his friend and
kinsman, Bishop (Saint) Audomar (died c 670), in the evangelisation of
the Morini. This area was then one vast marsh, studded here and there
with hillocks and overgrown with seaweed and bulrushes. On one of
these hillocks, Bertin and his companions built a small house and they
went out daily to preach the Christian faith to the natives, most of
whom were still pagans.

Gradually some converted pagans joined the little band of missionaries
and a larger monastery had to be built. A tract of land called Sithiu
had been donated by a converted nobleman named Adrowald. St Audomar
now turned this whole tract over to the missionaries, who selected a
suitable place on it for their new Abbey of St Peter. Additional
villages were granted by Count Waldebert, later a monk at Bertin’s
monastery of Sithiu and eventually Abbot of Luxueil and Canonised, who
gave his son at the baptismal font to Bertin, from whom the boy
received his name and his education. The community grew so rapidly
that in a short time this monastery also became too small and another
was built where the city of St Audomar now stands.

The fame of Bertin’s learning and sanctity was so great that in a
short time more than 150 monks lived under his rule, among them St
Winnoc and his three companions who had come from Brittany to join
Bertin’s community and assist in the conversion of the heathen. When
nearly the whole region was Christianised and the marshy land
transformed into a fertile plain, Bertin, knowing that his death was
not far off, appointed St Rigobert as his successor, while he himself
spent the remainder of his life preparing for a happy death. He had
run the second monastery they founded for almost 60 years. Saint
Bertin passed away at a very old age, some say older than 100,
surrounded by his fellow monks.

St Bertin began to be venerated as a saint soon after his death.

Mummolin, perhaps because he was the oldest of the missionaries, was
abbot of the two monasteries until he succeeded the deceased Eligius
as Bishop of Noyon, about the year 659. Waldebert’s son Bertin,
adopted by Bertin the founder, then became the third abbot.

In later times the abbey became famous as a centre of sanctity and
learning. About the 11th century, the name of the abbey was changed to
that of Saint-Bertin. The abbey church, now in ruins, was one of the
finest 14th-century Gothic edifices. In later times, its library,
archives and art-treasures were renowned both in and out of France.

The monks were expelled in 1791 by the invading forces of the French
Revolutionary Army and in 1799 the abbey and its church were sold at
auction.

https://anastpaul.com/2019/09/05


“How sad it is,
when someone
comes to you,
looking for Jesus
and all they see.
is you.”

“You must first learn to forget yourself
so that you can dedicate yourself to God
and to neighbour alike!”
--St Mother Teresa

Saint Quote:
Believe me, do not be cast down or grieved at the small vexations by
which it pleases our Lord to try your love and patience; but endeavor
rather to conform your will to His, letting Him do with you according
to His desire, which is, that you should remain peaceful and resigned
in the midst of your difficulties.
-- St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

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ON What Humility is Not [V]

We are inclined sometimes to aim at a false humility and so to be
hindered in our attainment of true humility. We must be on our guard
against errors in this. Humility does not consist in shutting our eyes
to the talents, ability, graces, and accomplishments that we possess.
To do so is to refuse to acknowledge the good gifts that God had given
us. If we have skill in music, in conversation, in painting, in
languages, it is no humility to deny the fact. We ought to thank God
for His goodness in bestowing upon us this talent. What is contrary to
humility is to take the credit to ourselves, and to plume ourselves on
what we have received from God.

Humility does not consist in self-depreciation and in running
ourselves down before others. This is often a cloak for pride.
Sometimes its object is to obtain from others the praise we deny to
ourselves; sometimes it is a marked expression of discontent. The
continual song: "What a poor worm am I!" is very much opposed to the
spirit of the Catholic Church, and to the cheerfulness that every
Christian ought to show in his words.

Nor does humility consist in, or even admit of discouragement. If we
are discouraged, it generally means that we think more about our own
success than about the glory of God. It means that we are not
perfectly resigned; it means that our pride is wounded and our
self-will thwarted, or that we have worldly motives in what we do, and
seek honor from men and not from God. True humility is willing to fail
in its projects if God so wills it. Examine yourself on these
particulars, and see whether yours is true or false humility.