The Doctrine of Truth {5}

[Weedy]

The Doctrine of Truth {5}

The more recollected a man is, and the more simple of heart he becomes,
the easier he understands sublime things, for he receives the light of knowledge
from above. The pure, simple, and steadfast spirit is not distracted
by many labors, for he does them all for the honor of God. And since he
enjoys interior peace he seeks no selfish end in anything. What, indeed, gives
more trouble and affliction than uncontrolled desires of the heart?
A good and devout man arranges in his mind the things he has to do, not
according to the whims of evil inclination but according to the
dictates of right reason.
Who is forced to struggle more than he who tries to master himself?
This ought to be our purpose, then: to conquer self, to become
stronger each day, to advance in virtue.
--Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 1, Ch 3

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May 14th - Saint Michael Garicoits, Founder

(1797-1863)
Saint Michael Garicoits was born in 1797 on a small farm in the south
of France, near the town of Ibarre, not far from Lourdes and from
Betharram, an ancient pilgrimage site. Later the mother house of the
Congregation which he founded, the Priests of the Sacred Heart of
Betharram, was established at that site.

He was ordained a priest at Bayonne in 1823, and spent two years as
Assistant in the parish of Cambo, where he established the devotion
and confraternity of the Sacred Heart. He was summoned to the Major
Seminary of Betharram to serve as a professor of philosophy and
theology in 1825, and he became Superior there in 1831.

In 1832 he made a retreat based on the Spiritual Exercises of Saint
Ignatius, which strengthened in him his desire to found a new Society
of Priests, a desire confirmed by his superiors’ approbation. He had
been greatly impressed by the poverty he had seen practiced by a holy
Foundress of a Congregation of Sisters, herself compared to Saint
Teresa of Avila, who during her lifetime saw 99 houses of her
Congregation established in several countries. Saint Michael desired
the same practice of poverty for his priests, as he had seen
instituted under the direction of Saint Elizabeth Bichier des Ages,
who founded the Daughters of the Cross, or Sisters of Saint Andrew.
Saint Elizabeth was, by a singular disposition of Providence, later
canonized the same day as Saint Michael. Both Saints taught the
importance of the interior life as the unique and irreplaceable source
of any serious apostolate.

In his early efforts as founder, the fervent priest was faced with the
opposition of his bishop, who desired that the new Institute be placed
more specifically under diocesan authority than under that of its
religious Superiors. Saint Michael, devoted to the Will of God, the
point of departure to attain sanctity, remained in submission for long
years. In 1875, after a wholly supernatural intervention which
occurred in the nearby Convent of Pau through the intermediary of the
Arab Carmelite, Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified, the Institute as he
conceived it was approved in Rome under Leo XIII. This occurred after
the holy Founder had already been called to his reward in 1863.

Miracles by the dozens had followed his death, and the Priests of
the Sacred Heart of Betharram spread in the lands of South America, as
well as in France, England and Italy, where they direct teaching
activities.

At the canonization, Pius XII exhorted the religious of the Institute
of the Sacred Heart and the Daughters of the Cross, present at the
canonization of their respective Founders, to maintain the primitive
spirit of their Congregations, saying: “Be deaf to the temptation to
sacrifice your religious life and personal sanctification to the
apostolate. That would be similar to gathering beautiful flowers from
a tree to form a bouquet, and afterwards wanting to find fruit on
barren branches.”

Sources: Nouvelle Revue théologique, Vol. 69, (December 1947; Un Saint
basque, le bienheureux Michel Garicoïts, by Gaëtan Bernoville (J. de
Gigord: Paris, 1936); Magnificat magazine, Vol. XXX, No. 6, June 1995
(Magnificat: St. Jovite).


Quote:
[The Church] simply permits them [private revelations] to be published
for the instruction and the edification of the faithful. The assent to
be given to them is not therefore an act of Catholic Faith but of
human faith, based upon the fact that these revelations are probable
and worthy of credence. St. John of the cross asserts that the desire
for revelations deprives faith of its purity, develops a dangerous
curiosity that becomes a source of illusions, fills the mind with vain
fancies, and often proves the want of humility, and of submission to
Our Lord, Who, through His public revelation, has given all that is
needed for salvation. We must suspect those apparitions that lack
dignity or proper reserve, and above all, those that are ridiculous.
This last characteristic is a mark of human or diabolical machination.
--Pope Benedict XIV

Bible Quote
It is good to give praise to the Lord: and to sing to thy name, O most
High. (Psalms 91:2)


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Pious Invocations

O saving Victim, opening wide
The gate of heaven to man below,
Our foes press on from every side;
Thine aid supply, Thy strength bestow.

To Thy great Name be endless praise,
Immortal Godhead, one in three;
Oh, grant us endless length of days
In our true native land with Thee.
Amen.