Advance into battle

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Advance into battle

"...advance into battle without hesitation. Should you be visited by
the troubling thought of the hatred and undying malice, which the
enemies harbor against you, and of the innumerable hosts of the
demons, think on the other hand of the infinitely greater power of
God and of His love for you, as well as of the incomparably greater
hosts of heavenly angels and the prayers of saints. They all fight
secretly for us and with us against our enemies."
-- Fr. Lorenzo Scupoli.

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20 July – Blessed Gregory Lopez

Hermit, Spiritual Advisor, Writer. Born on 4 July 1542 at Madrid,
Spain and died on 20 July 1596 of natural causes near Mexico City.

Around 1585, word of a “Mystery Man” began to leak into Mexico City, a
strange hermit who lived out in the lonely valley of Guesteca, who
walked miles to go to Mass, lived totally subject to “Lady Poverty”
and had travelled from the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Spain
(which dates from 712), to her Shrine in Mexico (which dates from
1531). Disturbed by the wagging tongues of the day and the stories
becoming exaggerated with the telling, the Archbishop of Mexico, set
up an investigating commission to examine the matter. What they
discovered was quite remarkable and Blessed Gregory had to find a new
place to hide.

He had been a Page in the Court of Philip II of Spain and while
visiting the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Estremadura, had heard
of the Shrine of the same name in Mexico. He sold all his possessions
and gave the money to the poor and then went to Mexico convinced that
God would show him what to do. In Mexico, he went in search of a place
to live as a hermit. He found a suitable place in Guesteca, walked 24
miles to Mass on Sundays and Feast days and caused a lot of gossip by
his unusual way of life. To quiet the tongues, he lived on a
plantation for a while to attend daily Mass regularly but after the
earthquake of 1566, he returned to his hermitage.

He thought he should perhaps become a Dominican Friar but he found
that community life was not for him and returned to his solitude. When
the Archbishop approved his way of life and Blessed Gregory became too
popular, he went to work in a hospital and wrote a book on pharmacy
for the nursing brothers.

In 1589, a priest friend, Fr Francisco de Losa (1536-1634) helped him
to set up a Hermitage near his Parish. At this point, Fr Losa could
more carefully observe the piety of his charge and the biography
focuses on this aspect. Fr Losa was so edified that he retires from
his pastoral duties to accompany and observe his friend.

“I then observed both day and night all his actions and words with all
possible attention, to see if I could discover anything contrary to
the high opinion which I had of his virtue. But far from this, his
behaviour appeared everyday more admirable than before, his virtue
more sublime and his whole conversation rather divine than human.”

They spent time in scriptural study, long hours in prayer and became
Spiritual advisors to many. Fr Losa notes a typical day. Gregory
would rise, wash, read a little, then fall into a “recollection”: “All
one could conjecture from the tranquility and devotion which appeared
in his countenance was that he was in the continual presence of God.”
They would dine at one o’clock, afterwards engage in conversation or
one might read aloud as a recreation. Then Gregory would return to his
room until the next day, though sometimes he received visitors; in his
last years the visitors were often ecclesiastics, the learned, or the
nobility, going away much edified. Gregory’s routine remained not to
use a candle and he retired by about 9:30 in the evening. Towards his
last years he had reluctantly accepted the sheepskin quilt offered by
Fr Losa and a bed rather than the floor. In any case, he seldom slept
more than a few hours.
Among the virtues of Gregory was his mildness, patience, and humility
— though he must have suffered greatly from his physical pain (a bad
intestinal illness which caused bleeding). He never judged others:
“For many years I have judged no man but believed all to be wiser and
better than me. I have not pretended to set myself up above others or
to assume any authority over others.”

He never complained, and Fr Losa says, “I never heard him speak one
single word that could be reproved.” His conversation was never but
“useful and spiritual,” though he preferred silence. Gregory used to
say that “My silence will edify more than my words” and “I see that
many talk well, but let us live well.” Ultimately, however, Gregory no
longer identified with this world: “Ever since I came to New Spain I
have never desired to see anything in this world, not even my
relations, friends or country.”

Fr Losa attests to the vast knowledge of López, of ecclesiastical and
profane history, ancient to contemporary, of astronomy, cosmography,
geography, botany, zoology, anatomy, medicine and botanicals. These
topics did not distract López from his spirituality, however, for he
told Losa, “I find God alike in little things and in great.”

But his spiritual discernment was keen and Fr Losa says that Gregory
“saw spiritual things with the eyes of his soul as clearly as outward
things with those of his body and had an amazing accuracy in
distinguishing what was of grace and what of nature.” For this Blessed
Gregory was often consulted by visitors as if he was an “oracle from
heaven, as a prodigy of holiness.” One can imagine how this edified Fr
Losa, for in 1579 he began writing about López, even while yet a
rector of a large parish in Mexico City.

Blessed Gregory remained a hermit all his life, wishing always to be
alone with God. When he died in 1596 at the age of 54, miracles were
attributed to him almost immediately. He was a most unusual man, who
took his own path to holiness and remained convinced that it was the
will of God for him. His fame reached as far as England, France and
Germany. The sickness that had dogged him returned one last time in
1596. He lost all appetite and could swallow only liquids. The bloody
flux would not stop and he grew progressively weaker. He told Fr Losa
that he had entered “God’s time” and his comportment would consist in
doing and not in talking. Fr Losa records that “I never perceived in
him during his whole illness any repugnance to the order of God but an
admirable peace and tranquillity, with an entire conformity to His
will. All his virtue shone marvellously in his sickness, particularly
his humility.” López died in July 1595 at 54 years of age, 34 of them
spent in the New World. Due to the unflagging efforts of Losa,
Gregory López was eventually named “Blessed” but was never formally
beatified though he is regarded as having received equipollent
Beatification and is highly revered most especially in Mexico and
Spain. Interestingly, many Protestants including John Wesley, revered
him as a man of wonderful holiness.


REFLECTION – “Thus, in whatever place a truly spiritual man is and in
whatever, he is employed, his eyes and his heart are always fixed on
Jesus Christ.”…Blessed Gregory Lopez

Quote:
Let my soul spend itself in Your praise, rejoicing for love.
--Thomas a Kempis

Bible Quote:
With all thy strength love him that made thee: and forsake not his
ministers. Honour God with all thy soul and give honour to the
priests, and purify thyself with thy arms. Give them their portion, as
it is commanded thee, of the first-fruits and of purifications: and
for thy negligences purify thyself with a few. Offer to the Lord the
gift of thy shoulders, and the sacrifice of sanctification, and the
first-fruits of the holy things: [Sirach 7: 32-36] DRB

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Hail, Sweet Jesus!
Prayer to Christ
in His Passion and Death
By St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor of the Church

Hail, sweet Jesus!
Praise, honour and glory be to Thee, O Christ,
Who, of Thou own accord, embraced death,
and recommending Thyself to Thy heavenly Father,
bowing down Thy venerable Head,
did yield up Thy Spirit.
Truly thus giving up Thy life for Thy sheep,
Thou hast shown Thyself, to be the Good Shepherd.
Thou died, O Only-begotten Son of God.
Thou died, O my beloved Saviour,
that I might live forever.
O how great hope,
how great confidence have
I reposed in Thy Death and Thy Blood!
I glorify and praise Thy Holy Name,
acknowledging my infinite obligations to Thee.
O good Jesus,
by Thy bitter Death and Passion,
give me grace and pardon.
Give unto the faithful departed,
rest and life everlasting.
Amen