| Topic: |
Religions > Bible |
| User: |
"Hildi" |
| Date: |
16 Apr 2006 10:08:22 AM |
| Object: |
Psalm 1:1-3 |
Bible Verse
-- Psalm 1:1-3 --
Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
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There is simple wisdom in these verses -- the more we delight in God's presence,
the more fruitful we are. On the other hand, the more we allow those who
ridicule God to affect our thoughts and attitudes, the more we separate
ourselves from the source of nourishment. We must have contact with unbelievers
if we are to witness to them, but we must not join in or imitate their sinful
behavior. If you want despair, spend time with a mocking sinner; but if you want
God's happiness, make friends with those who love God and his Word.
<><><><>
April 16th - St. Bernadette
Bernadette, whose complete name is Marie Bernarde Soubirous, was a child like
any other. Only her gaze was extraordinary, showing a great innocence. In the
first apparition, she learned to make the sign of the Cross by following the
gestures of Our Lady. From the fact that she learned it from Our Lady, witnesses
used to say that during her whole life St. Bernadette always made a sign of
Cross that was unforgettable and incomparable.
In the Convent in Nevers that Bernadette later entered, some nuns were once
insisting that she describe the cloth of the dress of Our Lady to resolve a
quarrel. Some said it was a certain kind of material, others another. Bernadette
responded:
"I never said that the material was of this or that kind. I only said that it
was made from a material that I had never seen before. But if you are so
interested in knowing this, why don't you ask her to appear to you and then you
can pay attention to it."
She was a very humble person. Once someone asked her to say a few words for the
edification of the novices. She answered smiling: "I don't know anything! No one
can take anything good from a stone."
The Mother Superior asked her if she were not proud to be chosen as a confidante
of Our Lady. She answered: "What idea do you have of me? The Holy Virgin only
chose me because I was the most ignorant. If she could have found someone else
more ignorant, she would have chosen her."
The continuous suffering and vomiting of blood she experienced slowly weakened
Bernadette. Her physical appearance became pitiable. Once a postulant came to
see her so that she might know the seer. As the saint passed by, a companion
pointed her out and said with scorn: "Bernadette? It's just this!" (Bernadette,
c'est ça!)
Comments of Prof. Plinio:
St. Bernadette Soubirous was a peasant from an area in the Pyrenees that is half
French, half Spanish, which constitutes, from a certain point of view, a
synthesis of France and Spain. If you pay attention to her photos - not the
sentimental statues in some churches - you find a person with a slightly square
face with regular lines, a dark gaze, large eyes, and a certain fixed look that
is Spanish. The French gaze is normally rapid, quickly moving to analyze you,
and then moves on to another thing. But the Spanish gaze nails you and remains
steadfast, analyzing everything about you, a kind of X-ray.
She also had a nose that was more Spanish than French, which gave coherence to
her whole physiognomy. It is a line that marks the face from top to bottom. She
also had another Spanish characteristic of saying things straightforwardly.
She was always completely at ease, like a person who does not pretend to be
anything more that what she is. She was humble before others, but when it came
to the service of Our Lady, she did not care about the opinion of anyone else.
She was always unpretentious. Once, when she had to stand before the police to
explain her revelations, she impressed her interrogators with her naturalness.
But before her parents, the parish priest, and her religious superior, she was a
model of respect and obedience.
Here you have the spirit of a true Catholic, of a true saint. She never gave
importance to the world's values, she didn't care about what other people were
thinking about her, be it good or bad. If someone gives importance to the
applause of the world, he ends by losing his liberty and relying on the applause
to go ahead. The applause becomes the music he needs in order to keep dancing.
To be able to enjoy complete serenity, one has to be independent of the opinion
of the world. St. Bernadette Soubirous was one who did not care about that. She
used to do what her duty was according to Holy Mother Church.
St. Bernadette converted many persons who saw her making the sign of the Cross.
She had learned to do so from Our Lady, who is the perfect model of a friend and
lover of the Cross of Jesus Christ. For this reason St. Bernadette also had a
love for suffering and for the Cross of Our Lord that propitiated her to receive
from Our Lady something more of her spirit when the Virgin Mary made the sign of
the Cross. Something of Our Lady's majesty passed to her.
Once I read a report by a lady of high society who witnessed St. Bernadette
during an apparition. This lady wrote that she have never seen a young lady of
the aristocracy who had the bearing and refinement of St. Bernadette during the
apparition, even though she was a simple peasant. This is because she was in
communication with the Queen of Heaven and Earth, and something of her royalty
was transmitted to St. Bernadette. It was not only majesty, but also a state of
virtue that passed from Our Lady to her.
So, many people witnessing this transformation in the peasant girl realized that
she was in contact with some person whom they did not see, but whom they sensed
was there. They realized that this person was Our Lady and many of them
converted. It is an interesting principle to consider that the true devotee of
Our Lady receives something of her in his soul and his bearing. There is a
certain communication from her to him.
The answers she gave to the nuns in the selection are indicative of her
vivacious personality and sense of humor. She was a keen polemicist and
sometimes her responses were sharp.
About her humility, what she said about herself was true. Our Lady chose her
because she was the most ignorant in Lourdes. Her ignorance was notable and
stood as one proof of the veracity of the revelations, because she could never
have imagined them. She was a simple, unlearned person who could not have known
on her own the things she said Our Lady told her, and she could not even fully
understand some parts of the revelations. Her ignorance stood as an important
argument in favor of the Lourdes apparitions.
Finally, she was short and even if she had a lively spirit, she did not stand
out readily. Then she became sick and her physical appearance used to give a bad
impression, which is why she was scorned by some of her companions.
The selection does not say, but an important aspect of her life is that she
offered all her suffering for the sanctification of a certain person. No one
knows who this mysterious sinner was, because she never revealed the name.
Probably it was a soul that Divine Providence showed to her and asked her to
suffer for. Was he a man from her time, or someone from the future? No one
knows.
Another curious point in her live reported in good biographies is that Our Lady
revealed a secret to her, but Bernadette never said a word about the content.
Perhaps the secret was related to that mysterious sinner for whom she was asked
to suffer. So, in the three great apparitions of Our Lady - La Salette, Lourdes
and Fatima - there were secrets transmitted by her.
Let us ask St. Bernadette to give us a great devotion to Our Lady, a devotion
like hers that had something of the virtue of Our Lady. Let us also ask her to
protect one of her sister seers, Sister Lucy of Fatima, and give her the
strength to be faithful to her mission. Something that is always reason for
concern is the fight Sister Lucia has to make to be faithful to the secret she
knows.
<><><><>
"There is no better test to distinguish the chaff from the grain, in the Church
of God, than the manner in which sufferings, contradiction, and contempt are
borne. Whoever remains unmoved under these, is grain. Whoever rises against them
is chaff; and the lighter and more worthless he is, the higher he rises-that is,
the more he is agitated, and the more proudly he replies"
-St. Augustine
A person of high rank presented himself to St. Francis de Sales to ask a
benefice for an ecclesiastic who enjoyed his patronage. The Saint replied that
as to conferring benefices he had tied his own hands, for he had decided that
they should be given only after a competitive examination; but that he would not
forget his recommendation, if this priest would offer himself to be examined
with the others. The gentleman, who was quick-tempered, believing this to be
only a pretext for refusal, accused him of duplicity and hypocrisy, and even
threatened him. When the Saint perceived that gentle words did no good, he
entreated him not to object at least to a private examination; and, as he was
still dissatisfied, "Then:" said St. Francis, "you wish that I should entrust to
him a portion of my charge with my eyes closed? Consider whether that is just!"
At this, the gentleman began to raise his voice angrily, and to make all kinds
of insulting remarks to the holy bishop, who bore all in unbroken silence.
An acquaintance of his, who was present, asked him after the scene was over
how he had been able to endure such insults without showing the least
resentment. "Do not be astonished at this:" said the Saint, "for it was not he
that spoke, but his anger. Outside of this he is one of my dearest friends, and
you will see after a while that my silence will increase his attachment for me."
"But did you not feel any resentment at all?" pursued the other. "I turned my
thoughts in another direction:" was the answer, "setting myself to consider the
good qualities of this person, whose friendship I had previously so much
enjoyed." The gentleman afterwards came and asked pardon, even with tears, and
they became firmer friends than ever before.
(Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints". April - Patience)
Bible Quote:
28 Afterwards, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the
scripture might be fulfilled, said: I thirst. 29 Now there was a vessel set
there full of vinegar. And they, putting a sponge full of vinegar and hyssop,
put it to his mouth. 30 Jesus therefore, when he had taken the vinegar, said: It
is consummated. And bowing his head, he gave up the ghost. (John 18:28-30)
.
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