The Bulletin of the Catholic Community at The Family Foundation School
Pauca Verba (a few words)
Number 25 – May 16, 2010
I hope we’re paying attention to these one-line teachings from the Rule of Saint Benedict. They can change our lives!
- Do not love quarrelling.
- Shun arrogance.
- Respect the older and love the younger.
- Pray for your enemies out of love for Christ.
- If you have a dispute with someone, make peace with him/her before the sun goes down.
- Never lose hope in God’s mercy.
- The first step of humility is unhesitating obedience.
- It is love that impels us to pursue everlasting life.
- The disciple’s obedience must be given gladly.
- Speaking and teaching are the master’s tasks; the disciple is to be silent and listen.
- We absolutely condemn in all places any vulgarity and gossip.
- We descend by exalting ourselves and ascend by humility.
- If we humble our hearts the Lord will raise them to heaven.
The humble person keeps the fear of God always before his eyes. (Fear of God means: that I would dread or be in horror of anything that would take me from God.)
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“Emotional maturity is the ability to stick to a job and to struggle through until it is finished – to endure unpleasantness, discomfort and frustration.” Edward Strecker
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A doctor told me recently of two personal experiences of God: That as the baby was slowly being delivered he saw God’s hand drawing the baby’s face. And another time, a baby’s birth was very difficult. He was a young doctor and he needed to use forceps. He said he felt God’s hands guiding his hands which were inexperienced. What a pity – not to believe in God!
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A staretz is a monk singled out because of his saintliness, spiritual experience and ability to guide the souls of others. Father John (+1958) of the Valaam Monastery in Russia writes:
“The ancient fathers tell how a disciple said to a staretz that such-and-such a man ‘sees angels’. The staretz answered: ‘This is not surprising, that he sees angels’. Brief as this saying of the staretz is, its spiritual meaning is very deep, because nothing is so difficult as to know oneself.”
Do I understand this saying of Father John? He is telling us that it is easier to “see angels” than to know oneself. And many (most?) people are content with that. Do I seek to know myself? Listen without objection or defense to the observations of others about yourself. Be bold and ask someone to tell you something about yourself – something you need to learn or are blind to about yourself. Get a deeper examination of conscience and apply it to yourself with great humility. Prayerfully read Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5,6,7). Sit before the tabernacle (where Jesus resides in the Blessed Sacrament) and ask him to reveal to you what he sees beneath the masks. We all wear masks!
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This week the Confirmation class and friends make a pilgrimage (holy journey) to Auriesville and Fonda, New York.
Between the years 1642 and 1649 eight members of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) were killed in North America, after fearful torture by members of the Huron and Iroquois tribes. These men had worked hard to bring the natives of that region to Christianity. Saint Isaac Jogues, Saint Rene Goupil and Saint John Lalande were martyred at Auriesville. The remaining five were martyred in Canada. Sts. Anthony Daniel, Noel Chabanel, Charles Garnier, John de Brebeuf and Gabriel Lalemont. Martyr means, witness.
Kateri (Catherine) Tekawitha was born in 1656 near the town of Auriesville, New York, the daughter of a Mohawk warrior. She was baptized by Jesuit missionary Father Jacques de Lambertville on Easter Sunday of 1676 at the age of twenty. She devoted her life to prayer, penitential practices, and the care of the sick and aged in Caughnawaga near Montreal (where her relics are now enshrined). After Baptism, she incurred the hostility of her tribe because of her faith which caused her to travel to Canada by foot and canoe. There she lived with “friendly natives.” Kateri was devoted to the Eucharist, and to Jesus Crucified, and was called the “Lily of the Mohawks” because it is said, a lily grew on her grave over the place of her heart. She died in 1680 and was beatified June 22, 1980 – the first Native American to be declared “Blessed.”
