- Philippians 3:12-14 -
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made
perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took
hold of
me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But
one
thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
I
press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me
heavenward
in Christ Jesus.
______________________________________________________________________
A Powerful Prescription for Joy
1) Develop the discipline for focus. Concentrate on knowing Christ.
Make
every day another chapter in the book of your life where you are focusing
on
him.
2) Develop the discipline to forget. Use selective forgetfulness by
letting
go of your past failures and successes.
3) Develop the discipline to follow. Make every effort to live the
righteous
life with God's help.
- Turning Toward Joy - David Jeremiah
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April 5th - St. Vincent Ferrer
St. Vincent Ferrer was born at Valencia, Spain, on January 23, 1357.
Before his
birth his vocation was announced to his parents in a miraculous way. The
whole
city of Valencia celebrated his birth and went to his baptism.
He entered the Dominican Order at age 18, soon revealing great gifts for
preaching. He was sent to Cataluņa to study, and then Lerida, where he
studied
under Cardinal Peter de Luna. Later, this Cardinal was elected pope and
became
Benedict XIII at the time when the Great Western Schism divided the
Church. This
pope invited Vincent to be his auxiliary, but he refused.
Vincent started a great work of evangelization as a preacher. He preached
all
over France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and England, the latter by special
request
of King Henry IV. The most hardened sinners could not resist his words. He
converted countless Catholics from their bad lives and customs, as well as
brought numerous Jews, Muslims and Schismatics to the Catholic Faith.
The corruption of customs, during the Hundred Years' War and the Schism,
made
the apostolate of St. Vincent indispensable. What was needed was an
apostle with
a terrible message who could shake the conscience of sinners delivered to
their
excesses. His sermons were about the most frightening themes of Catholic
doctrine: the terrible responsibility of sinners, the Judgment of God,
Hell,
eternity, etc. He had the gift to speak with a great energy, always using
a
language accessible to his audience. He also became noted for the great
miracles
he worked wherever he went.
The fame of his sanctity reached the Moorish King of Granada, who invited
him to
his kingdom to preach. However, he converted so many that some of the
ministers
of the King, fearful for the future of the Muslim religion, asked the
sovereign
to send the great missionary away.
During the sorrowful exile of the Popes in Avignon, St. Vincent condemned
Benedict XIII, who was one of the three ecclesiastics simultaneously
claiming
the Papacy at that time, and gave his complete support to Pope Martin V,
who had
been elected in the Council of Constance.
In 1419, he died in Bretagne, France at 62 years of age.
Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corręa de Oliveira: (died 1995)
In the 14th century, Europe entered into a process of decline from the
apogee it
had reached in the 12th and 13th centuries. It was a tremendous decadence
symbolized by the exile of the Popes in Avignon, where they were under the
control of the King of France. This calamitous period also saw a Schism in
the
Church, in which three men claimed to be popes, each one with a different
story
and elected by different groups of Prelates.
One of the goals of the Council of Constance in 1414 was to resolve this
crisis.
The three popes were asked to resign, and the Bishops went on to elect
another
person, Pope Martin V, as the only legitimate Pope.
It is not difficult to imagine that with three popes ordering different
things
at the same time, a great confusion was introduced in Christendom:
confusion
among the Prelates, clergy, and also the faithful.
Such an atmosphere of discord and intrigue necessarily caused a moral
decay of
the clergy and faithful. One could say that it was the whole Middle Ages
that
entered into putrefaction at that time. It was primarily a moral decadence
rather than an intellectual one. It was not a great heresy, but a Great
Schism,
shaking the unity of the Church and of Christendom. The moral
deterioration that
accompanied it, a first explosion of pride and sensuality, would generate
the
intellectual errors of the Revolution.
Divine Providence sent two great saints to prevent this moral and
intellectual
deterioration: St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Thomas was
the
dike to stop the intellectual corruption - he became the Doctor of the
Doctors.
The other dike was St. Vincent Ferrer, who was, we can say, the Preacher
of the
Preachers.
I think that no one has surpassed St. Vincent Ferrer as a popular
preacher. Even
St. Anthony Mary Claret, who was an enormously efficacious preacher in the
19th
century, did not have the momentous effect of St. Vincent Ferrer. St.
Vincent
used to say that he was the Angel of the Apocalypse that God had sent to
announce the decadence of Christendom and the beginning of the end times.
In fact, he fought a great deal to restore the corrupted morals and
customs in
order to stop that decline. The selection tells us the great success he
had in
converting Catholics from their tepidity and corruption, and also Jews,
Muslims
and Schismatics from their respective errors. The fact that he preached
incessantly on terrifying themes shows us that he was not speaking
principally
to ardent souls, but rather to lukewarm Catholics. He was shaking their
consciences in order to promote a reaction and stop the decadence. He
delivered
his discourses with so much energy that he filled the most insensible with
terror. To employ fear is another way to convince. His gift of miracles
and the
sanctity of his life added weight to his words.
With this, we understand the colossal number of conversions he produced.
But
even as numerous as they were, they were insufficient. They did not give
birth
to an organized movement to destroy the Revolution born in the first half
of the
14th century. His words were not received by his contemporaries as well as
they
should have been. He converted many souls, no doubt, but society as such
did not
convert, nor did Christendom change its path. The latter continued its
process
toward its end.
St. Vincent Ferrer was a dike that Divine Providence raised to contain the
waters of that river; but the evil of men and the action of the Revolution
broke
the dike and the torrent broke over everything, carrying it into the
abyss.
Nonetheless, the great figure of St. Vincent Ferrer stands at the
threshold of
that historic era, announcing the catastrophes that would come, as they
did.
Like the Prophets of the Old Covenant announcing the chastisements to the
people
of God, so the monumental figure of St. Vincent Ferrer stands at that
threshold
of History that marks the beginning of the Revolution.
Today, we are living in the last steps of that same revolutionary process
he
came to prevent. So, let us ask him to give us the graces that were
refused at
his time, the graces to rebuild society to an even more glorious
Christendom
than it reached in the Middle Ages.
See Images at:
http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j215sd_VincentFerrer_04_05.html
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Saint Quote:
"If you see that you have not yet suffered tribulations, consider it
certain
that you have not begun to be a true servant of God; for the Apostle says
plainly that all who choose to live piously in Christ, shall suffer
persecutions.
-St. Augustine
St. Athanasius, St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom, St. Jerome, and St. Cyril
were
all charged with a thousand crimes, and in that way were greatly
afflicted.
(Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints". April - Patience)
Bible Quote"
12 And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution.
(2
Timothy 3:12)
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