Subj : September 6th - Bl. Bertrand To : All From : rich Date : Thu Sep 05 2019 09:09:01 From: rich September 6th - Bl. Bertrand (C. 1172-c. 1230) When the good guys get careless, the bad guys are always waiting to take over. And once the bad guys are in the saddle, they are hard to unhorse. The bad guys in southern France in the 12th century were the heretical group called Cathari or Albigensians. They taught the error called Gnosticism=E2=80=93very dark and pagan in its origins, very old as a threat= to Christians, but possessed of as many lives as a cat. Its doctrine was that there were really two powers in contest: God, associated only with the spiritual; and the devil, the principle or darkness and evil, associated with everything material. Salvation, the Cathari leaders said, does not come through Christ's death, but fro= m His alleged teachings that salvation lies only in denying ourselves everything that is earthly: honors, powers, private property, war, etc., and even marriage, which was considered the greatest of evils. The Cathari did not expect all their followers to throw off these =E2=80=9Csinful=E2=80=9D things readily. They should at least plan to do so= just before their death, however, and receive at that time the =E2=80=9Cbaptism = of the Holy Spirit.=E2=80=9D The leaders themselves followed this erroneous asceticism throughout their lives, and they were encouraged to commit suicide if tempted to become =E2=80=9Cordinary Christians=E2=80=9D again. Why should such a wild error have won any following among French Catholics? In the first place, because the Catholics were not well instructed in their faith. In the second place, because so many prominent Catholics were living selfish, sensuous lives that the ordinary Catholics asked, =E2=80=9CIs this Christianity?=E2=80=9D But the C= athari leaders (=E2=80=9Cthe Perfect Ones=E2=80=9D) were living what seemed to be = lives of self-denial and social service of the sort one would expect of good Christians. Several methods were attempted to crush the heresy. One was the Inquisition. Another was a military crusade. The Inquisition eventually had some success, but the military crusade only further alienated many Catholics. What was going to help most, because it was most radical, was the efforts of the new religious orders of the Dominicans and Franciscans. They aimed first, to instruct Catholics better in their faith; and second, to set them all an example of Christian selflessness. One of the earliest Dominicans to engage in this religious instruction and preaching was Bl. Bertrand of Garrigues. Clinging to orthodoxy and peace in the midst of Southern France's heresy and civil war, he ha= d seen King Raymond VI of Toulouse, a pro-Albigensian, attack the monasteries of Cistercian monks, the defenders of the faith. (The story is told that the Cistercian monks at Bouchet repelled Raymond by overturning their beehives in the face of the advancing soldiers!) Bertrand, becoming a priest first, helped the Cistercians by his preaching. Then he met St. Dominic, joined the new Dominican order, and became one of the saint's closest confidants. For several years= he traveled with him and witnessed the many miracles he wrought, although at Dominic's command he spoke nothing of them until after the saint= 's death. Having worked in Paris, Toulouse, Rome and Bologne, Friar Bertrand was named provincial of the Dominicans preaching against Catharism in southeastern France. There he spent the last nine years of his life. He countered the dark heresy of Albigensianism not only by his teaching but by his Christian good example. There is a story told about him that shows how Bl. Bertrand was himself a constant learner. Once a fellow friar, Father Benedict, asked him why he celebrated Mass for the dead so infrequently. Bertrand replied that the poor souls were already on their way to heaven, hence they were less in need than the living. But Benedict rejoined: =E2=80=9CIf you saw two beggars, one strong and the other disable= d, which would you pity the more?=E2=80=9D Friar Bertrand admitted, =E2=80=9CT= he one who can do least for himself.=E2=80=9D Benedict said, =E2=80=9CThe souls in pur= gatory can do nothing to help themselves; the living can.=E2=80=9D Bl. Bertrand ponder= ed that explanation a lot, and then began to offer more Masses for the dead. You see, this preacher against darkness is instructing us, even today. =E2=80=93Father Robert Saint Quote: Spiritual life demands that you never turn back or stop going forward; but rather that, as soon as you taste it, you make progress day by day and, forgetting what lies behind, strain forward to what lies ahead. --Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria Bible Quote I will praise the name of God with a canticle: and I will magnify him with praise=C2 (Psalm 69:31)=C2 DRB <><><><> We must always pray, and not faint.--Luke 18:1 =C2 14. The whole aim of whoever intends to give himself to prayer ought to be to labor, to resolve, to dispose himself, with all possible diligence, to conform his will to that of God. For in this consists all the highest perfection that can be acquired in the spiritual way. --St. Teresa It was the principal object of all the prayers of this Saint, to conform herself in everything to the Divine Will. This also was the end that St. Bernard fixed for himself at the beginning of his prayer, when he encouraged himself to make it, as we read in his Life, by the hope of knowing and doing the will of God. The same thing is related of St. Vincent de Paul, and of many other servants of God. ("A Year with the Saints".=C2 =C2 September: Prayer) --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .