From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

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)
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