Je prends pour ma victoire,
Lorsque par ta vertu
À ta plus grande gloire
Tu m’auras abattu;
Mais je ne suis pas digne
De mourir sous tes coups
Ni d’être comme un signe
Fort contrarié de tous.
Dieu seul.
I consider it a victory
When by your mighty power,
And for your greatest glory,
You truly overcome me;
Dear Cross, I am not worthy
To die beneath your blows
Or of being a sign
Of contradiction to the world.
God Alone.
(31st Stanza from the Hymn, Triumph of the Cross by St. Louis de Montfort
in the original French and translated into English by the Montfort Missionaries)
In the Easter season, the call to self-sacrifice is no less clear than during Lent. We celebrate the risen Lord, yet our call to be a martyr for Christ persists, perhaps stronger than ever! We hear in the first reading today about St. Stephen, who gave up his life beneath a torrent of stones for the sake of the truth of Jesus Christ. He spoke the word of God and joyfully gave the ultimate price. He did it for
God alone.
Today we also celebrate the great Breton saint, Louis de Montfort. Tall, very strong, stubborn, and with a quick temper, St. Louis was like St. Stephen in his desire to preach the truth no matter the cost. After his seminary studies at St. Sulpice he would begin his missionary life with crushing rejection and resistance. Yet, tromping barefoot from town to town across France, he would be the instrument of great conversion because he trusted in
God alone.
St. Louis embraced the scorn of others, whether it came from a bishop or a supercilious nitwit jeering at him during a mission. Yet he never felt worthy of the mockery that he received: I am not worthy “of being a sign of contradiction to the world.” He attributed the fruits of his labors wholly and rightly to the grace of his Creator. Blossoming from his blessed humility, St. Louis’s famous motto was born:
God alone.
Commonly, when not preaching to the faithful, he would storm the local establishments of ill repute to implore conversions of heart. His frequent companion, Pierre des Bastieres, described one such instance when “one man, furious at this intrusion, drew his sword, and threatened to run him through the body unless he immediately left. […] Completely unperturbed, he looked his assailant straight in the eye and told him that he was very ready to be killed on condition that his murderer would promise to change his way of life. Such courage completely broke the man’s nerve; he trembled so badly that he could scarcely sheathe his sword, and had to grope his way to the door” (The Man Called Montfort, 108). This was the effect of St. Louis because he was a man for
God alone.
St. Louis’s love of Jesus through Mary and his zealous way of life, always yearning for the salvation of souls, stands out as an example to follow, especially when times grow difficult like during our present viral pandemic. Fortified by heavenly consolation, St. Louis was always with the God who dwelt in his heart, enabling his perseverance even to the point of his own demise for the salvation of another, just as St. Stephen did—for “greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Yet in his humility, St. Louis attributed everything to God, recognizing that God alone was his goal, in God alone is the living bread of life for which man yearns and by which man is saved; he realized that the glory forever belongs to
God alone.
St. Louis de Montfort, pray for us.
✠
Photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P. (used with permission)
