Friday, 20 October 2017

#78 St. Lambert of Maastricht - Answers why God Overwhelms Us with Crosses at Times





St. Lambert of Maastricht, Bishop and Martyr gives revelations of his martyrdom in defence of the Faith – Suffering is Sweet when you have the True Christian Faith – The Sufferings of Life the Shortest Way to Reach Perfection – God Loves a Soul that is Spiritually Detached - Why God Allows Us to be Overwhelmed at Times – A Sign of Love



Ecstasy of September 16, 1878


“My name is St. Lambert, Bishop and Martyr. I suffered martyrdom by supporting the truths of God and the Church, because I did not want to break the law and deny my Christian faith. There have been many martyrs from the time when I was martyred. There has been much blood shed by men and impious barbarians who rejected the faith in Jesus Christ. (Note: this paragraph and especially the last sentence seems to suggest he was murdered by heretics / apostates. According to historical accounts, he died defending the sacrament of marriage.)


My martyrdom was long and with tortures of all kinds. They could not take my life. I was tortured in a manner hideous and merciless. My limbs were twisted, crushed under a sort of instrument of iron. Then, after having been ground, so to speak, I was exposed on a wire fence bristling with sharp points that pierced my flesh and tore my body. I was beaten with iron rods on all parts of my body, so that I could not make any movement. The last execution was even more painful. They made openings on all
parts of my body and I shed my blood to support the Faith.

Now, I will say a word on behalf of Our Lord.

It is sweet to suffer and endure martyrdom when you have the true Christian faith. Nothing frightens, nothing detracts, nothing is discouraging when it comes to the Holy Will of Him who died for us. Throughout my life I suffered much while on earth. I was accused, I carried a burden of accusations. When the love of God is based in souls, everything becomes light so that one does not feel the arrival of greater pain. Suffering on behalf of men is very sweet because we feel superhuman strength that comes from Above and gives us courage so that we are ready to face all dangers, all threats and all condemnations. .. Our Lord has planted in our hearts the vigour of courage and Hope to revive in us a lively faith, a love so strong, that God has great recognition. (i.e., is recognised as part of this great work of suffering and receives much honour and glory?)

God alone knows the price of this loving grace. The sufferings of this life are the shortest way to reach perfection. The man, who does not suffer in his body, or in his soul or his heart, has much to fear and worry, because he is far from Holy perfection. (This) perfection leaves on man's face beaming features that announce the elevation of his soul, his heart, his thoughts toward God, which is his Hope.

Our Lord put us on earth, in a kind of dark prison, closed, black, and that prison, it is our human miseries, which rise like walls, to make us even greater captives. Our sweet Lord did not put us on earth to enjoy and relax or to be perfectly happy. He has placed us on earth to love Him first and then to make us participants of His Divine Kingdom. To spend life on earth without loving God is to spend life without life, without waiting to be rewarded. Our adorable Lord, in His fatherly love, permits sometimes that we be crushed, mangled, blackened. These moments are very rich, very precious full of love.

If we knew at that moment that Our Lord prepares us, promises us and give us (these
sufferings), we would live outside ourselves, in the Divine Hope. Our Lord looks at our soul so tenderly, so lovingly, that he embellishes it with His eyes. He removes the dust, that is to say the miseries that surround our souls and He adorns it with beauty and splendour. He gives a greater freedom to taste how sweet it is to rise to the desire to love perfection. At the time of depression and neglect, (i.e. the 'dark night' of the soul) the soul gains a treasure of graces from God. It enters the friendship of its Creator. It is there where you need to pass, more or less deeply.

We must quickly remove our attachments to the earth and give it (our soul) to the Supreme Creator of all things. God does not love a soul that has a home rising to heaven and another home down on earth. (i.e. when a soul is still spiritually attached to the things earth). As always the attachment of the earth will destroy the strength of the other.

We must cut this too human attachment where charity is not always perfect. In humanity, there is imperfection, misery, lightness (i.e. shallowness?). In contrast, in the Divine attachment, everything is perfect, everything becomes perfect, all elevates in complete perfection.

Sometimes the weakness of the heart finds solace in the weakness of the human voice. Do not look for and enjoy the consolation (I.e. in human attachments) because, in this searching, in the time you spend, the thought of God is forgotten. Human thought, is in its full force and extent, occupied with vile miseries and imperfect affections. Our Lord sends us His cross, tenderly, so that our soul, our heart, our mind, our thoughts are occupied only with God and His Cross. When He sends His dear cross, He desires that we be occupied with Him and His Cross. He wants everything else to disappear. It is to make us think of Him that He overwhelms us more deeply, sometimes …

Courage! If God overwhelms you, it is a sign that He loves you, He prepares you, that He destines you and you are predestined, like workers for a great work. Live without consolation, without assurances, without human support, so to speak, without light. This is the greatest sorrow, it is true, but the most meritorious. I am going to pray for all my brothers in the Cross and above the Cross, as, on earth, you are all workers of the Cross, workers, labourers for the work of God, workers for the work of the Holy Trinity.

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Notes: Saint Lambert was born in 640, died in 709. Born in Maastricht, he became bishop of that city in 668, but in 674 he was driven from his see by the tyrant Ebroin. Afterwards, he lived for seven years at the Benedictine abbey of Stavelot as a simple monk. He was recalled to his see by Pepin of Heristal, father of Charlemagne, and did much to foster the apostolate of St. Willibrord. He was murdered in Liége, and has ever since been venerated as a martyr. Feast day, September 17.

Of great interest, Wikipedia has the following information: “Lambert is said to have denounced King Pepin's adulterous liaison with Alpaida, who was to become the mother of Charles Martel. This aroused the enmity of either Pepin, Alpaida, or both. The bishop was murdered at Liege by the troops of Dodon, Pepin's domesticus (manager of state domains), father or brother of Alpaida. (...). Lambert came to be viewed as a martyr for his defence of marital fidelity.”

As St. Lambert said he died in defence of the True Faith to Marie-Julie Jahenny, we can see from this revelation that defending the sacrament of marriage from those who would profane or redefine it contrary to Church teaching is to defend the true Faith, and in fact, by encouraging the Children of the Cross, with his revelations: “I suffered martyrdom by supporting the truths of God and the Church, because I did not want to break the law and deny my Christian faith. There have been many martyrs from the time when I was martyred. There has been much blood shed by men and impious barbarians who rejected the faith in Jesus Christ. (...) It is sweet to suffer and endure martyrdom when you have the true Christian faith,” it seems this struggle to defend this sacrament will be the greatest source of persecutions before the Victory of the Cross will occur. It is interesting that those who attempt to destroy or redefine what marriage is, usually end up heretics. Notice the martyrdom of St. Thomas More who gave his life in defence of the sacrament when King Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church over the issue of marriage validity. Instead of being obedient to God's law, he invented his own religion, unleashing a bloody period of martyrdom and persecution in England.

(Image: Right: The reliquary of St. Lambert of Maastricht.  Left: A depiction of his martyrdom.)

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