Fr. Raymond, among the Abbots, was at Rome for the canonisation of Saint Raphael. He remembers the feast at the large outside celebration and shared with by the group from Spain. In the company the friends rejoiced for their own new saint.
At the community Maas, Fr. Raymond asked if us monks might be included in the Saints.
I love to add a couple of pages from St. Rafael. especially, the focus on, "Tabernacles; In La 'Trapa, the thing which
is accounted of least regard is La Trapa and the Trappists. The first, the only
thing, is a Tabernacle in which is concealed the greatness and the immensity of
God."
243 Around the Tabernacle all the activity of the Cistercian monastery turns.
78
TO KNOW HOW TO WAIT THE EUCHARISTIC LIFE 79
...
I suffer I cease to do so in realizing that He wants it is thus.
234
Ah, Lord Jesus, how I love You! Were I
to have a thousand lives, a thousand I would give You. With Your divine grace
and the help of Mary I can do it all. May
You be blest. .
235
True humiliation is our inability to
receive God elsewhere; it has to be here, within our wretchedness, in
our soul which is subject to matter, to this matter which drags us clown when
the eyelids heavy with sleep wan t to close.
236
Jesus is in the Tabernacle, there He
receives His friends, consoles, heals and forgives them. How great is the
intimacy of .Jesus with those who sorrow!
237
Everywhere on earth there is strife,
but there is this difference among the combatants; the triumphs of those who
while fighting are united with the Tabernacle, will only be seen in Heaven.
238
In La 'Trapa, the thing which is
accounted of least regard is La Trapa and the Trappists. The first, the only
thing, is a Tabernacle in which is concealed the greatness and the immensity of
God.
239
Let us hide ourselves with Jesus in
the Mystery of the Sacrament; may we live with our hearts united with the
Tabernacle ..
240
May your life be a continued act of
love for Jesus.
241
There arc a multitude of Tabernacles
all round the world, bur only one God; who is Jesus in the most holy Sacrament,
Jesus the true comforter, who unites the monk in his choir, the missionary in
pagan lands, the layman in his parish, regardless of distance, age. At the foot
of the Tabernacle we are all united by God, let us ask Him through the
mediation of Mary that one day, there in Heaven, we may gaze upon that God who
for love of man, conceals Himself under the species of bread and wine.
I
would like to make reparation for the forsaken Tabernacle.
242
If this God who veils Himself in a
little piece of bread weren't so forsaken, men would be happier, but they don't
want that.
243
Around the Tabernacle all the
activity of the Cistercian monastery turns.
244
The sorrows and the tears which
overwhelm me for Him, have turned into peace and calm, for I have the Lord; let
me live united with His Tabernacle, pick...
St. Raphael Arnáiz Barón, monk (1911-1938) | |
 Other saints of the day | |
SAINT RAPHAEL ARNÁIZ BARÓN
Monk (1911-1938)
Raphael Arnáiz Barón was born in Burgos (Spain) April 9, 1911, into a prominent, deeply Christian family. He was baptised and confirmed in Burgos and began his schooling at the Jesuit college in the same city where, in 1919, he was admitted to first Communion.
It was at this time that he had his first experience of illness: persistent fevers due to colibacillosis forced him to interrupt his studies. To mark his recovery, which he attributed to a special intervention of the Virgin Mary, his father took him to Zaragoza and consecrated him to the Virgin of Pilar. This experience, which took place in the late summer of 1921, profoundly marked Raphael.
When the family moved to Oviedo, he continued his secondary schooling with the Jesuits there, obtaining a diploma in science. He then enrolled in the School of Architecture in Madrid, where he succeeded in balancing his studies with a life of fervent piety.
Possessing a brilliant and eclectic mind, Raphael also stood out because of his deep sense of friendship and his fine features. Blessed with a happy and jovial nature he was also athletic, had a gift for drawing and painting as well a love for music and the theatre. But as he matured, his spiritual experience of the Christian life deepened.
Although the study of architecture required a great deal of hard work and discipline, at that time he began the practice of making a long daily visit to the Blessed Sacrament in the Chapel of "Caballero de Gracia". He even joined the Nocturnal Adoration Association, and faithfully took his turn before the Blessed Sacrament.
In this way his heart became well disposed to listening, and he perceived an invitation from God to lead the contemplative life.
Raphael had already been in contact with the Trappist monastery of San Isidro de Dueñas, and he felt strongly drawn to this place, responding to his deepest desires. In December of 1933 he suddenly broke off his professional studies and on January 16, 1934 entered the monastery of San Isidro.
After the first months of the noviciate and his first Lent, which he lived with great enthusiasm, embracing all the austerities of Trappist life, God mysteriously chose to test him with a sudden and painful
infirmity: a serious form of diabetes mellitus which forced him to leave the monastery immediately and return to his family in order to receive the proper care.
Barely recovered, he returned to the monastery, but his illness forced him to leave the monastery for treatment again and again. But whenever he was absent he wanted to return, responding faithfully and generously to what he understood to be a call from God.
Sanctified by his joyful and heroic fidelity to his vocation, in his loving acceptance of the Divine will and the mystery of the Cross, in his impassioned search for the Face of God, fascinated by his contemplation of the Absolute, in his tender and filial devotion to the Virgin Mary-"the Lady", as he liked to call her-his life came to an end on April 26, 1938. He was barely 27 years old. He was buried in the monastery cemetery, and later in the Abbey church.
The fame of his sanctity rapidly spread beyond the walls of the monastery. The example of his life together with his many spiritual writings continue to spread and greatly profit those who get to know him. He has been described as one of the great mystics of the twentieth century.
On August 19, 1989, the Holy Father John Paul II, on World Youth Day at Santiago de Compostella, proposed him as a model for young people today, and beatified him on September 27, 1992.
Pope Benedict XVI canonized him on October 11, 2009 and presented him as a friend and intercessor for all the faithful, especially for the young.
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