Honoring Archbishop Lefebvre
Apr 23, 2018 20:35:04 GMT
Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2018 20:35:04 GMT
excerpt from Marcel Lefebvre: The Biography, Bishop Tissier de Mallerais, pp. 600-601
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HONORING ARCHBISHOP LEFEBVRE
Age has not slowed him down. Neither is he hurried because of the little time that remains for him to accomplish the great work that he has to do. Archbishop Lefebvre goes forth with the serenity of a man who is being led.
What is striking in this individual is his goodness. I mean he radiates goodness. One feels it like the warmth of a hand. It touches you. Immediately it makes one want to be better, to be less indulgent towards oneself, one’s failings and faults and to be more worthy of the respect one is shown.
Only one other man inspired me with the same feeling: Marshal Pétain. He and Archbishop Lefebvre share the same natural dignity, the same good-humored authority and the same simplicity.
They are the type of men whose intelligence is not intellectual. There is no posturing in their seriousness. They are mischievous without being malicious. Spontaneously they inspire loyalty even unto sacrifice, because one knows instinctively and with a sudden and deep conviction that from the outset they have totally sacrificed themselves to their duty.
They do not deceive nor do they cheat. They do not go off at a tangent or give twisted explanations. Their yes is yes and their no is no. Trials do not change the way they behave. One served France. The other serves God. With the same calm courage and the same confidence, they followed out the terms of their commitment to the very end without swaggering and without weakness.
Before judging them, one must first acknowledge their destiny with a heart full of gratitude and love for the lesson of grandeur they gave.
We were anxious to cite in its entirety this passage of Francois Brigneau written in June 1988 just before the consecrations. It is one of the most beautiful tributes to the person and work of Archbishop Lefebvre, who continued leading his life of prayer and active charity with the pace of an ordered soul that quickened the nearer it came to the end of its time on earth.
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(end of excerpt)
____________________________________________________________
HONORING ARCHBISHOP LEFEBVRE
Age has not slowed him down. Neither is he hurried because of the little time that remains for him to accomplish the great work that he has to do. Archbishop Lefebvre goes forth with the serenity of a man who is being led.
What is striking in this individual is his goodness. I mean he radiates goodness. One feels it like the warmth of a hand. It touches you. Immediately it makes one want to be better, to be less indulgent towards oneself, one’s failings and faults and to be more worthy of the respect one is shown.
Only one other man inspired me with the same feeling: Marshal Pétain. He and Archbishop Lefebvre share the same natural dignity, the same good-humored authority and the same simplicity.
They are the type of men whose intelligence is not intellectual. There is no posturing in their seriousness. They are mischievous without being malicious. Spontaneously they inspire loyalty even unto sacrifice, because one knows instinctively and with a sudden and deep conviction that from the outset they have totally sacrificed themselves to their duty.
They do not deceive nor do they cheat. They do not go off at a tangent or give twisted explanations. Their yes is yes and their no is no. Trials do not change the way they behave. One served France. The other serves God. With the same calm courage and the same confidence, they followed out the terms of their commitment to the very end without swaggering and without weakness.
Before judging them, one must first acknowledge their destiny with a heart full of gratitude and love for the lesson of grandeur they gave.
We were anxious to cite in its entirety this passage of Francois Brigneau written in June 1988 just before the consecrations. It is one of the most beautiful tributes to the person and work of Archbishop Lefebvre, who continued leading his life of prayer and active charity with the pace of an ordered soul that quickened the nearer it came to the end of its time on earth.
______________________________________________________________
(end of excerpt)