A moment with The Seraphic Doctor

 

St. Bonaventure, Bishop, Cardinal and Doctor of the Church…July 14.

He was dangerously ill in his infancy, and his mother made a vow that, if he recovered, she would dedicate him to the Order of Blessed Francis. As a young man he entered the Order by his own wish. Eventually, he was made General Master of his Order at Rome. In this office he did his duty with such wisdom and holiness that caused all men to talk of him and marvel at him. He was the author of many books, in which the depth of his learning and the earnestness of his godliness affect the reader and teach him at the same time. Moved by his reputation for wisdom, intelligence and holiness, Pope Gregory X created him a Cardinal and Bishop… 

He had an unswerving devotion to the Queen of virgins. After a discourse on her prerogatives he humbly, but firmly said “if any one prefers otherwise, I will not contend with him, provided he say nothing to the detriment of the Venerable Virgin, for we must take the very greatest care, even if it should cost us our life, that no one lessen in any way the honor of Our Lady”

To him, “Christ is the center of every science -knowledge; and the fruit of each is to build up faith, to honor God, to regulate our life, and to lead to divine union by charity without which all knowledge is vain”. We cannot emphasize enough on the need to be convinced of this…: we must make it a point of duty that whatever we learn contributes in building up our faith, helping us honor God, making us better in the cultivation and practice of virtue, and serve as means, however remote, to divine union by charity, that charity without which all knowledge is vain…  

Given the crisis of our times, it is particularly important to meditate on what he, the Seraphic Doctor, who was at the same time the prince of science and love, had to say. “Charity” he said, “is worth more than all science. It is enough, in doubtful questions, to know what the wise have taught; disputation is to little purpose. We talk much, and our words fail us”. 

You see? He gives no room for any species of novelty and the fever for vain speculations having empty airs of originality… that is the specialty of modernists and modernizers, Catholics should neither imitate them or compete with them in the art…