From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Christ is the only rock that can save us    
      
   What can keep us from falsehood and spiritual disaster? If we make the Lord   
   Jesus and his word the rock and foundation of our lives, then nothing can   
   shake us nor keep us from God's presence and protection. Is the Lord Jesus and   
   his word the one sure    
   foundation of your life?   
      
   "Lord Jesus, you are the only foundation that can hold us up when trials and   
   disaster threaten us. Give me the wisdom, foresight, and strength of character   
   I need to do what is right and good and to reject whatever is false and   
   contrary to your will. May    
   I be a doer of your word and not a hearer only."   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   April 29th – St. Robert of Molesme, OSB Cist. Abbot    
      
   Born near Troyes, Champagne, France, in 1018; died on March 21, 1110;   
   canonized in 1222. Born of noble parents, Robert was one of the   
   founders of the Cistercian movement, which, like the monks of Cluny in   
   the 10th century, was of Benedictine stock. The Rule of Saint Benedict   
   had lost none of its value since its foundation in Italy in the 6th   
   century. Absolute fidelity to this rule, and its greatest possible   
   extension in the religious life were the two aims Robert pursued   
   throughout his life.   
      
   Saint Alberic joined Robert in this pursuit, followed by Saint Stephen   
   Harding. But would they have taken the initiative without Robert? Or   
   would they have postponed it. Or might they not have become   
   discouraged while en route? For Robert was endowed with an uncommon   
   will to overcome all obstacles.   
      
   There was no lack of obstacles. Like Stephen Harding, Robert had   
   received Benedictine training at Moutier-La-Celle beginning when he   
   was 15. He was appointed prior soon after his novitiate, then abbot of   
   Saint Michael of Tonnerre at a very early age. He was unsuccessful in   
   his attempts to reform the abbey. The scandals at the abbey were the   
   motivation behind Robert's activity.   
      
   How did it happen that the Benedictines had forgotten Saint Benedict   
   and his rule to this extent? It was not that the rule was antiquated   
   but men who were wicked, and his first desire was to convince them of   
   their error. But since they did not listen to him, his second desire   
   was to leave. "But whatever town you enter, and they do not receive   
   you--go out into the streets and say, 'Even the dust from your town,   
   that we shake off against you'"  (Luke 10:10-11).   
      
   Robert returned to Moutier-La-Celle, after having learned about a   
   little group of seven hermits in the forest of Collan, near Tonnerre,   
   whom he greatly desired to join and who in turn wanted him to live   
   with them. But Robert first of all owed obedience to the abbot of   
   Moutier-La-Celle who sent him to Saint-Ayoul. Nothing less than a   
   decree issued by Pope Alexander II was required before Robert and the   
   hermits could come together again; the decree appointed him their   
   superior. But they did not last long in Collan, since Robert decided   
   to leave that unhealthy site for a more salubrious setting in the   
   forest of Molesmes (c. 1075).   
      
   It was there at Molesmes that Robert met Stephen Harding. For Stephen   
   Harding, as for posterity, Robert was always to be known as Robert of   
   Molesmes. What Robert accomplished there, what Stephen saw there was   
   the model, in miniature but perfect, of what the Cistercians were to   
   become later: cells, which were mere huts grouped around a chapel that   
   was really an oratory, and men who formed a little republic according   
   to the Spirit, governed by an elected abbot, and who had given   
   themselves as a constitution the famous Benedictine Rule.   
      
   These men, who spent their days divided into alternate periods of   
   silence and common prayer, of contemplation and manual labor, had   
   greater dependence on God than on the world. They practiced the   
   evangelical counsels--poverty, chastity, and obedience--and found that   
   they were both viable and profitable, enabling them to live in an   
   atmosphere of peace and joy.   
      
   The austerity and holiness of the members of the rejuvenated community   
   led to a great influx of ill-qualified candidates, and when Robert was   
   unsuccessful in raising the standards to their previous level and   
   stymied by the bishop of Troyes, who caused its constitution to be   
   violated. Robert once more shook the dust from his feet, leaving   
   Alberic and Stephen Harding behind, to retire to a hermitage at Or.   
      
   Recalled again to Molesmes, and again disgusted with the laxity of the   
   monks, Robert, again shook the dust from his feet, this time took   
   Alberic and Stephen Harding with him. They escaped the jurisdiction of   
   the bishop of Troyes to fall under the jurisdiction of the bishop of   
   Langres, and finally received approval from the archbishop of Lyons,   
   the papal legate (in 1098), to found their new republic at Cîteaux,   
   near Dijon, in the diocese of Chalon- sure-Saone, which gave its name   
   to the order. The new community was dedicated to strict observance of   
   the rule of Saint Benedict.   
      
   Robert was elected abbot in which post, however, he remained for just   
   a year because the monks of Molesmes appealed to Rome and Urban II   
   responded by ordering Robert to return to Molesmes in 1099. It was in   
   Molesmes, regenerated on the model of Cîteaux, that Robert died, after   
   having governed this abbey for nine years. But in Robert's mind   
   Cîteaux and Molesmes were only guideposts.   
      
   The Lord could have said to this man: "Your plans are grandiose but   
   you will not realize them all. Like Moses you will die before reaching   
   the Promised Land. You will be the inventor, the architect. Another   
   will be the contractor, he will exploit your invention. Another will   
   steal from you the title of founder, this man will be Bernard of   
   Clairvaux....   
      
      
   Reflection:   
    The safest correction of vice is the Christian's blameless life. Yet   
   there are times when silence would make us answerable for the sins of   
   others. At such times let us, in the name of God, rebuke the offender   
   without fear.   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Christ one day said to St. John of the Cross, "John, what recompense   
   dost thou ask for thy labors?" He answered: "Lord, I ask no other   
   recompense than to suffer and be contemned for Thee."   
   --St. John of the Cross   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee   
   from you. [James 4:7]  RSVCE    
      
      
   <><><><>   
   God's gracious gift to us    
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)