Someone has said that a mystery is not something to be solved as much as to be experienced. Today we experience three mysterious persons.
The first one I believe is the most mysterious character in all the scriptures: Melchizedek, King of Salem, and priest of God Most High, without father or mother, or ancestry, without beginning of days or end of life. He is the person who suddenly appears to Abraham after a major battle and Abraham promises one tenth of everything.
The second is Blessed Basil Moreau. For my generation in priestly formation, Moreau was a mystery. We learned little about this figure.
The Cross is the key to knowing Basil Moreau. It was 148 years ago today he entered the heart of the Holy Trinity. One of the Holy Cross Sisters in Canada, Lucie Germain, said that when we think of the great saints, we consider Teresa of Avila, or John of the Cross or John Vianney. In her opinion, Basil Moreau is no less a great saint than these. She added, of course God is the one who determines these things.
"Be not surprised at the violent storm stirred up against the Congregation of Holy Cross by the enemy of all good … For my own part, I am not the least surprised by all these trials. Thanks be to God they have only increased my confidence in Him who alone has founded and maintained this congregation. He it is who will expand it more and more, provided we do not lend a helping hand to the devil who would destroy it because he sees us snatching souls from him.” – Blessed Basil Moreau
Moreau had his own dark night of the soul. He believed that opposition to good work was a sure sign that this was a work of God because the devil is doing all he can to frustrate it.
The more we stand at the foot of the Cross of Christ, the more immediately and profoundly we can experience the truth of God who is love. It is precisely on the Cross that the One who in death appears to human eyes as disfigured and without beauty, so much so that the bystanders cover their eyes, fully reveals the beauty and power of God’s love.
Melchizedek, Blessed Basil Moreau, and our Lord Jesus Crist, three mysterious persons. Three ways for us to know the love and beauty of God.
“Beautiful is God, the Word of God …He is beautiful in heaven, beautiful on earth; beautiful in the womb, beautiful in his parents’ arms, beautiful in his miracles, beautiful in his sufferings; beautiful in inviting to life, beautiful in not worrying about death, beautiful in giving up his life and beautiful in taking it up again; he is beautiful on the Cross, beautiful in the tomb, beautiful in heaven. Listen to the song with understanding; and let not the weakness of the flesh distract your eyes from the splendor of his beauty.” – St. Augustine
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Father Wilfred J. Raymond, C.S.C. (Father Willy), a native of Old Town, Maine, is the eighth of 12 children. He joined the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1964 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1971. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Stonehill College in 1967 and a master’s in Theology from the University of Notre Dame in 1971. He served in ministry at Stonehill College (1979-1992), Holy Cross leadership (1994-2000), National Director of Family Theater Productions, Hollywood (2000-2014), and President of Holy Cross Family Ministries (2014-2022). In addition to English, he is conversant in French and Spanish. He remains a diehard fan of the Boston Red Sox, even though he has served as Chaplain for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
