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Twenty-fourth
Sunday after Pentecost
Thoughts for the Week - Fr. R. Taouk
4th November 2018
The Saints Versus the Heroes of this World
by Don Juan Donoso Cortés
Those nations who do not confess the Saviour crucified
have had their heroes, but the great Catholic society
has its Saints; and with all due regard as to the
proportional difference between them, and all exceptions
granted as to the propriety of such a comparison, we
consider that the heroes of paganism are to the Saints
of Catholicism, what the various personifications of the
people are to the absolute personification of humanity
in the person of God made man for the love of men.
Between these various personifications and this absolute
personification there is an infinite distance, while
between heroes and Saints there is an incommensurable
distance. It is natural that the first being infinite,
the second should be incommensurable.
The heroes of paganism were men who, stimulated by a
worldly passion carried to its utmost limit, performed
extraordinary works. The Saints of Catholicism are men
who, having renounced all carnal passions, bear up with
unshaken courage, without any mortal aid, against the
impetuous torrent of human afflictions. The heroes,
concentrating all their strength up to a feverish
excitement, overcame all those who opposed them. The
Saints always commenced by an abnegation of their own
strength, and thus unarmed and denuded they conquered
themselves and all the powers of Earth and Hell.
The heroes, desired to acquire glory and renown among
men; the Saints considered the vain applause of mankind
as of no value, and, regardless of their name and glory,
and despising the exercise of their own will, they
forsook all things and placed themselves in the hands of
God, convinced that the greatest honour to which man can
aspire, is to be counted among the servants of God. Such
were the heroes of paganism, and such the Saints of
Catholicism. They both gained the contrary of what they
sought. The heroes who sought to fill the entire Earth
with the glory of their renown, have been utterly
forgotten by the multitude, while the Saints whose
aspirations were only directed toward Heaven are here
below honoured, revered, and invoked by the people, and
by kings, emperors, and pontiffs. How great is God in
His works, and how marvellous are His designs! Man
imagines that it is he who acts, while it is God who
conducts him. He fancies that he descends into a valley,
and he finds himself, without knowing it, on a mountain.
He thinks that he acquires glory, and even his name is
obliterated; and when he seeks a refuge and rest in
oblivion, he suddenly finds himself as one deafened by
the vociferous outcries of the multitude who proclaim
his renown. Some sacrifice everything for the glory of
their name, and none survive them to bear it, so that
their name becomes extinct with them.
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