Heritage and Spirituality
by Sister Valéria Erneio, RSCM
Father Gailhac, while chaplain of the Military Hospital, shared with the patients the tenderness of Jesus for them.
Presence in the Hospital in Beziers
The greater majority of patients were the elderly, the dying, including soldiers and prostitutes.
For Gailhac, they were the poorest and the most in need of a world of comfort and of hope in God’s compassion.
The Sick in Today’s Society
- Sometimes we find the elderly who are excluded from their families and many youth take refuge in drugs.
- Beggars, homeless people, street children.
The Living Rosary
Gailhac tried to nourish the christian life of the unschooled through certain popular devotions, like “The Living Rosary”, an association of people organized in groups of fifteen. His objective was to give people a taste for praying the Rosary.
In Today’s World as RSHM
We have the movement of the Extended RSHM Family in almost every part of the world, even where there is no RSHM presence. The objective is to contine Father Gailhac’s spirit and works, helping the needy of our region who live in deprived neighbourhoods, in the streets, in the slums of our villages and towns.
This Group needs to have a good grasp Gailhac’s Spiritualiy in order to proclaim that Jesus came so that all may have life. Good works need to be concretised so that all are included.
For this to happen we need to be nourished by our Sources, by reflection and by formative engagements.
The 19th century Church was particularly open to a missionary spirit inspired by the Holy Spirit.
So Father Gailhac was obcessed with the thought of spreading the gospel in Beziers.
In the 21st century Church Pope Francis calls us to be Missionary Disciples, choosing preferentially to work with the poor.
The Formation of small base communities called Nucleus were a help in different places.
The RSHM with a spirit of faith and zeal want to choose life, life that is thirsty for God, for justice and to be the voice of the voiceless, the marginalized and the abandoned.
In 1832, cholera spead through Beziers, raising the number of patients in the hospice. Jean Gailhac never rested and ended up with pleurisy himself. In spite of medical difficulties, he never gave up. In a short time after his illness he was again back at the service of the sick.
TODAY’S STORY
In November 2019, the CORONA epidemic spread.
Corona started in China and spread to the whole world.. So much so that it was called a World War, but without arms, without tanks and missiles. It was a virus that caused grip-like infection that resulted in respiratory problems greater than pneumonia.
In spite of the rule “Stay at Home”, one of the means of prevention of the virus, many RSHM, doctors, nurses, health technicians, and other people of good will, imbued with Fr Gailhac’s spirit, arose in various parts of the world. We did not keep our arms crossed, but put ourselves at the service of humanity.
In the same way, that an invisible virus exists and can kill, there exists an Invisible God who cares for, liberates and saves.
French Article:
