# 11 - A SERIOUS REPORT ON BLESSED CASTELLO, O.P.

 # 11 - A SERIOUS REPORT ON BLESSED CASTELLO, O.P.

JUSTICE IS TRUTH IN ACTION - HTTP://WWW.CINOPSBEGONEBLOGSPOT.COM - SUN. JAN. 17, 2021

 

THE LIFE OF BLESSED MARGARET CASTELLO, O.P.

Father William R. Bonneville O.P. Tan Books, Carolina 2016, Chapter 3, p. 16-18

 

    "I know I should not say it," cried  Lady Gemma, bursting into tears, "but it would be better that the unhappy child die and be released from her misery." A silence ensued. The chaplain waited a while until he was sure that the emotion of Leonardo and his lady had expended itself. Then he began to speak in his timid, apologetic voice, "Isn't it strange how few of us Christians really put into practice what our faith teaches us?"

      "Why, what do you mean - put into practice -?" "Well" replied the priest, our Faith teaches us that God created us to love Him, and in that love to find eternal and perfect happiness. My greatest aim then, in a life filled with all kinds of obstacles and distractions, should be to develop to the highest degree of my love of God. To do this I do not need eyesight, or a normal body, or the love and affection of my fellow man - agreeable and pleasant as all things are."

 

    The priest was staring at the burning logs of the hearth and seemed to be speaking to himself, rather than to his friends. "Now, little Margaret understands this very clearly. And she also knows that one of the most efficacious ways in which love can be deepened, strengthened, purified, is by suffering. Our Savior taught us that the royal road to perfect love is the Cross. Everyone has noticed how contented and cheerful Margaret has always been; the reason is that she regards her handicaps and deformities as being merely the means she can more surely reach her God."

 

    The priest turned to the knight's wife. "Lady Gemma, a moment ago you said that it would be better for the child to die. You are wrong. It is better, a thousand times better, both for herself and for countless others, that she should live. "But, Father," protested Gemma, "think of all the pleasures she will miss in life, and all of the suffering she will have to undergo!"

 

    "My child, God is well worth any price that we can pay. I grant you that a heavy burden has been paid on young shoulders; bu Margaret has been given a keen mind - a luminous mind- with she clearly apprehends the issue at stake. Furthermore, she has received the graces necessary to carry her cross. If she does not falter, a glorious victory will one day be hers; yes, the time will come when she will bless the day she was born blind and deformed. Let us, her friends, pray as we have never prayed before, that her faith and courage fail her not!"

 

    The soldier made an impatient move. "Father, you are expecting a mere child to act like St. Francis or a St. Anthony! Be reasonable!" "Messer Leonardo," replied the priest, "this afternoon when I returned from my trip, I had hardly reached my rooms when I had a number of visitors: they came to inform me of what Parisio had done. They all remarked how brave Margaret had been, that she did not shed a tear. After my interview with Parisio, I went down to see little Margaret. She was sobbing as if her heart was broken." "Naturally cried the Knight. "That is just what I am contending. You are expecting too much from a child." "But do you know why she was crying? persisted the priest.

 

    Surely the answer is obvious , isn't it? It is a frightful blow to a child so deeply affectionate as Margaret to be imprisoned by her own parents!" "Yes, agreed the chaplain. "For her it was pure agony. And I thought that is why she was weeping. But she soon disillusioned me." The priest's voice had suddenly become unsteady. To conceal his emotions he rose from his seat, and placing a hand on the shoulder  of the knight, he continued.

  "As well as I know Margaret, her reply left me shaken. She said, "Father, when you brought me here this morning, I did not understand - because of my sins - why God let this happen to me. But now he had made it clear. Jesus was rejected even by his own people, and God is letting  me be treated the same so I can follow Our dear Lord more closely. And oh! Father, I am not good enough to be so near to God!" "And she was so overcome buy the thought of God's love for her that she could not continue ... Well - good night, dear friends. May God bless you and keep you!"...   George H. Kubeck