No one is a prophet in his own country
By Jean-Robert Gauthier
Canada
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Before going up to heaven, the Lord exhorted his disciples to announce the Good News to all nations. For more than a century, it is by the thousands that the sons and daughters of Quebec have answered this call with great generosity. Few have had the radiance of Father Émilien Tardif.
When Father Tardif died suddenly on June 8, 1999, the president of the Dominican Republic, his adopted country, decreed a day of national mourning to honor this great man of God. It is by the thousands that people came to bid him farewell, first in Saint-Domingue, then in Santiago. His memory remains very much alive wherever he not only announced, but proved, that Jesus is alive. It is good that a book comes to celebrate this out-of-the-ordinary vocation.
In writing her book entitled Émiliano Tardif, a Man of God (1), Maria A. Sangiovanni rendered a great service to the whole Church. The French translation that has just appeared at Éditions des Béatitudes will delight the many francophone friends of Father Tardif.
As co-founder with Father Tardif of the Community of the Servants of the Living Christ, the author knew the Sacred Heart Missionary well in the Dominican Republic, where he worked since 1965. She consulted Father Tardif's family and letters to tell the story of this exceptional vocation.
She describes very well the radical change that took place in him when, struck down by an acute pulmonary tuberculosis, he was healed through the laying on of hands of five lay people. Like many priests, he had distrusted the Charismatic Renewal. Yet “the experience of his healing was for him the occasion of a meeting with the living Jesus, close, present, acting in his life” (p. 74).
During this prayer, the Lord revealed to him that He was going to make of him a witness of His love. Humbly and with docility to the Holy Spirit, Father Tardif placed the charisms received at the service of evangelization. The author brings out well the importance, for souls, of combining fervent preaching with an openness to the signs and wonders that transform lives.
It is thus that Jesus touched hearts; it is thus that the apostles and the saints of all times converted entire peoples. It is because this bold and supernatural approach was rejected that faith recedes among us and elsewhere in the West. The author illustrates her point with testimonies of astonishing physical and spiritual healings. This ministry of compassion, inspired by the real presence of the Eucharist and sustained by a confident and persevering prayer, blessed children of God in 72 countries. Despite the incomprehension of some, it drew considerable crowds not only in the Third World but in Europe and here in Quebec itself.
Everywhere, Father Tardif encouraged people to join charismatic prayer groups so that the Lord renew and feed their faith. What would our Church of Quebec become if everyone opened themselves to the life of the Holy Spirit with the boldness and humility of Father Tardif? This book really gives us a taste of it.
In this book, the testimonies do not lack. That of Father Raniero Cantalamessa, at the very beginning, sets the tone. The author devoted the last 83 pages of the book to testimonies of many prelates, priests, religious, and members of the natural and spiritual family of the great missionary.
The archbishop of Santiago considers Father Tardif as “one of the great men of the Church of these last decades”. The auxiliary bishop of Saint-Domingue does not hesitate to say that Father Tardif “went away in the odor of sanctity”. Reading this book did me a great deal of good. Several times, prayer burst forth spontaneously from the bottom of my heart, forcing me to put the book aside to converse with my Savior. Read it and “taste and see how good the Lord is”.
Note:
1- Éditions des Béatitudes, Maria A. Sangiovanni, 2007, 250 pages, $37.95.
See the review associated with this article