Blessed Charles of Mount Argus

Fr. Paul Francis, C.P. of Glasgow, who has written a book on him, blogs today about Blessed Charles, whose miracle was approved by the Vatican before Christmas, and who, when canonized, will be the first canonized saint to have died in Ireland (Fr. Paul Francis points out that the earliest Irish saints were not canonized, and the three who were died outside of Ireland.

He has many links, including this refleciton he wrote for his parish bulletin.

It is sad but true that many people experience very little love in their lives. Summing up the meaning of the years that make up a human life, the Psalmist says: “And most of these are emptiness and pain; they pass swiftly and we are gone” (Psalm 89:10). The answer to the emptiness and pain of life is found only in the love of God. The love of God remains the remedy for all the evils of this world; as Catholics, that is what we believe.

What can we do in the face of the emptiness and pain that is part of so many people’s lives? The great Carmelite mystic, Saint John of the Cross, said “Where you find no love, put love and then you’ll find it.”

Often we are more concerned about the love we receive from others than the love we give to others. As long as we devote ourselves to looking for love, we are missing the point of Christmas. Love in all its fullness has come to us in Jesus; our task in life is to be bearers of that love, to bring love to the places where otherwise it would not be found. And experience teaches that those who bring God’s love to others always receive God’s love in their own lives.

One person who spent his life bringing God’s love to others was Father Charles Houben, a Passionist Priest who died in Dublin in 1893 and who is better known as Father Charles of Mount Argus. During his lifetime, Father Charles was well known for the gift of healing God had given him. Hundreds of people would come to Mount Argus, the Passionist House in Dublin, to receive his blessing in the hope of being healed physically or spiritually. He was often called to bless the sick in their homes or in hospital.