June 19th -Romuald

How do we react when we see evil? Do we watch and wag our heads? Do we step in to stop the bully at our own risk? Do we seek to redress that evil with our lives?
Think about it. People constantly ask us to give some sort of remuneration for the evil that plagues our world and our lives. People who have devoted themselves to a cause, to the hope of mitigating that evil, or lack, or that deficency which we may or may not see ourselves.
We can also see the ones, like missionaries, who do devote their lives not to mitigating evil per se but to spreading the Gospel, the message of Love and Hope through Faith. Mitigating ignorance, disease, animosity.
Romuald saw his father kill a man in a duel. What was his reaction? He devoted himself to Christ.
The world, the condition that flows from our sinfulness, that hinges on the lies and promises of Satan. It is twisted and cruel and demands similar actions and beliefs from us. Beliefs such that we must fight to avenge a perceived or actual wrong.
The Kingdom, that which flows from the grace of God, hinges on the Truth and the promises of Christ. It is a place of the reaction of Remauld where one gives themselves over, not to hatred and selfishness, but to the service of God and others.
In Christ, we do not turn our backs on the world, but turn to embrace Creation. We work and God will bring our works to fruition.
Remauld help us to recognize evil not as the world does but as Christ does and help us to step up and live the Gospel.

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Romuald lived in the vicinity of the city of Paranzo for three years. In the first year he built a monastery and appointed an abbot with monks. For the next two years he remained there in seclusion. Wherever the holy man might arrange to live, he would follow the same pattern. First he would build an oratory with an altar in a cell; then he would shut himself in and forbid access. Finally, after he had lived in many places, perceiving that his end was near, he returned to the monastery he had built in the valley of Castro. While he awaited with certainty his approaching death, he ordered a cell to be constructed there with an oratory in which he might isolate himself and preserve silence until death. Accordingly, the hermitage was built, since he had made up his mind that he would die there. His body began to grow more and more oppressed by afflictions and was already failing. One day he began to feel the loss of his physical strength under all the harassment of increasingly violent afflictions. As the sun was beginning to set, he instructed two monks who were standing by to go out and close the door of the cell behind them; they were to come back to him at daybreak to celebrate matins. They were so concerned about his end that they went out reluctantly and did not rest immediately. On the contrary, since they were worried that their master night die, they lay hidden near the cell and watched this precious treasure. For some time they continued to listen attentively until they heard neither movement nor sound. Rightly guessing what had happened, they pushed open the door, rushed in quickly, lit a candle and found the holy man lying on his back, his blessed soul snatched up into heaven.

-- from a biography of Saint Romuald by Saint Peter Damian