Go and Set the World on Fire

Imagine living in France in the 17th century. It is the center of civilization and culture. There is good food, family, friends, a comfortable life. What more could you want?

Now imagine leaving it all behind. You will never see your family or friends again. For weeks you will sail on the open ocean, not knowing whether you will ever reach the other shore. Then you will leave the French colony which is spartan enough as it is and go into the wilderness guided by people you have never met who share none of your language or customs. You follow them down rivers and over mountains. The only food you have during this journey is what you forage for yourself and sometimes you find none. There are days when you are on the brink of starvation and when you do find dinner, ground bark and bitter mushrooms are a delicacy.

Then you arrive at your destination. You are the only one of the French among these native people. They’re not sure whether to trust you or not; you either prove yourself to them or they might decide your dangerous and either exile or kill you. Assuming your survive that, then you have to survive the winter. The snow falls and the food soon disappears. Your only tools for hunting are spears and arrows: the guns of the Frenchman are not here. And perhaps, in the midst of this harsh and difficult life, you wonder to yourself, why did you ever do this?

Welcome to the world of the North American missionaries; welcome to the world of Fr. Sebastian Rale. Fr. Rale preached here in Madison and Norridgewock. He founded a mission to the Abenaki people by the name of Narantsouack. He gave his life to brining them the good news of the gospel; to baptizing them, bringing them the sacrament, caring for the sick, and catechizing their children. These are all good things, but what could possibly drive a man to do such a thing under such harsh circumstances? His whole life is back and France and he leaves it all. He knows he will never return and he knows his chances of an early death are high.

So what drove to him to this? Duty? Duty’s not enough. I would imagine that if you attempted to do something like that out of pure duty, you would soon conclude that whoever told you to do this was harsh and cruel and not worth obeying. Perhaps some neurosis could drive a man to throw himself in the wilderness like this? For many moderns this is all they can imagine, but when you read the letters of Fr. Rale, his mind all too clear.

What drove Fr. Rale to go into the woods, preaching Christ to the natives? It was love: Christ’s love. Once you have encountered the love of Christ, it is too intense to keep it to yourself. It is a fire that burns within you and it cannot be contained. By its very nature and intensity it has to spread and Fr. Rale experienced that. He was called by Christ and driven by love to make this love known to those who did not know it. That’s what drove him out here, in spite of all the obstacles and all the risks. It was love.

You are about to spend the next few hours following in the footsteps of this early Maine missionary. You will have a chance to reflect on what he was driven to do out of love for Christ, how the love of Christ sustained him in very difficult situations and how that love burned brightly in the darkness.

But while you are retracing his journey, remember that you are beginning a journey of your own. Christ is calling you too: each and every one of you. He loves you with the same love with which he loved Fr. Rale, with which He loved the Abenakis, with which He loved the whole world. That love is powerful and just it ignited a flame in the heart of Fr. Rale, so too it can ignite a flame in your own heart. He is calling you too to make this love known to the far corners of the world. What the particulars look like you may not yet know, but He is calling nevertheless.

So for the next few minutes, I invite you to speak with Christ and prepare for this journey. He may have things to tell you: resolve to keep your heart open. He may bring you places you never expected: resolve to trust Him and follow Him. But for now, He is there, pouring His love out onto you whether you realize it just yet or not. So sit at His feet, place your head close to His heart and ask for the graces you need as you prepare yourself for this journey.

At the end of the pilgrimage, following the reading of the martyrdom of Fr. Rale

Thus ended the life of this holy priest. He was 67 years old. He had devoted thirty seven years of his life to the Abenaki mission.

When we began this pilgrimage, I proposed that the love of Christ is best symbolized by fire. It is fierce and intense, so much so that it cannot help but spread. That all sounds nice, but here’s the thing about fire: it consumes whatever it ignites. When a piece of wood burns, the log goes up in smoke and ends as ash. When Jesus appeared to Margaret Mary Alacoque, He showed her His heart burning with love and said, “Behold the heart which has loved men so much, even to the point of consuming itself!” His love was like that log. He loved so much that it consumed Him. He loved us so much that He sacrificed Himself and in willing our good, He gave up His own.

I proposed to you that what drove Fr. Rale was the fire of Jesus’ love. Now you’ve walked in the footsteps of Fr. Rale. You’ve seen the places where he ministered. You’ve heard about the sacrifices he made. I propose to you that Fr. Rale loved like Jesus. That fire of love consumed him and in time his interests disappeared as love consumed him with concern for his flock. Fr. Rale loved them so much that he would not abandon them in their time of need. He so burned with love for them that it consumed him and he laid down his life for his sheep.

In the end, the interests of Fr. Rale no longer mattered. His comfort had long been discarded. His safety ceased to be a concern. The only thing that mattered was welfare of the people he had devoted his life to. There was no one else to bring them Jesus; there was no one else to bring them Christ’s love and he loved them too much to abandon them, even in the face of certain death.

Some would say this was a waste: What good does martyrdom do? What good is a love that consumes the lover? Here’s the other thing about fire: it lights up the darkness of the world. You see, Fr. Rale’s sacrifice was not for nothing. He brought a joy to the native Americans that can only be found in Christ and they knew it. Their lives changed. Cruel and superstitious practices ended, they had a hope they never had before for life after death. They had a source of healing in a harsh world and saw this in so many ways, even in miraculous cures. And this is why they did everything they could to preserve and protect the life of their priest: the love he showed them (namely the love Christ) brought a light and warmth to their world that they had never known before.

These were the first seeds of faith sown in the state of Maine: now it is your turn. Who will pick up the torch? Who will answer the call? The world is as desperate to know the love of Christ as it was in the time of Fr. Rale. Our culture is ignorant of Him and hurting for it. A culture of the individual has left men and women alone and abandoned. A culture of indulgence has led people into the chains of addiction. A culture of license has led them to neglect their responsibilities and to fail to live up to what they were truly made for. A culture of secularism has left them not knowing where to turn

Our culture is cold and hungry for love. Will you be His light? Will you let His love be kindled in your heart? Will you set this cold world on fire with His love so its inhabitants can step out of the darkness and be warmed by His rays?

This is your call. It is the same call answered by Fr. Rale. It is the same call answered by the apostles. It is the Christian vocation. Go forth and set the world on fire with His love!