​

Beatification of Ramose Lucien Botovasoa,

by Bishop Ramaroson (At Zenit on 30.04.2018)

​

“Holiness is the most beautiful face of the Church”

April 30, 2018 7:37 pm Redaction Pope Francis, Saints, Blesseds

​

Vohipeno is a district capital of the south-eastern region of Madagascar and it is located in the diocese of Farafangana, 42 km from Manakara, the nearest town. An exceptional event took place in this town of more than 10,000 inhabitants. Vohipeno saw in  three days quadruple its population! Why? No words can describe this event - which saw this influx from all over the island and even the world converge, made up of Catholics, non-Catholics, religious, non-religious, believers, non-believers, politicians of all persuasions, journalists eager for sensationalism, simply curious people… – lived this Sunday, April 15, 2018. More than 80,000 people gathered in Vohipeno not to miss an event which will mark the history of this capital of the country Antemoro already well known by historians and anthropologists accustomed to historical events…However, a beatification has never taken place in the region!           _cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_           _cc781905 -5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_  

 

The small hill of Tanjomoha is at the entrance to Vohipeno. Father Deguise, a Lazarist who became a monk, the first Postulator of the cause of Lucien Botovasoa in the time of the first Bishop of the diocese of Farafangana Mgr Chilouet, Lazarist (1964) elected Tanjomoha to live as a hermit... Coincidence or grace, it is this hill which was chosen by the organizers 50 years later to celebrate the beatification of Lucien Botovasoa!           _cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_           _cc781905 -5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_         _cc781905-5cde-3194- bb3b-136bad5cf58d_           _cc781905- 5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_     _cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b- 136bad5cf58d_           _cc781905-5cde- 3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_                     _cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_          _cc781905- 5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_   

The hill of Tanjomoha has become for the 80,000 pilgrims a veritable “Mount Tabor” (Mount of the Transfiguration, Mk 9). Why ? For a few hours, the time of the celebration of the Beatification of Lucien Botovasoa, the pilgrims experienced what the three disciples experienced on Mount Tabor during the transfiguration of Our Lord. Like Peter, everyone experienced a very intense moment and no one wanted to leave it... It was also a real Pentecost... Hearts burned hearing the beautiful homily of Cardinal Piat, Legate of the Pope, participating in the beautiful songs and following well-paced liturgical gestures together… Like the disciples of Emmaus having met the Risen Lord and returning to Jerusalem to announce the joy of Easter, these crowds, happy to have been touched by grace, after having seen the marvels of God now wish together everyone, following the new Blessed Lucien Botovasoa, now be artisans of peace, reconcilers and why not called to be witnesses of justice, of truth... at this time when the country needs it so much.           _cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_           _cc781905 -5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_         _cc781905-5cde-3194- bb3b-136bad5cf58d_           _cc781905- 5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_     _cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b- 136bad5cf58d_           _cc781905-5cde- 3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_                     _cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_           _cc781905 -5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_     _cc781905-5 cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_         _cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b -136bad5cf58d_ 
In doing this rereading of the life of Bx Lucien Botovasoa the words of the Pope in his exhortation published just the week of the beatification (April 9) "Gaudete et exsultate" come to mind because they seem to be "written" for our new Blessed therefore also appeal to us. He wanted to be a saint, a martyr from the day of his conversion to respond to his vocation: ““Rejoice and be glad” (Mt 5:12), says Jesus to those who are persecuted or humiliated because of him. . The Lord asks for everything; and what it offers is true life, the happiness for which we were created. He wants us to be holy and He doesn't expect us to settle for a mediocre, watered down, insubstantial existence. In fact, from the first pages of the Bible, there is, in various forms, the call to holiness. Here is how the Lord proposed it to Abraham: “Walk in my presence and be perfect” (Gn 17, 1)… (Further on, the Pope underlines everyone is called to holiness)… To be holy, it is not not necessary to be a bishop, priest, nun or monk. Many times we are tempted to think that holiness is reserved only for those who have the possibility of taking some distance from ordinary occupations in order to devote a great deal of time to prayer. It is not so. We are all called to be saints by living in love and giving personal witness in our daily lives, wherever we are. … (Precisely Lucien Botovasoa is a baptized man always aspiring to be a “saint-martyr”) … For a Christian, it is not possible to think of his own mission on earth without conceiving it as a path to holiness, because “here is what is the will of God: it is your sanctification” (1 Thess 4:3). Each saint is a mission; it is a project of the Father to reflect and incarnate, at a determined moment in history, an aspect of the Gospel… It was in everyday, ordinary life that Lucian testified to his faith… Do not be afraid to aim above, to let yourself be loved and liberated by God. Do not be afraid to let yourself be guided by the Holy Spirit. Holiness does not make you less human, because it is the meeting of your weakness with the strength of grace. Basically, as Léon Bloy said, in life “there is only one sadness, it is not to be saints”.      

         

Finally, the path taken by Lucien Botovasoa is the one that the Pope recommends to us in the third chapter of the exhortation: the path to beatitude: "Jesus explained with great simplicity what it means to be holy, and he did when he taught us the beatitudes (cf. Mt 5:3-12; Lk 6:20-23). They are like the identity card of the Christian. So, if any of us ask ourselves this question, “how do we manage to be a good Christian?”, the answer is simple: we must implement, each in our own way, what Jesus declares in the sermon of the beatitudes. Through these is drawn the face of the Master whom we are called to reveal in our daily lives. The word “happy” or “blessed” becomes synonymous with “holy”, because it expresses the fact that the person who is faithful to God and who lives his Word attains, in the gift of himself, true happiness. »    

                         

I conclude this rereading of the exhortation from the beautiful figure of Lucien Botovasoa with this "cry" of the Pope that each pilgrim of Vohipeno has understood, and which still resounds in the heart of each one: "Holiness is the most most beautiful of the Church”… And everyone to continue… not only from the Church but from the world…

​

​

​

+ Marc Benjamin Ramaroson, cm

April 25, 2018

Solemnity of St Mark, Evangelist

Posted in: OLO-ARAIKY 'SIKA JIABY(16) - SPECIAL LUCIEN BOTOVASAO

​

​