May 3 --------- St. Ansfrid
Ansfrid, Count of Brabant, followed a military career, married a noble woman and then, founded an abbey at Heiligenberg. His wife also founded a convent at Thorn, to which she and her daughter retired with permission from Ansfrid.
In 974, St. Ansfrid decided to lay down his weapons and to pursue the ecclesiastical life. Kneeling in submission at the altar of Our Lady, he proclaimed these words:
"Until today I have combated for temporal glory in the defense of the poor, widows and orphans. Henceforth, I place myself under the protection of the Virgin Mary and I will fight unceasingly for the conquest of souls, the glory of God and my own salvation."
Ansfrid's transition from a warrior to a Bishop was seamless. Both endeavor's captured the Catholic spirit of the Church militant. There was nothing pacifistic in St. Anfrid's life.
He understood that when the common good is threatened either by a temporal enemy or by a spiritual one like the devil, the true Catholic reacts with fervor and resolve in a spirit of warfare against the enemy or the very salvation of men is sacrificed.
Therefore, he maintained his warrior attitudes when he became a priest. Now, the warfare would be waged on a higher level, on the doctrinal and spiritual level. This is the practice of the virtue of charity in a heroic manner. To remain at peace in the wake of falsehood and heresy, is to lose the precious battle for eternal salvation.
Let us ask St. Ansfrid to reinforce in us the notion of the Church Militant, the part of the Church to which all living Catholics are members. May his life give us the certainty that Catholic doctrine is secure and invincible. We must live vigilant and combative, lest we fall under the guise of pacifism, which , in fact, is a veiled militarism for evil.
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