Jump to content
  • entries
    697
  • comments
    2,107
  • views
    447,847

Manly Man #6


Jean Valjean

511 views

 

 

 

:kaukau: Recently I wrote a letter to a friend describing my walk with Christ, and I had a few confessions that I was afraid would lose me my friendship, since my life isn't always rosy. At risk of being preachy, I also expressed my encouragements as well, and I wanted to tell her of an inspiring figure for me whose character I think she's growing into.

Victor Hugo spent around seventy pages of his epic Les Miserables going into strenuous detail on the life of the Bishop Charles-François-Bienvenu Myriel, better known by the titles Bishop Myriel, Monseigneur Bienvenu, or simply the Bishop of Digne. These pages, while sometimes as dry as the book of Leviticus, were nevertheless an amazing insight into holiness. Hugo took incredible care to consider what, in his mind, was the ideal man, and though Myriel was not perfect, he was probably the best any of us could ever be and an incredible role model. He was endowed with gifts of kindness and gentleness that are truly beyond most people's imagination. I have never seen anything like it. Nobody today writes on end about what a moral person looks like. Whenever a character does reach an ideal depth of character, it's usually at the end of a story, after a long character arch. Ideal character is glorified but never fully explained. It's really defined more by what it is not - a man of good character is not what he was before when he began his character arch. It was my pleasure to flip through the pages of my old paperback copy of Les Misérables and take a nice, solid several hours to enjoy the destination for once. Bishop Myriel was a serene man who was truly at peace with the world.

 

He was still a man. I recall a great number of interesting arguments he had, and his sly way of commenting on the philosophies of various politicians. Like many people, he was opinionated, and it was good to see that he had the confidence to form opinions on things, while at the same time not valuing his opinions so much that he felt the need to force them on people. He thought what he thought, but he felt no desire to prove himself right. What was a hundred times more important to him was his charitable profession.

 

Bishop Myriel is the most charitable person in any book, unless the Giving Tree is to be considered a person. He is generous and filled with amazing grace. Throughout his career, there were probably many opportunities for advancement, but he recognized that power was not always the best way to have real, genuine influence in the lives of people. He gave his house away to be used as a hospital, kept only one tenth of his salary, kept few possessions, and compassionately went out to people who didn't deserve his affection. He loved his enemies, and didn't even attempt to protect himself against the evils of the world, to the point where his sister worried about him. Yet, he himself didn't worry at all, not because he figured that God would protect him from physical danger and act as his fire insurance, but because he genuinely loved the common criminal more than he did himself.

 

A man came into Digne one day, an ex-convict on parole who had walked miles and miles to find a place to stay. Everyone else had turned him down. One family pulled a gun out on this mysterious wanderer. Another wouldn't even let him sleep in their dog kennel. Finally, this man came to the bishop's door. Myriel took him in and seated him at a place of honor, gave him all he had to eat, and let him stay for the night. "Come in sir for you are weary/ and the night if dark out there./ Though our lives are very humble/ what we have we have to share."

 

Late that night the convict got up. Though Bishop Myriel had very few possessions and almost nothing of value, he did have silverwear and silver candlesticks. So, in return for the bishop's grace, the guest stole the silverware and fled. The police arrested him because they didn't like the look of him, and they immediately found the bishop's silverware on him. When they brought him back to bishop Myriel, however, the bishop immediately told them that he had given it to the stranger. In fact, his guest had left early and forgotten about the silver candlesticks. He gave the police his blessing, and they left. When they were gone, Myriel blessed the man who robbed him as well. He later realized that the bishop had given him more than just silver, but his love.

 

The stranger could walk off and indeed make money with the candlesticks. He could lead a richer life and have material blessing. Yet, that wasn't a fulfilling life. Bishop Myriel wanted the stranger to live at peace with the world, and live knowing that he was loved. He wanted the stranger to rediscover his soul and become and honest man. It reminds me of when a father condones a son for not having proper character - a parent can only boast so much in a scandalous child. For their own good, fathers show their sons gentleness so that their sons may also be good fathers someday. A father can even forgive a son of terribly hurtful things, because he would never give up on someone he knows is a precious human being. I know that my father has never complemented me on any of my successes or any of my great achievements in life, of which I have a number of things I could boast in, but rather he has only ever taken note of when I have been stupid, because he doesn't want a fool for a son. This devotion, this dedication, this beautification of the poor in spirit, this compassion and love are altogether too uncommon in men, and they always have been. That is why then someone shows these, it makes an impact on everyone he meets. Someone once put it this way:

 

Forgiveness rooted in wisdom upon one's enemy, an evil deed repaid with kindness and a blessing given in return for a curse: A more sure witness than a hundred preachers shouting from their pulpits. A more powerful praise than a thousand hallelujahs. A more efficacious prayer than ten thousand Our Fathers.

 

If you have true faith that everyone is infinitely precious and beautiful, that produces something in your soul. The Bishop of Digne had love, joy, peace, forebearance, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. Who can condemn these things? When he lives so serenely, and demonstrates his character through these things, that makes a difference in people's lives. He believes that there were better ways of being a blessing in the lives of others than to attain power, and he was right. His compassion made a great difference in the life of one man, all because of love. Because of love, a man rediscovered his soul.

 

A movie adaptation of the Les Miserables musical came out on Christmas Day in 2012. I went and watched it, and something surprised me. I haven't cried at a movie since I watched Schindler's List in 2007. Yet, the ending to this movie caught me off-guard. The man whom the bishop loved grew old, and wanted final rest for his soul. As he lay on his deathbed, saying goodbye to his adopted daughter, he saw the angel of her mother. He had barely known her, but he had been living for her through her daughter the latter half of all his life. He had made a promise to her that changed everything. Normally, in the play, the other angel he sees is Eponine, but this was changed in the movie, for at the end of the hallway he saw the Bishop of Digne, the first person who had ever shown love to him. This was the first face to greet him on his way to Heaven.

 

This hit me hard. I cried. I know exactly just how heavy this is. There's someone I want to see when I die, someone I only knew briefly, and someone who had a similar effect in my life as the Bishop of Digne. However brief our encounter was, I am the little boy with divorced parents whom she loved, and it often seems that everything in my life is a footnote to that fact. Everything I have ever ben since then is contextualized by this. It seems small, but it's huge. It means everything. We try not to appear needy, but we are nothing without love, for there is no greater blessing.

 

24601

0 Comments


Recommended Comments

There are no comments to display.

Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...