Witnessing on the prairie

By: TONY MARKS
Editor

RICHARD - The crawfish traps are lying empty, and the crawfish ponds are dry in the August heat around this tiny Cajun hamlet in Acadia Parish. What is not dry this time of year is the faith of the residents, which is practiced at St. Edward Catholic Church in Richard.
Above the tabernacle of the church is a life-sized painting of the angel staying the hand of Abraham and preventing him from sacrificing his only son, Isaac.
One parishioner buried in the church cemetery knew what it meant to offer sacrifice. After being diagnosed with leukemia, Charlene Richard offered her suffering as a sacrifice for others who were suffering. These sacrifices led to miraculous healings that continue to this day as pilgrims flock to her grave on a daily basis.
As a result, Richard has been named a servant of God and is on the way to formally being canonized as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.
On Tuesday, August 11, the 67th Anniversary Mass of her death was held. Celebrating the Mass was Fr. Josh Guillory, a native of Kaplan. He currently is pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church, in Lafayette, and former pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church in Ville Platte. He also served on the committee that investigated Richard’s cause for sainthood.
The Mass was held on the Feast Day of St. Clare of Assisi. During his homily, Fr. Guillory pointed out a connection between Richard and St. Clare and St. Francis of Assisi.
The connection, according to Fr. Guillory, is knowing “what it meant to be detached from one’s family, to let go of things that we most love and we most know because God is somehow calling in His mysterious ways and His mysterious purposes. He calls the most unsuspected people, those you would never think that God would call that person in such a way.”
Fr. Guillory went on to say God called Richard to suffer, just like the way He called His Son, Jesus.
“Charlene’s family did not oppose that suffering,” said Fr. Guillory. “They suffered that loss and suffer it still. They open their hands and their hearts. And, I’m sure somewhere in the depths of their prayer, they said that one prayer that Jesus taught His disciples to pray in the Our Father, ‘thy will be done.’”
As he continued his homily, Fr. Guillory spoke about the necessity of suffering.
“Suffering is real,” Fr. Guillory exclaimed. “We all know it, but, sometimes, we have the idea that because we suffer, we suffer poorly. That is not the case. There is no easy way to suffering. There is no graceful way to suffer. You can’t have so much faith that your suffering would no longer be suffering, otherwise it would not be suffering. Jesus, Himself, in the garden suffered. He knew what was the will of His Father.”
He continued, “Charlene too suffered. With childlike innocence and with trust in her Heavenly Father, she said, ‘Yes, Lord, I will take and receive. I will suffer.”
This suffering, according to Fr. Guillory has led to thousands of people from across the world learning about Richard. “They hear of some little girl on the prairies of Louisiana called Charlene, who, once upon a time, suffered and offered her suffering for those who were suffering, and they come on pilgrimage here.”
“Miracles happen,” Fr. Guillory continued, “and lives are changed. People’s deep fear and dread all of a sudden turns sweet.”
Prior to the Mass, Jean Marcantel, who knew Richard as a child growing up, offered a testimony of a healing that was credited to Richard’s intercession.
One of Marcantel’s children was showing symptoms of Down syndrome prior to her birth. When she was born, the child was normal.
Circling back to Fr. Guillory’s homily, he asked those in attendance at the Mass to pray for St. Clare’s intercession for Richard’s cause to become a saint. “If it pleases God,” he said, “Clare would have with her another great sister saint in Heaven.”