Reflections of Father Marchildon

noted by Father Rondeau, Provincial, during a Canonical Visitation (after his replacement as Director of the Shrine by Father Bedard in 1955).

• Good things do not happen just by thinking about them. You have to roll up your sleeves, put your hand to the plough and work hard.
• I have galvanized myself before. I had asked for God's will. You have given it to me, Father Provincial, and I have been most happy. I have witnessed all things go, I have seen all things change; that I did not find hard. What I did find most difficult was to be reduced to silence.
• Father Bedard reveres me, is full of attentions towards me. I could have been very unhappy if I had resisted to the point of being obliged to go away. But the Lord has given me to understand that he wanted to detach me from my workfield, from my battlefield of fifty years. I close my eyes and keep my mouth shut and I am happy. I have assisted at my burial and have even contributed to it.
• I have asked my helpers at the Shrine: the organization changes, don't say anything. Keep your mouth shut. If you want to please me, never speak of Father Marchildon and you will have peace. I know from experience that if you want to cause someone to be hated, all you have to do is to speak about him all the time.
• I have great compassion for the secular priests as regards confession, because they do not have our advantage. We are rich in comparison, having so many priests at our side.
• When you change Director, the way of doing things changes. It is understood that things will not be the same.
• To cover someone with flowers is the surest way to destroy him. The method is infallible. Never utter the name of Father Marchildon, would he say to his employees as he left the direction of the Shrine.
• When you grow old, you need to cultivate forgetfulness of self. You must no longer imagine that you are right.
• After taking in my charge the poor, the wretched, the shamefaced, even the mentally disturbed, now it is they who take me with them.
• I have never given anything to the needy without being reimbursed two and threefold.
• I am ever poor and shameful. Please dispense me from going with the community after meals. I understand nothing of what they say. (Explanation: It was the rule that all the religious not prevented by work or illness should be present at the community recreation for about a half hour after noon and evening meals. This was to ensure time to be together and fraternize. The idea was that there can be no true community unless we spend time together to fellowship.)