5 mn with... Father Gaston
Father Gaston Gabaix-Hiale is superior of the Maison Neuve community, the first of its kind in the Congregation. This is a meeting with a very active retired Father at the Betharram Mother House.
Nef: Can you say a few words about the Care Home at Betharram?
- In 1939 at the age of 12, I entered the Apostolic School; it was a four storey house and was meant for “vocations”; there was also a community of missionaries and a few aged Religious. For the past 30 years it has become the Retirement Home for the Betharram religious. Today there are 23 of us. Some lay members make up the number – six women and six men – with the result that all the rooms are taken.
The management and treasury are in the hands of two ladies; the manager did the World Youth Day in Australia, and this is her first experience. The House is well equipped with all the staff needed: a male nurse, state enrolled nurses, and a night watch man. The cooking is done on the spot. The average age of the residents is 80 years. Actually there are three religious who don’t leave their room.
As for the Community our days are punctuated by three moments of prayer: Mass at 9.00, Rosary at 12h10, and Vespers at 18h20. Four of our Fathers celebrate Mass regularly at: the Daughters’ of the Cross Rest Home at Igon and Nay; at the Benedictine Monastery at Montaut and at the Sisters of Bethleem at Saint-Pe.
Has this community any particular role in the Congregation?
- The Religious living here are witnesses to God’s fidelity to them. Their routes have been many and varied, and after 50 years separated they come here together for a life of fraternity. Their conversations are mostly a pooling of their souvenirs. And just as the lighthouse shows the harbour to incoming ships, so too this Care Home would like to be a humble light before the return to the Father’s House.
After assuming many posts of responsibility in different communities, how are you coping with this stage in your life?
- I came here nine years ago; it is my 12th community, the one where I have stayed longest. It is not my job to comment on the different communities which have received me. Everywhere I found brothers who have helped me to live the brotherhood.
Preaching retreats and counselling have always been important elements in your ministry. What is the situation today?
- During the past ten years, I have given 30 retreats for religious (male and female), diocesan clergy and the laity. For me it was the occasion to discover the richness of life in the Church, the diversity of vocations and the different routes in search of God’s face in the service of the mission.
Today, I tend to go for recollections which are less of a burden than a six day retreat. I . accompany new beginners: the Holy Spirit hasn’t retired. He continues to work in the hearts of the simple folk who are often dissatisfied with materiel goods. These meetings do me good.
You have studied our Founder’s message. Looking back now, what do you consider the most important and the most fulfilling?
- I was lucky to have had the grace of studying our Founder’s Message for retreats and sessions. What’s most important for me is the contemplation of the Son of God coming to live in our midst as a Servant. To bring humanity into the Trinity Family Jesus Christ, by assuming our human condition opens the way of filial obedience which prepares us to live in the Communion of Love of the Three Divine Persons.
Would you have a wish or a prayer for the Congregation on the eve of a new route in its organisation?
- My wish for my brother religious is that each one should advance in the footsteps of St Michael in the contemplation of the beloved Son until they was lost in Him.
