The life of Giles is shrouded with legends and facts. It is believed that he was the son of King Theodore and Queen Pelagia of Athens, Greece. At the demise of his parents, Giles distributed his personal property among the indigent and sailed for Southern France where he retreated into a forest near the river Rhone and lived as a hermit. His only companion in this desolate set up was a deer. One day the local Gothic king Flavius went hunting to that forest. As the deer took refuge in Giles’ cave, the arrow missed the target and struck and wounded the hermit in the leg. Recognizing the greatness of the man of God, the king was eager to have him in his court. However, all what Giles asked for was a simple monastery for him and for any one who might wish to follow his way of life. Thus came into existence the reputed monastery called Saint Giles-du-Gard with Giles as the Abbot. He slept in the Lord in 710. Giles’ cult spread rapidly through out Europe as witnessed by the countless Churches dedicated to his memory in U.K., France, Germany, Hungary and Poland.
Reflection: Giles left all the comforts that the world could offer a man and sought God in silence and prayer. When we face God in solitude and meditation, He will speak to us and reveal to us our nothingness before His omnipotence. The moment we realize our emptiness and seek God’s divine love, He will fill us with Himself. The almighty invariably speaks to men in the silence and poverty of their hearts.
God does not measure our generosity by how much we give, but by how much we have left. (Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
