From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On the Secret Judgements of God  [IV]    
      
   THE DISCIPLE:   
   What is all flesh in Your sight? (1 Cor.1:29) Can the clay boast   
   against Him who fashions it? (Isa. 45:9) Can a man whose heart is   
   subject to God in truth be puffed up with empty boasting? (Isa.   
   29:16;64:8) The whole world cannot exalt him whom the Truth has made   
   subject to itself, nor can the tongues of all who flatter him move him   
   who has fixed his whole hope in God. For even those who talk thus are   
   all nothing; they will pass away with the sound of their own words,   
   but the truth of the Lord stands fast for ever. (Ps. 117:2)   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3, Ch 14   
      
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   July 27th – Bl. Mary Magdalen Martinengo   
   1687-1737   
      
    Blessed Mary Magdalen came from a prominent family of Bresica. Even   
   as a child she took special delight in the austerities of religious   
   life. Despite many difficulties that confronted her, she joined the   
   daughters of St. Clare when she was only 17 years of age. The young   
   nun soon distinguished herself by her modesty, patience, and cheerful   
   obedience. The hours prescribed for prayer and meditation, as well as   
   the visits to our Lord in the tabernacle, were the most delightful   
   hours of her day.   
      
   Her sympathy for our suffering Savior was so deep that she was often   
   found kneeling like one devoid of life. As novice mistress, and later   
   as abbess, she guided the sisters to great sanctity by her admirable   
   example and loving gentleness.   
      
   The fame of her sanctity caused many lay persons to appeal to her for   
   consolation and advice. On such occasions she manifested the special   
   gifts God had given her to encourage disheartened souls, to reconcile   
   such as were at variance with each other, and to bring sinners back to   
   the path of duty. Not seldom she read the innermost thoughts of others   
   and foretold future events.   
      
   Exhausted by her labor and austerity more than by age, she died on   
   July 27, 1737, in the 50th year of her saintly life. Pope Leo XIII   
   beatified her.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   When you encounter difficulties and contradictions, do not try to   
   break them, but bend them with gentleness and time.   
   --St. Francis de Sales   
      
   Bible Quote   
   But the prophet, who being corrupted with pride, shall speak in my   
   name things that I did not command him to say, or in the name of   
   strange gods, shall be slain.  (Deuteronomy 18:20)   
      
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   ON THANKSGIVING AFTER HOLY COMMUNION   
   1. Consider that it is proper to make thanksgiving after Communion,   
   for in holy Communion we have been favored by a distinguished Visitor.   
   The words which were written by the Evangelist then apply to us: "This   
   day is salvation come to this house" (Luke 19:9). For this reason   
   Blessed Mary Magdalen found it a trying duty to leave the house of God   
   after holy Communion.—What can you say of your thanksgiving? Let it   
   not be said of you as it was of Judas: "He, therefore, having received   
   the morsel, went out immediately" (John 13:30).   
   2. At this thanksgiving we should offer ourselves wholly to our   
   Savior. After every holy Communion we should say: "What shall I render   
   to the Lord for all the things that He has rendered to me?" (Psalm   
   115:3). Since God has sacrificed Himself entirely for our salvation,   
   we should be willing to make a complete sacrifice of ourselves for His   
   sake. Let us, therefore, consecrate to Him our hands and feet, our   
   eyes and ears, our mind and our whole heart to be spent only in His   
   service. That will please Him and draw down on us great   
   blessings.--Never forget to offer this oblation to your God.   
   3. Moreover, let us use this time of thanksgiving to offer our   
   petitions to the Lord. St. Theresa says: "The moments after holy   
   Communion are the most precious moments of our life." Let us use them   
   in placing our needs before our dear Lord. Let us above all use them,   
   according to the example of Blessed Mary Magdalen, to pray for the   
   conversion of sinners.--At every holy Communion remember that a great   
   privilege has been accorded you.   
      
   PRAYER OF THE CHURCH   
   O God, who hast given us in the virgin Mary Magdalen an example of   
   innocence and mortification, grant that we may renounce all worldly   
   desires and come to Thee by the way of truth and justice. Through   
   Christ our Lord. Amen.   
      
   from THE FRANCISCAN BOOK OF SAINTS   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)