From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The Intimate Friendship of Jesus (2)   
      
      WHEN Jesus is near, all is well and nothing seems difficult. When   
   He is absent, all is hard. When Jesus does not speak within, all other   
   comfort is empty, but if He says only a word, it brings great   
   consolation.  Did not Mary Magdalen rise at once from her weeping   
   when Martha said to her: "The Master is come, and calleth for thee"?   
   John 11:28.  Happy is the hour when Jesus calls one from tears to joy   
   of spirit.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Book 2, Chapter 8   
      
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   January 6th - Bl. Andre Bessette, Healer   
      
   Alfred Bessette was born on August 9, 1845, not far from Montreal,   
   Canada. He was the eighth of twelve children. When Alfred was nine,   
   his father, a wood cutter, died in an accident at work. Three years   
   later, Alfred's mother died of tuberculosis, leaving the children   
   orphans. They were split up and placed in different homes. Alfred went   
   to live with his aunt and uncle.   
      
   Because his family had been so poor and he was often sick, Alfred had   
   very little education. So for the next thirteen years he tried   
   learning different trades like farming, shoemaking and baking. He even   
   worked in a factory in Connecticut. But his health always failed him.   
      
   When Alfred was 25, he joined the order of Holy Cross and chose the   
   name Brother Andre. He spent the next forty years as a general   
   maintenance man and messenger. The remaining years of his life were   
   spent as the doorkeeper for the order's college. Here, Brother Andre's   
   healing power became known. When people came to ask him for a cure, he   
   would tell them to first thank God for their suffering because it was   
   so valuable. Then he would pray with them. Most of them were cured.   
   Brother Andre always refused credit for the healing. He insisted it   
   had been the person's faith and the power of St. Joseph.   
      
   Brother Andre had a great love for the Eucharist and for St. Joseph.   
   When he was young, he dreamt he saw a big church, but he couldn't tell   
   where it was. Gradually, he came to realize that God wanted a church   
   in honor of St. Joseph. That church was to be built on top of Mount   
   Royale in Montreal, Canada. Prayer and the sacrifices of Brother Andre   
   and many other people made the dream come true. The magnificent church   
   honoring St. Joseph was built. It is a testimony to Brother Andre's   
   tremendous faith. Pilgrims come to Mount Royale all year and from   
   distant places. They want to honor St. Joseph. They want to show their   
   trust in his loving care, as Brother Andre did.   
      
   Brother Andre died peacefully on January 6, 1937. Nearly a million   
   people climbed Mount Royale to St. Joseph's Oratory for his funeral.   
      
   They came in spite of sleet and snow to say good-bye to their dear   
   friend. He was proclaimed "blessed" on May 23, 1982, by Pope John Paul   
   II.   
      
   Blessed Andre Bessette believed not in himself but in the power of   
   God's love for him. In him we can see that God reveals his power   
   shining through our human weakness.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Do not get all upset when difficulties come your way. Laugh in your   
   enemy's face; you are in the arms of the Almighty. Therefore, let God   
   be your strength and your love.   
   --St. Francis de Sales   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   And Simon Peter answered him: Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the   
   words of eternal life.  (John 6:69)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Sursum Corda: Lift Up Your Hearts   
      
    "Lift up your hearts!" This is the exhortation of the Church to her   
   children in the Preface of the Mass. Lift up your hearts by means of   
   meditation and prayer in the midst of the allurements and   
   entanglements of the world, in order that you may so pass through   
   things temporal as not to lose the things that are eternal.   
      
   Lift up your hearts in your work. "All whatsoever you do in word or in   
   work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to   
   God and the Father by Him" (Col. Iii.17). "Therefore, whether you eat   
   or drink or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God" (1   
   Cor.x.31). Lift up your hearts in daily supplication that you may live   
   and die in the love and grace of God.   
      
   "By two wings," says the Imitation, "is many lifted above earthly   
   things"; namely, by simplicity of intention and by purity of   
   affection; hence the watchword:   
      
   For God Alone! And My God and My All!   
      
   "Aspire to God," says St. Francis de Sales, "with short but frequent   
   outpourings   
      
   of the heart." And St. Philip Neri encourages us likewise, saying: "It   
   is an old custom with the servant of God always to have some little   
   prayers ready, and to be darting them up to heaven frequently during   
   the day, lifting their minds to God from out of the filth of this   
   world. He who adopts this plan will derive great fruit with little   
   pains."   
      
    Lift up your hearts to Mount Olivet, where Jesus is writhing in His   
   awful agony,   
      
   Up to Mount Calvary, where Jesus is dying on the cross; up to heaven,   
   where Jesus is enthroned in His glory. If with mortal eyes you are not   
   able to behold the full glory of this abode of the blessed, and if you   
   cannot draw near to Him, the Eternal One, because He dwells "in the   
   light inaccessible," do not be discouraged, lift up your hearts! For   
   in the light of the bright ray which God will cause to shine upon you,   
   you will be able to form at least some faint conception of the glories   
   of the celestial city.   
      
   Lift up your hearts to heaven! There alone is an object truly worthy   
   of your love!   
      
   - Father Lasance -1926   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)