From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The Lord reveals himself   
      
   The Lord reveals himself and makes his presence known to us in many   
   ways--in his word and in the "breaking of the bread" in the Eucharist,   
   in his church--the body of Christ, in his creation, and even in the   
   everyday circumstances of our lives. If we seek the Lord, we will   
   surely find him. And we can be confident that he will give us whatever   
   we need to understand and carry out his will. Most of all the Lord   
   assures us of his daily presence and the promise that he will never   
   leave us. Theresa of Avila's prayer book contained a bookmark which   
   she wrote: Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you; All   
   things pass: God never changes.  Patience achieves all it strives for.   
   Whoever has God lacks nothing, God alone suffices. Is God enough for   
   you?   
      
      
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   March 29th - Blessed Ludovico of Casoria, Mystic   
   (1814-1885)   
      
   Born in Casoria (near Naples), Arcangelo Palmentieri was a   
   cabinet-maker before entering the Friars Minor in 1832, taking the   
   name Ludovico. After his ordination five years later, he taught   
   chemistry, physics and mathematics to younger members of his province   
   for several years.   
      
   In 1847 he had a mystical experience which he later described as a   
   cleansing. After that he dedicated his life to the poor and the   
   infirm, establishing a dispensary for the poor, two schools for   
   African children, an institute for the children of nobility, as well   
   as an institution for orphans, the deaf and the speechless, and other   
   institutes for the blind, elderly and for travelers. In addition to an   
   infirmary for friars of his province, he began charitable institutes   
   in Naples, Florence and Assisi. He once said, "Christ's love has   
   wounded my heart." This love prompted him to great acts of charity.   
      
   To help continue these works of mercy, in 1859 he established the Gray   
   Brothers, a religious community composed of men who formerly belonged   
   to the Secular Franciscan Order. Three years later he founded the Gray   
   Sisters of St. Elizabeth for the same purpose.   
      
   Toward the beginning of his final, nine-year illness, Ludovico wrote a   
   spiritual testament which described faith as "light in the darkness,   
   help in sickness, blessing in tribulations, paradise in the   
   crucifixion and life amid death." The local work for his beatification   
   began within five months of Ludovico's death. He was beatified in   
   1993.   
      
   Comment:   
      
   Saintly people are not protected from suffering, but with God's help   
   they learn how to develop compassion from it. In the face of great   
   suffering, we move either toward compassion or indifference. Saintly   
   men and women show us the path toward compassion.   
      
   Reflection.   
    Whoever has to dwell in the world stands in need of great prudence;   
   the Holy Scripture itself assures us that "the knowledge of the saints   
   is prudence." (Prov. 9:10)   
      
      
   "The greatest gift one can receive from God in this world is wisdom,   
   power and will to conquer himself, by denying self-will"   
   --St. Francis of Assisi   
      
         The Abbot Pastor had the highest opinion of this exercise, and   
   used to say that our own will is an iron wall that disunites and   
   separates us from God.   
        St. Colette, of the Order of St. Francis, often said that she   
   thought it a greater mortification to deny one's own judgment and will   
   than to abandon all the riches in the world, and therefore she   
   practiced it to the utmost of her ability.   
        St. Bernard also entertained the same sentiments, and said that   
   all evils spring from a single root, which is self-will.   
      
   (Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints".  March - Mortification)   
      
      
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   We pray to Christ as God   
      
      Our minds are slow to come down to the humble level of Jesus when   
   we have just been contemplating him in his divinity. It is as though   
   we were doing him an injustice in acknowledging in a man the words of   
   one with whom we spoke when we prayed to God; we are usually at a loss   
   and try to change the meaning. Yet our minds find nothing in scripture   
   that does not go back to him, nothing that will allow us to stray from   
   him. Our thoughts must then be awakened to keep their vigil of faith.   
   We must realize that the one whom we were contemplating a short time   
   before in his nature as God took to himself the nature of a servant;   
   he was made in the likeness of men and found to be a man like others;   
   as he hung on the cross he made the psalmist's words his own: My God,   
   my God, why have you forsaken me?   
      We pray to him as God, he prays for us as a servant. In the first   
   case he is the Creator, in the second a creature. Himself unchanged,   
   he took to himself our created nature in order to change it, and made   
   us one man with himself, head and body. We pray then to him, through   
   him, and in him; we speak along with him and he speaks along with us.   
   --St. Augustine of Hippo   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)