From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
     On Resisting Temptation  [8]   
      
   We must not therefore despair when we are tempted, but pray to God   
   with so much the more fervour, that he may vouchsafe to help us in all   
   tribulations: who, no doubt, according to the saying of St. Paul, will   
   make such issue with  the temptation that we may be able to sustain   
   it. Let us therefore humble our souls, under the hand of God in all   
   temptations and tribulations: for the humble in spirit he will save   
   and exalt.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 1, Ch 13   
      
      
   ============   
   March 25th - St. Lucy Filippini   
   (1672-1732)   
      
   There will always be young children to educate, and women, by reason   
   of their maternal nature, are the most gifted “schoolmarms”.   
   Teaching-sisters are best fitted to instruct Catholic children, for   
   they can communicate not only secular knowledge but a knowledge and   
   appreciation of things religious.   
      
   In 1685 the bishop of Viterbo, Italy, established a diocesan teaching   
   order to instruct young women, especially those from the poorer   
   classes, in book learning and religion. The order’s foundress was   
   Blessed Rose Venerini. In those days general education was not   
   available, so the Viterbo foundation really filled a gap. Other   
   bishops became interested in bringing the institute into their own   
   dioceses. One such was the bishop of Montefiascone, near Rome:   
   Cardinal Marcantonio Barbarigo.   
      
   Cardinal Barbarigo engaged in long-range planning. He knew a young   
   woman of his diocese, Lucia Filippini, a devout and enthusiastic   
   person, who had shown a genuine interest in helping her pastor teach   
   catechism to children. He sent her to a monastery of women to be   
   educated, but he carefully planned her course of instruction. In 1692,   
   when he thought Lucy ready, he assigned her to the staff of his school   
   at Montefiascone, which had already opened. Barbarigo had meanwhile   
   invited Sister Rose Venerini to spend some time there tutoring his   
   faculty in the principles that she had framed in Viterbo.   
      
   Lucy served as Bl. Rose’s second-in-command for two years, and theirs   
   was a most profitable association. When Sister Rose had to leave in   
   1694, Sister Lucia was named head of the school.   
      
   Lucia was an admirable director of the academy. Though highly   
   talented, she was modest, charitable, and able to pass on to others   
   her own spiritual convictions. She was also courageous in the face of   
   obstacles, had a very practical gift of common sense, and a winning   
   personality. Soon she was called on to start new schools elsewhere.   
      
   In 1704, the Montefiascone community of teachers was set up as a   
   religious congregation independent of that founded by Bl. Rose. As   
   Rose’s group bore the name “Maestre Pie Venerini” (“Venerini Religious   
   Teachers”), so Lucy’s took the name “Maestre Pie Filippini.” Two years   
   later, on the death of Cardinal Marcantonio Barbarigo, Pope Clement   
   IX, intensely interested in Sister Lucy’s enterprise, directed the   
   M.P.F. to move their headquarters to Rome.   
      
   When the Filippini sisters opened their first school in the Eternal   
   City, the schoolhouse proved too small to accommodate the great number   
   of applicants. Thereafter, the institute spread, as the centuries   
   passed, throughout Italy, and into Switzerland, England, Brazil,   
   Canada, and the United States. In non-Italian countries the sisters   
   usually established schools and centers among Italian immigrants.   
   Today they have 146 houses worldwide, and number over 1000 members.   
   They were introduced into the United States in 1910, and at present   
   have two provinces, with a total membership of over 360. One of their   
   foundations was in the Rochester Diocese: a catechetical center   
   established at Watkins Glen in 1936.   
      
   Unfortunately the physical stamina of the nun whom the Romans called   
   “la Maestra santa” (“the holy schoolmarm”) was not as great as her   
   zeal. In 1726 she fell seriously ill, and no remedy seemed to help. On   
   March 25, 1732, the exact day she had predicted, this gracious woman   
   passed to her reward.   
      
   The Church eventually confirmed the popular judgment of Sister Lucy’s   
   holiness. Pope Pius XI declared her blessed in 1926, and canonized her   
   in 1930.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   It often happens that we pray God to deliver us from some dangerous   
   temptation, and yet God does not hear us but permits the temptation to   
   continue troubling us. In such a case, let us understand that God   
   permits even this for our greater good. When a soul in temptation   
   recommends itself to God, and by His aid resists, O how it then   
   advances in perfection.   
   --St. Alphonsus Liguori   
      
   Bible Quote:   
    For by a man came death: and by a man the resurrection of the dead.   
   And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. But   
   every one in his own order: the firstfruits, Christ: then they that   
   are of Christ, who have believed in his coming. [1 Cor. 15:21-23] DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
    What can hold us back from doing the will of God?   
      
    Fear, especially the fear of death and the fear of losing the   
   approval of others, can easily rob us of courage and the will to do   
   what we know is right. Jesus met opposition and the threat of death   
   with grace and determination to accomplish his Father's will. Jesus   
   knew that his mission, his purpose in life, would entail sacrifice and   
   suffering and culminate with death on the cross. But that would not be   
   the end. His "hour" would crush defeat with victory over sin and   
   Satan, condemnation with pardon and freedom, and death with glory and   
   everlasting life.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)