From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Imitating the Creator's goodness   
      
      In the love of God there can be no excess, but the love  of the   
   world is harmful in every way. We must therefore cling inseparably to   
   the good things  that are eternal but make use of those that are   
   temporal like passers-by; then, as pilgrims  hastening to our   
   homeland, we shall use any worldly good fortune that comes to us as a   
   mean  to further our journey, not as an enticement to detain us.   
      Because the world attracts us by its beauty, abundance, and   
   variety, it is not easy to turn away from it unless in the beauty of   
   visible things one loves the Creator rather than the creature; for   
   when the Creator says: You shall love the Lord your God with all your   
   heart and with all your mind and with all your strength, he shows that   
   it is not his will for us to loosen the bonds of our love for him in   
   any respect whatever. And by joining to this precept love of our   
   neighbor, he commands us to imitate his own goodness, loving what he   
   loves and doing what he does.   
    --St. Leo the Great   
      
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   April 25th - St. Pedro de San José Betancur   
      
   Pedro Betancur may have been a descendant of Juan de Betancourt, who   
   conquered the Canary Islands for Spain early in the 16th century. If   
   so, the family had suffered a lowering of social and economic status   
   by the time Pedro was born in Villaflora, on the island of Tenerife,   
   on March 21, 1626. They were quite poor. Pedro had a strong religious   
   sense and zeal, which led him to want to evangelize Japan.   
      
    In 1646, at the age of 20, he left his homeland for Cuba, going on to   
   Guatemala (then the capital of New Spain) four years later. As he   
   entered Guatemala City on February 18, 1651, the earth shook, a   
   portent of great things to come. He enrolled in a Jesuit college, but   
   his lessons proved too difficult for him to master and he dropped out   
   after 3 years, giving up his dream of going to Japan.   
      
   He turned instead to the Franciscans, joining the Secular Franciscan   
   Order in 1655, and devoted the rest of his life to work in Guatemala.   
   From his arrival in Guatemala City, Pedro had been struck by the great   
   extremes of wealth and poverty. For a while he held the position of   
   sacristan in a church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, where he prayed   
   for the poor on his knees before images of the Virgin, St. Joseph and   
   the Child Jesus. He rented a house and taught reading and catechism to   
   poor children. In 1658, with the help of benefactors, he converted   
   this house into a hospital. Later, benefactors provided for the   
   purchase of other houses in the area and a proper hospital was built,   
   Pedro himself working alongside the masons. Upon its completion, the   
   hospital was thoroughly equipped and stocked, and placed under the   
   patronage of Our Lady of Bethlehem.   
      
    Pedro was concerned not only with the poor but also with all social   
   and economic classes. Every Thursday he collected alms for prisoners   
   and visited them in their cells. Souls in purgatory also received his   
   attention. He had two chapels built at the principal gates to the   
   city, where he performed Masses to celebrate the souls of the   
   deceased. At night he walked through the streets ringing a bell,   
   asking people to pray for them as well. About 1665 he sent one of his   
   religious brothers to Spain to solicit the king’s approbation of his   
   congregation’s work. The favor was granted, but unfortunately, Pedro   
   had died before the messenger returned. Nor did he live to see the   
   confirmation of the congregation and its constitution by Pope Clement   
   X (r. 1670–76) in 1673.   
      
   Pedro is credited with originating Christmas-eve processions (called   
   posadas) in which people representing Joseph and Mary seek lodgings.   
   The practice caught on, and soon spread to Mexico and other Central   
   American countries. Pedro died on April 15, 1667, in Guatemala City.   
   At the request of the Capuchin Fathers he was buried in their church   
   where his relics are venerated to this day. Legend has it that   
   petitioners need only tap gently on his stone tomb to have their   
   prayers answered. Many early petitioners afterward left stone tablets   
   scratched with thank-you notes.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Your heart is like to a ship. To have Jesus on board is to have Faith   
   in your heart. If your faith slumbers, Jesus slumbers also, and in   
   this case you are in danger of shipwreck.   
   --St. Augustine   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye   
   present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,   
   which is your reasonable service."  [Rom 12:1]   
      
      
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   Anima Christi:   
      
   Soul of Christ, sanctify me.   
   Body of Christ, save me.   
   Blood of Christ, inebriate me.   
   Water from the side of Christ, wash me.   
   Passion of Christ, strengthen me.   
   O good Jesus, hear me.   
   Within Thy wounds, hide me.   
   Permit me not to be separated from Thee.   
   From the malignant enemy, defend me.   
   In the hour of my death, call me.   
   And bid me come to Thee,   
   That, with Thy saints, I may praise Thee   
   Forever and ever. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)