From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   True humility   
      
   Respect for God and for his ways inclines us to humility and to   
   simplicity of heart--the willing readiness to seek the one true good   
   who is God himself. What is the nature of true humility and why should   
   we embrace it as essential for our lives? We can easily mistake   
   humility as something demeaning or harmful to our sense of well-being   
   and feeling good about ourselves. True humility is not feeling bad   
   about yourself, or having a low opinion of yourself, or thinking of   
   yourself as inferior to all others. True humility frees us from   
   preoccupation with ourselves, whereas a low self-opinion tends to   
   focus our attention on ourselves. Humility is truth in   
   self-understanding and truth in action. Viewing ourselves honestly,   
   with sober judgment, means seeing ourselves the way God sees us (Psalm   
   139:1-4).   
      
   ============   
   September 20th – Bl. Francisco Martín Fernández de Posadas   
   † 1713   
      
   HE was born at Cordova in 1644 and brought up by his parents, who were   
   green-grocers, to the idea that he should become a religious, in   
   particular a Friar Preacher, a prospect that was more than attractive   
   to him. But on the death of his father his mother married again, and   
   his stepfather decided that the studies on which he was engaged were a   
   waste of time. He therefore made Francis give them up and apprenticed   
   him to a trade. His master at first treated him very roughly, but   
   Francis won him over by patience and good temper and by sticking to   
   his work, and eventually the master even helped him to get on with his   
   studies in his spare time. When his stepfather also died, Francis had   
   to devote himself to the care of his mother for a time, but in 1663   
   was able to enter the Dominican noviciate at the convent of  Scala   
   Caeli in Cordova.   
      
      For a time his experience here was not happy. He was misunderstood   
   by his fellows and made the butt of ridicule and petty persecution; he   
   persevered, was professed, and admitted to the priesthood. Francis at   
   once made his mark as a preacher and he was hailed as a second Vincent   
   Ferrer. He gave missions all over the southwest of Spain, adding to   
   the fatigues of preaching, hearing confessions, and travelling on foot   
   voluntary mortifications of a most rigorous kind. His combination of   
   example and precept won him a great influence over all with whom he   
   came in contact, and in his native city he brought about a much-needed   
   reform and improvement in public and private morals; disorderly places   
   of amusement shut up for lack of business. He was always at the   
   service of the poor and learned from them a humility that made him   
   avoid not only the offices of his order but also bishoprics that were   
   offered to him. Bd Francis wrote several books—The Triumph of   
   Chastity, lives of St Dominic and other holy ones of his order, moral   
   exhortations—and died at Scala Caeli after forty years of   
   uninterrupted work for souls on September 20, 1713. He was beatified   
   in 1818.   
      
   Following close upon the beatification Father V. Sopena published in   
   Rome a Vita del B. Francesco de Posadas. It contains amongst other   
   things an interesting account of his levitations when he was   
   celebrating Mass (pp. 42-45), and of his sensations in endeavouring to   
   resist this lifting of his body into the air. See also Martinez-Vigil,   
   La Orden de Predicadores (1884), pp. 352 seq. and a short notice in   
   Procter, Dominican Saints, pp. 263-265. For a fuller bibliography   
   consult Taurisano, Catalogus Hagiographicus OP.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   When you feel the assaults of passion and anger, then is the time to   
   be silent as Jesus was silent in the midst of His ignominies and   
   sufferings.   
   --St. Paul of the Cross   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who   
   believe. For there is no distinction; 23 since all have sinned and   
   fall short of the glory of God, 24 they are justified by his grace as   
   a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, (Romans   
   3:22-24)  RSVCE   
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer to Seek God Continually   
      
   O Lord my God, I believe in You,   
   Father, Son and Holy Spirit.   
   Insofar as I can,   
   insofar as You have given me the power,   
   I have sought You.   
   I became weary and I laboured.   
   O Lord my God, my sole hope,   
   help me to believe   
   and never to cease seeking You.   
   Grant that I may always   
   and ardently seek out Your countenance.   
   Give me the strength to seek You,   
   for You help me to find You   
   and You have more and more given me,   
   the hope of finding You.   
   Here I am before You   
   with my firmness and my infirmity.   
   Preserve the first and heal the second.   
   Here I am before You   
   with my strength and my ignorance.   
   Where You have opened the door to me,   
   welcome me at the entrance;   
   where you have closed the door to me,   
   open to my cry;   
   enable me to remember You,   
   to understand You   
   and to love You. Amen.   
   By St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)