From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Avoid Pride and Grasp Wisdom   
      
   "After hearing that they should be humble some persons do not wish to   
   learn anything.   
      
   They think they will be proud if they have anything. It has been made   
   clear to us where God wishes us to be in the depths and where he   
   wishes us to be in the heights. He wishes us to be humble to avoid   
   pride, and he wishes us to be on high to grasp wisdom."   
   --St. Augustine--Commentary on Psalm 130, 12   
      
   Prayer: While I move and bear this body I pray that I may be pure,   
   generous, just, and prudent. May I be a perfect lover and knower of   
   your Wisdom.   
   --St. Augustine--Soliloquies 1, 6   
      
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   December 15th - Saint Virginia Centurione Bracelli   
   (Also known as: Virginae Centurione Bracelli)   
   (1587-1651)   
      
   Daughter of Giorgio Centurione, and imposing and controlling   
   individual who became the Doge of Genoa, and Lelia Spinola. Raised in   
   a pious family, she felt drawn to religious life as a child. However,   
   due to family position she agreed to an arranged marriage to Gasparo   
   Grimaldi Bracelli on 10 December 1602. He was a drinker, a gambler,   
   and though the couple had two daughters, Lelia and Isabella, he was   
   little of a father or husband. Virginia was widowed on 13 June 1607   
   after five years of marriage, aged 20, and with two small children.   
      
   Virginia moved in with her in-laws, cared for her children, and   
   dedicated her free time to prayer and charity. When her daughters were   
   grown and married, Virginia devoted herself entirely to caring for the   
   sick, aged, and abandoned children. In late 1624 and early 1625 war in   
   the region led to many orphans, some whom Virginia took in and cared   
   for, and she worked with refugees in the town. When her mother-in-law   
   died in August 1625, Virginia poured herself into the work, turning   
   her house into a refuge and founding the Cento Signore della   
   Misericordia Protettrici dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo   
      
   Her house was overrun with the needy during a plague and famine in   
   1629-1630. To house them all Virginia rented the vacant convent of   
   Monte Calvario and moved her charges there in 1631. Due to crowding,   
   extra housing was built in 1634, Virginia was soon caring for 300   
   patients, and in 1635 she received official government recognition for   
   her hospital. Virginia worked closely with the young women in her   
   houses, teaching them religion and ways to earn a living.   
      
   The expenses of Monte Calvario were excessive, so Virginia bought two   
   villas and started construction of a church dedicated to Our Lady of   
   Refuge. It became the mother church of the Institution, whose Rule was   
   written between 1644 and 1650 and which was divided into two   
   congregations: Suore di Nostra Signora del Rifugio di Monte Calvario   
   (Sisters of Our Lady of Refuge in Mount Calvary) and Figlie di Nostra   
   Signora al Monte Calvario (Daughters of Our Lady on Mount Calvary).   
   When the group of Protectors, the superiors and governors of the   
   Institute was selected in 1641, Virginia retired from administration,   
   working as the humblest sister, doing chores on the grounds and   
   begging for alms for the Institute.   
      
   Sadly, though the Institute was a success, healing the sick, educating   
   children, training adults, and helping the dissolute return to   
   productive lives, assistance, personal and financial, began to   
   decline. Without the chance to work with Virginia, many of the middle   
   and upper class did not participate, fearing the poor and rough   
   residents. Though her health was failing, Virginia returned to active   
   administrative duties. She worked for general spiritual development   
   throughout the region, working for the choice of the Blessed Virgin   
   Mary as patron of the republic of Genoa in 1637, for the institution   
   of the forty hours devotion in 1642, and the revival of home missions   
   in 1643. She acted as peacemaker between noble houses, and aided in   
   the reconciliation of Church and Republic authorities in 1647, ending   
   a dispute caused by the government abandoning support of the   
   Institute. Virginia continued working up to the end of her days, and   
   in later years received the gifts of visions and interior locutions.   
      
   Born:  2 April 1587 in Genoa, Italy   
   Died:  15 December 1651 in Genoa, Italy of natural causes   
      
   Beatified:  22 September 1985 by Pope John Paul II   
   Canonized: 18 May 2003 by Pope John Paul II at Vatican Basilica   
      
   Saint Quote   
   Hold your eyes on God and leave the doing to him. That is all the   
   doing you have to worry about.   
   --Saint Jeanne de Chantal   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   O God, when thou didst go forth in the sight of thy people, when thou   
   didst pass through the desert: 9 The earth was moved, and the heavens   
   dropped at the presence of the God of Sina, at the presence of the God   
   of Israel.  (Psalm 67:8-9)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Meditations for Advent and Christmas   
      
   OUR KING'S CLAIM TO SOVEREIGNTY [2]   
      
   Jesus Christ, as God, has an absolute right to our unfailing and   
   universal obedience. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and every   
   created being in Heaven and on earth is bound to carry out His Divine   
   will in all things. We owe Him homage and adoration as the continual   
   and unceasing tribute to which He has a right by virtue of His supreme   
   Majesty. He is the Lord our God, and we are His servants. His   
   handmaidens, the sheep of His pasture. Rejoice in being subject to   
   such a King, adore His Majesty, and fall down at His feet and promise   
   Him obedience in every detail of your life.   
      
   Jesus Christ has also an unlimited claim on us as our Creator. "By Him   
   all things were made." Now creation gives the most perfect title to   
   ownership that exists; nothing is so completely ours as that which we   
   in some sense create. Hence we belong entirely to our King. We are His   
   absolute property and possession. We have no rights of our own in   
   opposition to His. His rights over us, over all that we call ours,   
   over our body and our soul, are all-embracing. We shall therefore, if   
   we are wise, put ourselves and all our faculties, especially our will,   
   to Him to do with us as He pleases.   
      
   Jesus Christ is also our King as being the heir of the Eternal Father.   
   God has appointed Him, says St. Paul (Heb. i. 2), heir of all things.   
   He has the right of inheritance, Man though he is, to all the glory   
   and all the dominion of the Eternal Father. He entered on His   
   inheritance when He trampled on sin and on death. No wonder, then,   
   that St. Paul says: "All things are ours; and we are Christ's and   
   Christ is God's." We inherit God's good things as subjects of Christ   
   our King.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)