From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   How Burdens must be Borne to win Eternal Life [II]   
      
   Labor with all your might. Work faithfully in My vineyard;(Matt. 20:7)   
   I myself will be your reward. (Gen. 15:1) Write, study, worship, be   
   penitent, keep silence and pray. Meet all your troubles like a man:   
   eternal life is worth all this and yet greater conflicts. Peace will   
   come at a time known only to the Lord. It will not be day or night as   
   we know it, (Rev. 22:5) but everlasting light, boundless glory,   
   abiding peace and sure rest. You will not say then, 'Who will free me   
   from this mortal body?; (Rom 7:4) nor cry, 'Alas, how long is my   
   exile!' (Ps. 120:5) for the power of death will be utterly broken,   
   (Isa. 25:8) and full salvation assured. No anxiety will remain, but   
   only blessed joy in the fair and lovely fellowship of the Saints.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3 Ch 47   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   January 9th - Bl. Tommaso Reggio   
       
   Bl. Tommaso Reggio was born in Genoa, Italy, on 9 January 1818 to the Marquis   
   of Reggio and Angela Pareto. He had a comfortable upbringing which gave him a   
   solid Christian and cultural background and assured him of a brilliant career.   
   However, at the age    
   of 20 he decided to become a priest and to turn his back on his previous life.   
   At the time of ordination on 18 September 1841 he said:  "I want to become a   
   saint, cost what it may, living my life in accordance with the two   
   cornerstones of Christianity--   
   prayer and ascesis".   
      
   At the age of 25 he was already the vice-rector of the Genoa seminary and   
   later the rector of the Chiavari seminary at a politically turbulent time in   
   the mid-1800s. While in charge of the seminary he became one of the founders   
   of the first Catholic    
   newspaper, The Catholic Standard.   
      
   He wanted to report news clearly and honestly. His defence of the Christian   
   faith and its basic principles never got in the way of truth and freedom. In   
   1865 The Catholic Standard and 25 other newspapers supported Catholic   
   electoral lists. They were    
   hoping for a Catholic political party, but when the Non expedit came out in   
   1874 and Catholics were told that they could not vote, he realized that his   
   newspaper could not go on. He closed it down without complaint.   
      
   In 1877 he was consecrated Bishop of Ventimiglia, a very poor Diocese that he   
   was to cross many times on the back of a mule. He was able to feel the pulse   
   of his Diocese by visiting even the most inaccessible villages, and organized   
   three Synods in just    
   15 years. A renovation project was also begun:  new parishes were opened,   
   there was a revival of the liturgy and hymns played an important part in the   
   Mass. There were also teaching programs set up for all sectors of the   
   population.   
      
   In 1878 the Bishop founded the Sisters of St. Martha, a religious order whose   
   purpose was "to meet the requirements of every age". He gave them the task of   
   welcoming "the poorest of the poor" like Martha, who "served Jesus with her   
   humble hands".   
      
   From him they learned how to worship in silence, to nourish themselves   
   constantly with prayer and to discover "on their knees" the values of a faith   
   whereby Christ can be found in the humblest and in all those with whom he is   
   identified.   
      
   In 1887 the Diocese was hit by an earthquake. Despite the fact that the Bishop   
   was now elderly, he was actively at work among the rubble. He did not only   
   bless and console but called on his parish priests to make a rigorous and   
   exact check of the gravity    
   of the situation in each parish. His patched cassock and his watch hanging   
   from a piece of string testified that he was a Bishop who had become "poor"   
   for his people.   
      
   His main concern was for the orphans whose numbers had increased after the   
   earthquake, so he founded orphanages in Ventimiglia and San Remo, where they   
   could learn a trade and the money they earned was put aside for when they   
   would have to go out into    
   the world alone.   
   In 1892 he asked the Pope to be relieved of his duties. The Holy Father's   
   answer was surprising:  in May 1892 he appointed him Archbishop of Genoa.   
      
   He was 74 and his new job was anything but easy given the complex situation in   
   the city of Genoa. The civil authorities were hostile towards him, but he   
   humbly accepted his post, certain of doing God's will. The Archbishop's   
   influence was such that    
   eventually Catholics and non-believers brought their problems to him, as one   
   would to a good and wise father.   
      
   With Bishops Bonomelli and Scalabrini he set up an assistance network for   
   immigrants which supplied them with documents to prevent any exploitation.   
   Catholic associations were encouraged and he supported reduced work hours and   
   weekends off for labourers,    
   which soon gained him the admiration of his adversaries.   
      
   He would pray every night from 3 a.m. until 6 a.m. Cheerful and carefree, he   
   made no show of his penitential life. He worshiped Christ and knew how to hide   
   his problems and labours behind a cheerful and humorous appearance. He had an   
   unshakeable faith    
   and a natural humility which sustained his life.   
      
   In 1900 Catholic Italy decided to consecrate the new century to God and Our   
   Lady. The Archbishop invited all the Ligurian Bishops to Ventimiglia for a   
   pilgrimage to Monte Saccarello, where a statue of the Redeemer was erected.   
   Although he very much    
   wanted to go up the mountain, he took ill and was unable to do so. He died on   
   the afternoon of 22 November 1901. Beatified by Pope John Paul II on September   
   3, 2000.   
      
   This Version Taken From:   
   http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20   
   00903_tommaso-reggio_en.html   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   What kind of work can be more noble than to cultivate the minds of young   
   people, guarding it carefully, so that the knowledge and love of God and His   
   holy precepts go hand-in-hand with learning? To form young Christians and   
   citizens-isn’t this the most    
   beautiful and noble-minded way to make use of life, of all one’s talents and   
   energy?   
   -- Saint John Kanty   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   And he spoke also to them a similitude: Can the blind lead the blind? do they   
   not both fall into the ditch? The disciple is not above his master: but every   
   one shall be perfect, if he be as his master.  (Luke 6:39-40)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Jesus, in Thy cruel scourging   
   in which Thou shed Thy Blood   
   most painfully and abundantly,   
   offering it to Thine Eternal Father   
   in payment for our impatience and our wantonness,   
   how is it, then, that we do not curb   
   our wrath and self-love?   
   Oh! let us henceforth try to be more patient in our trials,   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)