From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Against the tongues of detractors   
      
   2. "Let not thy peace depend upon the word of men; for whether they   
   judge well or ill of thee, thou art not therefore any other man than   
   thyself.  Where is true peace or true glory?  Is it not in Me?  And he   
   who seeketh not to please men, nor feareth to displease, shall enjoy   
   abundant peace. From inordinate love and vain fear ariseth all   
   disquietude of heart, and all distraction of the senses."   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Book 3, Chapter 28   
      
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   17 November – St Elizabeth of Hungary   
      
   (1207-1231)   
   “Elizabeth was a lifelong friend of the poor and gave herself entirely   
   to relieving the hungry. She ordered that one of her castles should be   
   converted into a hospital in which she gathered many of the weak and   
   feeble. She generously gave alms to all who were in need, not only in   
   that place but in all the territories of her husband’s empire. She   
   spent all her own revenue from her husband’s four principalities and   
   finally she sold her luxurious possessions and rich clothes for the   
   sake of the poor.   
      
   Twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, Elizabeth went to   
   visit the sick. She personally cared for those who were particularly   
   repulsive; to some she gave good, to others clothing; some she carried   
   on her own shoulders and performed many other kindly services. Her   
   husband, of happy memory, gladly approved of these charitable works.   
   Finally, when her husband died, she sought the highest perfection;   
   filled with tears, she implored me to let her beg for alms from door   
   to door.   
      
   On Good Friday of that year, when the altars had been stripped, she   
   laid her hands on the altar in a chapel in her own town, where she had   
   established the Friars Minor and before witnesses she voluntarily   
   renounced all worldly display and everything that our Saviour in the   
   gospel advises us to abandon. Even then she saw that she could still   
   be distracted by the cares and worldly glory which had surrounded her   
   while her husband was alive. Against my will she followed me to   
   Marburg. Here in the town she built a hospice where she gathered   
   together the weak and the feeble. There she attended the most wretched   
   and contemptible at her own table.   
      
   Apart from those active good works, I declare before God that I have   
   seldom seen a more contemplative woman.   
      
   Before her death I heard her confession. When I asked what should be   
   done about her goods and possessions, she replied that anything which   
   seemed to be hers belonged to the poor. She asked me to distribute   
   everything except one worn-out dress in which she wished to be buried.   
   When all this had been decided, she received the body of our Lord.   
   Afterward, until vespers, she spoke often of the holiest things she   
   had heard in sermons. Then, she devoutly commended to God all who were   
   sitting near her and as if falling into a gentle sleep, she died.”   
    – from a letter by Fr Conrad of Marburg, spiritual director of Saint   
   Elizabeth of Hungary   
      
   Elizabeth understood well the lesson Jesus taught when he washed his   
   disciples’ feet at the Last Supper:  the Christian must be one who   
   serves the humblest needs of others, even if one serves from an   
   exalted position. In her short life, Elizabeth manifested such great   
   love for the poor and suffering that she has become the patroness of   
   Catholic charities and of the Secular Franciscan Order. The daughter   
   of the King of Hungary, Elizabeth chose a life of penance and   
   asceticism when a life of leisure and luxury could easily have been   
   hers. This choice endeared her in the hearts of the common people   
   throughout Europe.  Of royal blood, Elizabeth could have lorded it   
   over her subjects. Yet she served them with such a loving heart that   
   her brief life won for her a special place in the hearts of many.   
   Elizabeth is also an example to us in her following the guidance of a   
   spiritual director. Growth in the spiritual life is a difficult   
   process. We can play games very easily if we don’t have someone to   
   challenge us.   
      
   St Elizabeth of Hungary, pray for us!   
      
   From Anastpaul 2017   
      
      
   “Mercy imitates God and disappoints Satan.”   
   --St John Chrysostom (347-407) Father & Doctor of the Church   
      
      
   “Two works of mercy set a person free:   
   Forgive and you will be forgiven   
   and give and you will receive.”   
      
   ” Love is itself the fulfillment of all our works.   
   There is the goal;   
   that is why we run:   
   we run toward it and once we reach it,   
   in it we shall find rest.   
   --St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor of the Church   
      
      
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   Prayer   
      
   O holy God, who didst endow thy servant and bishop Hugh of   
   Lincoln with wise and cheerful boldness, and didst teach him   
   to commend the discipline of holy life to kings and princes:   
   Grant that we also, rejoicing in the Good News of thy mercy,   
   and fearing nothing but the loss of thee, may be bold to speak   
   the truth in love, in the name of Jesus Christ our Redeemer,   
   who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one   
   God, now and for ever.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)