From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   FIRST RULE--GOD'S WILL   
      
   WHATEVER leads away from God is contrary to the Will of God. Whatever   
   attracts towards God is in accordance with the Divine Will. “For this   
   is the Will of God, your sanctification.” [I Thess. IV. 3]   
   Therefore, if anyone detect any such thing in himself as to be   
   constrained to confess that this business, this society, this trade,   
   this way of living, does not make me more holy, but I am being led   
   away from God, though gradually and by easy steps, it follows that   
   neither that business, nor that society, nor that trade, nor that way   
   of living, is according to the Divine Will.   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   13 December – Blessed Giovanni Marinoni CR   
      
   Priest of the Theatines of St Cajetan (1480-1547) (The Congregation of   
   the Clerics Regular of the Divine Providence), renowned Preacher and   
   spiritual director. Also known as John and Francesco Marinoni – born   
   as Francesco Marinoni on 25 December 1490 at Venice, Italy and died on   
   13 December 1562, aged 71, at Naples, Italy of natural causes.   
   Patronage – of Preachers.   
      
   Blessed Giovanni was the third and youngest son of a noble family,   
   originally of Bergamo but was born at Venice, in 1490. From his   
   infancy it was his chief delight to be on his knees at the foot of the   
   altar and to hear as many masses everyday as his employments permitted   
   him.   
      
   He usually studied before a crucifix and sanctified his studies by   
   most frequent fervent acts of divine love. To beg of God the grace   
   never to sully his baptismal innocence, he spent forty days in prayer   
   and a rigorous fast in honour of the Immaculate Conception of the   
   Mother of God.   
      
   Having embraced an ecclesiastical state, he served among the clergy of   
   St Pantaleon’s church and, when he was ordained priest, became   
   chaplain and afterwards superior of the hospital of incurables, in   
   which charitable employ he was a comforting angel to all who were   
   under his care.   
      
   He was called to be the Canon in the celebrated church of St Mark,   
   where his life was the edification of his colleagues and of the whole   
   city. Out of a desire of serving God in a more perfect disengagement   
   from earthly things, he decided to take the habit of the regular   
   clerks called Theatines and made his profession in 1530, then taking   
   the name “Giovanni”, on 29 May, at the age of 40. He was received into   
   the Order by the Founders, St Cajetan and Cardinal Giovanni Pietro   
   Carafa – the future Pope Paul IV, the Bishop of Chieti or Theate, who   
   had instituted this order six years before.   
      
   In August 1533 he left Venice for Naples at the request of Pope   
   Clement VII and remained there to direct the faithful. He also made an   
   attempt to strengthen the faith and to prevent unorthodox views from   
   taking root. He was appointed as the Superior of the House of San   
   Paolo Maggiore in April 1540 and served as the spiritual director of a   
   Dominican convent. He also served as a spiritual adviser to Saint   
   Andrew Avellino (1521-1608). Avellino made reference to Marinoni as a   
   great saint.   
      
   Pope Paul IV wanted to bestow upon him the Archbishopric of Naples but   
   he refused it.   
   Both by his prayers and sacrifices and by his exhortations in the   
   pulpit and confessional, he was an instrument of salvation to many.   
      
   His age and disease undermined him as he continued to work for others   
   in Naples and the cholera epidemic that spread there, overcame him in   
   1562 which led to his death on 13 December 1562. He was Beatified by a   
   bull of Clement XIII on 5 December 1764, who granted to his order, an   
   office in his honour to be celebrated on 13 December. On 27 June 2011   
   Pope Benedict XVI issued a decree of heroic virtues and approved a   
   miracle attributed to Blessed Giovanni’s intercession and thus cleared   
   the way for his Canonisation cause.   
      
   https://anastpaul.com/2019/12/   
      
      
   Read about St Cajetan here:   
   https://anastpaul.com/2017/08/07/saint-of-the-day-7-august-st-ca   
   etan-founder-of-the-theatine-order-the-father-of-providence/   
      
      
   And St Andrew Avellino here:   
   https://anastpaul.com/2018/11/10/saint-of-the-day-10-november-st   
   andrew-avellino-cr-1521-1608/   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   The Lord has called us from different nations, but we must be united   
   with one heart and one soul. In the divine Heart of Jesus we will   
   always meet one another and there we seek our strength to face the   
   difficulties of life. May we be strengthened to practice the beautiful   
   virtues of charity, humility and patience. Then our religious life   
   will be the antechamber to Heaven.   
   --Blessed Maria Elizabetta Hesselblad   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   But according to him that hath called you, who is holy, be you also in   
   all manner of conversation holy: Because it is written: You shall be   
   holy, for I am holy.  (I Pet. 1:15-16) DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Advent Prayer – God of Hope   
      
   God of hope,   
   who brought love into this world,   
   be the love that dwells between us.   
   God of hope,   
   who brought peace into this world,   
   be the peace that dwells between us.   
   God of hope,   
   who brought joy into this world,   
   be the joy that dwells between us.   
   God of hope,   
   the rock we stand upon,   
   be the centre, the focus of our lives   
   always and particularly this Advent time.   
   Through Him,   
   who is our hope,   
   our joy,   
   our love,   
   our peace,   
   in union with the Holy Spirit,   
   one God forever,   
   amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)