From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On Humility in the Sight of God [II]   
      
   It is Thine love that achieves this, freely guiding and supporting me   
   in my many needs, guarding me from grievous perils, and, as I may   
   truthfully confess, rescuing me from evils without number. And whereas   
   by perverse self-love I had lost myself, (John 12:25) now by lovingly   
   seeking Thee alone, I have found both myself and Thee; for by that   
   love I have humbled myself to utter nothingness. Dearest Lord, You   
   deal with me above my deserts, and above all I dare hope or pray for.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3, Ch 8   
      
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   14 March – St Matilda of Ringelheim/Saxony   
      
   (c 895 – 968)   
    – Queen, Apostle of Prayer and Charity, Foundress  – Patron of death   
   of children, disappointing children, falsely accused people, large   
   families, people ridiculed for their piety, queens, second marriages,   
   widows.   
      
   St Matilda, Queen of Germany and wife of King Henry I was the daughter   
   of Count Dietrich of Westphalia and Reinhild of Denmark. She was born   
   about 895 and was raised by her grandmother, the Abbess of Eufurt   
   convent. Matilda married Henry the Fowler, son of Duke Otto of Saxony,   
   in the year 909. He succeeded his father as Duke in the year 912 and   
   in 919 succeeded King Conrad I to the German throne.   
      
   She was widowed in the year 936 and supported her son Henry’s claim to   
   his father’s throne. When her son Otto (the Great) was elected, she   
   persuaded him to name Henry Duke of Bavaria after he led an   
   unsuccessful revolt.   
      
   St Matilda was known for her considerable almsgiving. She was severely   
   criticised by both Otto and Henry for what they considered her   
   extravagant gifts to charities. As a result, she resigned her   
   inheritance to her sons and retired to her country home. She was later   
   recalled to the court through the intercession of Otto’s wife, Edith.   
   Matilda was welcomed back to the palace and her sons asked for her   
   forgiveness.   
      
   In her final years, she devoted herself to the building of many   
   churches, convents and monasteries. She spent most of the declining   
   years of her life at the convent at Nordhausen she had built. She died   
   at the monastery at Quedlinburg on March 14 and was buried there with   
   her late husband, Henry.   
      
   Last year’s post with more details of St Mathilda’s life –   
   https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/03/14/saint-of-the-day-14-m   
   rch-st-matilda-of-saxony/   
      
      
   Saint Quote   
   There is a general rule concerning all special graces granted to any   
   human being. Whenever the divine favor chooses someone to receive a   
   special grace, or to accept a lofty vocation, God adorns the person   
   chosen with all the gifts of the Spirit needed to fulfill the task at   
   hand.   
   --Saint Bernardine of Siena (from a sermon on Saint Joseph)   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   I tell you, that of every idle word men speak, they shall give account   
   on the day of judgment. (Matthew 12:36)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   By St. Alphonsus de Liguori, from "Preparation for Death"   
      
   "The time of death is a time of storm and confusion. At that awful   
   hour sinners call on God for assistance; but they invoke his aid   
   through the fear of hell, which they see at hand, and not with true   
   contrition of heart. It is for this reason that God is deaf to their   
   cry ;   
      
   "When sudden calamity shall fall on you, and destruction, as a   
   tempest, shall be at hand: when tribulation and distress shall come   
   upon you:...   
   Then shall they call upon me, and I will not hear. ... Therefore they   
   shall eat the fruit of their own way."[Prov 1:27-32]   
      
   "it is for this reason also that they will then taste the fruit of   
   their wicked life. What they have sown they shall reap. [Gal 8:8]   
      
   "Ah! it will not then be enough to receive the sacraments; it is   
   necessary at death to hate sin, and to love God above all things. But   
   how can he, then, hate forbidden pleasures, who has loved them till   
   that moment? How can he love God above all things, who has till then   
   loved creatures more than he has loved God?"   
      
   Pass it on, you never know who may be moved by God through it.   
   Ave Maria and onward, Jim   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)