From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Thoughts on the Frailty of Man (5)   
      
      When you are troubled and afflicted, that is the time to gain   
   merit. You must pass through water and fire before coming to rest.   
   Unless you do violence to yourself you will not overcome vice.   
      So long as we live in this fragile body, we can neither be free   
   from sin nor live without weariness and sorrow. Gladly would we rest   
   from all misery, but in losing innocence through sin we also lost true   
   blessedness. Therefore, we must have patience and await the mercy of   
   God until this iniquity passes, until mortality is swallowed up in   
   life.   
   --Thomas à Kempis, From the Imitation of Christ:  Chapter 22   
      
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   3 April – St Luigi Scrosoppi C.O.   
   (1804-1884 died aged 79)   
      
   Priest, Founder, Apostle of Charity – Patron of Sisters of Providence   
   of Saint Cajetan of Thiene, footballers and Aids sufferers.   
      
   Luigi Scrosoppi (1804-84) spent much of his life fighting   
   anti-clericalism in Italy and brought comfort to the poor. The son of   
   a jeweller, Aloysius Scrosoppi – always known as Luigi – was born in   
   Udine, in northeast Italy. His family was extremely devout, and his   
   two elder brothers, Carlo and Giovanni, were ordained before him.   
      
   Luigi grew up during famine, typhus and smallpox endemics. Even as a   
   boy he felt the obligation to provide relief, inspired by Matthew   
   25:40: “Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my   
   brethren, you have done it unto me.” At 25, the year before he was   
   ordained, Luigi joined a group of priests and young teachers dedicated   
   to educating poor and abandoned girls, both in the town of Udine and   
   in the surrounding countryside.   
      
   He gave himself tirelessly to fundraising and was soon running an   
   organisation which accommodated over 300 students in a building which   
   became known as the House of the Destitute. Scrosoppi, however, was   
   not inclined to take any credit. “The Providence of God,” he wrote,   
   “who prepares minds and hearts to undertake his works, was alone the   
   founder of this Institute.”   
      
   He gathered together a team of young women to teach sewing and   
   embroidery. Nine of them decided to mark their dedication more   
   formally and in 1837, under Luigi Scrosoppi’s direction, constituted   
   themselves the Sisters of Providence. The congregation received   
   official recognition from Pope Pius IX in 1871.   
      
   In 1846, aged 42, Luigi Scrosoppi, joined the Congregation of the   
   Oratory in Udine and redoubled his work for the Sisters of Providence,   
   promising to found 12 houses for them before he died. This target he   
   achieved and also opened a school for deaf-mute girls. In the 1860s   
   the anti-clerical policies of the government in the Udine region   
   forced the Oratory to close. But Luigi Scrosoppi’s determination and   
   practical support enabled the Sisters of Providence to carry on their   
   work.   
      
   Now an old man, but with his habitual openness of spirit, he   
   understood that the time had come to hand over the reins to the   
   Sisters, and this he did with tranquility and hope. At the same time   
   he maintained contact with them all through his letters in which he   
   strengthened the ties of affection and love, and in his paternal   
   concern never tired of recommending community spirit and trust.   
      
   Through his deep union with God and his experience over many years   
   Father Luigi had acquired a special spiritual wisdom and intuition   
   which enabled him to read hearts: sometimes he even revealed the gift   
   of knowledge about secret inner thoughts and situations which were   
   known only to the person concerned.   
      
   At the end of 1883, as his strength began to decline, he was forced to   
   give up all work, and he constantly suffered from a high fever. The   
   illness took its inexorable course. He retold the Sisters not to be   
   afraid “because it was God who raised up their religious family and   
   made it grow and He it is who will see to its future”.   
      
   When he knew the end was near, he wished to greet everyone. So he   
   wrote his last words to the Sisters: “After my death, your   
   Congregation will have many troubles but afterwards it will have a new   
   life. Charity! Charity! This is the spirit of your religious family:   
   to save souls and to save them with Charity”.   
      
   During the night of Thursday, the 3rd of April 1884, he finally went   
   to meet Jesus. The whole of Udine and the people of the surrounding   
   countryside hastened to see him one last time and to beg his   
   protection from heaven.   
      
   Through his efforts on behalf of the little ones, of the poor, of   
   young people in difficulty, of those who are suffering, of all those   
   living in trying circumstances, Father Luigi still continues today to   
   show everyone the path of union with God, of compassion and of love,   
   and is still ready to accompany the steps of those who entrust   
   themselves to the Providence of God.   
      
   St. Luigi Scrosoppi was canonised on June 10, 2001 – It was at the   
   intercession of St Luigi that a Zambian man, now Fr Peter Changu   
   Shitima, was miraculously cured of AIDS in 1996. He was at that time a   
   member of the Oratory at Oudtshoorn, near Cape Town in South Africa   
   and it was to a member of St Philip’s family that his friends turned   
   for help.   
      
   Read the full story here   
   https://zenit.org/articles/the-aids-miracle-that-led-to-a-canonization/   
      
   Nine years later, he was named as patron saint of footballers (soccer   
   players) by Bishop Alois Schwarz. Today his name is invoked by   
   sufferers from Aids.   
      
   https://anastpaul.com/2017/04/03/   
      
      
   Reflection.   
   The soul cannot truly serve God while it is involved in the   
   distractions and pleasures of the world. Saint Honoratus knew this,   
   and chose to be a servant of Christ his Lord. Resolve, in whatever   
   state you are, to live absolutely detached from the world in spirit,   
   and to separate yourself corporeally as much as possible from it.   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Woe to me if I should prove myself but a halfhearted soldier in the   
   service of my thorn-crowned Captain.   
   --Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen   
      
   <><><><>   
   Memorare to Jesus, Mary and St. Joseph   
      
   Remember, O Merciful Jesus, Immaculate Mary and glorious St. Joseph   
   that no one has ever had recourse to Your Protection, or implore Your   
   assistance without obtaining relief. Animated with a like confidence,   
   but weighted down by my sins, I prostrate myself before You. O! Reject   
   not my petitions, but graciously hear and grant them. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)