From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On God's Graciousness to Those who Love Him  [I]   
      
   THE DISCIPLE.   
    Oh, my God and my All! (1 Cor.15:28; John 20:28) What more can I   
   possess? What greater joy can I desire? Word of sweetness and delight   
   to all who love the Word better than the world and its treasures? My   
   God and my All! To the wise, these words suffice and he who loves You   
   will delight to repeat them again and again. When You are present, all   
   is joy; when you are absent, all is gloom. You bring rest to the   
   heart, true peace and true gladness. You cause us to think well of   
   all, and to praise You in all, for nothing can give us lasting joy   
   without You.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3, Ch 34   
      
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   June 15th - Saint Germaine Cousin, Virgin   
   c.1579-1601   
      
    GERMAINE COUSIN was born about 1579 in the village of Pibrac, near   
   Toulouse, in southern France.  Her mother died soon after giving birth   
   to her, and her father, a farm worker, married again.  Germaine was in   
   poor health and physically handicapped from birth; her right hand was   
   withered and paralyzed, and she suffered from scrofula, a form of   
   tuberculosis resulting in ugly skin eruptions, particularly around the   
   neck.  Her father and stepmother were apparently revolted at her   
   physical condition and gave her as little attention as possible; they   
   fed her with scraps of food and made her sleep apart from the other   
   children in a stable, or under a staircase.  As Germaine grew up, she   
   was given no education and, to be kept out of the way, was sent to the   
   fields to watch over sheep.  These are the conditions in which she   
   lived until her death at the age of twenty-two.   
      
    The only thing that distinguishes Germaine's history from countless   
   others just as wretched or worse, is her hope and courage.  Her life,   
   which the average person would probably regard as unbearable, she   
   accepted gratefully, for its very privations allowed her to express   
   her love of God.  Her food, little of it as there was, was something   
   for her to share with the beggars who roamed the countryside and were   
   even less fortunate than she.  Germaine's long hours in the fields   
   gave her opportunities for prayer or for simple talks with the small   
   children of the neighborhood, explaining to them the need for knowing   
   and loving God.  Mass was the most important event in each day, even   
   though it meant leaving her flocks and walking a long way to church, a   
   journey made dangerous by the necessity of fording a broad stream that   
   was often swollen by rain.   
      
    As the years went by, Germaine's neighbors gradually came to realize   
   the nobility of spirit the girl possessed.  Stories began to   
   accumulate about her: on her way to church in the morning, she had   
   been seen to come out of the stream with completely dry clothes; her   
   sheep never strayed in her absence and were never attacked by the   
   wolves that lurked in the nearby forests waiting for just such   
   opportunities.  Finally, her family came to a tardy realization of the   
   extraordinary person in their midst and made some shamefaced attempts   
   to treat her in a more humane fashion.  She preferred, however, to   
   continue just as she had in the past; it made little difference, in   
   any event, for her life was running out.  On a summer morning in 1601,   
   she was found dead, lying on her bed-a pile of straw underneath a   
   staircase.   
      
    Germaine was buried in the village church and years later, in 1644,   
   her body was found to be incorrupt; after 16 years it was   
   re-examined and still was well preserved.  Miracles had been   
   attributed to her intercession by this time, and the people of the   
   village where she had been so cruelly treated were now praying to her   
   in increasing numbers.  Official confirmation of Germaine's sanctity   
   came in 1867, when she was canonized by Pope Pius IX.   
      
   http://www.geocities.com/barats2000/JuneFeasts.html   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Let us learn from Jesus in the manger, to hold the things of the world   
   in such esteem as they deserve.   
   --St. Francis de Sales   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of   
   the cross. 9 For which cause God also hath exalted him, and hath given   
   him a name which is above all names: 10 That in the name of Jesus   
   every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and   
   under the earth:   (Philippians 2:8-10)   
      
      
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   Prayers to Saint Philip Neri   
   for every day of the week   
      
   FOR TUESDAY:   
   Prayer to obtain the virtue of Purity.   
      
   Glorious Philip, who didst ever keep unsullied the white lily of Thy   
   purity, with such great honor to thyself that the brightness of this   
   fair virtue dwelt in thine eyes, shone forth from thy hands, and cast   
   its fragrance over Thy whole body, causing it to exhale such sweet   
   perfume as gave consolation, fervour, and devotion, to all who abode   
   with thee; O obtain for me from the Holy Spirit of God so true a love   
   for that most beauteous virtue, that neither the words nor bad   
   examples of sinners may ever make an impression on my soul. O never   
   suffer me in any way to lose that lovely virtue; and seeing that   
   avoidance of occasions, prayer, labour, humility, mortification of the   
   senses, frequent use of the sacraments, were the arms with which thou   
   didst conquer the dread enemy of the flesh, even so obtain for me, I   
   pray thee, grace to use these very arms to vanquish this same foe.   
   Take not away thy help from me; show forth that zeal in my behalf   
   which in thy life thou hadst for thy penitents, keeping them far   
   removed from all infection of the senses. Do this for me, my holy   
   advocate; in this fair virtue be thou ever my protector.   
      
   Pater. Ave. Gloria.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)