From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Spirit of ownership or poverty in the Spirit?   
      
       Seek for nothing, desiring to enter, for love of Jesus, upon   
   detachment, emptiness and poverty in everything in this world. You   
   will never have to do with necessities greater than those to which you   
   made your heart yield itself: for the poor in spirit are most happy   
   and joyful in a state of privation, and he who has set his heart on   
   nothing finds satisfaction everywhere.   
       The poor in spirit (Mt 5,3) give generously all they have and   
   their pleasure consists in being thus deprived of everything for God's   
   sake and out of love to their neighbor... Not only do temporal   
   goods--the delights and tastes of the sense--hinder and thwart the way   
   of God, but spiritual delights and consolations also, if sought for or   
   clung to eagerly, disturb the way of virtue.   
   --Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591), Carmelite, Doctor of the Church   
      
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   7 September – Blessed Thomas Tsuji SJ   
      
    (1570-1627)   
    Priest of the Society of Jesus, Martyr. Born in c1571 in Sonogi,   
   Nagasaki, Japan and died by being burned at the stake on 7 September   
   1627 at Nagasaki, Japan. Additional Memorial – 7 May together with the   
   Martyrs of Japan. Also known as – Thomas Tsugi, Thomas Tsughi, Thomas   
   Tzugi.   
      
   Thomas Tsuji was born in Sonogi, near Omura of a noble family. He   
   received his early education from the Jesuits in Arima and entered the   
   Society in January 1589. He was Ordained a Priest in Nagasaki sometime   
   before 1613. He was an excellent preacher and became well known   
   throughout southern Japan. He was transferred to Hakata after he   
   became too outspoken in his condemnation of the scandalous conduct of   
   some Christian Japanese in the City. While exercising his priestly   
   ministry in Hakata, the edict of 1641 which ordered the banishment of   
   all Catholic Priests from Japan was enacted. In obedience to the   
   order, Fr Tsuji and the other eighty Priests left for Macau and   
   remained there for four years.   
      
   In August 1618, Fr Tsuji, disguised as a merchant, returned to Japan   
   and secretly resumed his apostolic work. Unlike the European Jesuits   
   who could only minister at night, Fr Tsuji worked day and night,   
   achieving great results, disguised sometime as a prosperous Japanese   
   gentleman and at times, as an artisan. His favourite disguise was as a   
   humble wood seller who could knock at the doors of Christian homes   
   without being noticed.   
      
   As the persecution against Christians intensified and his workload   
   increased, Fr Tsuji found his energy waning as he began to doubt   
   whether he could match the heroic example of his brother Jesuits who   
   were being martyred. This uncertainty of himself, led him to be   
   depressed and as he found it difficult to continue living up to the   
   ideals that the Society demanded of its men, he was released of his   
   religious vows in late 1619.   
      
   Within a short time of his departure from the Society, he requested to   
   be readmitted but while immediate readmission was not possible, the   
   Jesuit superiors allowed him to go through a period of probation. This   
   lasted six years, during which time he demonstrated more zealously, by   
   exposing himself to many dangers, in order to help other Christians.   
   After his readmission in 1626, Fr Tsuji was assigned to Nagasaki where   
   he continued his apostolic duties until his capture the same year.   
      
   Fr Tsuji had been living with a devout Christian, Louis Maki and his   
   son John. On the morning of 21 July 1626, just after he had celebrated   
   Mass, which the Makis attended, the house was invaded by soldiers and   
   the three were arrested. Fr Tsuji appeared before the district judge   
   and when asked who he was and what he was doing, he responded: “For   
   many years the people of Nagasaki have seen Thomas Tsuji, a religious   
   of the Society of Jesus and have heard him preach the Christian   
   message. I am he and I am prepared to uphold. with my life and to   
   testify with my blood. to the truths that I have faithfully taught.”   
   He was found guilty and imprisoned at the Omura prison. The Makis were   
   also imprisoned for collaborating with a Priest and offering him   
   hospitality.   
      
   While in prison, Fr Tsuji had to endure the visits of his family who   
   endlessly asked him to think of them and not to bring shame upon them.   
   They appealed to him to renounce his Christian religion and return to   
   live with them. His reply was: “What you ask me to do is wrong and   
   even if you offered me a thousand Japans, or the whole world, I could   
   not do it.” After 13 months of incarceration the three prisoners were   
   taken to Nagasaki to receive the death sentence   
      
   On 7 September 1627 they were led to the Martyrs’ Hill, made holy by   
   many Martyrs and there, they were tied to stakes. Fr Tsuji comforted   
   his two companions and urged them to think of Christ’s passion. When   
   the stakes were on fire, he blessed his companions, raised his eyes to   
   heaven and prayed silently. When the flames twirled and wrapped about   
   his body, he chanted the psalm: “Praise the Lord, All You Nations.”   
      
   Many witnesses have attested that a few moments before his death, his   
   breast burst open and from it there issued a flame that rose upwards   
   and upwards until it was lost in sight. They believed that the   
   sacrifice offered by Fr Tsuji and his companions was found to be most   
   pleasing to God.   
   Fr Tsuji, Louis and John Maki were beatified by Pope Pius IX together   
   with other Japanese martyrs on 7 May 1867.   
      
   https://anastpaul.com/2021/09/07/   
      
      
   How We Should Pray   
      
   “We must pray with deep humility.   
   “Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled and he who humbles   
   himself shall be exalted” (Lk 14:11).   
   “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble” (Js 4:6).   
   “The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest, until t   
   reaches its goal” (Ecclus 35:17).   
   When we kneel down to pray, therefore, we should make an act of humility.   
   We are poor beggars, as St Augustine puts it, before the throne of God.   
   Let us pray with confidence in God’s goodness but also with a proper   
   realisation of our own helplessness.   
   Then God will take pity on us.   
   by Antonio Cardinal Bacci   
      
   PART ONE HERE:   
   https://anastpaul.com/2020/03/16/thought-for-the-day-16-march-ho   
   -we-should-pray/   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   By the effective exercise of only one virtue, a person may attain to   
   the height of all the rest.   
   -- Saint Gregory Nazianzen   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   "Ye that fear the Lord, hope in him, and mercy shall come to you for   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)