From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Training your soul   
      
   Your life has been given to you mainly for the purpose of training   
   your soul. This life we live is not so much for the body as for the   
   soul. We often choose the way of life that best suits the body, not   
   the way that best suits the soul. God wants you to choose what suits   
   the soul as well as the body. Accept this belief and a wonderful   
   molding of character is the result. Reject it and God's purpose for   
   your life is frustrated, and your spiritual progress is delayed. Your   
   soul is being trained by the good you choose. Thus the purpose of your   
   life is being accomplished.   
   --From Twenty-Four Hours a Day   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   8 May – Blessed Clara Fey   
      
    (1815-1894)   
   Religious Nun and Founder of the Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus. Her   
   life was dedicated to providing aid to the poor, with particular   
   emphasis on education, first in Aachen, Germany and later in the   
   Netherlands.   
      
   Clara Fey was born on 11 April 1815 in Aachen, the fourth of five   
   children of wealthy textile industrialist Louis and his wife   
   Katherine. Louis was to die following a stroke in 1820, when Clara was   
   aged five years.   
      
   She studied under noted teacher, Luise Hensel and became acquainted   
   with the future Blesseds Pauline von Mallinckrodt and Franziska   
   Schevier. In her childhood she observed the poor conditions in her   
   town and was resolved to aid the poor in their suffering more so   
   because of the importance her mother placed on helping those less   
   fortunate than herself.   
      
   To that end she would later set up a school with some like-minded   
   friends in Aachen in 1837 in order to cater to the educational needs   
   of poor children. Fey’s brother, Andreas would go on to become a   
   priest, later serving as the vicar of the Saint Paul parish in Aachen.   
      
   On 2 February 1844, Bl Clara established the Sisters of the Poor Child   
   Jesus in Aachen, as a means of leading children to Jesus Christ and   
   educating children in a religious environment.   
      
   Around 1835 she started to read the works of Saint Teresa of Ávila and   
   professed a desire to become a Carmelite nun. In 1841, however, her   
   spiritual adviser, Father Wilhelm Sartorius, motivated her to instead   
   read the works of Saint Francis de Sales for greater theological   
   inspiration.   
      
   Blessed Clara made her vows as a nun in 1850. Her order received   
   diocesan approval on 28 January 1848 from the Archbishop of Cologne   
   and a papal decree of praise from Pope Pius IX on 11 July 1862, with   
   full papal approval for the order issued by Pope Leo XIII on 15 June   
   1888. The Rule of her order would be based on the teachings of Saint   
   Augustine.   
      
   She served as the order’s first superior general from its founding   
   until her death despite her frail health and frequent bouts of   
   illness. In 1875, the Kulturkampf forced her and the order to relocate   
   to the Netherlands where she remained until her death in May 1894.   
   After her death a devotional cult began at the site of her grave in   
   Simpelveld.   
      
   The decree introducing her cause for beatification was issued in 1958   
   by Pope Pius XII, at which time she became titled a Servant of God. In   
   1991, following confirmation of her heroic virtue by Pope John Paul   
   II, she was titled Venerable. Pope Francis confirmed a miraculous   
   healing attributed to her intercession on 4 May 2017. Her   
   beatification was celebrated in Aachen on 5 May 2018.   
      
   https://anastpaul.com/2019/05/08/   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Whenever some act of wondrous power must be performed, Michael is   
   sent, so that his action and his name may make it clear that no one   
   can do what God does by his superior power.   
   -- Pope Saint Gregory the Great   
      
   <><><><>   
   Most Holy Virgin, I Choose You this Day   
   By St Francis de Sales (1567-1622) Doctor of Charity   
      
   Most Holy Mary, Virgin Mother of God,   
   I am unworthy to be your servant.   
   Yet moved by your motherly care for me   
   and longing to serve you,   
   I choose you this day to be my Queen,   
   my Advocate and my Mother.   
   I firmly resolve ever   
   to be devoted to you   
   and to do what I can   
   to encourage others   
   to be devoted to you.   
   My loving Mother,   
   through the Precious Blood   
   of your Son shed for me,   
   I beg you to receive me   
   as your servant forever.   
   Aid me in my actions   
   and beg for me the grace   
   never by thought, word, or deed   
   to be displeasing in your sight   
   and that of your most holy Son.   
   Remember me, dearest Mother,   
   and do not abandon me at the hour of death.   
   Amen   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)