From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On the Evils of Curiosity [II]   
      
   Do not court the favour of powerful patrons, nor popular favour, not   
   even the particular affection of friends. All these things are   
   distractions, and fill the heart with uncertainty. If you will but   
   await My coming, and throw open the door of your heart, I Myself will   
   speak to you, and reveal to you My secrets. Be ready; watch and pray.   
   Above all, be humble.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3, Ch 24   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   August 28th – Saint Joaquina Vedruna Vidal de Mas   
   Also known as Joachina de Vedruna, Joachima de Vedruna   
     • Joaquima de Vedruna Vidal de Mas   
     • Joaquina of Saint Francis of Assisi   
      
   died 1854 at Vic, Barcelona, Spain of cholera   
      
   Born 1783 into an aristocratic family in Barcelona, Spain, Joachima   
   was 12 when she expressed a desire to become a Carmelite nun. But her   
   life took an altogether different turn at 16 with her marriage to a   
   young lawyer, Theodore de Mas. Both deeply devout, they became secular   
   Franciscans. During their 17 years of married life they raised eight   
   children.   
      
   The normalcy of their family life was interrupted when Napoleon   
   invaded Spain. Joachima had to flee with the children; Theodore,   
   remaining behind, died. Though Joachima reexperienced a desire to   
   enter a religious community, she attended to her duties as a mother.   
   At the same time, the young widow led a life of austerity and chose to   
   wear the habit of the Third Order of St. Francis as her ordinary   
   dress. She spent much time in prayer and visiting the sick.   
      
   Four years later, with some of her children now married and younger   
   ones under their care, Joachima confessed her desire to a priest to   
   join a religious order. With his encouragement she established the   
   Carmelite Sisters of Charity. In the midst of the fratricidal wars   
   occurring at the time, Joachima was briefly imprisoned and, later,   
   exiled to France for several years.   
      
   Sickness ultimately compelled her to resign as superior of her order.   
   Over the next four years she slowly succumbed to paralysis, which   
   caused her to die by inches. At her death in 1854 at the age of 71,   
   Joachima was known and admired for her high degree of prayer, deep   
   trust in God and selfless charity.   
      
   Comment:  Joachima understands loss. She lost the home where her   
   children grew up, her husband and, finally, her health. As the power   
   to move and care for her own needs slowly ebbed away, this woman who   
   had all her life cared for others became wholly dependent; she   
   required help with life’s simplest tasks. When our own lives go   
   spinning out of control, when illness and bereavement and financial   
   hardship strike, all we can do is cling to the belief that sustained   
   Joachima: God watches over us always.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   It behooves thee to be very careful, for thou livest under the eyes of   
   the Judge who beholds all things.   
   -- St. Bernard   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Let your manners be without covetousness, contented with such things   
   as you have. For he hath said: I will not leave thee: neither will I   
   forsake thee.  [Hebrews 13:5] DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   LATE HAVE I LOVED YOU   
   By St Augustine   
      
   Late have I loved You,   
   Beauty so ancient and so new,   
   late have I loved You!   
   Lo, you were within,   
   but I outside, seeking there for You,   
   and upon the shapely things You have made   
   I rushed headlong – I, misshapen.   
   You were with me but I was not with You.   
   They held me back far from You,   
   those things which would have no being,   
   were they not in You.   
   You called, shouted, broke through my deafness.   
   You flared, blazed, banished my blindness.   
   You lavished Your fragrance, I gasped   
   and now I pant for You;   
   I tasted You and now I hunger and thirst;   
   You touched me and I burned for Your peace.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)