From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Loving Jesus above all things   
      
     You will make great progress if you keep yourself free from all   
   temporal cares, for to value anything that is temporal is a great   
   mistake. Consider nothing great, nothing high, nothing pleasing,   
   nothing acceptable, except God Himself or that which is of God.   
   Consider the consolations of creatures as vanity, for the soul that   
   loves God scorns all things that are inferior to Him. God alone, the   
   eternal and infinite, satisfies all, bringing comfort to the soul and   
   true joy to the body.   
   --Imitation of Christ:--a Kempis  Bk II  Ch 7   
      
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   9 May – Blessed Theresa of Jesus/Karolina Gerhardinger   
      
   Religious nun, Foundress, Teacher.   
      
   Born on 20 June 1797 at Stadtamhof, Bavaria, Germany as Caroline   
   Gerhardinger and died on 9 May 1879 in München, Bavaria, Germany of   
   natural causes. She was Beatified on 17 November 1985 by St Pope John   
   Paul II. Patronages – The School Sisters of Notre Dame and Teachers.   
   Karolina Gerhardinger was born in Bavaria on 20 June 1797 as the sole   
   child of Willibard and Franziska Gerhardinger.   
      
   Karolina lived during turbulent times in Bavaria. At the age of 15,   
   she was already a certified teacher in the school for girls in   
   Stadtamhof near Regensburg. She was a very gifted educator whose   
   enthusiastic and encouraging acceptance of the children soon made her   
   a beloved teacher. Under the spiritual guidance of Bishop George   
   Michael Wittmann (1760-1833), Karolina gradually recognised God’s call   
   to found a religious community in order to respond to the needs of the   
   times through education.   
   On 16 November 1835, Karolina professed her religious vows and took   
   the name, Mary Theresa of Jesus. Her love for God, nourished and   
   strengthened by her devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, enkindled the   
   burning desire of her life:  to know God and to do God’s will. God’s   
   cause was the only concern of her heart. Blessed Theresa anchored her   
   community in poverty and dedicated it to Mary.   
      
   In 1822, Karolina had written, “The love of Jesus sees into the   
   future.” As foundress, she endeavoured to give the new congregation a   
   future. She sent her sisters in communities of twos and threes to   
   small towns and villages where they taught girls who would have been   
   deprived of an adequate education. This brought about the development   
   of a new form of apostolic religious life whereby all the sisters and   
   houses were governed by a member of the congregation, a general   
   superior. As a result, the congregation experienced rapid growth and   
   acceptance but Blessed Theresa and her sisters also suffered great   
   hardship and painful struggle. In 1865, the rule and constitutions of   
   the School Sisters of Notre Dame were finally approved by Pope Pius   
   IX. Blessed Theresa then continued to govern the congregation as its   
   general superior until her death in Munich on May 9, 1879.   
      
   On 17 November 1985, Theresa of Jesus was declared “Blessed” by St   
   Pope John Paul II in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.   
      
   https://anastpaul.com/2019/05/09/   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   “All the works of God proceed slowly and in pain   
   but then, their roots are the sturdier   
   and their flowering the lovelier.”   
   --Karolina Gerhardinger   
      
      
   The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to   
   you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today   
   in the city of David, a saviour has been born to you, who is Messiah   
   and Lord...Luke 2:10-11   
      
   REFLECTION – MARY:  WELCOMING THE SHEPHERDS: “You must look at the   
   Child in the manger. He is our Love. Look at Him, realising that the   
   whole thing is a mystery. We need to accept this mystery on faith and   
   use our faith to explore it very deeply. To do this, we must have the   
   humble attitude of a Christian soul.” …St Josemaría Escrivá   
      
      
   Let us offer to our Mother today:   
   Small hidden sacrifices,   
   especially those that go against the grain.   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Prudence must precede every action which we undertake; for, if   
   prudence be wanting, there is nothing, however good it may seem, which   
   is not turned into evil.   
   -- St. Basil   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but   
   deceives his heart, his religion is vain. Religion that is pure and   
   undefiled before God and the Father is this: To care for orphans and   
   widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.   
   [James 1:26-27] DRB   
      
      
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   Prayer of Petition   
      
   O Divine Jesus, Thou hast promised that anything we ask of the Eternal   
   Father in Thy name shall be granted.   
      
   O Eternal Father. In the name of Jesus, for the love of Jesus, in   
   fulfillment of this promise, and because Jesus has said it, grant us   
   our petitions for the sake of Jesus, Thy Divine Son. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)