From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The Lord fills all things with blessing from above   
      
   "So that by every means the Lord might be known to be God by nature, he   
   multiplies what is little, and he looks up to heaven as though asking for the   
   blessing from above. Now he does this out of the divine economy, for our sake.   
   For he himself is the one    
   who fills all things, the true blessing from above and from the Father. But,   
   so that we might learn that when we are in charge of the table and are   
   preparing to break the loaves, we ought to bring them to God with hands   
   upraised and bring down upon them    
   the blessing from above, he became for us the beginning and pattern and way."   
   (excerpt from FRAGMENT 177), by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD)   
      
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   September 10th - Bl Francisco Gárate, SJ   
      
   (1857-1929)   
   Francis Garate was born in the outskirts of Azpeitia, Spain, near the   
   ancestral home of St Ignatius of Loyola. He was the second of seven   
   children, and his early life was spent in an atmosphere of faith and   
   piety – daily Mass in the Loyola basilica. At 14, he left home to work   
   as a domestic helper at the newly opened Jesuit College of Nuestra   
   Senora de la Antigua in Orduna and three years later he entered the   
   Society as a brother. Later, two of his brothers followed his example   
   and also became Jesuit brothers.   
      
   Francis went to southern France where Spanish Jesuits maintained a   
   novitiate in exile, after having been expelled from Spain during the   
   1868 revolution. After two years of noviceship, he pronounced his vows   
   of poverty, chastity, and obedience on Feb 2, 1876.   
      
   In the following year, Br Francis was appointed infirmarian at the   
   college in La Guardia a city in the extreme west of Spain, near the   
   Atlantic Ocean and Portuguese border. He also served as infirmarian to   
   two smaller institutions associated with the college. He had a total   
   of about 200 young boys under his care. For ten years he cared for the   
   sick students with great kindness and generosity, remaining all night   
   at a sick student’s bedside and then doing a full day’s work the next   
   day. These qualities were specially appreciated by the students under   
   his care. After 10 years as infirmarian, the strain on his health   
   began to show and his superiors transferred him to the University of   
   Deusto of Bilbao, in northern Spain, to take up the doorkeeper’s   
   position.   
      
   At Deusto, Bro Francis chose the poorest room since it was near the   
   porter’s lodge. He was courteous to all visitors who called at the   
   University. To the students, he gave them encouragement and advice and   
   even helped them copy their class notes. He was their confidante and   
   counselor and even fed the hungry and clothed the poor. His forty-one   
   years in Deusto was marked by prayer, mortification, and holiness,   
   living a simple and austere life. Like his patron, St Alphonsus   
   Rodriquez, whose picture hung in his simple room, Bro Francis prayed   
   while he worked and worked while he prayed and was practically never   
   without a rosary in his hand.   
      
   Bro Francis’ health began to fail when he was 72 years old.   
   On Sep 8 1920, the feast of our Lady’s nativity, he suffered his first   
   sharp abdominal pains. He only agreed to go to bed after he had   
   finished several chores. In the evening when he knew he was soon to   
   die, he asked for Viaticum ( Sacrament for the sick) but because his   
   discomfort was so severe, the infirmarian called for the doctor. After   
   the doctor operated on his urethra which was blocked, Bro Francis   
   found temporary relief but he was not to recover. Early at 7 am of Sep   
   9, on the feast of St Peter Claver, Bro Francis yielded his soul to   
   God after receiving anointing.   
      
   At his death, countless students came to pay their respect to their   
   beloved friend. They made sure that their rosaries and crucifixes   
   touched his coffin. Fr Francis was beatified by Pope John Paul II on   
   Oct 6, 1985.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Do not be surprised that you fall every day, do not give up, but stand   
   your ground courageously. And assuredly, the angel who guards you will   
   honor your patience. While a wound is still fresh and warm, it is easy   
   to heal; but old, neglected and festering ones are hard to cure, and   
   require for their care much treatment, cutting, plastering and   
   cauterization. Many from long neglect become incurable, but with God   
   all things are possible.   
   --St. John Climacus.   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Jesus saith to her: Did not I say to thee that if thou believe, thou   
   shalt see the glory of God?  (John 11:40) DRB.   
      
   <><><><>   
   Humility   
      
   BE NOT troubled about those who are with you or against you, but take   
   care that God be with you in everything you do. Keep your conscience   
   clear and God will protect you, for the malice of man cannot harm one   
   whom God wishes to help. If you know how to suffer in silence, you   
   will undoubtedly experience God’s help. He knows when and how to   
   deliver you; therefore, place yourself in His hands, for it is a   
   divine prerogative to help men and free them from all distress.   
      
   It is often good for us to have others know our faults and rebuke   
   them, for it gives us greater humility. When a man humbles himself   
   because of his faults, he easily placates those about him and readily   
   appeases those who are angry with him.   
      
   It is the humble man whom God protects and liberates; it is the humble   
   whom He loves and consoles. To the humble He turns and upon them   
   bestows great grace, that after their humiliation He may raise them up   
   to glory. He reveals His secrets to the humble, and with kind   
   invitation bids them come to Him. Thus, the humble man enjoys peace in   
   the midst of many vexations, because his trust is in God, not in the   
   world. Hence, you must not think that you have made any progress until   
   you look upon yourself as inferior to all others.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)