From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Be converted with a sincere heart   
      
      Fix your minds on the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Inflamed   
   with love for us, he came down from heaven to redeem us. For our sake   
   he endured every torment of body and soul and shrank from no bodily   
   pain. He himself gave us an example of perfect patience and love. We,   
   then, are to be patient in adversity. Put aside your hatred and   
   animosity. Take pains to refrain from sharp words. If they escape your   
   lips, do not be ashamed to let your lips produce the remedy, since   
   they have caused the wounds. Pardon one another so that later on you   
   will not remember the injury. The recollection of an injury is itself   
   wrong. It adds to our anger, nurtures our sin, and hates what is good.   
   It is a rusty arrow and poison for the soul. It puts all virtue to   
   flight. It is like a worm in the mind: it confuses our speech and   
   tears to shreds our petitions to God. It is foreign to charity: it   
   remains planted in the soul like a nail. It is wickedness that never   
   sleeps, sin that never fails. It is indeed a daily death.   
   --Francis de Paola   
      
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   6 April – Blessed Zefirino Agostini   
      
   (1813-1896)   
   Priest, Apostle of the Poor and Founder of the Pious Union of Sisters   
   Devoted to Saint Angela Merici and the Ursuline Sisters of the   
   Daughters of Mary Immaculate of which orders he is the Patron.   
      
   Blessed Zefirino Agostini was born in Verona, Italy on 24 September   
   1813. He was the oldest son of his parents, his father was a   
   physician, who died when Zefirino was very young.   
      
   Blessed Zefirino commenced his studies for the priesthood at the age   
   of eighteen and was Ordained on 11 March 1837.  He was then and was   
   assigned to a very poor parish in Verona. There he established an   
   after-school programs for girls, religious education for mothers and   
   education for women.   
      
   He began a devotion to Saint Angela Merici for the female parishioners   
   and founded the Pious Union of Sisters Devoted to Saint Angela Merici   
   whose rule was approved by Bishop Ricabona in 1856.   
      
   On All Souls Day of that same year, he opened his first charitable   
   school of poor girls.  In 1860, local women who worked in the school   
   chose community life and Father Agostini prepared the first rule for   
   the community and on 24 September 1869, the first 12 Ursulines made   
   their profession. On 18 November 1869, they founded the Congregation   
   of Ursulines, Daughters of Mary Immaculate.   
      
   Father Agostini died on 6 April 1869 in Verona, Italy of natural   
   causes. His order received diocesan approval on 24 June 1923 while the   
   papal decree of praise of Pope Pius XI was issued on 14 March 1932 and   
   full papal approval for the institute came on 3 April 1940 from Pope   
   Pius XII during World War II. The order now operates in places such as   
   Switzerland and Benin and as of 2005 has 628 religious in 78 houses.   
      
   He was Beatified on 25 October 1998 by St Pope John Paul II, after   
   approval of the required miracle. At the Beatification St John Paul   
   said:   
      
   “The Lord stood by me and gave me strength” (2 Tm 4:17).   
   “These words of the Apostle to Timothy certainly apply to Fr Zefirino   
   Agostino, who never lost heart despite countless difficulties. He   
   stands before us today as a humble, steadfast witness to the Gospel in   
   the latter half of the 19th century, a fruitful period for the Church   
   in Verona. His faith was steadfast, his charitable work effective and   
   ardent was the priestly spirit that distinguished him.   
      
   The love of the Lord spurred him in his apostolate to the poor,   
   especially in the Christian education of girls, particularly the most   
   needy. He understood well the important role women play in the   
   rehabilitation of society by teaching the values of freedom, honesty   
   and charity.   
      
   He advised the Ursulines, his spiritual daughters:  “Poor girls, let   
   them be the favourite object of your care and attention. Awaken their   
   minds, teach their hearts virtue and save their souls from malignant   
   contact with the wicked world” (Scritti alle Orsoline, 289). May his   
   example strongly encourage those who honour him today as blessed and   
   invoke him as their protector.”   
      
      
   “Do not be dismayed by toil or suffering,   
   nor by the meagre fruit of your labours.   
   Remember that God rewards,   
   not according to results but effort.”   
   --Blessed Zefirino Agostini   
      
      
   Prayer to the Sorrowful Mother   
   By St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)   
      
   My sorrowful Mother,   
   by the merit of that grief   
   which you felt at seeing your beloved Jesus   
   led to death,   
   obtain for me the grace to bear with patience,   
   those crosses which God sends me.   
   I will be fortunate if I also shall know   
   how to accompany you with my cross until death.   
   You and Jesus,   
   both innocent,   
   have borne a heavy cross   
   and shall I,   
   a sinner who has merited hell,   
   refuse mine?   
   Immaculate Virgin,   
   I hope you will help me   
   to bear my crosses with patience.   
   Amen   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Mary was raised to the dignity of Mother of God rather for sinners   
   than for the just, since Jesus Christ declares that he came to call   
   not the just, but sinners.   
   --St. Anselm   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they   
   shall.walk and not faint.  (Isaiah 40:31)   
      
      
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   Our Mission   
      
   God has a mission for each of us and has given us the gifts to   
   successfully complete the purpose for which He created us. Our job is   
   to discern our role in His creation. The gifts He has given us can be   
   the instrument of our downfall when used against His purposes; when we   
   discern correctly through prayer and spiritual direction these same   
   talents and abilities can sanctify us and those around us. It's not   
   too late to seek God's will for your life--in fact, we should attempt   
   to understand His will for our every action, each day, using all the   
   gifts he has given us.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)