From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On Obedience after the Example of Christ [III]   
      
   CHRIST:   
   Direct your anger against yourself, and let no swelling pride remain   
   in you. Show yourself so submissive and so humble that all men may   
   trample over you and tread on you like the mud of the streets. (Ps.   
   18:42) Vain man, what right have you to complain? What can you, an   
   unclean sinner, answer to any that reproach you, when you have so   
   often offended God, and so many times deserved Hell? But I have spared   
   you, (Ezek.20:17) for your soul was precious to Me, that you might   
   know My love, and be ever grateful for My favor: also, that you might   
   give yourself constantly to true obedience and humility, enduring   
   patiently any contempt laid on you.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3, Ch 13   
      
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   May 7th - St. Agostino Roscelli   
      
   Born at Casarza Ligure, Italy, July 27, 1818; died May 7, 1902;   
   beatified May 7, 1995. Canonized   
   10 June 2001 by Pope John Paul II   
      
   Agostino Roscelli was not blessed with worldly wealth or rank. Instead   
   God gave him virtuous parents, intelligence, and supportive friends.   
   Surrounded by the silence of the mountains as he watched his family's   
   sheep, Agostino's soul was opened to prayer and his heart drew close   
   to God. But it was not until a parish mission in May 1835 (age 16)   
   that he recognized he was being called to the priesthood. Most   
   peasants would have found it impossible to answer that call without   
   divine and human intervention; however, Agostino's vocation was   
   supported by his own prayer life and the financial aid of generous   
   people.   
      
   Following his studies at Genoa, Roscelli was ordained in 1846. His   
   first appointment was in the parish of Saint Martin d'Albaro. Eight   
   years later he was given the care of the parish Church of Consolation,   
   where he spent endless hours hearing confessions.   
      
   In Genoa he established a residential school to train young women   
   without families, who were in danger of starvation or falling into   
   prostitution because they had no support. In 1876, he founded the   
   Institute of Sisters of the Immaculata to run this and other   
   residential centers he had established.   
      
   In addition to this work of charity, in 1874, Father Agostino was   
   appointed chaplain of the provincial orphanage. While continuing this   
   work for 22 years, he also served as prison chaplain, wherein he cared   
   particularly for those condemned to death (L'Osservatore Romano).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   The heart into which Divine Love enters no longer makes any account of   
   all that the world esteems. St. Francis of Sales says that when the   
   house is on fire, all the goods are thrown out of the window; by which   
   he means, that when the heart is inflamed with Divine Love, man,   
   without sermons, or exhortations from his spiritual director, of   
   himself seeks to divest himself of all worldly goods, honors, riches,   
   and other earthly things, that he may have nothing but God.   
   -- St. Alphonsus Liguori   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Only those who "have washed their robes and have made them white in   
   the blood of the Lamb" (Apocalypse [Rev.] vii. 14), that is, who have   
   the merits of Christ applied to them, and who persevere to the end in   
   doing what is commanded, will be saved.   
      
      
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   Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth. —Matt. 5:4   
      
   "Meekness and mildness of heart is a virtue rarer than chastity, and   
   yet it is more excellent than that and all other virtues, for it is   
   the end of charity, which, as St. Bernard says, is in its perfection   
   when we are not only patient, but also kind. It is necessary, however,   
   to have a great esteem for this virtue, and to use every effort to   
   acquire it"   
   --St. Francis de Sales   
      
   St. Francis de Sales himself had the very highest regard for this   
   virtue. He spoke of it so frequently and with so much love, as to show   
   clearly it was his chosen one among all. So, though he excelled in all   
   the virtues, he was singular and remarkable in this. He always wore a   
   serene countenance, and there was a special grace upon his lips, so   
   that he generally appeared to be smiling, and his face breathed a   
   sweetness which charmed everyone. Though he usually showed great   
   recollection, he sometimes thought it desirable to give proof of   
   amiability, and then he consoled all who met him, and won the love and   
   regard of whoever looked upon him. His words, gestures and actions   
   were never without great suavity and gentleness, so that it seemed   
   that this virtue had taken in him the form of man, and that he was   
   rather meekness itself than a man endowed with that quality. He, too,   
   justly merited the praise bestowed by the Holy Spirit upon Moses,   
   "that he was the meekest man of his time upon earth" And so St. Jane   
   Frances de Chantal was able to say that there was never known a heart   
   so sweet, so gentle, so kind, so gracious and affable, as his. St.   
   Vincent de Paul expressed the same sentiment, saying that he was the   
   kindest man he had ever known, and the first time he saw him, he   
   noticed in the serenity of his countenance and in his manner of   
   conversing such a close resemblance to the meekness of Christ our Lord   
   as instantly won his heart.   
      
   ("A Year with the Saints".  May--Meekness)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)