From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   - Lamentations 3:21-23 -   
      
       Yet this I call to mind   
       and therefore I have hope:   
       Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,   
       for his compassions never fail.   
       They are new every morning;   
       great is your faithfulness.   
   _______________________________________________________________   
      
   God shows us our weaknesses to move us past a place of prideful comfort and   
   into   
   spiritual growth. Who is like our God, who even offers us a big serving of   
   hope   
   with our humble pie?   
      
      
   <><><><><>   
   February 2nd - St. Joan Lestonnac   
      
   Born in Bordeaux, France, in 1556; died there February 2, 1640; beatified in   
   1900; canonized in 1949.  The story of Joan's long life reflects the   
   importance   
   of the domestic church in forming God's servants. Our saint triumphed over   
   ill-health and the evil plottings of a wicked woman. Joan was the daughter   
   of a   
   good Catholic father of a distinguished family at a time when Calvinism was   
   flourishing in Bordeaux. Her mother, however, was Joan Eyquem de Montaigne,   
   the   
   apostate sister of the famous essayist Michael de Montaigne. Her mother   
   continually tried to undermine Joan's faith; when her attempts failed, she   
   would   
   abuse the child. These troubles, however, turned Joan's heart more fervently   
   to   
   God and made her long for a life of prayer and mortification.   
      
   At age 17 (1573), Joan was happily married to Gaston de Montferrant, who was   
   related to the royal houses of France, Aragon, and Navarre. Joan was devoted   
   to   
   her husband and bore him one son and three daughters. After 24 years of   
   deeply   
   happy marriage, Gaston died in 1597. She continued to care for her children   
   until they were old enough to be independent.   
      
   Two of Joan's daughters had felt drawn to religious life, and, at age 47   
   (1603),   
   Joan herself then decided to enter the Cistercian monastery of Les   
   Feuillantes   
   at Toulouse despite the objections of her son and her anxiety over leaving   
   her   
   youngest daughter. The harsh regimen of life there caused her to become   
   seriously ill.   
      
   She wanted to die in the convent, yet her wise superiors perceived what an   
   exceptional woman Joan was and understood that God had other plans for her.   
   They   
   encouraged her to attempt a great service for God by founding an order of   
   women   
   devoted to Our Lady. She miraculously recovered her health the moment she   
   left   
   the convent. Joan gathered a band of young girls on her estate, La Mothe in   
   Périgord, where she spent two quiet years. Returning to Bordeaux, their   
   first   
   task became bravely serving as nurses during a savage plague that struck the   
   people of Bordeaux.   
      
   A number of priests, including the Jesuit fathers Jean de Bordes and   
   Raymond,   
   had come to recognize the utter devotion of Joan, and realized the   
   devastation   
   Calvinism was working among young girls of all classes who were deprived of   
   Catholic education. They saw the need for an order to educate young girls as   
   the   
   Jesuits educated boys. To both of these priests the assurance was given   
   simultaneously, while they were celebrating Mass, that it was the will of   
   God   
   that they should assist in founding an order to counteract the evils of the   
   surrounding heresy, and that Mme de Lestonnac should be the first superior.   
   In   
   1606, Fathers de Bordes and Raymond helped Joan persuade Cardinal de   
   Sourdis,   
   archbishop of Bordeaux, to support her religious order.   
      
   The congregation was affiliated with the Benedictines, but its rule and   
   constitutions were founded on those of Saint Ignatius Loyola. Her scheme was   
   approved by Pope Paul V in 1607. The following year the sisters received the   
   habit from the cardinal and, in 1610, Joan became the mother superior on the   
   first house in Bordeaux of the Sisters of Notre Dame.   
      
   Seeking only the barest necessities for themselves, her sisters founded   
   schools   
   throughout the region, welcoming into them any girl who could come, with the   
   aim   
   of stemming the tide of Calvinism. But while this work prospered, exceeding   
   all   
   expectations but God's, two problems arose at Bordeaux. The archbishop of   
   Bordeaux resented attempts to gain extradiocesan freedom, and one vicious   
   sister   
   named Blanche Hervé, the director of one of the houses, began to spread lies   
   about Joan. The authorities, including the cardinal, believed the   
   concoctions,   
   and Joan was dismissed as superior and Blanche intruded in her place as   
   superior.   
      
   Here her great meekness triumphed. For three years Joan was beaten and   
   humiliated, but she bore all so patiently that even Blanche Hervé was moved   
   to   
   confess her own maliciousness and the two reconciled. Joan de Lestonnac no   
   longer wished to work as mother superior, but passed her last years highly   
   honored by her order.   
      
   From 1625 to 1631, Joan visited each of the other 26 houses in turn. By the   
   time   
   she had returned to Bordeaux, two of her daughters and at least one   
   grand-daughter had joined the Company of Mary, for which the revised rules   
   and   
   constitutions were drawn up in 1638. Meanwhile, her health began to fail and   
   she   
   died. Miracles of different kinds were reported at her tomb in Bordeaux. Her   
   nuns now number about 2,500 and serve in 17 countries (Attwater, Attwater2,   
   Benedictines, Bentley, Coulson, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Walsh).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "To be pleased at correction and reproofs shows that one loves the virtues   
   which   
   are contrary to those faults for which he is corrected and reproved. And,   
   therefore, it is a great sign of advancement in perfection"   
   -St. Francis de Sales   
      
   Bible Quote   
   Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art   
   called and be it confessed a good confession before many witnesses. I charge   
   thee before God who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus who gave   
   testimony under Pontius Pilate, a good confession:  (1 Tim. 6:12-13)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   When a monk once visited the Abbot Serapion, he suggested that first of all,   
   they should pray together. But the visitor refused, saying that he was a   
   great   
   sinner and unworthy to wear the habit. A little while after, the Abbot   
   addressed   
   him thus: "My brother, if you wish to become perfect, remain at work in your   
   cell and do not talk much, for going about a great deal is not desirable for   
   you" At these words the monk was not a little perturbed. When the Abbot   
   perceived this, he added, "What is the matter, brother? A moment ago you   
   said   
   you were so great a sinner that you were not worthy to live; and now, when I   
   have shown you, in charity, what you need, are you angry? From this, it   
   would   
   seem that your humility is not genuine. If you wish to be humble in truth,   
   learn   
   to receive admonitions humbly:" At this reproof, the monk recollected   
   himself,   
   acknowledged his fault and went away greatly edified.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)