From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 -   
   Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for   
   this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.   
   __________________________   
      
   Our joy, prayers and thankfulness should not fluctuate with our   
   circumstances or feelings. Obeying these three commands - be joyful, pray   
   continually and give thanks - often goes against our natural inclinations.   
   When we make a conscious decision to do what God says, however, we will   
   begin to see people in a new perspective. When we do God's will, we will   
   find it easier to be joyful and thankful.   
      
      
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   April 16th - Saint Engratia, Virgin, Martyr   
   and Her Eighteen Companions, Martyrs   
   (d. 303)   
      
   The church celebrates on this day the triumph of Saint Engratia, a virgin   
   martyr who was a native of Portugal. Her father had promised her in marriage   
   to a man of quality in Rousillon, Gaul, and to accompany her there, he sent   
   as her escort for the marriage her uncle Lupercius and a brilliant suite of   
   sixteen other noblemen, as well as a servant named Julie.   
      
   When they arrived at Saragossa, she learned of the horrible massacre of   
   Christians being carried on at that time, and of the torments they were   
   enduring at the hand of Dacian, who governed that region in the name of the   
   emperors Diocletian and Maximian. Inspired with a divine heroism, she   
   resolved to attempt to change his dispositions, or if she could not do so,   
   to take part herself in the glory of these generous soldiers of Christ, and   
   mingle her blood with theirs.   
      
   She obtained an audience with the persecutor. Saying she was moved with   
   compassion for her brethren who, despite their innocence, were being slain   
   without mercy, she asked him, "How can you shed the blood of so many persons   
   who have done nothing but adore the true God and despise vain idols?"   
   Dacian, hearing her gentle reproaches, immediately had her imprisoned and   
   sought out her companions, whom he also cast into prison. They affirmed at   
   his tribunal that they too were Christians, and all were cruelly scourged.   
   Saint Engratia was subjected to the most cruel and barbarous torments;   
   abandoned in prison, she died of her wounds which festered there. Her death   
   occurred in April of the year 303.   
      
   Saint Lupercius, with the seventeen nobles and Julie, had already been   
   decapitated. Dacian, still not satiated with blood, massacred great numbers   
   of other Christians of Saragossa who are honored on November 3rd under the   
   title of the Countless Martyrs of Saragossa. Their bodies were burned with   
   those of several malefactors, imprisoned at the same time, but it is said   
   that the ashes of the martyrs separated and formed a lot apart, called the   
   masse blanche.   
      
   The relics of Saint Engratia, who was buried by the Christians of Saragossa,   
   have always been held in high honor in Spain, at Saragossa in particular.   
      
   Reflection. Men do not pursue in a haphazard manner temporal goods, or by   
   fits and starts. Let us be just as punctual and orderly in the service of   
   God, not searching for new paths but perfecting our ordinary devotions. If   
   we persevere in these, Paradise is ours.   
      
   Sources: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin   
   (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 4; Little Pictorial Lives of the   
   Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other   
   sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "Man's value before God is estimated by the dispositions of his heart, its   
   uprightness, its good-will, its charity, and not by keenness of intellect or   
   extent of knowledge."   
   --Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world: and this is the victory   
   which overcometh the world, our faith. 5 Who is he that overcometh the   
   world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?   (1 John 5:4-5)   
      
      
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   Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes   
      
   Mary, Mother of God, I firmly believe in the doctrine of Holy Mother Church   
   concerning your Immaculate Conception: namely, that you were, in the first   
   instant of your conception, by the singular grace and privilege of God, in   
   view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, preserved   
   immune from all stain of original sin.   
      
   Alone of all the children of Adam, you were gifted with the fullness of   
   sanctifying grace that made you the object of a very special love on the   
   part of God. How wonderful were the workings of Divine power to make you a   
   fitting dwelling for the Redeemer of the world! With no tendency to evil,   
   but with a deep yearning for the highest virtue, you glorified God more than   
   all His other creatures. At the very instant of your conception your mind   
   was filled with the light of God, and your will was entirely conformed to   
   the Divine Will. You were always intimately united with God.   
      
   I thank God with you for these wonderful blessings. Help me to imitate your   
   holiness to some degree. Your holiness was not the result of the privilege   
   of your Immaculate Conception and sanctifying grace alone, but followed from   
   your gift of yourself to God and your constant cooperation with His graces.   
   Help me to be generous with God by turning to good account the graces that   
   He ever bestows on me, and by rising promptly when I fall, with renewed   
   confidence in His Mercy.   
      
   Ever Immaculate Virgin, Mother of mercy, health of the sick, refuge of   
   sinners, comfort of the afflicted, you know my wants, my troubles, my   
   sufferings. Deign to cast upon me a look of mercy.   
      
   By appearing in the Grotto of Lourdes, you were pleased to make it a   
   privileged sanctuary, from which you dispense your favors; and already many   
   sufferers have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and   
   corporal. I come, therefore, with the most unbounded confidence to implore   
   your maternal intercession.   
      
   Obtain, O loving Mother, the granting of my requests. Through gratitude for   
   your favors, I will endeavor to imitate your virtues that I may one day   
   share your glory.   
      
   Through your loving compassion shown to thousands of pilgrims who come to   
   your shrine at Lourdes, and through your special love for your devoted   
   client Bernadette, I ask for this grace if it be the Will of God: (Mention   
   your request).   
      
   Our Lady of Lourdes, aid me through your prayer with your Divine Son, to be   
   a true child of yours, as Bernadette was, and to grow daily into your   
   likeness.   
      
      
   Prayer to Saint Bernadette   
      
   Saint Bernadette, little shepherdess of Lourdes, favored with eighteen   
   apparitions of the Immaculate Virgin Mary and with the privilege of lovingly   
   conversing with her, now that you are eternally enjoying the entrancing   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)