From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   February 13th - Saint Catherine of Ricci, Visionary   
      
   (1522-1590)   
      
   Alexandrina of Ricci was the daughter of a noble Florentine. At the age of   
   thirteen she entered the Third Order of Saint Dominic in the monastery of   
   Prato, taking in religion the name of Catherine, in honor of her patron and   
   predecessor of Siena. Her special attraction was to the Passion of Christ,   
   in which she was permitted miraculously to participate. During the Lent of   
   1541, being then twenty-one years of age, she had a vision of the   
   crucifixion so heartrending that she was prostrated and confined to bed for   
   three weeks, and was only restored on Holy Saturday, by an apparition of   
   Saint Mary Magdalene and the risen Jesus.   
      
   During twelve years Saint Catherine passed every Friday in ecstasy. She   
   received the sacred stigmata, the wound in the left side, and the crown of   
   thorns. All these favors gave her continual and intense suffering, and   
   inspired her with a loving sympathy for the yet more bitter tortures of the   
   Holy Souls. In their behalf she offered all her prayers and penances; and   
   her charity toward them became so famous throughout Tuscany that after every   
   death the friends of the deceased hastened to Catherine to secure her   
   prayers.   
      
   Saint Catherine offered many prayers, fasts, and penances for a certain   
   great man, and thereby obtained his salvation. It was revealed to her that   
   he was nonetheless in purgatory; and such was her love of Jesus crucified   
   that she offered to suffer all the pains which would be inflicted on that   
   soul. Her prayer was granted. The soul entered heaven, and for forty days   
   Catherine suffered indescribable agonies. Her body was covered with   
   blisters, emitting heat so great that her cell seemed on fire. Her flesh   
   appeared as if roasted, and her tongue like red-hot iron. She remained calm   
   and joyful, saying, "I long to suffer all imaginable pains, that souls may   
   quickly see and praise their Redeemer." She conversed with the Saints in   
   glory, and frequently with Saint Philip Neri at Rome without ever leaving   
   her convent at Prato. She died, amid angels' songs, in 1589.   
      
   Reflection: If we truly love Jesus crucified, we must like Saint Catherine,   
   long to release the Holy Souls whom He has redeemed but has left to our   
   charity to set free.   
      
   Source: 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   
   We must always choose the most perfect. Two good works present themselves to   
   be done, one in favour of a person we love, the other in favour of a person   
   who has done us some harm. Well, we must give preference to the latter.   
   --Saint John Vianney   
      
   Bible Quotes:   
   And answering, he said to them: Go and relate to John what you have heard   
   and seen: the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are made clean, the deaf   
   hear, the dead rise again, to the poor the gospel is preached:   
   And blessed is he whosoever shall not be scandalized in me.  (Luke 7:22-23)   
      
   Anyone who so much as looks with lust at a woman has already committed   
   adultery with her in his heart. (St. Matthew 5:28)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Matt. 25:31-46   
      
   Jesus said to his disciples:   
   "When the Son of Man comes in his glory,   
   and all the angels with him,   
   he will sit upon his glorious throne,   
   and all the nations will be assembled before him.   
   And he will separate them one from another,   
   as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.   
   He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.   
   Then the king will say to those on his right,   
   'Come, you who are blessed by my Father.   
   Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.   
   For I was hungry and you gave me food,   
   I was thirsty and you gave me drink,   
   a stranger and you welcomed me,   
   naked and you clothed me,   
   ill and you cared for me,   
   in prison and you visited me.'   
   Then the righteous will answer him and say,   
   'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,   
   or thirsty and give you drink?   
   When did we see you a stranger and welcome you,   
   or naked and clothe you?   
   When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?'   
   And the king will say to them in reply,   
   'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did   
   for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.'   
   Then he will say to those on his left,   
   'Depart from me, you accursed,   
   into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.   
   For I was hungry and you gave me no food,   
   I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,   
   a stranger and you gave me no welcome,   
   naked and you gave me no clothing,   
   ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.'   
   Then they will answer and say,   
   'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty   
   or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison,   
   and not minister to your needs?'   
   He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you,   
   what you did not do for one of these least ones,   
   you did not do for me.'   
   And these will go off to eternal punishment,   
   but the righteous to eternal life."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)