From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   April 5th - St. Crescentia Hoess   
      
   (1682-1744)   
      
   Crescentia was born in 1682 in a little town near Augsburg, the daughter of a   
   poor weaver. She spent play time praying in the parish church, assisted those   
   even poorer than herself and had so mastered the truths of her religion that   
   she   
   was permitted to make her holy Communion at the then unusually early age of   
   seven. In the town she was called "the little angel."   
      
   As she grew older she desired to enter the convent of the Tertiaries of St.   
   Francis. But the convent was poor and, because Crescentia had no dowry, the   
   superiors refused her admission. Her case was then pleaded by the Protestant   
   mayor of the town to whom the convent owed a favor. The community felt it was   
   forced into receiving her, and her new life was made miserable. She was   
   considered a burden and assigned nothing other than menial tasks. Even her   
   cheerful spirit was misinterpreted as flattery or hypocrisy.   
      
   Conditions improved four years later when a new superior was elected who   
   realized her virtue. Crescentia herself was appointed mistress of novices. She   
   so won the love and respect of the sisters that, upon the death of the   
   superior,   
   Crescentia herself was unanimously elected to that position. Under her the   
   financial state of the convent improved and her reputation in spiritual matters   
   spread. She was soon being consulted by princes and princesses as well as by   
   bishops and cardinals seeking her advice. And yet, a true daughter of Francis,   
   she remained ever humble.   
      
   Bodily afflictions and pain were always with her. First it was headaches and   
   toothaches. Then she lost the ability to walk, her hands and feet gradually   
   becoming so crippled that her body curled up into a fetal position. In the   
   spirit of Francis she cried out, "Oh, you bodily members, praise God that he   
   has   
   given you the capacity to suffer." Despite her sufferings she was filled with   
   peace and joy as she died on Easter Sunday in 1744.   
      
   She was beatified in 1900 and canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2001.   
      
   Comment:   
      
       Although she grew up in poverty and willingly embraced it in her vocation,   
   Crescentia had a good head for business. Under her able administration, her   
   convent regained financial stability. Too often we think of good money   
   management as, at best, a less-than-holy gift. But Crescentia was wise enough   
   to   
   balance her worldly skills with such acumen in spiritual matters that heads of   
   State and Church both sought her advice.   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Whoever taketh not up his cross and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. -Matt.   
   10:38   
      
   "By working out our salvation through sufferings, the Son of God has wished to   
   teach us that there is nothing in us so fitted to glorify God and to sanctify   
   our souls as suffering. Yes, yes, to suffer for love of the Lord is the way of   
   truth! Therefore, the more one can suffer, the more let him suffer, for he will   
   be the most fortunate of all; and whoever does not resolve upon this, will   
   never   
   make much progress"   
   -St. Teresa   
      
    St. Mary Magdalen de' Pazzi was so much enamored of suffering that she said:   
   "I   
   do not desire to die soon, because in Heaven there is nothing to suffer; but I   
   desire to live a long time, because I wish to suffer long for love of my   
   Spouse.   
   Nor would I have a brief martyrdom only, but an accumulation of pains,   
   calumnies, misfortunes, and all adversities that can possibly happen to me."   
   And   
   when she went through a long and painful illness this not only failed to   
   extinguish in her this great thirst for suffering, but after tasting it in such   
   a way, she longed for it the more, so that while the Superior endeavored to   
   lessen her hardships for the preservation of her health, she was at the same   
   time seeking in every way to invent new kinds of sufferings that no one would   
   perceive. It happened one day, in the course of her last illness, that having   
   received a marked affront, she not only bore it patiently, but showed signs of   
   particular friendship for the offender. When one of the Sisters manifested   
   astonishment, she told her that she was glad she had not died before it   
   occurred, that she might not lose such an excellent opportunity for suffering.   
      
   (Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints".  April - Patience)   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   33 Jesus therefore said to them: Yet a little while I am with you: and then I   
   go   
   to him that sent me. 34 You shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I   
   am, thither you cannot come. (John 7:33-34)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Gravitate to humility.   
      
   This signpost points in the exact opposite direction the world points by   
   pointing to the First Beatitude, the Beatitude from which all the Beatitudes   
   spring forth-blessed are the poor in spirit.   
      
   When society or the world talks about humility, if they even recognize it, they   
   refer primarily to a sense of proper self-esteem where one does not elevate or   
   demean ones self in relation to others. A good self-esteem is very, very   
   important, but Christian humility calls for something else, something more.   
      
   Christian humility aims for the complete and total nothingness of pride. We   
   have   
   nothing to boast of to God. We have no entitlements or any thing to lay claim   
   on   
   God. Everything comes from God, and so we are essentially nothing without God.   
      
   This can sound a bit disappointing, even depressing. In fact, the world calls   
   this humiliation, i.e. to loose ones pride. But the thing is, it is not about   
   degradation or loss of self-respect or disgrace. It is about grace, and letting   
   grace in so that it will transform us from the nothingness of our poverty to   
   divine royalty, daughters and sons within the Triune family of God.   
      
   In other words, if you are not empty, God cannot fill you up. Do you want to be   
   filled up with stuff of the world or with divine stuff? "What good is it for a   
   man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul?" (Mark 8:36)   
      
   In having nothing before God, we have God, and therefore have everything. God   
   is   
   peculiar that way-the last shall be first, the lowly shall be exalted. The way   
   to bliss, to true joy and happiness, is not through pride but through humility.   
   Jesus is our example; he is the Way.   
      
   It seems fitting to recall last week's poem. Love, by its very nature, always   
   reaches outward.   
      
       As flowing water falls to seek the lowest point,   
       It gives all its energy away until none remains,   
       And then returns to the source to fall again.   
       What does the water gain from this falling?   
       What does life gain?   
      
   Just as water gravitates to the lowest point, so does love-by way of humility.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)