From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   May 12th - Saint Imelda, Virgin, Mystic   
   (d. 1333)   
      
   Saint Imelda was born at Bologna in Italy, in the early 14th century. Still   
   a child, she arranged a little oratory in her house, where she often would   
   pray. She resolved to enter a monastery and make the vows of religion, and   
   to give herself entirely to her Saviour. Her parents permitted her entry   
   into a Dominican convent at Valdipietra, near Bologna. She practiced   
   mortifications above her age, and manifested a very tender love for the   
   Queen of Angels and the Holy Eucharist, though she could not yet receive   
   Holy Communion. But God was soon to manifest that it is not age which wins   
   His favor, but virtue.   
      
   On the day of the Ascension in 1333, when Imelda was twelve years old, she   
   alone remained unable to advance to receive Holy Communion. She raised her   
   eyes to heaven and prayed to her Lord: "Come, for I am languishing with love   
   and dying with desire for Your adorable presence!" When He did not come, she   
   continued to pray and weep. Suddenly, a miraculous Host came forth from the   
   tabernacle, crossed the grill separating the choir, and stopped in the air   
   before her. The nuns, amazed, hardly dared raise their eyes, but soon they   
   realized there was no illusion: the miracle continued, a sudden brightness   
   and a sweet fragrance filled the church, while an invisible hand continued   
   to hold the mystical Bread in the air before the young girl. She herself   
   seemed an Angel in adoration. Her confessor was told to come, and saw all   
   that the Sisters were seeing. He placed the Sacred Host on a paten, and then   
   gave it to the child. She seemed to lose consciousness. But soon the Sisters   
   grew anxious; they called her by name, told her to rise, touched her, but   
   Saint Imelda was no longer of this world; she had expired in an ecstasy of   
   pure love.   
      
   Sources: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin   
   (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 11.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
    [The devil] dreads fasting, prayer, humility, and good works: He is not   
   able even to stop my mouth who speak against him. The illusions of the devil   
   soon vanish, especially if a man arms himself with the Sign of the Cross.   
   The devils tremble at the Sign of the Cross of our Lord, by which He   
   triumphed over and disarmed them.   
   --Saint Antony Abbot   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   I came that they may have life, and have it more abundantly. St. John 10:10   
      
      
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   Prayer to St. Raphael, Angel of Happy Meetings   
      
   O Raphael, lead us towards those we are waiting for, those who are waiting   
   for us! Raphael, Angel of Happy Meetings, lead us by the hand towards those   
   we are looking for! May all our movements, all their movements, be guided by   
   your Light and transfigured by your Joy.   
      
   Angel Guide of Tobias, lay the request we now address to you at the feet of   
   Him on whose unveiled Face you are privileged to gaze. Lonely and tired,   
   crushed by the separations and sorrows of earth, we feel the need of calling   
   to you and of pleading for the protection of your wings, so that we may not   
   be as strangers in the Province of Joy, all ignorant of the concerns of our   
   country.   
      
   Remember the weak, you who are strong-you whose home lies beyond the region   
   of thunder, in a land that is always peaceful, always serene, and bright   
   with the resplendent glory of God. Amen.   
      
      
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   Prayer for Help   
      
   Lord Jesus, You see my extreme poverty and destitution, You see my frail   
   nature surrounded with so many crafty, powerful enemies, both exterior and   
   interior placed amid many perils and countless evils both temporal and   
   spiritual, from which only You, in Your great mercy, can rescue me. For this   
   reason, I call upon You, for You know that we cannot obtain the least thing   
   that is good, either for body or soul, except from You, the Father of mercy   
   and of consolation, the source and giver of all good gifts. You know that we   
   cannot rid ourselves of the least thing that is evil, unless You in Your   
   clemency put it far from us.   
      
   Filled with hope and confidence in Your sweet Heart, I cry to the Eternal   
   Father: Behold O Father, I have within my heart the sweet Heart of Your dear   
   Son; I offer to You this Heart not that it may accuse me, but plead for me,   
   not cry for vengeance, but for pardon. What can You refuse to this Heart?   
   Nothing assuredly, either to Him or to me, when I ask for His sake. Deliver   
   me, therefore I pray from all my foes and the ills of this life. Help me in   
   my necessities. Grant me grace to end my life by a holy and happy death. -   
   Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)