From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   October 17th - Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque   
   Virgin, Apostle of the Sacred Heart   
      
   (1647-1690)   
      
   Saint Margaret Mary, a soul of divine predilection, was born at Terreau in   
   Burgundy, on July 22, 1647. During her infancy she showed a wonderfully   
   sensitive revulsion to the very idea of sin, and while still a young child   
   always recited the entire Rosary every day. She lost her father at the age   
   of   
   eight years, and her mother placed her with the Poor Clares. She was often   
   sick   
   and for four years was bedridden, losing almost entirely the use of her   
   members.   
   She made a vow to Our Lady to become one of Her daughters if She cured her,   
   and   
   was suddenly entirely well.   
      
   She was of a gay temperament and her heart became easily attached to human   
   affections. God began her purification when the charge of her mother's house   
   was   
   confided to persons who reduced the family to a sort of servitude. Margaret   
   Mary   
   turned to God for strength and consolation when she was accused of various   
   crimes she had not committed. In short, the Saint of the Sacred Heart   
   learned to   
   suffer for Christ, with patience, what innocence can suffer in such   
   situations.   
      
   She desired to be a religious, but her mother could not bear to hear a word   
   of   
   that desire. Finally God came to her assistance through a Franciscan priest,   
   who   
   told her brother that he would answer to God for the vocation of his sister.   
   In   
   1671 she entered the Order of the Visitation of Mary, at Paray-le-Monial,   
   and   
   was professed the following year. She followed all the practices of the   
   monastery in perfect obedience, spending as much time as she could in the   
   chapel   
   with her Lord. After sanctifying her by many trials, Jesus appeared to her   
   in   
   numerous visions, displaying to her His Sacred Heart, sometimes burning as a   
   furnace, and sometimes torn and bleeding on account of the coldness and sins   
   of   
   men. "Behold this Heart which has so loved men, and been so little loved by   
   them   
   in return!"   
      
   In 1675, she was told by Our Lord that she, with the aid of Father Claude de   
   la   
   Colombiere of the Society of Jesus, was to be His instrument for instituting   
   the   
   feast of the Sacred Heart, and for spreading that devotion everywhere. This   
   was   
   not accomplished without great sufferings. The good Jesuit did all in his   
   power   
   to make known and loved the Heart of Jesus, but when it seemed all obstacles   
   were about to disappear, his credit diminished, and his Superiors sent him   
   to   
   England. He returned to France exhausted and soon died.   
      
   Saint Margaret Mary was for a time Mistress of Novices, and in this office   
   exercised a true apostolate, working to win for the Heart of Jesus the   
   hearts of   
   the young girls who were aspiring to religious consecration. She was   
   persecuted   
   when she sent one of them home, not having seen in her the indications of a   
   genuine vocation; the family attempted to have her deposed. She remained in   
   the   
   charge but was deprived of Holy Communion on the First Friday of the month.   
   This   
   practice was one of Our Lord's specific requests; for souls who communicate   
   nine   
   First Fridays in succession, He promised the most wonderful graces. The   
   demons   
   also persecuted her visibly; nonetheless her entire Community was finally   
   won   
   over to devotion to the Divine Heart.   
      
   Saint Margaret Mary died at the age of forty-two years, on October 17, 1690,   
   and   
   everywhere was heard in the city: "The Saint is dead! The Saint is dead!"   
   She   
   was beatified in 1864 by Pope Pius IX, and canonized in 1920 by Pope   
   Benedict   
   XV.   
      
   Reflection: Love for the Sacred Heart especially honors the Incarnation, and   
   makes the soul grow rapidly in humility, generosity, patience, and union   
   with   
   its Beloved.   
      
   Sources: 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); Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul   
   Guérin   
   (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 12.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   There is no more evident sign that anyone is a saint and of the number of   
   the   
   elect, than to see him leading a good life and at the same time a prey to   
   desolation, suffering, and trials.   
   -St. Aloyisus Gonzaga   
      
   Bible Quote   
   For the spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole world: and that, which   
   containeth all things, hath knowledge of the voice.  (Wisdom 1:7)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   PRAYER BEFORE WORK   
      
   O Lord Jesus Christ, Only-begotten Son of your eternal Father: You have said   
   with your holy lips: "Without Me, you can do nothing." My Lord, I embrace   
   your words with my heart and soul, and bow before your goodness and say:   
   Help me, your unworthy servant, to complete this, my present undertaking, in   
   the name of the Father and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Most merciful Jesus,   
   from now on I want whatever You want.   
   I have made up my mind to avoid all sin   
   and to follow You with bravery and courage.   
   I will try above all to correct myself in this particular matter   
   (here mention one thing that you are going to avoid   
   especially between now and your next confession).   
   O my Redeemer,   
   strengthen my resolution by the merits   
   of the Blood You shed for me on Calvary.   
   I really want to make up for the past.   
   With Your help, which I humbly ask for,   
   I will try hard to do whatever You want of me.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)