From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   January 12th - St. Margaret Bourgeoys, Foundress   
   (1620-1700)   
      
   Saint Margaret Bourgeoys was born in Troyes, France, on Good Friday, April   
   17, 1620. She was prepared by Divine Providence, over a period of many   
   years, for her future mission. When she was twenty years old, Margaret saw   
   the Blessed Virgin who looked at her during a procession, and smiled at her.   
   From that time on, she abandoned all ornaments and amusements common to her   
   age and entered into a sodality of the Children of Mary, of which she became   
   the President. Ten years later, on the Feast of the Assumption the Child   
   Jesus, in appearance about three years old, made Himself seen by her in the   
   Sacred Host of the monstrance. He kindled in her heart bright flames of   
   divine charity, and inspired in her a great contempt for all earthly goods,   
   with an unquenchable thirst for souls.   
      
   In 1653, when she was thirty-three years old, Margaret Bourgeoys set sail   
   for Canada. The Virgin said to her: "Go, I will not abandon you." Four years   
   passed before she could undertake the Christian education of children. In   
   the meantime, her charity was lavished on all; she visited and served the   
   sick, buried the dead, consoled the afflicted, taught catechism to the   
   colonists. From then on, her task would be to form and direct a   
   non-cloistered religious community dedicated to teaching. In 1658 she laid   
   the foundations of her Congregation of Notre Dame Sisters by opening the   
   first school of Ville-Marie (Montreal), in a stable offered by Monsieur de   
   Maisonneuve. She soon found co-workers, whom she initiated for their work.   
   The "little schools" of New France began to spring up on every hill and in   
   every valley.   
      
   The social work of Mother Bourgeoys is no less admirable than her   
   educational labors. Her dedication extended to the service of the many young   
   households of those days. She took in, guided and directed the "Daughters of   
   the King," sent to be married to the colonists, inculcating in them a sense   
   of the serious duties of a spouse and mother. She remained their counselor   
   for long years, to whom they always turned for comfort and encouragement in   
   the practice of virtue. The ingeniousness of Margaret became evident from   
   her many varied projects: a workshop for young girls and married women, a   
   vocational school for the formation of her companions in education, the   
   "Work of the Tabernacles" which she founded with the recluse Jeanne Leber; a   
   pious association for young girls.   
      
   After 47 years of labors blessed by heaven and the Blessed Virgin, Margaret   
   Bourgeoys died, at the age of eighty, with the reputation of a soul eminent   
   in sanctity. In a solemn ceremony at Saint Peter's in Rome on November 12,   
   1950, Pius XII declared her Blessed. Since then she has received the honors   
   of canonization.   
      
   Reflection. When a soul has given itself to God, God gives back friendship,   
   with all His other gifts, a hundredfold multiplied. Friends are then loved   
   no longer for themselves only, but for God, and with a love lively and   
   tender, for God can easily purify sentiment. It is not sentiment but   
   self-love which corrupts friendship.   
      
   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. 1.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Here I am a priest, dear parents, here I am a missionary in a corrupt,   
   heretical, idolatrous country. How great my obligations are! Ah! do not   
   forget this poor priest running night and day over the volcanoes night and   
   day in search of strayed sheep. Pray night and day for me, I beg You.   
   -Blessed Father Damien de Veuster (Father Damien the Leper)   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Save us, O Lord, our God: and gather us from among nations: That we may give   
   thanks to thy holy name, and may glory in thy praise.  (Psalms 105:47)   
      
      
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   THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SOULS   
   FROM THE PURGATORIAN MANUAL   
    (Imprimatur 1946)   
      
   Thirteenth Day   
      
   THE SPECIAL DUTY OF EVERY ONE TO AID THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED   
      
        Besides the general duty imposed upon us by the divine law of charity,   
   there is a special obligation incumbent upon every one to assist particular   
   souls. This duty devolves upon us in consequence of the personal relations   
   with such souls during their earthly career; for, whatever be the condition   
   of man in life, he will have among the souls, departed, who may be suffering   
   in Purgatory, some to whom he is indebted for particular favors and   
   benefits.   
      
        But what could more forcibly elicit our charity and gratitude than to   
   behold our loved ones and our benefactors in extreme distress, while we have   
   the means of alleviating their suffering! That person does not possess a   
   spark of Christian charity, who, from neglect or indolence, suffers the   
   souls of his friends to be tormented in the flames of Purgatory.   
      
   Prayer: Revive, O Lord, within the hearts of Thy faithful, an active   
   commiseration for the brethren gone before us, that they may not, by our   
   indifference or neglect, suffer without relief and assistance. Through   
   Christ, our Lord. Amen.   
      
   Special Intercession: Pray for the souls of those who are neglected by their   
   relatives and friends.   
      
   Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon   
   them; may they rest in peace. Amen. (Three times)   
      
   Practice: Bestow alms for the relief of the suffering souls.   
      
   Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!   
      
      
   See entire prayer at:   
   http://www.faithfuldeparted.net/prayers.html   
      
   Thirty-One Day Prayer from the Purgatorian Manual < 1   
   The Purgatorian Society was formed by St. Alphonsus Liguori's Redemptorists   
   in 1841 at Santa Maria in Monterone Church in Rome. Each day has a brief   
   commentary on the prayer emphasis for the day as well, a suggested practice   
   and the Indulgenced prayer Requiem Aeternam.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)