From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   November 16th - Saint Margaret, Queen of Scotland   
      
   St. Margaret was Queen of Scotland. Her father, Edward Atheling, was the   
   Saxon   
   heir to the throne of England, and her mother a German princess, the   
   descendant   
   of Emperors. Like the strong woman of the Gospel, the practice of Catholic   
   virtues made her still more illustrious.   
      
   After the Norman Conquest, many members of the English nobility, including   
   Margaret, found refuge in the court of Malcolm III of Scotland. In 1070   
   Malcolm   
   married Margaret and made her Queen of Scotland.   
      
   Margaret impressed the Scottish court both for her knowledge of continental   
   customs and also for her piety. For the love of God she imposed upon herself   
   severe mortifications, leaving aside the superfluous and often even the   
   necessary. She influenced her husband and son to govern better, and   
   introduced   
   Catholic customs, manners and ceremony to the Scottish court. She raised her   
   sons in great piety and one, David, was later canonized. Above all she shone   
   for   
   her zealous charity for her neighbor. She was called "the mother of orphans"   
   and   
   "the bursar for the poor of Jesus Christ."   
      
   In 1093, after six months of great physical suffering, she delivered her   
   soul to   
   God in Edinburgh. The sanctity of her life and the numerous miracles she   
   worked   
   both in her life and after her death made her famous worldwide.   
      
   In 1673 Pope Clement X named her the patroness of Scotland, over which she   
   had   
   reigned for almost a quarter century.   
      
      
   Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)   
      
   The life of St. Margaret prompts me to comment on the spirit of the   
   marvelous in   
   the Middle Ages. I am not speaking of the marvelous as a fable or tale, as   
   something unfeasible, but the marvelous as something that can become   
   reality.   
      
   The foggy Scotland of that time was still far from being a civilized nation.   
   In   
   many senses it was still barbarian. Then, in that rough environment a flower   
   bloomed, Divine Providence brought to that Island a Princess of the most   
   illustrious blood, who had in her the best of Western Civilization.   
      
   Furthermore, she herself was a saintly woman, a valiant wife, and a   
   wonderful   
   mother who raised her children perfectly, interceded for her people, and   
   became   
   known for her constant and generous alms. She also worked miracles. And she   
   did   
   all this under the prestige and unction of the royal crown.   
      
   This ensemble of facts communicates a message to us: that the marvelous, the   
   extraordinary, the stupendous can be realized in this world. This fact is   
   drawn   
   from the fullness of that Catholic principle (the axiological principle)   
   which   
   says that when everything is ordered, good, true and sublime, it generates   
   the   
   realization of the plan of God on this earth.   
      
   The life of St. Margaret sends us a message that is the opposite of the   
   minimalism sustained by many Catholics of our days. That is to say, today,   
   when   
   a person manages to reform and become a little less bad, this is already   
   considered a triumph.   
      
   In the time of St. Margaret the apostolate was maximalist. The goal was for   
   the   
   queens and kings to become nothing less than saints. And, in fact, many   
   queens,   
   like St. Margaret of Scotland, were saints and spread the precious perfume   
   of   
   Jesus Christ throughout society, creating an atmosphere of the marvelous in   
   Catholic Civilization.   
      
   We can understand this atmosphere when we consider the medieval stained   
   glass   
   windows. When we enter the world portrayed in those stain glass windows, we   
   see   
   a Queen presented in a world of multiple brilliant colors-gold, ruby,   
   emerald.   
   This gives us an idea of how the medievals used to think about life; for   
   instance, the life of St. Margaret of Scotland.   
      
   One of the advantages of this search for the marvelous is that it fills the   
   soul   
   of the people with what is right. That is, it fills the soul with the   
   marvelous   
   world of Our Lord Jesus Christ and its extension into the temporal sphere.   
      
   When such values do not pervade the souls of people, they begin to travel in   
   the   
   wrong direction. They start to create idols like movie stars, rock singers,   
   football players, and so on, to replace the real models that should be   
   admired.   
      
   We can see how blessed the Middle Ages was with its correct models and   
   admiration for the marvelous. In the opposite sense, we can see how it is a   
   chastisement for us to no longer have them.   
      
   We should long for the time when this will be restored, which will be the   
   Reign   
   of Mary. Let us pray to St. Margaret of Scotland to help us merit the coming   
   of   
   this new marvelous era.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "In the Scriptures our people are shown to be made one; so that just as many   
   grains collected into one and ground and mingled together, make one loaf, so   
   in   
   Christ, who is the heavenly Bread, we know that there is one body, in which   
   our   
   whole company is joined and united."   
   -St. Hilary in the fourth century   
      
   Bible Quote   
   For as in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the   
   same   
   office: So we being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one   
   of   
   another. (Rom. 12:4-5)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SOULS   
   FROM THE PURGATORIAN MANUAL   
    (Imprimatur 1946)   
      
   Sixth Day   
      
   THE PAIN OF LOSS   
      
        The spiritual suffering, or the pain of loss, is the greatest pain of   
   Purgatory, according to the Fathers of the Church. No one can comprehend the   
   great suffering of a soul departed, which, in all its ardent desire for the   
   highest and only good, sees itself ever repulsed as an object of God's   
   avenging   
   justice.   
      
        St. Alphonsus writes: "Far greater than the pain of sense in Purgatory   
   is   
   that pain which the holy souls must endure in being deprived of the vision   
   of   
   God. Because these souls are inflamed, not only with a natural, but with a   
   supernatural love of God, they are so vehemently attracted to the union with   
   their highest good, that, in being repulsed through their own fault, they   
   experience so violent a pain as would kill them instantly if death were   
   possible   
   to them." Therefore, says St. Chrysostom, "this pain of being deprived of   
   God is   
   a far greater pain for them than the pain of the senses. The fire of hell   
   increased a thousand times would not cause them such great suffering as does   
   this pain of the loss of God."   
      
   Prayer: O God, Father of mercies, grant the ardent desire of the souls in   
   Purgatory who yearn to behold Thee. Send down to them Thy holy angel with   
   the   
   joyful tidings that the moment of their redemption has come, that their   
   exile is   
   ended, and bless them by the perfect union with Thee forever. Through   
   Christ,   
   our Lord. Amen.   
      
   Special Intercession: Pray for the souls who are punished for their   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)