From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   December 15th - Blessed Mary Frances Schervier   
      
       "One is as it were rich, when one has nothing; and another is as it were   
   poor, when he has great riches" (Prov 13,7). This passage of scripture fits   
   the servant of God, Frances, who with all her heart espoused holy poverty   
   and thus came into the possession of the grace of God.   
      
       Born in 1819, Frances Schervier was a descendant of a distinguished   
   family in the old imperial city of Aachen or Aix-la-Chapelle. While she was   
   perhaps not prominent in the eyes of the world, she enjoyed the distinction   
   of extraordinary supernatural privileges from the very days of her youth.   
   Her desire to enter a religious order was thwarted by the early death of her   
   mother in 1832, when Frances was only 13 years old. She was obliged to   
   remain at home and attend to the household. But she did not let these   
   circumstances prevent her from caring in a very special way for the poor and   
   the sick. So lavish was her liberality that one of the old servants once   
   remarked, "One of these days the child will have dragged everything out of   
   the house." Later she was an active member of several benevolent societies   
   of women and also of what was known as St. John's soup kitchen, a charitable   
   enterprise organized to feed the needy.   
      
       Frances joined the Third Order of St. Francis in 1844. Henceforth she   
   and four other young women resolved to lead a community life. They found a   
   dwelling at the old city gate of St. James, and took possession of their   
   first religious abode on the eve of the feast of St. Francis in 1845. Prayer   
   and works of mercy were their principal occupation. Mother Frances and her   
   first companions -- the number soon increased to 23 -- received the   
   religious   
   habit on August 12, 1851, and a new religious family was formed. Very   
   appropriately she called the new congregation the Sisters of the Poor of St.   
   Francis. The poverty of St. Francis and his love for the poor of Christ   
   superseded everything else in the eyes of the foundress. On one occasion she   
   wrote to her sisters: "The impress of poverty and penance should mark even   
   our chapels and churches and be their distinctive feature."   
      
       The first foundation of the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis in the   
   United States was made in 1858. Twice Mother Frances came to the US, the   
   first time in 1863 and the second time in 1868. During her first sojourn in   
   this country, she joined her sisters in ministering to wounded soldiers of   
   the Civil War and to the sick, the homeless, and the orphaned. The second   
   time, while visiting the various institutions conducted by her sisters, she   
   also lent a helping hand in caring for the sick, the aged, and the poor.   
      
       Mother Frances sacrificed everything for the poor out of love for God,   
   and she was amply repaid by Him who cannot be outdone in generosity. Her   
   foundation increased visibly, and to this day it enjoys the special blessing   
   of Divine Providence. At her holy death on December 14, 1876, Mother Frances   
   was mourned by thousands of daughters in religion as well as by the poor,   
   and was venerated as a saint. Unusual conversions and other remarkable   
   events occurred even during her lifetime in answer to her trustful prayer,   
   and since her departure from this world, such things have happened even more   
   frequently.   
      
       PRAYER OF THE CHURCH   
       We beseech Thee, O Lord, that Thy grace may ever precede and accompany   
   our deeds; let it tend to make us ever mindful of good works. Through Christ   
   our Lord. Amen.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Oh, if you had tasted the delights with which God fills the souls of those   
   who serve him and suffer for him, how would you condemn all that the world   
   can promise! I now begin to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, since for his   
   love I am in prison, where I suffer much. But I assure you, that when I am   
   fainting with hunger, God hath fortified me by his sweet consolations, so   
   that I have looked upon myself as well recompensed for his service. And   
   though I were yet to pass many years in prison, the time would appear short,   
   through the extreme desire which I feel of suffering for him, who even here   
   so well repays our labours. Besides other sickness, I have been afflicted   
   with a continual fever a hundred days without any remedies or proper   
   nourishment. All this time my heart was so full of joy that it seemed to me   
   too narrow to contain it. I have never felt any equal to it, and I thought   
   myself at the gates of paradise.   
   --Blessed Charles Spinola   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Pure in their own eyes   
      
   There are those who curse their fathers   
    and do not bless their mothers;   
   those who are pure in their own eyes   
    and yet are not cleansed of their filth;   
   those whose eyes are ever so haughty,   
    whose glances are so disdainful;   
   those whose teeth are swords   
    and whose jaws are set with knives   
   to devour the poor from the earth,   
    the needy from among mankind.  (Proverbs 30:11-14)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SOULS   
   FROM THE PURGATORIAN MANUAL   
    (Imprimatur 1946)   
      
   31st Day   
      
   BY A GOOD INTENTION TO MAKE EVEN OUR MOST TRIVIAL ACTIONS AND SUFFERINGS   
   MERITORIOUS, AND OFFER THEM FOR THE DELIVERANCE OF THE HOLY SOULS.   
      
        As rational beings we should have a distinct object in view in all our   
   actions. By performing even the most trivial act from the motive, thereby to   
   please our dear Lord, and to do His holy will, they may become meritorious.   
   It is understood that these acts are not contrary to the commandments of God   
   and His holy Church, and that the person be in a state of grace. People who   
   are working from early in the morning till late at night can assist the   
   suffering souls in an efficacious manner by offering their toil and fatigue   
   in union with the merits of Jesus and Mary for the relief of the suffering   
   souls.   
      
   Sick persons, and those enduring mental sufferings, such as temptations,   
   scruples, contempt, slander, unjust treatment; those who mourn for the loss   
   of a near relative or a dear friend, etc., may make the same intention in   
   regard to their particular suffering.   
      
   Prayer: My dear Redeemer, how many occasions have I lost to gain merits by a   
   good intention, and thus to assist Thy holy spouses! Pardon my negligence,   
   and graciously assist me to turn every precious moment of time to advantage   
   by a good intention, and to make up for the past. In union with Thy merits,   
   and those of Thy holy Mother Mary and all the saints, I unite all my   
   thoughts, words, deeds, and spiritual and bodily sufferings for the future,   
   till my last breath, and offer them for the suffering souls. In return I   
   beseech the holy souls to obtain for me, and all those for whom I am in duty   
   and love bound to pray, spiritual and temporal favors, and abundant grace to   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)