From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   God Makes Me Good   
      
      "Before any good merits of mine, the mercy of God came to me. Even   
   though he had found no good in me, he himself made me good.   
      It is God who justifies those who turn to him and admonishes those   
   who are still far away that they be converted."   
   --St. Augustine--Commentary on Psalm 58 (2), 2   
      
   Prayer: Lord, our Mediator, God above us, human for our sake, I   
   acknowledge your mercy. In your love for us you chose to be greatly   
   troubled. Now you can much console the members of your body who by   
   their weakness are compelled to be troubled and to keep them from   
   perishing in despair.   
   --St. Augustine--Sermon on John 52, 2   
      
      
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   June 15th - St. Germaine Cousin,  Miracles   
      
   To find a sad, useless, and miserable existence, one need look no   
   further than the life of St. Germaine Cousin. She had a deformed and   
   partially paralyzed hand and wretched health. She lacked any   
   education, and had only a spinning wheel to spin wool and a crook to   
   lead her sheep. She died at age 22. This is all that the world saw in   
   St. Germaine Cousin.   
      
   Germaine was from the village of Pibrac near Toulouse, France   
   (1579-1601). She was born with a paralyzed right hand and afflicted   
   with scrofula. Germaine passed her life under the authority of a   
   stepmother, who detested her, beat her, mistreated her, and kept her   
   apart from her brothers and sisters. Her father, Laurent Cousin, had   
   no special affection for his daughter and ignored her sufferings.   
   Since she was not considered good enough to stay in the house with the   
   family, he gave her a small five-foot spot under the stairway of the   
   barn as a place to sleep. Her bed was leaves and twigs on the floor,   
   and her food only black bread and water. She was in charge of watching   
   the family’s flock during the day. She was also given an allotment of   
   wool to spin while the sheep were grazing. If she did not meet the   
   expected quota, she was severely punished.   
      
   As a shepherdess, Germaine spent much time praying. Often the   
   villagers laughed at her devotions, and mocked her for her misery. Her   
   only answer was silence.   
      
   She took a great care to never lose her pleasant composure in face of   
   her sufferings and misery. She never asked God to free her from that   
   difficult situation, even when she knew that He would listen to her   
   prayers. In fact, God worked many miracles through her to show His   
   pleasure with her.   
      
   During her working day, she always went to Mass. When she heard the   
   bells ringing, she would set her crook in the ground and run to the   
   church, leaving the care of her flock to the Divine Shepherd. Her   
   trust was never betrayed: not one of her sheep was ever lost or caused   
   any damage to the neighbors’ lands. Further her flock was the   
   healthiest and best looking in the area.   
      
   One day, after a strong rain the creek had become a raging stream,   
   making it impossible for her to reach the church. Two peasants of the   
   region who knew her custom to attend daily Mass came to laugh at her   
   predicament. Instead of mocking her however, they saw the poor   
   shepherdess walk straight toward the river without any hesitation. As   
   she set her foot in the raging stream, the waters separated, allowing   
   her to cross, just as the waters of the Jordan had opened for the Ark   
   of the Covenant to pass. After she reached the other side, the waters   
   returned to their tumultuous course. The peasants watched this with   
   awe and fear, and then reported the miracle to the whole village.   
      
   Germaine also multiplied loaves of bread, as Our Lord did.   
      
   One winter day, she put some small pieces of bread in her apron to   
   give to the poor. Accusing her of theft, her stepmother stopped her   
   and threatened to beat her with a rod. In a great fury, she approached   
   the girl, hurling every insult at her. Two inhabitants of Pibrac saw   
   what was happening and went to protect the girl against the   
   stepmother’s fury. They saw her stepmother order Germaine to open her   
   apron, and instead of pieces of bread, a magnificent bouquet of   
   beautiful and flagrant flowers tumbled out. No garden in Pibrac had   
   every produced such flowers, and this was in the dead of winter.   
      
   One night, two traveling monks decided to take refuge for the night in   
   a forest near Pibrac. They were sleeping when they were suddenly   
   awakened by the sound of a marvelous singing. They looked and saw a   
   group of virgins amidst a splendorous light who were passing through   
   the forest toward Pibrac. The vision disappeared, but after a while   
   the group appeared again. This time the cortege of virgins was coming   
   from Pibrac, but one more virgin had joined the group.   
      
   It was Germaine, wearing on her forehead a crown of fresh flowers. The   
   monks were charmed by this heavenly vision and spread news of it   
   everywhere.   
      
   The following morning, Germaine did not appear to take charge of the   
   sheep. Her father went to seek her in the cubicle, and found her dead   
   on her simple pallet under the stairs. She had fallen into her final   
   earthly sleep.   
   Today the relics of St. Germaine of Cousin are venerated in the Chapel   
   of St. Francis de Sales in Pibrac. More than 400 miracles were   
   credited to her intercession in the processes of canonization. The   
   site with her relics became the object of frequent pilgrimage, and the   
   deliverance of two Popes from their captivities--Pius VII and Pius   
   IX--are attributed to her intercession.   
      
      
   Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)   
      
   What is the great lesson from the life of St. Germaine Cousin?   
      
   As you saw, she was born at the end of the 16th century. There was a   
   stark contrast between her life and the spirit of the century in which   
   she lived. That century was deeply marked by the errors of the   
   Renaissance that dictated men should be completely turned to the   
   pleasures of life and earthly glory. Certainly its quest for glory was   
   less vile than the frenetic lust for money that we witness today.   
   Still, it was a very censurable aim because it was turned only toward   
   self-love. Real glory, which is celestial glory, was despised. It was   
   a century that made vainglory one of its idols.   
      
   In that century a Saint was born who became venerable because she   
   represented the opposite of that vainglory. Her life was filled with   
   all kinds of humiliations. She had a very bad health; she was   
   handicapped; she was treated cruelly by her own family. Presumably she   
   did not know how to read, lacked any education, and had no special   
   intelligence. She had everything that would make her despicable in the   
   eyes of the world.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)