From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   By their patient endurance   
      
   Divine providence often allows even good men to be expelled from the   
   Christian community.... By their patient endurance of such injury and   
   disgrace for the peace of the Church..., they will give man a lesson   
   in true affliction, in the really genuine charity, which God's service   
   calls for. The object of such men is to return when the gale has blown   
   itself out; but if this is not possible because the storm continues,   
   or is more likely to break out more furiously than ever if they go   
   back, they cling to their determination ... and are prepared ... to   
   defend to the death the faith which they know is preached in the   
   Catholic Church, and to support it by their loyal testimony. The   
   Father sees these men in secret, and rewards them in secret.   
   --St. Augustine   
      
      
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   July 17th - The Blessed Carmelites of Compiègne   
      
   On July 17, 1794, the 16 Carmelites nuns of Compiègne were guillotined   
   in Paris, convicted of crimes against the state by the tribunal of the   
   French Revolution. On this day they were born to eternal life.   
      
   Mother Henriette de Jesus, renowned for her great beauty and strong   
   personality, stood up to represent the other Carmelite sisters before   
   the revolutionary tribunal and was remarkable for her heroic   
   resolution. Since the prosecutor accused the Carmelites of being   
   fanatics and counter-revolutionaries, she asked him to explain the   
   meaning of those words. The irritated judge vomited a torrent of   
   offenses against her, and then said: “It is your attachment to your   
   Religion and the King.”   
      
   Hearing these words, she replied, “I thank you for the explanation.”   
   Then, addressing her companion Carmelites, she said: “My dear Mother   
   and my Sisters, we must rejoice and give thanks to God for we die for   
   our Religion, our Faith, and for being members of the Holy Roman   
   Catholic Church.”   
      
   She was the last one before the Prioress to mount the scaffold to die.   
   To the end, she encouraged her Sisters to persevere. When a charitable   
   person offered a glass of water to one of the Sisters, Mother   
   Henriette told her: “In Heaven, my Sister, in Heaven we will soon have   
   water aplenty to drink.”   
      
      
   Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)   
      
   These Sisters knew that they were being put to death for their   
   fidelity to the Catholic Church and the King, but they wanted the   
   prosecutor to admit it out loud, because this would be a public   
   witness of their martyrdom and an encouragement for them in face of   
   the dangers of apostasy. This is why Mother Henriette was charged with   
   asking that question.   
      
   When the answer came, she was happy and transmitted it to her Mother   
   and Sisters in religion. All of them shared that joy and went forward   
   to die. Mother Henriette, who was very resolute, offered assistance to   
   each of them until the end. Only the Prioress, Mother Teresa of St.   
   Augustine, died after her, because she was the superior, and the   
   Captain must always be the last one to leave the sinking ship.   
      
   The episode with the glass of water is beautiful. Certainly there were   
   some Carmelites who were nervous facing the trauma of such a violent   
   death. To drink a glass of water could give them some relief. When   
   Mother Henriette saw that one Carmelite Sister was inclined to accept   
   the offer, she was probably thinking: “This small sacrifice can be yet   
   another pearl for her crown in Heaven.” So, she advised her to not   
   take it, and gave this magnificent reason: “My Sister, in Heaven soon   
   we will have water aplenty to drink.”   
      
   She was clearly referring to Our Lord, Who is the source of all living   
   waters, to the face-to-face contemplation of God that gives eternal   
   happiness. The thirsty Sister understood that when she would receive   
   her crown of martyrdom, it would have an additional star because she   
   made that sacrifice.   
      
   You can contrast Mother Henriette de Jesus with an imaginary personage   
   in a popular novel, The Dialogue of the Carmelites by George Bernanos.   
   The character was called Blanche de la Force and was presented as a   
   weak and timid Carmelite Sister. She is an imaginary personage, but it   
   is worthwhile considering her, because she represents a common   
   character type.   
      
   In his novel, Bernanos presented her as a Sister who had panicked when   
   the other Sisters were taken by the revolutionary soldiers and   
   sentenced, and for this reason had apostatized from the Order. She was   
   no longer living inside the Carmelite community, but she went to see   
   the execution of her former companions who would suffer martyrdom that   
   day. The Sisters were chanting the Veni Creator in chorus and, one by   
   one, they walked up the steps to the scaffold to be guillotined. When   
   she saw this, she was moved by a grace, stepped out of the mob and,   
   singing, joined the cortege to be executed along with them.   
      
   The two attitudes of both religious – Mother Henriette and Sister   
   Blanche – express well the different paths of Divine Providence for   
   different souls—the different marvels God works with His chosen ones.   
   For some He chooses the glory of repentance – this is one of the   
   glories attributed to the Apostles who fled during His Passion. For   
   others He gives the strength that he gave to Mother Henriette of   
   Jesus, that is, to view death from a distance and face it bravely,   
   walking toward it joyfully. This was what He did with Mother   
   Henriette, who helped all the others face their martyrdoms. These are   
   two different paths God chooses to lead and direct souls.   
      
   Seeing these two contrasting paths, you can admire the infinite beauty   
   of God in the unity and variety of His ways. This is why the Saints   
   are different from one another and why there are different schools of   
   spirituality in the Catholic Church. It serves to show the beauty and   
   richness of Holy Mother Church, a reflection of the beauty of the   
   Heavenly Jerusalem.   
      
   http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j136sdCarmeliteCompeigne_6-17.htm   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Prayer is nothing else but union with God. In this intimate union, God   
   and the soul are fused together like two bits of wax that no one can   
   ever pull apart. This union of God with a tiny creature is a lovely   
   thing. It is a happiness beyond understanding.   
   --Saint John Vianney   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   If any man come to you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not   
   into the house nor say to him, God speed you.  (2 John 1:10)   
      
      
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   ACT OF CONSECRATION   
   O Lord, since I am Thy servant and the son of Thy handmaid,   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)