From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
    On the Desire for Eternal Life    
   and the Wonder of God's Promises  [II]   
      
   CHRIST.   
   Son, there are may fires, but the flame never ascends unaccompanied by   
   smoke. Similarly, the desires of some are afire for heavenly things,   
   while they themselves are not yet free from the lusts of the flesh.   
   Therefore they do not act solely for the glory of God when they make   
   such earnest requests of Him and your own desires, which you think so   
   sincere, are often like this. For no desires are pure and perfect that   
   are tainted by self-interest.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3 Ch 49   
      
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   February 13th -  Bl. Beatrice of Ornacieu, Mystic   
   (Also known as Blessed Beatrix of Ornacieu)   
      
   SOME rather unusual mystical experiences are recorded of this   
   Carthusian nun. She was born at the castle of Ornacieu, in what is now   
   the department of Isère in the Dauphiné, and seems to have entered the   
   Carthusian convent of Parménie at an early age. There she led a life   
   of extreme austerity, favoured by constant evidences of the special   
   predilection of her heavenly Spouse. For a long time in the early   
   years of her religious life she saw our Lord, we are told, constantly   
   standing beside her in a visible form, and her heart was so touched   
   with sensible devotion that she was in danger of injuring her sight   
   from the abundance of tears which she shed. When it fell to her lot to   
   act as cook and to have to tend the kitchen fire, she used to rake out   
   the burning embers with her hands, and though the flesh was scorched   
   she was so absorbed in God that she felt no pain. In particular she   
   had an intense sympathy with our Lord in His passion, and this carried   
   her to such lengths in her desire to share His sufferings that she was   
   wont to drive a sharp nail through the skin into the palms of her   
   hands. By some strange prodigy--so at least the seemingly contemporary   
   account assures us--no flow of blood came from the wounds thus made,   
   but only pure water, and, what is more, they healed at once, leaving   
   no trace of any lesion. As we are accustomed to find in mystics who   
   have many visions and other sensible communications with the unseen,   
   Beatrice was tormented in almost equal measure by diabolic   
   manifestations. Her biographer seems to insist--though it is difficult   
   to feel quite certain on the point--that the devil assailed her   
   physically with showers of stones and blazing darts. She felt herself   
   struck, he tells us, but nevertheless these missiles inflicted no   
   pain. Such an experience would be in curious accord with the   
   poltergeist phenomena, both ancient and modern, of which we may read   
   in chronicles of quite another character.   
      
   Beatrice’s devotion to the Holy Eucharist was also very great, and   
   this not merely in receiving communion and in her rapt attention at   
   Mass, but she also seems to have been one of the pioneers in realizing   
   the treasure of graces which is opened to those who do honour to our   
   Lord’s abiding presence in the tabernacle. Praying before the Blessed   
   Sacrament for the release of her brother who had been taken prisoner,   
   she had a wonderful vision of our Saviour bearing the glorious marks   
   of the five wounds; which appears to be an early example of the   
   Eucharistic Christ, so well known in the representation commonly   
   called “the Mass of St Gregory”. Our Lord, she believed, assured her   
   that her prayer was granted, and she learnt at a later date that at   
   that precise moment her brother in a distant land had succeeded in   
   making his escape. But Beatrice was afterwards sent with two other   
   sisters to Eymeu, near Valence, to make a new foundation. This   
   residence was eventually found unsuitable, and the community after a   
   while returned to Parménie; but Bl. Beatrice refused to give in to   
   hardships and died there on November 25, 1309 (or 1303). Her remains   
   were later brought to Parménie, not, it was believed, without many   
   miraculous incidents attending the translation. In that neighbourhood   
   she seems always to have been venerated as a saint, and her cultus was   
   confirmed in 1869.   
      
   See C. Le Couteulx, Annales Ordinis Cartusiensis, vol. v, pp. 5-23.   
   There are lives in French by Bellanger (1874) and Chapuis (1900); and   
   see Histoire Littéraire de France, vol. xx, pp. 315-319.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "To fast is not a natural cause of sadness except for those who are   
   yet too feebly disposed; for those who desire to contemplate wisdom,   
   fasting is a delight. As long as the disciples were weak, it was wiser   
   to wait until they became stronger. This shows that it was not an   
   invitation to gluttony but a recognition of their weakness."   
   --St. John Chrysostom (Doctor, 347-407) - "An Aquinas Reader",   
      
   Bible Quotes:   
   "And Jesus said to them: Can the children of the bridegroom mourn, as   
   long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the   
   bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast"   
   (Matt 9:15)   
      
   "But in all things let us exhibit ourselves as the ministers of God,   
   in much patience, in tribulation, in necessities, in distresses, In   
   stripes, in prisons, in seditions, in labours, in watchings, in   
   fastings"  (2 Corinthians 6:4-5)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   The Prayer for Courage   
      
   Dearest Lord, teach me to be generous,   
   teach me to serve You as You deserve:   
   to give and not count the cost,   
   to fight and not heed the wound,   
   to toil and not seek rest,   
   to labor and not seek reward,   
   save that of feeling that I do Your will. - Amen.   
      
   --Saint Ignatius of Loyola   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)