From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   You Must Sleep No Longer   
      
   “So take a lesson from the true father and shepherd. For you see that   
   now is the time to give your life for the little sheep who have left   
   the flock. You must seek and win them back by using patience and   
   war–by war I mean by raising the standard of the sweet blazing cross   
   and setting out against the unbelievers. so you must sleep no longer,   
   but wake up and raise that standard courageously. I am confident that   
   by God’s measureless goodness you will win back the unbelievers and   
   [at the same time] correct the wrongdoing of Christians, because   
   everyone will come running to the fragrance of the cross, even those   
   who have rebelled against you most.”   
   --Excerpt from Writings of Saint Catherine of Siena   
      
      
   ==============   
   March 5th - St. John Joseph of the Cross, Mystic   
   (1654-1734)   
      
   What St. Francis of Assisi was to central Italy in the 13th century,   
   St. John Joseph Calosirto was to southern Italy in the 18th century.   
      
   St. John Joseph was baptized Carlo Calosirto. He was a native of the   
   Island of Ischia, off the Tyrrhenian coast near Naples. Carlo’s   
   parents were remarkable: prosperous yet very devout. They saw that of   
   their large brood. Carlo was really special. So when they found him   
   precociously devoted to prayer and acts of self-denial, they did not   
   interfere.   
      
   When he was a teenager, Carlo made a novena to discover what sort of   
   life God wanted him to follow. As if in answer, two Spanish   
   Franciscans visited his home begging for alms. They belonged to a   
   reformist branch of the Franciscan order called the Alcantarines,   
   after their leader, the Spanish friar St. Peter of Alcantara. Young   
   Carlo entered the Alcantarines at age 16, taking the religious name   
   Friar John Joseph of the Cross. His superiors, recognizing his mettle,   
   quickly advanced him to positions of responsibility in the growing   
   Italian branch of the Alcantarine friars. Appointed master of novices,   
   he trained his wards well in the strict observance of the Franciscan   
   rule, although he was too prudent to require of them the sort of   
   arduous penances that he constantly imposed upon himself.   
      
   John Joseph was also called on to be a peacemaker among his brother   
   friars. Ethnic friction soon arose, understandable but regrettable,   
   between the Spanish Alcantarines in Italy and their Italian confreres.   
   The result, unfortunately, was a split in the community. St. John was   
   turned to as a counselor. Luckily he was finally able to engineer a   
   separation of the friars into Italian and Spanish units. It was   
   accomplished in all charity.   
      
   By the time the division was healing, Father John was already an old   
   man. Because of partial paralysis, he could walk only with the aid of   
   a cane. He was already revered by the people whom he served. He could   
   read their hearts in confession and he was considered a   
   miracle-worker. Indeed, his devotees vied to cut off (or even to bite   
   off) bits of his religious habit as “relics”.   
      
   Most striking, if not most substantial among the miracles attributed   
   to St. John Joseph was that of his walking stick. The witnesses of   
   this phenomenon were many.   
      
   It seems that Friar John Joseph paid a visit one year to the Cathedral   
   of St. Januarius in Naples on the September day when the flacons of   
   blood of this 4th-century martyr-bishop normally liquefy. In the   
   jam-packed church, the friar happened to drop his walking stick. Due   
   to the congestion of the mob of Neapolitans, it would have been quite   
   impossible for him to relocate the cane at that time. Since he could   
   not walk without it, he simply prayed to St. Januarius for help.   
   Immediately, the friar was lifted up in the air by invisible hands and   
   transported marvelously, first to the pulpit, and then outside to the   
   cathedral porch.   
      
   The Duke of Lauriano just happened to drive up to the church after the   
   friar had come to rest. Seeing the friar seated there as he dismounted   
   from his carriage, he asked if anything was wrong. “I have lost my   
   steed,” John Joseph replied cheerily. “You will see the walking stick   
   there.” He pointed to the interior of the cathedral. The Duke went in   
   to look for the cane for the old Franciscan. He had not yet reached   
   the altar, however, when the congregation started to cry out, “A   
   miracle!” For, lo and behold, the walking stick had risen from the   
   floor without human touch and begun to float gently towards the front   
   door, traveling about a foot above the heads of the congregation. When   
   it passed through the great doorway, it tapped Fr. John Joseph gently   
   on the chest, and then stood there until the friar had grasped its   
   handle. The old man forthwith hobbled of to his convent, pursued by an   
   amazed and reverent throng.   
      
   All of which seems to say to us: God is very thoughtful of each one of   
   us, isn’t He? Especially if we have been thoughtful of Him.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
    We can never attain to perfection while we have an affection for any   
   imperfection.   
     --St. Francis de Sales   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of   
   his correction: For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a   
   father the son in whom he delighteth.  (Proverbs 3:11-12)  DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   PRAYER TO MARY, MOTHER OF GOD   
      
   Father, source of light in every age,   
   the virgin conceived and bore Your Son   
   Who is called Wonderful God,   
   Prince of Peace.   
   May her prayer,   
   the gift of a mother's love,   
   be Your people's joy through all ages.   
   May her response,   
   born of a humble heart,   
   draw Your Spirit to rest on Your people.   
   Grant this through Christ our Lord.   
      
   Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)