From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Counsels on the Inner Life:  (2)   
      
   Come then, faithful soul; prepare your heart for your Divine Spouse,   
   that He may deign to come to you and dwell with you. For He says, `If   
   any man love Me, he will keep My word; and We will come and make Our   
   abode with him(John 14:23). Therefore welcome Christ, and deny   
   entrance to all others. When you possess Christ, you are amply rich,   
   and He will satisfy you. He will dispose and provide for you   
   faithfully in everything, so that you need not rely on man. For men   
   soon change and fail you; but Christ abides for ever,(John 12:34) and   
   stands firmly by you to the end.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 2, Ch 1   
      
      
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   March 9th - Saint Catherine of Bologna, mystic   
    (1413-1463)   
      
   Saint Catherine of Bologna, virgin of the Church, mystic, and patron   
   saint of artists and those who are tempted. Saint Catherine was born   
   in Bologna, and appointed as the maid of honor to the daughter of the   
   Marquis of Ferrara, for whom her father served as an aide. Catherine   
   moved into the palace, and became best friends with her mistress,   
   Margaret. Upon the engagement of Margaret, who wished Catherine to   
   remain with her, Catherine instead entered the religious life. At age   
   14, she joined the third order of the Franciscans, who lived a   
   semi-monastic life.   
      
   Eventually, the community to which Catherine belonged adopted the   
   second rule of the Franciscans, joining the Order of the Poor Clares.   
   There, Catherine lived in poverty and obedience, joyfully serving the   
   Lord. However, Catherine felt that the rule was not strict enough in   
   the community she served, and eventually was moved to a more austere   
   community, where she reluctantly agreed to be Abbess.   
      
   Saint Catherine was graced with many spiritual gifts, beginning early   
   in her religious life, and persisting until the end of her days. A   
   mystic, she frequently experienced visions of the Blessed Mother,   
   Christ at the hour of His crucifixion, and was tormented by visions   
   and temptations of the Devil. All of these she passed along to her   
   sisters, for their spiritual direction, and some she recorded in   
   Latin, having been schooled in Latin at the court of the Marquis.   
      
   The most remarkable of her visions occurred on Christmas Eve. She had   
   asked permission, at that time, to spend Christmas Eve alone in the   
   convent chapel, intending to pray one thousand Hail Marys in honor of   
   the Blessed Mother and the Nativity of Our Lord. As she later   
   recounted, at approximately midnight, the dawning of Christmas   
   morning, the Blessed Virgin appeared to Catherine with the swaddled   
   baby Jesus in her arms. The Mother of God handed the Infant to Saint   
   Catherine, who joyously held Him and kissed His cheek. Following that   
   worship, He disappeared, but her heart was left changed forever.   
      
   Under the direction of Saint Catherine, the community became known for   
   austerity, service to the poor, and holiness. But Catherine, led by   
   her joyous heart, was also a woman filled with joy, which she passed   
   along to her sisters. They suffered gladly for Christ, eschewing   
   wealth and comfort, but their hearts leapt and danced for joy. Saint   
   Catherine wrote in her book Le sette armi spirituali (The Seven   
   Spiritual Weapons):   
      
   In the name of the eternal Father and of his only begotten Son Christ   
   Jesus, of the splendor of the Father's glory, for love of whom, with   
   jubilation of heart, I cry, saying to his refined servants and   
   spouses:   
      
   Let every lover who loves the Lord   
   Come to the dance singing of love,   
   Let her come dancing all afire   
   Desiring only him who created her   
   And separated her from the dangerous worldly state.   
      
   Saint Catherine is also known as a talented artist and musician, her   
   love and joy in the Lord spilling forth in whatever artistic medium   
   she chose. (See picture of Mary and Jesus, Mother and Child, left,   
   painted by Saint Catherine).   
      
   Saint Catherine strove to live a life of perfection. She instructed   
   her community in the ways of holiness, including penance and   
   suffering. In preparation for loving Christ, Catherine enumerated   
   seven spiritual weapons of use to the faithful:   
   “Whoever from deep within her noble and zealous heart wished to take   
   up the cross..., let her first take up the arms necessary for such   
   battles...: first is diligence; second, distrust of self; third,   
   confidence in God; fourth, memory of his passion; fifth, memory of   
   one's own death; sixth, memory of the glory of God; seventh and last,   
   the authority of Holy Scripture as it gives the example of Christ   
   Jesus in the desert.”   
      
   While she was frail throughout her days, Catherine lived a relatively   
   healthy life until shortly before her death due to a terminal illness.   
   Upon her deathbed, her sisters observed that her aged face had been   
   restored to the smooth youth of her teen years when she had entered   
   the order. Buried without a coffin, her body was exhumed 18 days   
   later, due to the overpowering sweet fragrance emanating from the   
   gravesite. Found incorrupt, Saint Catherine was seated in a golden   
   throne, in the small chapel of Cheisa della Santa, where she remains   
   today. Her incorrupt body and face appear smooth and featureless,   
   although somewhat blackened by the soot of 500 years of burning   
   candles.   
      
   Saint Catherine’s search for perfection, her faith, and her piety are   
   worthy of aspiring to. But more than that, the joy that Saint   
   Catherine found, even in her suffering and death, is remarkable. She   
   was confident in the love of Christ, confident that He would never   
   stop caring for her, confident in His grace and mercy. During Lent, we   
   often feel as if we should be morose and gloomy, fasting, abstaining,   
   and enacting other mild forms of mortification and penance. Saint   
   Catherine understood these physical acts of repentance as well, but   
   did so with a joyful heart, dancing and singing of the love of the   
   Lord. This Lent, perhaps it is our turn to join in this glorious   
   dance, hearts afire, desiring only Him who created us!   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   The goal of all our undertakings should be not so much a task   
   perfectly completed as the accomplishment of the will of God.   
    --St. Therese of the Child Jesus   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Rejoice heart and soul, daughter of Zion! Shout for joy, daughter of   
   Jerusalem! Look, your king is approaching, he is vindicated and   
   victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a   
   donkey.   
   Zechariah 9:9   
      
      
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   Reflection on Fasting   
      
   "And the Saviour also, when He manifested Himself to the world in the   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)