From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Are you part of the gathering or the scattering?   
      
   If we try to gather people around us by using our money or company   
   status or position in the Church, we are not bringing Jesus to them.   
   But if people are magnetized to us because they're attracted by our   
   love, our kindness, our patience, our prayerfulness, our God-given   
   talents, or our Spirit-filled wisdom, they encounter Jesus when they   
   interact with us. Therein lies the strength of community and the power   
   to overcome evil.   
      
      
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   April 3rd – St. Fare, OSB Abbess, Virgin   
    (Also known as Burgundofara, Fara)   
      
   Born near Meaux; died at Faremoutiers in Brie, France, on April 3, c.   
   655-657. Sister of Saint Cagnoald, Saint Faro, and Agnetrudis, Fare   
   had been blessed by Saint Columbanus in her infancy during his stay   
   with the family on his way into exile from Luxeuil. Some chroniclers   
   say she was 10 or 15 at the time Columbanus consecrated her to God in   
   a particular manner. She developed a religious vocation early in spite   
   of the fierce opposition of her father, Count Agneric, one of the   
   principal courtiers of King Theodebert II. He arranged an honorable   
   match for his daughter, which so upset her that she became mortally   
   ill. Still Agneric demanded that she marry.   
      
   When Saint Eustace was returning to the court with her brother   
   Cagnoald from his embassy to Columbanus, he stayed in the home of   
   Agneric. Fare disclosed to him her vocation. Eustace told her father   
   that Fare was deathly ill because he opposed her pious inclinations.   
   The saintly man prostrated himself for a time in prayer, rose, and   
   made the sign of the cross upon Fare's eyes. Immediately her health   
   was restored.   
      
   Eustace asked her mother, Leodegonda, to prepare Fare to receive the   
   veil when he returned to court. As soon as the saint left, Agneric   
   again began to harass his daughter. She sought sanctuary in the church   
   when he threatened to kill her if she did not comply with his wishes.   
   Eustace returned and reconciled father and daughter. He then arranged   
   for Fare to be professed before Bishop Gondoald of Meaux in 614.   
      
   A year or two later, Fare convinced her father to build her a double   
   monastery, originally named Brige (Brie, which is Celtic for "bridge")   
   or Evoriacum, now called Faremoutiers (Fare's monastery). The   
   chronicler Jonas, a monk in that abbey, wrote about many of the holy   
   people he knew there, including Saint Cagnoald and Saint Walbert.   
      
   Although Fare was still very young, she was appointed its first abbess   
   and governed the monastery under the Rule of Saint Columbanus for 37   
   years. The rule was severe. The use of wine and milk was forbidden (at   
   least during penitential seasons). The inhabitants confessed three   
   times each day to encourage a habitual watchfulness for the attainment   
   of purity of heart. Masses were said daily in the monastery for 30   
   days for the soul of those religious who died.   
      
   Fare was apparently an excellent directress of souls. Many English   
   princess-nuns and nun-saints were trained under her, including Saints   
   Gibitrudis, Sethrida, Ethelburga, Ercongotha, Hildelid, Sisetrudis,   
   Hercantrudis, and others. Once when her younger brother, Saint Faro,   
   was visiting, he was so moved by her heavenly discourses that he   
   resigned the great offices which he held at court, persuaded his   
   fiancé to become a nun, and took the clerical tonsure. After he   
   succeeded Gondoald as bishop, Faro supported his sister against   
   attempts to mitigate the severity of the Rule.   
      
   A reference is made to Fare by Bede led long afterwards to the   
   mistaken idea that she died in England; however, she died at   
   Faremoutiers after a painful, lingering illness. Her will bequeathed   
   some of her lands to her siblings, but the rest to the monastery,   
   including her lands at Champeaux on which a monastery was later   
   erected.   
      
   Fare's relics were enshrined in 695 and many miracles were attributed   
   to her intercession. Among them is the restoration of sight to Dame   
   Charlotte le Bret, daughter to the first president and   
   treasurer-general of finance in the district of Paris. At the age of   
   seven (1602), her left eye was put out. She became a nun at   
   Faremoutiers in 1609 and lost the sight in her remaining eye in 1617   
   due to an irreversible eye disease. Because she suffered terrible pain   
   in her eyes and the adjacent nerves, remedies were applied to destroy   
   all feeling in the area. In 1622, she kissed one of the exposed bones   
   of Saint Fare and touched it to both eyes. She had feeling again. Upon   
   repeating the action, her sight was restored—instantly and perfectly.   
   Physicians and witnesses testified in writing to her state before and   
   after this miracle, which was certified as such by Bishop John de   
   Vieupont of Meaux on December 9, 1622.   
      
   The affidavit of the abbess, Frances de la Chastre, and the community   
   also mentioned two other miraculous cures of palsy and rheumatism.   
   Other miracles wrought at the intercession of Saint Fare are recorded   
   by Carcat and du Plessis (Attwater, Attwater2, Benedictines, Delaney,   
   Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).   
      
   Saint Fare is depicted in art as an abbess with an ear of corn.   
   Sometimes she may be shown in the scene where Saint Columbanus blesses   
   a child (Roeder). She is honored especially in France and Sicily   
   (Husenbeth).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Do not be dismayed by toil or suffering, nor by the meager fruit of   
   your labours. Remember that God rewards not according to results, but   
   effort.   
   --Blessed Zefirino Agostini   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; 28 and   
   I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one   
   shall snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:27-28)  RSVCE   
      
      
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   THE HAND IN THE HARVEST   
      
   What measure of love is the greatest   
   To separate wheat from the chaff?   
   The hand of God in the harvest   
   Made known by the power of His staff.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)