From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Goodness and Peace in Man:    
      
      FIRST keep peace with yourself; then you will be able to bring   
   peace to others. A peaceful man does more good than a learned man.   
   Whereas a passionate man turns even good to evil and is quick to   
   believe evil, the peaceful man, being good himself, turns all things   
   to good.   
      The man who is at perfect ease is never suspicious, but the   
   disturbed and discontented spirit is upset by many a suspicion. He   
   neither rests himself nor permits others to do so. He often says what   
   ought not to be said and leaves undone what ought to be done. He is   
   concerned with the duties of others but neglects his own.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Book 2, Chapter 3   
      
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   May 6th - Bl. Indians of Mexico   
   (Sixteenth Century)   
      
   On May 6, 1990, during his second pastoral visit to Mexico, Pope John   
   Paul II proclaimed the beatification of five Mexicans. One of these   
   was a modern priest of Hispanic blood, Father Jose Maria de Yermoy   
   Parres (1851-1904), noted for founding a congregation of nuns, the   
   Servants of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Poor, and many   
   charitable works. The other four new “blessed” were Indians of the   
   earliest days of the Spanish settlement of Mexico. What the Iroquois   
   virgin St. Kateri Tekakwitha is to North America, these four are to   
   Middle America.   
      
   Best known of the Mexican Indian beati was Bl. Juan Diego. It was he   
   to whom Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared on Tepeyac Hill on December 9,   
   1531.   
      
   Juan Diego (1474-1548) was the baptismal name of this devout Indian   
   convert and farmer, whose native name, Cuauhtlatohuac, means, it   
   seems, “Eagle Who Speaks.” The Lady who greeted “Juanito” as “the   
   smallest of my children”, identified herself as the Mother of God, and   
   told him to inform the bishop of Mexico City, Fray Juan de Zumarraga,   
   that she wanted him to build a church on that site. Juan Diego   
   conveyed the message, but the bishop said he would need some sign to   
   persuade him to act.   
      
   The humble Indian, embarrassed by his failure, would have preferred to   
   have no further dealings with his bishop, but the Lady appeared to him   
   again and insisted. As for the sign, on December 12 she instructed her   
   messenger to gather some roses nearby and carry them to the prelate in   
   the lap of his tilma or poncho. Now, roses do not bloom in December at   
   the altitude of Mexico’s capital city. Nonetheless, Juan found enough   
   of them for a fine bouquet. When he entered the bishop’s presence and   
   let drop the hem of his cloak, the bishop and spectators saw not only   
   the cascading flowers, but, on the very tilma itself, a lovely   
   portrait of Our Lady represented as a pregnant young Indian woman in   
   Indian dress. After that, Bishop Zumarraga could only obey.   
      
   He inaugurated the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, where the   
   principal focus is still on the remarkable portrait of Mary.   
      
   Tradition tells us that afterwards Juan Diego got permission to live   
   as a hermit near Tepeyac. There he remained as guardian of the shrine,   
   practicing poverty and prayer, and engaging in good works, including   
   teaching Catechism to others. He was responsible for the conversion of   
   many Aztecs.   
      
   From his death onward, the Mexican faithful hailed this simple peasant   
   as a saint. Mexican priests would say to the children, “May God mold   
   you like Juan Diego.” Recently the Holy See has acknowledged this   
   long-term veneration, and what the present pope did on his recent   
   visit was to give official confirmation to continuing popular acclaim.   
   John Paul appropriately assigned Blessed Juan Diego December 9 as his   
   feastday.   
      
   The other three whom the Pope beatified were child martyrs of   
   Tiaxcala: Cristobal, Antonio and Juan.   
      
   Bl. Cristobal was born at Atlihuetza about 1514, the son of an   
   influential pagan Indian and one of his 60 wives. Cristobal attended a   
   school opened by the Franciscan missionaries. There he converted to   
   Christianity and was baptized. Wishing to share his new-found faith   
   with the rest of his family, Cristobal pointed out to his father the   
   folly of his polygamy, drunkenness and idolatry. Instead of yielding   
   to persuasion, the parent killed Cristobal in 1527. He was then only   
   12 or 13 years old.   
      
   Bl. Antonio, a native of Tizatlan, was the heir of one of the local   
   Indian senators. He, too, became a convert while attending a   
   missionary school. Then he volunteered to join a mission bound for   
   Oaxaca, led by the Dominican missionary Bernardino de Minaya. Antonio   
   was aware that this was a perilous undertaking, but he went anyhow. He   
   met martyrdom near Puebla in 1529.   
      
   Bl. Juan was about the same age as Bl. Antonio, a native of the same   
   town and an alumnus of the same school. He, also, volunteered to join   
   the Dominican mission to Oaxaca. On that expedition he won his   
   martyr’s crown.   
      
   From their deaths onward, the missionary priests had the three junior   
   teenagers buried in their mission churches, and hailed them as   
   catechists of and martyrs for the faith. The Church has now confirmed   
   this veneration; Pope John Paul II cited the trio as exemplifying the   
   role to which every Christian is called: to spread the faith without   
   counting the cost.   
   –Father Robert   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   'If we wish to make any progress in the service of God we must begin   
   every day of our life with new eagerness. We must keep ourselves in   
   the presence of God as much as possible and have no other view or end   
   in all our actions but the divine honor.'   
   --St. Charles Borromeo   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   In thy sight are all they that afflict me; my heart hath expected   
   reproach and misery. And I looked for one that would grieve together   
   with me, but there was none: and for one that would comfort me, and I   
   found none. And they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they   
   gave me vinegar to drink."  (Ps. 69:21-22) DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   “Love is watchful.   
   Sleeping, it does not slumber.   
   Wearied, it is not tired.   
   Pressed, it is not straitened.   
   Alarmed, it is not confused   
   but like a living flame,   
   a burning torch,   
   it forces its way upward   
   and passes unharmed   
   through every obstacle.”   
      
   “Nothing is sweeter than love,   
   nothing stronger or higher or wider;   
   nothing is more pleasant, nothing fuller   
   and nothing better in heaven or on earth,   
   for love is born of God   
   and cannot rest except in God,   
   Who is above all created things.”   
   --Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471) – Imitation of Christ   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)