From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Love that produces abundant fruit and joy   
      
   The Lord Jesus tells us that he is our personal friend and he loves us   
   wholeheartedly and unconditionally. He wants us to love one another   
   just as he has loved us, wholeheartedly, without reserve, and full of   
   mercy, kindness, and forgiveness. His love fills our hearts and   
   transforms our minds and frees us to give ourselves in loving service   
   to others. If we open our hearts to his love and obey his command to   
   love our neighbor, then we will know his love more fully and we will   
   bear much fruit--especially the fruit of peace, joy, patience,   
   kindness, and goodness--the kind of fruit that lasts for eternity. Do   
   you wish to be fruitful and to abound in the love of God? Trust and   
   obey him and he will fill you with his overflowing love.  (John   
   15:12-17}   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   May 7: Saint Rosa Venerini   
   (1656-1728)   
      
   Saint Rosa Venerini  who Pope Benedict XVI referred to as an “example   
   of a faithful disciple of Christ, ready to give up all in order to do   
   the will of God.” Saint Rosa is a model of obedience and service,   
   dedicating her life to the education, care, and Christian formation of   
   young women in service of Our Lord.   
      
   Rosa was born in Viterbo, Italy, the daughter of a talented and   
   prestigious doctor. At age seven, she declared her intentions to   
   consecrate her life to God. Her desire was nourished by her family   
   faith life, and she matured into an educated and sensible young woman   
   with a heart of service and deeply felt spirituality. At age 20, with   
   her father’s encouragement, Rosa entered the Dominican Monastery of   
   Saint Catherine but remained only a few months. Upon the sudden death   
   of her father, Rosa returned home to care for her mother. Tragedy did   
   not stray from the family, with first her brother dying, followed by   
   her mother succumbing to grief and eventual death.   
      
   While Rosa nursed her mother, she established a small community of   
   local women whom she invited over each day to recite the Holy Rosary   
   to Our Blessed Mother. In the conversations that took place before and   
   after prayer, Rosa realized that the vast majority of women at that   
   time had little education or knowledge, especially in regards to the   
   formative teachings of the Church. Rosa began instructing these women,   
   under the spiritual direction of a Jesuit priest, Father Ignatius   
   Martinelli.   
      
   Upon her mother’s death, Rosa felt called to remain “in the world,”   
   teaching and forming young Christian women, rather than returning to a   
   contemplative monastic life. Her spiritual director encouraged her   
   vocation, understanding it to be the will of the Lord, and with   
   permission from the Bishop of Viterbo, Saint Rosa opened her first   
   school for girls. With her typical grace and sensibility, there was   
   little fanfare--only a small humble sign which read “Public School for   
   Girls in Italy.” Saint Rosa structured her school according to an   
   innovative plan that had matured in prayer and her search for the will   
   of God. Her primary objective was to provide the “girls of the common   
   people” a complete Christian formation and prepare them for life in   
   society.   
      
   Over the course of the next decade, Saint Rosa opened a dozen more   
   schools across the area, meeting great resistance each time. Not only   
   did the public regard her work with suspicion and disdain, oftentimes   
   vocally opposed to the brashness of a woman opening a school, the   
   local clergy in each town also resisted her mission, stating their   
   beliefs that only priests could effectively teach the Catechism. Over   
   time, Rosa’s strength, steadfastness, charity, and grace made her   
   mission impossible to resist. In 1716, Rosa received a visit from Pope   
   Clement XI, accompanied by eight Cardinals, who wanted to attend the   
   lessons provided by her teachers. Amazed and pleased, at the end of   
   the morning he addressed these words to the Foundress: “Signora Rosa,   
   you are doing that which we cannot do. We thank you very much because   
   with these schools you will sanctify Rome.”   
      
   Following the papal visit, Rosa’s schools were in high demand,   
   requested across the country, and the communities she taught in became   
   her biggest supporters and advocates. From her devotion to the Blessed   
   Mother, Rosa understood herself, as a woman, to be the carrier of a   
   plan of love, like Mary. She never strayed from her obedient love of   
   the Lord, and her focus on fulfilling His mission for her on earth.   
   “Educate to save” became the motto that urged the Venerini Teachers   
   (Maestre Pie Venerini) to continue the Work of the Lord intended by   
   their Foundress and radiate the charism of Rosa to the world: to free   
   from ignorance and evil so that the project of God which every person   
   carries within can be visible.   
      
   In addition to her difficult labors in creating schools and converting   
   communities, Rosa ministered to the sick and discouraged, oftentimes   
   healing through prayer. She spent countless hours in mental prayer and   
   communion with the Lord, which she referred to as “essential   
   nourishment for the soul.” Saint Rosa stated, “I feel so nailed to the   
   Will of God that nothing else matters, neither death nor life. I want   
   what He wants; I want to serve Him as much as pleases Him and no   
   more.” She united with love the sufferings, hard work and joys of her   
   own life to the sufferings of Jesus Christ, concerned that His   
   Precious Blood would not be shed in vain.   
      
   Saint Rosa died a saintly death in the community of St. Mark’s in Rome   
   on the evening of May 7, 1728. She had opened more than forty schools   
   over her lifetime. Her remains were entombed in the nearby Church of   
   the Gesù, so loved by her. In 1952, on the occasion of her   
   Beatification, they were transferred to the chapel of the Generalate   
   in Rome. In 2006, she was formally canonized by Pope Benedict XVI.   
   During his homily, he stated:   
      
   “Saint Rose Venerini is another example of a faithful disciple of   
   Christ, ready to give up all in order to do the will of God. She loved   
   to say: "I find myself so bound to the divine will that neither death   
   nor life is important: I want to live as he wishes and I want to serve   
   him as he likes, and nothing more."   
      
   From here, from this surrender to God, sprang the long-admired work   
   that she courageously developed in favor of the spiritual elevation   
   and authentic emancipation of the young women of her time. Saint Rose   
   did not content herself with providing the girls an adequate   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)