From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   That the desires of the heart are to be examined and governed   
      
   3. “Sometimes, indeed, it is needful to use violence, and manfully to   
   strive against the sensual appetite, and not to consider what the   
   flesh may or not will; but rather to strive after this, that it may   
   become subject, however unwillingly, to the spirit. And for so long it   
   ought to be chastised and compelled to undergo slavery, even until it   
   be ready for all things, and learn to be contented with little, to be   
   delighted with things simple, and never to murmur at any   
   inconvenience.”   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Book 3, Chapter 11   
      
      
   =============   
   June 18th - Elizabeth of Schönau, Mystic   
      
   Born 1130; died June 18, 1164. Mysticism was a phenomenon that found   
   expression in the mid-11th century. It is an endeavor to reach a   
   knowledge of and union with God directly and "experimentally." The   
   mystic renounces his senses and the images they offer of God. This is   
   the "Negative road" that begins by recognizing the complete   
   "Otherness" of God. The pseudo- Dionysius wrote “On the Divine Names”,   
   which influenced this movement in the Middle Ages. It is characterized   
   by abnormal psychic states which culminate in ecstasy. Such states are   
   sanctified when perfectly united with God and the whole personality is   
   fully free. As a rule, mystics exhibit extraordinary self-knowledge,   
   which leads to an ever more passionate love of God and His Son.   
   Mystical life in no way need conflict with a married, intellectual, or   
   active life, although many mystics, like Elizabeth were professed   
   religious.   
      
   Elizabeth of Schönau entered the great Black Benedictine double   
   monastery at Schönau (16 miles northeast of Bonn, Germany) at age 11   
   or 12. She was professed in 1147, and shortly thereafter, she began to   
   experience clairvoyance. This was the origin of her experiences, but   
   she distinguishes them from her later ones.   
      
   In 1157, Elizabeth became abbess of Schönau and a friend of Saint   
   Hildegard. In a letter to Hildegard, Elizabeth describes how an angel   
   had told her to proclaim a series of judgements that would fall on the   
   world unless they did penance, and how, because she delayed obeying   
   him, he had beaten her so severely with a whip that she had been ill   
   for three days! At a later time, when some prophecies had failed in   
   their fulfillment, the angel informed her that penance had actually   
   averted the impending doom. She was assailed with terrible   
   temptations, but prayed against them.   
      
   She would often fall into ecstasies while saying the Divine Office or   
   at Mass on Sundays and on feast days. At the prompting of the abbey's   
   founder, Abbot Hildelin, she recorded some of her visions on wax   
   tablets, which were sent to her brother, canon Egbert, in Bonn. Later   
   he took the habit at Schönau and succeeded Hildelin as abbot in the   
   same Benedictine monastery. He wrote her vita and three books of her   
   visions using the tablets she wrote, supplemented by her oral   
   explanations. The first book seems to be the simple language that   
   Elizabeth might have used herself, but the others are more   
   sophisticated—probably written by Egbert. The last and most famous   
   book dealt with her vision of Saint Ursula. This was the result of   
   pressure placed on her brother by Bishop Gerlac of Deutz, who had   
   assisted in the translation of the supposed relics of Saint Ursula and   
   her 11,000 virgins after searching nine years for them. Under strong   
   pressure from her brother, Elizabeth evolved an elaboration of the   
   already fantastic story of Ursula. She even introduced into it a Pope   
   Cyriacus, who never existed.   
      
   Elizabeth "saw" the whole of Our Lord's life and that of various   
   saints, but had to describe it in terms of which she had "real"   
   knowledge. We need to discriminate between gift as given and the way   
   in which it is described by the recipient—some may be part of the   
   imagination without basis in historical fact. For example, inculpably,   
   Elizabeth contributed to the further elaboration of the mythical   
   legend of Saint Ursula. She knew when she had been in ecstasy, which   
   was different than being "near" ecstasy. She described her visions in   
   moral and allegorical rather than mystical terms. Like most medieval   
   mystics, she was practical, and believed in her smallness before God.   
   This is the "heart of the mystical life—the self, as such, is nothing;   
   it needs to be wholly filled and activated by God" (Attwater,   
   Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Martindale, Walsh).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   A truly obedient man does not discriminate between one thing and   
   another, or desire one employment more than another, since his only   
   aim is to execute faithfully whatever may be assigned to him.   
   --St. Bernard   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   What man of you that hath an hundred sheep: and if he shall lose one   
   of them, doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the desert, and go after   
   that which was lost, until he find it?  And when he hath found it, lay   
   it upon his shoulders, rejoicing:   (Luke 15:4-5) DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Remember, O Beloved Jesus,   
   Who for the love of me didst agonize on the Cross,   
   and from that throne of truth didst announce the   
   completion of the work of our Redemption, through which,   
   from being the children of wrath and perdition,   
   we are become the children of God and the heirs of Heaven:   
      
   Have mercy on all the faithful in their agony,   
   and on me also when I shall be in that extremity,   
   and, through the merits of Thy Precious Blood,   
   detach us entirely from the world and from ourselves,   
   and at the moment of our agony give us grace   
   sincerely to offer Thee the sacrifice of our life   
   in expiation for our sins.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)