From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On Enduring Injuries and the Proof of Patience [4]   
      
   CHRIST:   
   Always be ready for battle if you wish for victory; you cannot win the   
   crown of patience without a struggle;( 2 Tim. 2:3) if you refuse to   
   suffer, you refuse the crown. Therefore, if you desire the crown,   
   fight manfully and endure patiently. Without labour, no rest is won;   
   without battle, there can be no victory.   
      
   THE DISCIPLE:   
    Lord, make possible for me by grace what is impossible to me by   
   nature. You know how little I can bear, and how quickly I become   
   discouraged by a little adversity. I pray You, make every trial lovely   
   and desirable to me for Your Name's sake, since suffering and   
   affliction for Your sake is so profitable to the health of my soul.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3, Ch 19   
      
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   July 2nd - St Bernadino Realino SJ   
   (1530-1616)   
   Priest, Lawyer, Teacher, Apostle of Charity   
      
   Bernardino Realino was born near Modena, Italy, on 1 December 1530. At   
   university he began studying philosophy and medicine but switched to   
   law which he thought would open greater chances for advancement and   
   wealth. Family connections helped him become mayor of Felizzano at age   
   26, which also involved being a judge. He was regarded as honest by   
   the people and was reappointed to the post. Other posts followed until   
   he was made mayor of Castelleone.   
      
   Despite his successful career, Realino began losing interest in   
   worldly advancement and began giving away his money to the poor. In   
   August 1564 he met two Jesuit novices and learned that the Jesuits had   
   only recently come to Naples. Further encounters strengthened his   
   vocation and then he had a vision of Our Lady, who told him to enter   
   the Jesuits. He was accepted as a novice on 13 October 1564 at the age   
   of 34.   
      
   Realino wanted to be a brother but was told he should be ordained a   
   priest. Only 7 months after taking first vows he was ordained on 24   
   May 1567. It was a tribute to his maturity that the Jesuit General   
   (St) Francis Borgia made him master of novices in Naples, although   
   still studying theology. He also began the pastoral work which would   
   occupy the rest of his active life. He preached and taught catechism,   
   visited slaves on the galleys in Naples harbour and heard confessions.   
      
   In 1574 he was sent to Lecce in Apulia, where there was a plan to set   
   up a Jesuit house and college. The local response was enthusiastic and   
   Realino began the pastoral work which would last for 42 years:   
   preaching, hearing confessions, counselling clergy, visiting the sick   
   and those in prison and giving conferences to men and women religious.   
   Several times he was instructed to move to Naples or Rome but each   
   every time he was about to leave the city, he was prevented by some   
   unexpected occurrence – a sudden fever or bad weather. Eventually his   
   superiors allowed him to stay on in Lecce doing his pastoral work. In   
   1583 he set up a sodality for diocesan priests to nurture their   
   spiritual life and improve their competence to hear confessions. The   
   people showed their love for their pastor, especially during his final   
   illness in June 1616. Crowds gathered outside the Jesuit residence and   
   only men were allowed in to kiss his hand and devoutly touch religious   
   objects to his body. On his death-bed, the city mayor and magistrates   
   formally requested Fr Realino to be Lecce’s defender and protector in   
   heaven. Unable to speak, he nodded. The distinguished lawyer who spent   
   most of his life as a parish priest in relative seclusion died at the   
   age of 86 with his eyes fixed on a crucifix. His last words were: “O   
   Madonna, mia santissima” (O my Lady, my most holy one).   
      
   Patronage -Lecce, Italy (proclaimed on 15 December 1947 by Pope Pius   
   XII).  His body is incorrupt and emits a perfumed fragrance. Canonised   
   on 22 June 1947 by Pope Pius XII.   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   The proud person is like a grain of wheat thrown into water: it   
   swells, it gets big. Expose that grain to the fire: it dries up, it   
   burns. The humble soul is like a grain of wheat thrown into the earth:   
   it descends, it hides itself, it disappears, it dies; but to revive in   
   heaven.   
   --Bl Mary of Jesus Crucified "The Little Arab"   
      
   Bible Quote   
    And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and   
   understand:  not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what   
   comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”  Mt 15:10-11  RSVCE   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   SELF-OFFERING TO THE TRINITY    
   (St. Therese of Lisieux)   
      
   O My God, in order that I may be a living act of   
   perfect love, I offer myself as a whole burnt   
   offering to your tender love.   
      
   Consume me continually, letting my soul overflow   
   with the floods of infinite tenderness that are found   
   in you, so that I may become a martyr of your love.   
      
   Let this martyrdom make me ready to appear before   
   you and at last cause me to expire.   
      
   Let my soul cast itself without delay into the everlasting   
   arms of your merciful love.   
      
   O my beloved, with every beat of my heart  I desire to   
   renew this offering an infinite number of times, until that   
   day when the shadows shall vanish and I shall be able   
   to retell my love in an internal face-to-face with you.   
      
   Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)