From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Humility helps us to be receptive to God's wisdom   
      
   Only the humble of heart--those who thirst for God and acknowledge his   
   word as true--can truly understand the wisdom which comes from above.   
   [See Psalm 119:99ff: "I have more understanding than all my teachers,   
   for your testimonies are my meditation."] God is ever ready to speak   
   his word to us and to give us true wisdom and understanding. Do you   
   hunger for the wisdom which comes from above?   
      
   Prayer:   
   "Lord Jesus, may your word take root in my heart and transform all my   
   thoughts and actions. Give me wisdom and understanding that I may know   
   your will for my life and have the courage to live according to it."   
      
   =============   
   November 18th - Saint Odo of Cluny    
      
   (d. 942)   
      
   On Christmas Eve of the year 877, a pious but childless Christian nobleman of   
   Aquitaine implored Our Lord, by the fecundity of His Holy Mother and His   
   Incarnation, to grant him a son. His prayer was heard; Odo was born, and his   
   grateful father, in a    
   prayer offered him--still an infant in his arms--to Saint Martin of Tours (d.   
   400) to be his spiritual son. Odo was later taught by a wise priest, then was   
   placed in the court of the Count of Anjou and that of the Duke of Aquitaine.   
   There he was    
   influenced by the passions which reign in courts, and neglected his prayers to   
   think only of games, hunting, and military pursuits. But God did not abandon   
   him, and he was haunted in his dreams by the dangers of a disordered life. He   
   prayed to the    
   Blessed Virgin and begged Her one Christmas Eve to lead him on the narrow path   
   of sanctity.   
      
   He was then 16 years old, and the next day he fell ill with a sickness which   
   increased and for 3 years kept him on the verge of death. When his father told   
   him he had consecrated him to Saint Martin, Odo renewed this consecration and   
   promised to enter    
   into his service; suddenly then his headaches left him and he recovered from   
   his illness.   
      
   He went to Tours to serve in the church of Saint Martin for a time. But when a   
   hermitage was built nearby he retired there to devote himself to prayer and   
   study, while continuing to visit the tomb of Saint Martin every night. He   
   began to study the    
   Scriptures and abandoned all pagan readings. Later he was inspired to enter   
   the monastery of Baume in the diocese of Besançon, and there he received the   
   habit from Saint Bernon, the abbot, in the year 909. He was charged with the   
   instruction of novices    
   and boarding students. When later he returned home on a visit to his parents,   
   they were so touched by his words that despite their age they renounced the   
   world and entered a monastery. When Odo returned to Baume he was ordained a   
   priest.   
      
   When Saint Bernon, who had governed six monasteries, died, three of those were   
   entrusted to Saint Odo; these were Cluny, newly founded in 910, Massay, and   
   Deols. He resided in Cluny, of which he is often titled the Founder, because   
   he organized and    
   enlarged this new house. His reputation attracted a large number of vocations.   
   His special care was for children; at that period the schools had taken refuge   
   in the cathedrals and monasteries. He watched with gentleness over the habits,   
   studies, and    
   repose of these dear children. He personally taught them as well as the monks.   
   The Rule of Saint Benedict, providing for the education of children as well as   
   the formation of monks, was followed zealously. Many alms were given to the   
   poor, without    
   concern for the morrow. The charity of Cluny was so abundant that in one year   
   food was distributed to more than 7000 indigent persons.   
      
   Saint Odo visited Rome 3 times; there he reformed a monastery, and later in   
   France he submitted several abbeys to the discipline of Cluny. These were   
   organized into a federation under the sole abbot of Cluny, with great unity of   
   statutes and regime. It    
   was said that “from Benevent to the Atlantic Ocean, the most important   
   monasteries of Italy and Gaul rejoiced in being under his commandment.”   
   After celebrating the feast of Saint Martin at Tours in 942, Saint Odo fell   
   ill; and having exhorted all    
   the religious who had come there to see him and learn how to be regular in   
   their observance, he blessed them and gave up his soul to God. He was buried   
   at Tours in the church of Saint Julian.   
      
   Source: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud   
   et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 13.   
      
      
   Reflection: “It needs only for a Catholic to show devotion to any Saint,”   
   says Father Newman, “in order to receive special benefits from his   
   intercession.”   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   If I love Jesus, I ought to resemble Him; If I love Jesus, I ought to love   
   what He loves, what He does, what He prefers to all else: humility. How may we   
   acquire this virtue? Neither logic or reflection will help us any; thinking   
   nice thoughts about it    
   or taking heroic resolutions would lead us to believe we had already acquired   
   it, and we would content ourselves with that. We must examine our actions to   
   see if we not sought our own interest in them. Let us repeat often, " Jesus,   
   so humble of heart,    
   make our hearts like unto thine."   
   --St. Peter Eymard    
      
      
   <><><><>   
   THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SOULS   
      
   Sixth Day   
      
   THE PAIN OF LOSS   
      
        The spiritual suffering, or the pain of loss, is the greatest pain of   
   Purgatory, according to the Fathers of the Church. No one can comprehend the   
   great suffering of a soul departed, which, in all its ardent desire for the   
   highest and only good,    
   sees itself ever repulsed as an object of God's avenging justice.   
      
        St. Alphonsus writes: "Far greater than the pain of sense in Purgatory is   
   that pain which the holy souls must endure in being deprived of the vision of   
   God. Because these souls are inflamed, not only with a natural, but with a   
   supernatural love of    
   God, they are so vehemently attracted to the union with their highest good,   
   that, in being repulsed through their own fault, they experience so violent a   
   pain as would kill them instantly if death were possible to them." Therefore,   
   says St. Chrysostom, "   
   this pain of being deprived of God is a far greater pain for them than the   
   pain of the senses. The fire of hell increased a thousand times would not   
   cause them such great suffering as does this pain of the loss of God."   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)