From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   How no Man is Worthy of God's Comfort  [II]   
      
   THE DISCIPLE.   
   What have I done, that You should grant me any comfort from heaven? I   
   cannot recall any good that I have done, but have been ever prone to   
   sin and slow to amend. This is the truth and I cannot deny it. If I   
   pleaded otherwise, You would confront me and none could defend me.   
   What have I deserved for my sins but hell and everlasting fire? I   
   sincerely confess that I am fit only for scorn and contempt. I am   
   unfit to be counted among Your faithful servants.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3 Ch 52   
      
      
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   November 20th - Saint Felix of Valois, Founder   
   (by Father Francis Xavier Weninger, 1876)   
      
   St. Felix, of the royal house of Valois, was born in France, in 1127,   
   and manifested in his earliest childhood great compassion towards the   
   poor. While yet in the arms of his nurse, no greater pleasure could be   
   given him than to allow him to bestow alms on the needy. When older,   
   he sent the best dishes from his table to the poor; and it happened   
   more than once, that he gave his own cloak to some beggar, because he   
   happened not to have anything else at hand. He once implored mercy and   
   life for a condemned criminal, who, he said, was destined to become a   
   great saint; and the event justified the prediction.   
      
    Having passed his youth in acquiring knowledge, and in the practice   
   of virtue, Felix resolved to serve the Almighty in retirement and   
   solitude. He first, however, took holy orders, so as to deprive   
   himself of all hope of ever attaining the crown, from which, by his   
   birth, he was not far removed. After having said his first Mass, he   
   went into a desert, where he led a very austere life, which was made   
   extremely sweet to him by divine consolations; so that he intended to   
   spend his whole life, unknown, in that lonely place. But the Almighty,   
   who had chosen him for greater work, sent to him a noble young doctor   
   from Paris, named John of Matha, who had also been ordained priest,   
   and who desired to walk in the path of perfection under his direction.   
   St. Felix received him with great pleasure; for he perceived in the   
   candidate great inclination to virtue. They had lived harmoniously   
   together, in great piety, for three years, when, one day, while they   
   were sitting beside a well, in devout discourse, a stag, bearing a   
   blue and red cross between its antlers, came suddenly forth from the   
   bushes. St. Felix, greatly amazed, knew not what to say; but John made   
   use of the occasion to relate a vision which he had had while saying   
   his first holy Mass, and which was vividly recalled to his memory by   
   the appearance of this stag.   
      
   Both saints sank upon their knees and prayed that they might be   
   favored to recognize more clearly the will of God. Heaven inspired   
   both with an intense desire to labor for the ransom of those prisoners   
   who languished under the yoke of the Turks and other barbarians, and   
   thus save many from the danger of renouncing their faith, and going to   
   eternal ruin. Both were admonished three times during their sleep to   
   found a special order for this end, and to request, at Rome, the   
   necessary permission. Innocent III., who sat at that time on the papal   
   throne, was greatly pleased with such holy intentions, but desired to   
   confer on the subject with some learned men, and consult the will of   
   the Almighty in prayer. During holy Mass the Pope saw the same vision   
   which had been shown to St John of Matha, during his first Mass, as we   
   related. On the 8th of February, putting away all doubt, Innocent   
   approved the plan of the new "Order of the Most Holy Trinity, for the   
   Redemption of Captives," and invested the two holy founders with the   
   habit. The first monastery was founded in the diocese of Meaux, by   
   means of ample donations from charitable persons whom God had moved to   
   favor the undertaking; whilst others eagerly flocked to the monastery,   
   as soon as it was completed, to devote their lives to the noble work   
   of ransoming their captive brethren.   
      
   When this happy beginning had been made, St. John again set out for   
   Rome, leaving the government of the house to St. Felix, who, by word   
   and example, led those under him in the path of religious perfection.   
   He represented to them, with special energy, the many and fearful   
   dangers of those Christians who were slaves among the barbarians, as   
   many of them forsook the Christian faith, either from fear of greater   
   misery, or in the hope of regaining their liberty. The same   
   representations he made to the laity in his sermons; and thus, after   
   having awakened in the hearts of his religious a great desire to   
   relieve the captives, he also induced the laity to contribute   
   liberally to their ransom. With the funds thus collected, the   
   religious of the new order sailed to Africa, where they knew that the   
   Christians were imprisoned. They bought them from the infidels,   
   liberated them from slavery, and saved them, not only from temporal   
   misery, but, what was of much greater importance, from the imminent   
   danger of going to eternal ruin.   
      
   It is easy to conceive that the disciples of St. Felix, in this holy   
   work, had to combat with many and great dangers, and also to endure   
   numberless sufferings and hardships. But they were so inflamed by   
   their holy Master with love for God and their neighbor, that they   
   feared neither danger nor dishonor, nor even death. All this gave   
   great comfort to St. Felix, as he considered that, in this manner,   
   many souls were saved for eternity. The holy man received great favors   
   from heaven, among which may be counted the vision which he had, in   
   the night preceding the festival of the Nativity of the Blessed   
   Virgin. He went, according to his custom, an hour earlier than the   
   rest to the choir, in order to pray. On arriving there, he saw the   
   divine Mother, surrounded by a great many angels. Going towards them,   
   he fell into ecstasy, and with them sang the praises of the Almighty;   
   when one of them told him that he would soon be called into heaven to   
   sing eternally the glory of the Almighty. Felix, greatly rejoicing,   
   called his disciples to him, admonished them most earnestly to remain   
   constant in their devotion to the captives; and, after receiving the   
   holy Sacraments, gave his soul calmly into the hands of his Maker, in   
   the 85 year of his age.   
      
   See more at:   
   http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/St.%20Felix%20Valois%2   
   and%20St.%20Columban.html   
      
      
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
    Reason can but ascertain the profound difficulties of our condition,   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)