From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Allowing God's word to take root in our heart   
      
   God's word can only take root in a receptive heart which is docile and   
   ready to hear what God has to say. One lesson is clear: the harvest is   
   sure. While some seed will fall by the wayside and some fall on   
   shallow ground and never come to maturity, and some be choked to death   
   by the thorns; nonetheless a harvest will come. The seed that falls on   
   good soil, on the heart that is receptive, will reap abundant fruit.   
   Are you teachable and eager to learn God's truth? And do you allow   
   anything to keep you from submitting to God's word with joy and   
   trusting obedience?  [Matthew 13:18-23]   
      
   ===============   
   January 26th - St. Paula, Widow   
      
   A regimen that nuns were to develop over the Christian centuries: The   
   wearing of habits, the routine of study, work and prayer that   
   characterized the life of sisters up to our time. Among the women who   
   contributed to this development was St. Paula of Rome and Bethlehem.   
      
   Paula was a member of one of Rome’s most ancient and illustrious   
   families. Her husband Toxotius was also a scion of a premier Roman   
   clan. Roman Christians were deeply moved by the practical faith of   
   this aristocratic couple. Indeed, two of their five children, Blesilla   
   and Eustochium, are venerated as saints.   
      
   Despite her good works, Paula originally retained some of the worldly   
   traits that were characteristic of a matron of her station. The death   
   of her husband when she was only 32 gave her a completely new sense of   
   the meaning of life. At first, she grieved deeply, even to excess.   
   Then, however, she yielded to the counsel of St. Marcella, another   
   highborn Roman widow, that she embrace a life of penance. Thenceforth   
   Paula the Widow lived austerely by herself, and gave all possible   
   assistance to paupers and travelers. Eventually she met St. Jerome,   
   the already noted scripture scholar and joined the cluster of devout   
   Roman women who were eager to learn from him about the Holy Scriptures   
   and how best to live their teachings.   
      
   Now this urban matron began to weary of city life and aspire to   
   embrace the religious life that had become so phenomenally popular in   
   the Mideast. After the death in 385 of her eldest daughter, St.   
   Blesilla, Paula and her unmarried daughter Eustochium decided to move   
   to Levant and embrace monasticism. After visiting enroute their friend   
   St. Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus, the two women reached Antioch, then   
   the capital of Syria. Jerome, already a resident of Bethlehem, greeted   
   them at Antioch and took them on a year’s tour of the monastic centers   
   of Egypt and the shrines of the Holy Land. Then they settled in   
   Bethlehem, in order to be under the guidance of the scriptural saint.   
      
   At Bethlehem, Paula used up the rest of her personal fortune to build   
   one monastery for men and one for women. (She also constructed a   
   hospice for pilgrims and travelers, because, as she said, “Mary and   
   Joseph had not been able to find shelter” when they came to town.) Her   
   buildings were simply constructed, for St. Paula believed that money   
   was best expended on the poor. Mother and daughter were the first   
   occupants of the convent, but they were quickly joined by other women   
   of varying social background. By 404 there were 50 women in that   
   household.   
      
   As superior, Paula established a rigorous pattern of life, laying   
   special emphasis on the virtue of poverty. All the sisters wore   
   similar garb. (Was this the beginning of religious habits?) They ate   
   plain fare and labored not only at housework but in the making of   
   clothing, particularly for the needy. Woe to the sister who showed   
   herself over talkative or notional or wayward; she could expect   
   stringent punishment. Yet St. Paula never asked any of them to do what   
   she herself had not done or was not ready to do.   
      
   St. Jerome headed the monastery of men. St. Paula took care of his   
   needs–no easy task in the case of a man who was notoriously cranky. At   
   the same time, she profited by his learning and advice. She became a   
   pretty good theologian herself; and because she knew so much Greek and   
   some Hebrew, she was able to assist him a good deal in his literary   
   work.   
      
   St. Paula died at age 56. During her last hours she repeated by   
   memory, as long as she could, those psalms that speak of pilgrimage to   
   the heavenly Jerusalem. When her voice failed, she signed her lips   
   with the cross and slipped into eternity. Crowds from all over   
   Palestine attended her burial in the Basilica of the Nativity. St.   
   Jerome, disconsolate, even called her a martyr because of her daily   
   sacrifice of herself. She was an Easter person.   
      
   St. Paula was clearly one of the great women of the early Christian   
   Church, a true leader in charity and prayer.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   “Our perfection certainly consists in knowing God and ourselves.”   
   --Blessed Angela of Foligno   
      
   Bible Quote   
   And they brought to him young children, that he might touch them. And   
   the disciples rebuked them that brought them.  Whom when Jesus saw,   
   he was much displeased, and saith to them: Suffer the little children to   
   come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God.   
   Amen I say to you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a   
   little child,   
   shall not enter into it.  (Mark 10:13-15) DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Salutatio ad Dominum Iesum Christum   
   (Salutation to the Lord Jesus Christ),   
   a prayer to the Body and Blood of Christ,   
   by St. Anselm, Doctor of the Church.   
      
      
   Body of Christ, Hail! Of the holy Virgin born,   
   Living flesh, Deity entire, true man!   
      
   Hail! true salvation, strength, life, redemption of the world,   
   May Thy right Hand free us from all evil.   
      
   Blood of Christ, Hail, Heaven's most holy libation,   
   River of salvation washing away our crimes.   
   Hail, Blood! floweth from the Wound of Christ's Side,   
   River of salvation, hung on the Cross, Hail!   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)