From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Goodness and Peace in Man  (4)   
      
      Some people live at peace with themselves and with their fellow   
   men, but others are never at peace with themselves nor do they bring   
   it to anyone else. These latter are a burden to everyone, but they are   
   more of a burden to themselves. A few, finally, live at peace with   
   themselves and try to restore it to others.   
      Now, all our peace in this miserable life is found in humbly   
   enduring suffering rather than in being free from it. He who knows   
   best how to suffer will enjoy the greater peace, because he is the   
   conqueror of himself, the master of the world, a friend of Christ, and   
   an heir of heaven.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Book 2, Chapter 3   
      
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   February 4th - St. Joseph of Leonissa   
      
   In the year 1556, at Leonissa in the Abruzzi in the kingdom of Naples,   
   the devout couple John Desiderius and Frances Paulina were blessed   
   with a son, to whom they gave the name Euphranius at baptism. Under   
   their faithful guidance the little boy made such progress in piety   
   that at a very tender age he resolved upon certain feast days, and   
   took the greatest pleasure in practices of piety.   
      
   Later on, pursuing his studies at Viterbo, he attracted the attention   
   and admiration of everyone by his industry and virtuous life to such a   
   degree that a nobleman in that city offered him his daughter in   
   marriage together with a large dowry. But then Euphranius has already   
   made a nobler choice. He left school and entered the Franciscan order   
   among the Capuchins at Leonissa, in the year 1573, under the name of   
   Joseph. Here he found happiness and peace in things which an   
   effeminate age abhors most: mortification and penance.   
      
   His dwelling was a poor cell, so small and narrow that he could hardly   
   stand, sit, or lie down in it. His bed was the bare earth, a block of   
   wood was his pillow. He ate by preference food which the others could   
   not or would not eat, such as stale beans and moldy bread. In spite of   
   the great strain associated with a life of preaching, he persevered in   
   doing such penance even after he had been entrusted with the task.   
   With works of penance he strove to win over those souls to God that he   
   could not move with words.   
      
   In the year 1587, his zeal for souls urged him to go to   
   Constantinople. He could not long conceal from the fanatical Turks the   
   good that he was doing, especially among the Christian captives on the   
   galleys. They seized him, pierced his right hand and right foot with   
   sharp hooks, and hung him up on a high gibbet, then kindled a weak   
   fire under him in order to roast him alive slowly. and gradually to   
   suffocate him. He suffered untold tortures for three days. On the   
   fourth day he was miraculously freed by an angel and received the   
   command to return to Italy to preach the Gospel to the poor. From now   
   on he traveled untiringly through all the villages and country towns   
   of Umbria. He strongly denounced evils of that day, such as frivolous   
   dances and plays. In his associations with the people, however, he   
   resembled a lamb in his meekness and charity. His very bearing won for   
   him the affection of the people, and effected the most remarkable   
   reconciliations between persons who had been living in enmity for   
   years, and between families and communities that had been at variance   
   with each other.   
      
   Often while at work or at prayer he would be rapt in ecstasy. He   
   wrought many miracles, and was vouchsafed the gift of prophesy and of   
   reading human hearts. He also foretold the day of his death. It was   
   February 4, 1612, when he entered into the joy of his Lord in the   
   convent at Amatrice. His body was taken to his native town of   
   Leonissa, and reposes there, glorified by many miracles.   
      
   Pope Clement XII beatified Joseph, and Pope Benedict XIV canonized him   
   in the year 1745.   
      
      
   Bible Quote:   
   And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the   
   right side, clothed with a white robe: and they were astonished. 6 Who   
   saith to them: Be not affrighted; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was   
   crucified: he is risen, he is not here, behold the place where they   
   laid him.  (Mark 16:5-6)   
      
      
   ON MORTIFYING THE APPETITE   
      1. Consider how at a very tender age St. Joseph of Leonissa   
   mortified his appetite by voluntary fasting, and later went so far as   
   to seek his necessary nourishment by preference only in food that was   
   repugnant to the natural taste and might even have injured his health,   
   if the Divine Spirit who urged him to do it had not protected him.   
   Thus he proved himself a true son of St. Francis, of whom St.   
   Bonaventure writes: "When he was well, he seldom ate cooked foods and   
   when he was obliged to eat them, he would mix ashes and water with the   
   food. He did not only abstain from wine, but never even desired to   
   drink water." Our Seraphic Father did this because he had considered   
   the words of the Apostle: "They that are Christ's have crucified their   
   flesh" (Gal 5:24).--According to their rule, Tertiaries are also   
   required to be temperate in eating and drinking. In this matter, have   
   you proved yourself a true child of St. Francis?   
      
      2. Consider how easily and in how many ways we can indulge the   
   appetite: by eating too much, by eating too often, by eating too   
   greedily, by eating too daintily. Many who guard against the first   
   three instances, are caught in the meshes of the last. God has   
   ordained that our food should naturally have a pleasing taste in order   
   that it may be conducive to good health, and it is no fault if we   
   relish our food. But fondness for delicacies serves merely to satisfy   
   an inordinate desire for food and drink; as St. Chrysostom says, some   
   people seem to live in order to eat instead of eating in order to   
   live.--Do you belong to this class?   
      
      3. Consider the means to overcome the inordinate desire for eating   
   and drinking. It is related of St. Adelgundis that upon reflecting how   
   difficult it is to satisfy the needs of the body without yielding to   
   sensual pleasure, she asked God to deprive her of all pleasure in   
   eating and drinking. Then St. Peter appeared to her and gave her a   
   piece of bread from heaven. Thereafter no earthly food could again   
   rouse her appetite. If we, too, partake of heavenly food, that is, if   
   in the frequent contemplation of the joys of heaven we gain a   
   foretaste of their sweetness, and if we recall that it was through   
   eating of forbidden fruit that heaven was closed to be reopened only   
   when Christ drank the bitter chalice of His Passion and the nauseous   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)