From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   How God Alone is our True End  (III)   
      
   This, then, is the truth, by which vainglory is put to flight. And if   
   heavenly grace and true charity enter in, there will be no envy or   
   meanness of heart, nor will self-love retain possession. Divine   
   charity overcomes everything, (1 Cor. 12:8) enlarging every power of   
   the soul. If you are truly wise, you will rejoice and hope in Me   
   alone; for none is good but God alone, (Luke 18:19) who is to be   
   praised above all, and to be blessed in all.   
   --Thomas à Kempis--Imitation of Christ Bk 3, Ch 9   
      
   ===============   
   April 5th – St. Maria Crescentia Höss (Höß)   
   (1682-1744)   
      
   Romantics think that a woman who “takes the veil” can find in convent   
   life a blissful escape from worldly trials. This is an   
   over-simplification at best. In the case of Blessed Crescentia of   
   Kaufbeuren it was largely untrue. Anna Hoess (that was her own name)   
   was the daughter of a poor woolweaver of Kaufbeuren, Bavaria. Raised   
   devoutly, young Anna was once kneeling in the chapel of the local   
   Franciscan nuns when she heard a voice from the crucifix: “This shall   
   be your dwelling place.”   
      
   Herr Hoess went along with his daughter’s desire to become a nun, and   
   requested the convent to receive her. But he encountered an unexpected   
   snag. The superior said they could not accept Anna without a “dowry”,   
   that is, a sizable entry gift. This the father could not afford to pay.    
   Dowries were customary then in most convents, and the Kaufbeuren   
   convent, being a poor one, could not afford to totally abolish the   
   custom. Yet it does seem that this particular group of Franciscans   
   were a little too much interested in the cash that their founder, St.   
   Francis of Assisi, so thoroughly despised.   
      
   Anna was not disturbed. She simply waited in patience, working in her   
   father’s weaving business until she was 21. Then that patience was   
   rewarded in a singular way.   
      
   Next door to the convent was a noisy tavern. The sisters had tried at   
   one point to buy it so as to be rid of the nuisance, but the   
   antagonistic landowner had tagged the tavern with a sale price far   
   above what the nuns could afford. One day, however, the mayor of   
   Kaufbeuren, a Protestant, but sympathetic towards the convent, got   
   possession of the tavern and deeded the site to the sisters. He asked   
   for no recompense other than that the nuns receive Anna, whom he   
   esteemed, without a dowry. The Franciscans could scarcely refuse, so   
   Anna Hoess was given the veil and the name Sister Crescentia.   
      
   Once clothed as a nun, however, Sister Crescentia was subjected to a   
   prolonged persecution by the unfriendly superior and some of the older   
   sisters. The basic reason seems to have been her lack of a dowry. They   
   called her a beggar and a hypocrite, and made her a slave, giving her   
   the most menial tasks to perform. Although Crescentia was at first   
   given a cell of her own, it was later taken from her and given to a   
   new novice who had brought with her the customary donation. Thereafter   
   she had to beg the other nuns for a corner of their cells to sleep in.   
   When she was finally given a place of her own again, it was a dark and   
   damp cubbyhole.   
      
   Did Sister Crescentia resent being treated like a convent Cinderella?   
   No. She was already too advanced in the spiritual life to consider   
   these trials as anything but gifts of God. When some more sympathetic   
   nuns expressed their regrets at her treatment, she rejected their   
   consolation. She would not allow herself the luxury of self-pity.   
      
   Patience was at length rewarded. A more friendly nun was elected   
   superior. Gradually all the other sisters began to recognize, that   
   Crescentia was a solid, indeed, a very holy religious. She was   
   eventually chosen as mistress of novices and finally as mother   
   superior. Meanwhile her spiritual life had been developing intensely.   
   Frightful temptations beset her, but these were counterbalanced by   
   visions, ecstasies, and the mystical sharing in Christ’s passion. That   
   she still remained down-to-earth, however, was proved by the fact that   
   many from outside the convent, including leaders of the Church, came   
   to seek her advice.   
      
   Blessed Crescentia’s presence in her convent proved, in the long run,   
   far more valuable to her sisters than any dowry could have been. She   
   taught them two lessons in particular. First: They should never   
   criticize others unkindly, particularly in their absence. Second: God   
   is most pleased by our acceptance of the trials that befall us,   
   bearing “meekly and patiently the adversities that He sends or that   
   our neighbors inflict.” This is advice we can all profit by.   
      
   Jesus himself, then, was the prince who rescued this real-life   
   Cinderella from drudgery and disdain. St. Crescentia was beatified   
   in 1900 and was canonized on Nov. 11,2001 by Pope John Paul II.   
   –Father Robert   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Let us establish a permanent Spring season in our heart through ‘yes’   
   often repeated to all of God’s permissions and wills.   
   -- Saint Francisca Salesia   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   He said, 'Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the   
   Holy Ghost … thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God' (Acts 5:34).   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer for All in Military Service   
      
   O God, we beseech you, watch over the souls of all who are exposed to the   
   horrors of war, and to the spiritual dangers inseparable from a military   
   life. Bless them with such a strong Faith that no human respect may ever   
   lead them to deny it, or fear to practice it. Do by your grace fortify them   
   against the contagion of bad example. Keep them always in your friendship.   
   May nothing in life or death ever separate them from you.   
      
   Mother of God, be with them on land, or sea, or in the air during life and   
   at the hour of death, and grant that they may die in the grace of your Son.   
   May their Guardian Angels protect them. - Amen.    
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)