From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The gifts of the Spirit   
      
         There is a general rule concerning all special graces granted to   
   any human being. Whenever the divine favor chooses someone to receive   
   a special grace, or to accept a lofty vocation, God adorns the person   
   chosen with all the gifts of the Spirit needed to fulfill the task at   
   hand. This general rule is especially verified in the case of Saint   
   Joseph, the foster-father of our Lord, and the husband of the Queen of   
   our world, enthroned above the angels. He was chosen by the eternal   
   Father as the trustworthy guardian and protector of his greatest   
   treasures, namely, his divine Son and Mary, Joseph’s wife. He carried   
   out this vocation with complete fidelity until at last God called him,   
   saying “Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord.”   
        Remember us, Saint Joseph, and plead for us to your foster child.   
   Ask your most holy bride, the Virgin Mary, to look kindly upon us,   
   since she is the mother of him who with the Father and the Holy Spirit   
   lives and reigns eternally. Amen.   
   --Saint Bernardine of Siena from a sermon   
      
      
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   May 12th – Bl. Imelda Lambertini, Visionary   
   (d. 1333)   
      
   Bl. Imelda was born at Bologna in Italy, in the early 14th century.   
   Still a child, she arranged a little oratory in her house, where she   
   often would pray. She resolved to enter a monastery and make the vows   
   of religion, and to give herself entirely to her Saviour. Her parents   
   permitted her entry into a Dominican convent at Valdipietra, near   
   Bologna. She practiced mortifications above her age, and manifested a   
   very tender love for the Queen of Angels and the Holy Eucharist,   
   though she could not yet receive Holy Communion. But God was soon to   
   manifest that it is not age which wins His favor, but virtue.   
      
   On the day of the Ascension in 1333, when Imelda was 12 years old, she   
   alone remained unable to advance to receive Holy Communion. She raised   
   her eyes to heaven and prayed to her Lord: "Come, for I am languishing   
   with love and dying with desire for Your adorable presence!" When He   
   did not come, she continued to pray and weep. Suddenly, a miraculous   
   Host came forth from the tabernacle, crossed the grill separating the   
   choir, and stopped in the air before her. The nuns, amazed, hardly   
   dared raise their eyes, but soon they realized there was no illusion:   
   the miracle continued, a sudden brightness and a sweet fragrance   
   filled the church, while an invisible hand continued to hold the   
   mystical Bread in the air before the young girl. She herself seemed an   
   Angel in adoration. Her confessor was told to come, and saw all that   
   the Sisters were seeing. He placed the Sacred Host on a paten, and   
   then gave it to the child. She seemed to lose consciousness. But soon   
   the Sisters grew anxious; they called her by name, told her to rise,   
   touched her, but Bl. Imelda was no longer of this world; she had   
   expired in an ecstasy of pure love.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   The state of grace is nothing other than purity, and it gives heaven   
   to those who clothe themselves in it. Holiness, therefore, is simply   
   the state of grace purified, illuminated, beautified by the most   
   perfect purity, exempt not only from mortal sin but also from the   
   smallest faults; purity will make saints of you! Everything lies in   
   this!   
   --St. Peter Eymard   
      
   Bible Quote   
   His disciples say to him: Behold, now thou speakest plainly, and   
   speakest no proverb. 30 Now we know that thou knowest all things, and   
   thou needest not that any man should ask thee. By this we believe that   
   thou camest forth from God.  (John 16:29-30)   
      
      
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   PIOUS INVOCATIONS   
      
   Blessed is He Who cometh in the Name of the Lord:   
    Hosanna in the highest.   
      
   Jesu, bread of life, protect us;   
   Shepherd kind, do not reject us;   
   In Thy happy fold collect us,   
   And partakers of the bliss elect us,   
   Which shall never see an end.   
      
   Thou, the wisest and the mightiest,   
   Who us here with food delightest,   
   Seat us at Thy banquet brightest   
   With the blessed Thou invitest   
   An eternal feast to spend.   
   Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)