From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   True lovers of God.   
      
    When a true lover of God suffers at the hands of his fellow men, he   
   is strengthened through the grace of the Holy Spirit and is made so   
   truly humble and patient and peaceable that, whatever wrong or injury   
   he suffers, he always retains his humility. He does not despise his   
   persecutors or speak ill of them, but prays for them with pity and   
   compassion more tenderly than for those who never harmed him. And he   
   does indeed love them more, and more fervently desires their   
   salvation, because he sees that he will have such great spiritual gain   
   from their evil deed, even though they never intended that he should.   
   But this kind of love and humility, which are beyond human nature, are   
   only brought about by the Holy Spirit in those whom he makes true   
   lovers of God.   
   --Walter Hilton   
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   June 17th - St. Albert Chmielowski   
   (Also known as Adam Chmielowski; Brat Albert; Brother Albert; Brother   
   of Our Lord; Brother of Our God; Our God's Brother)   
      
   St. Albert was born Adam Chmielowski on Aug. 20, 1845, at Igolomia in   
   the Miechów district of southern Poland.   
      
   18 years later, he took part in the failed uprisings against the   
   Russian occupation. While he was in prison, Albert's left leg was   
   amputated. Eventually, he was allowed to return to Poland, where he   
   studied agriculture, before switching to art - and, for a year,   
   engineering.   
      
   He was a successful artist, but 10 years after his first exhibition,   
   Albert decided that he was called to religious life. However, within   
   six months of joining the Jesuits, he suffered a nervous breakdown and   
   left them to become a Franciscan tertiary.   
      
   As a third order or secular Franciscan, Albert worked first in the   
   country before moving to Cracow in 1884. Gradually, he gave up his art   
   in favor of helping the poor, particularly the homeless.   
      
   In 1887, he followed the example of Rafal Kalinowski, who had become a   
   Carmelite friar. He adopted both the name Albert and a simple habit. A   
   year later, he made vows before Card. Albin Dunajewski, the Archbishop   
   of Cracow, who also had been active in the uprising against Russia.   
      
   Thus, he began the Albertine Brothers, who were followed after three   
   years by the Albertine Sisters. Both congregations opened houses that   
   still exist to help the poor and homeless.   
      
   Albert died on Christmas in 1916. His funeral was attended by the   
   mayor, the bishop and large numbers of ordinary citizens.   
      
   In 1938, in honor of his contributions to his country, the president   
   of Poland awarded Albert the country's highest honor - the Grand   
   Ribbon of the Order of Poland Restituta.   
      
   Pope John Paul beatified Albert on June 22, 1983, during a visit to   
   Poland. He canonized him on Nov. 12,1989. We celebrate his feast on   
   June 17.   
      
   His life reminds us that, no matter how many things we do in life, our   
   primary call is to serve Jesus in one another.   
      
   Source: Butler's Lives of the Saints   
      
   “Do not store up for yourselves   
   treasures on earth,   
   where moth and decay destroy   
   and thieves break in and steal.   
   But store up treasures in heaven,   
   where neither moth nor decay destroys,   
   nor thieves break in and steal.   
   For where your treasure is,   
   there also will your heart be.”….Matthew 6:19-21   
      
   REFLECTION – Reflecting on his own priestly vocation, Pope John Paul   
   II wrote in 1996 that Brother Albert had played a role in its   
   formation …..“because I found in him a real spiritual support and   
   example in leaving behind the world of art, literature and the theater   
   and in making the radical choice of a vocation to the charity”   
   --St John Paul speaking of St Albert Chmielowski (Gift and Mystery: On   
   the Fiftieth Anniversary of My Priestly Ordination)   
      
     The life and work of St Albert Chmielowski, reminds us that a   
   particular vocation of the Christian is to love the poor,   
   marginalised, weak and those with disabilities. In today’s   
   self-centred age, when professional success is seen as the greatest   
   good and money is the driving force of our lives, St. Albert   
   Chmielowski — who gave up the life of a celebrity painter to serve   
   Christ by helping the poor — challenges us to ask if we focus too much   
   on worldly goals and ignore life’s true meaning. “But seek first the   
   kingdom [of God] and his righteousness,* and all these things will be   
   given you besides.” (Matthew 6:33).   
   St Albert Chmielowski, pray for us!   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   PRAYER – Father of goodness, make me realise and understand that each   
   and all of my brothers represent the face of Jesus and that He is the   
   only way to You for us all!  Help me to extend all of myself to my   
   neighbour in loving imitation of Your Son. St Albert Chmielowski, pray   
   for us that we too may be a light in the darkness of this world, to   
   all who call out to us in their pain and suffering. And please pray   
   for us! Amen   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)