From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Be an Ant of God   
      
   "Emulate the tiny ant; be an ant of God. Listen to the word of God and   
   hide it in your heart. Collect plenty of food during the happy days of   
   your spiritual summers.   
      
   You will then be able to endure the difficult days of temptations   
   during the winters of your soul."   
   --St. Augustine--Sermon 38, 6   
      
   Prayer: Lord, you are delightful food for the pure of heart.   
   --St. Augustine--Confessions 13, 21   
      
   ===============   
   October 30th - Bl. Benvenuta Bojani   
   (d. 1292)   
      
   Here is a little saint whose very life has been called “a poem of   
   praise.” There was a worthy couple named Bojani, who lived in   
   Cividale, in Friuli, the extreme northeastern province of Italy. The   
   Bojanis had six children, all girls. A 7th was on the way, and the   
   father naturally hoped this child would be a boy. Still, when they   
   announced to him, “It’s a girl!” he accepted the disappointment with   
   good cheer. “Very well,” he said, “Since it is so, let her be   
   welcome.” So they gave her the name “Benvenuta”. It means “the welcome   
   one.”   
      
   The Bojani household was notable for its family piety. In this little   
   sanctuary of devotion Benvenuta blossomed into a young woman of solid   
   Christian virtue. When a teenager she asked permission to dedicate her   
   chastity to God and to become a member of the lay Third Order of St.   
   Dominic. Her father was pleased by her choice. It was to him a proof   
   that he had been a good parent.   
      
   A century later, St. Catherine of Siena, another Dominican tertiary,   
   would combine a life of prayer with a life of action, becoming a “home   
   missionary,” an ambassador of peace and a counsellor of popes and   
   other prelates. Benvenuta was more a Mary than a Martha. She chose the   
   hidden life of prayer and mortification. Like most Christian ascetics   
   she engaged in many practices of physical penance. When only 12, for   
   instance, she tied a rope about her waist so tight that her flesh   
   eventually grew around it, causing her extraordinary pain. Finally,   
   she prayed God to help her to solve the problem without an operation.   
   Then she suddenly saw the waist-rope lying intact on the ground. When   
   she told her confessor about this miracle, he learned of her practice   
   for the first time. He admired her spirit of self-denial, but   
   instructed Benvenuta henceforth to attempt no penance that might   
   endanger her health. This advice marked a stage in her growth in   
   common sense and obedience. After that, she never undertook a   
   penitential practice that her confessor had not first approved.   
      
   Like most ascetics, Benvenuta Bojani was the subject of many trials.   
   For instance, she was sick abed for five years, and thus unable,   
   except on occasion, to go to church for Mass and the singing of the   
   divine office. This was a great deprivation. Furthermore, although she   
   was gifted with visions, raptures and other unusual graces, she was   
   also beset with terrible temptations to disbelief and despair--even   
   after she was miraculously cured of her ailments. The last great   
   onslaught of temptation to despair and infidelity was while she was on   
   her very deathbed. But the conquest of these frightful temptations   
   made her seem to others as a solid rock of faith, hope and serenity.   
   Because of her constant cheerfulness she was always a “welcome”   
   presence to her friends.   
      
   Benvenuta had always felt close to Our Lady. In keeping with her   
   Dominican tradition, she would recite the “Hail Mary” many times a   
   day. (She used the original form, the first half of our prayer, ending   
   with “Jesus”. The second part, beginning “Holy Mary, Mother of God”   
   had not yet been added.)   
      
   A story comes down to us in this connection that bespeaks the charming   
   simplicity of this little saint of Friuli. When she was still quite   
   young, runs the tale, Benvenuta went to church one day shortly after   
   the death of her mother. In the empty church she found a little boy   
   who was unaccompanied. “Have you a mother?” the motherless girl asked   
   him. “Yes, I have,” he replied. Benvenuta sighed, “I haven’t one now.   
   But since you have one, perhaps you can already say the `Hail Mary’?”   
   “Oh, yes,” the boy answered. “Can you?” “Yes, I can.” “Very well,   
   then,” he said, “Say it to me.” So the little girl started off the   
   “Ave Maria” in Latin, up to the last word, “Jesus”. When she reached   
   that name, the boy said, “I am He.” Then, at once, he disappeared from   
   her sight.   
      
   Whether the tale is true or not, Our Lord must indeed be pleased   
   whenever He hears us recite the “Hail Mary”. After all, it is a prayer   
   addressed to Mary precisely as His mother and ours.   
   –Father Robert   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   The measure of charity may be taken from the want of desires.  As   
   desires diminish in a soul, charity increases in it; and when it no   
   longer feels any desire, then it possesses perfect charity.   
   --St. Augustine   
      
   Bible Quote   
   And the centurion, making answer, said:  Lord, I am not worthy that   
   thou shouldst enter under my roof; but only say the word, and my   
   servant shall be healed.  (Matthew 8:8) DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Act of Charity for the Holy Souls   
      
   Eternal Heavenly Father,   
   Through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,   
   I offer Thee the most precious Body and Blood,   
   Soul and Divinity of Thine Only begotten Son,   
   Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,   
   With the merits and prayers of all Thy Saints,   
   And my whole self as victim-soul and holocaust,   
   In union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass,   
   Offered throughout the world,   
   For all the Holy Souls in Purgatory,   
   And for the souls of all poor sinners on earth,   
   Especially bishops, priests, and religious,   
   And those within my home and family,   
   According to Thy most holy Will,   
   In Jesus' Name and in the unity of the Holy Spirit,   
   One God forever and ever.   
   Amen.   
      
   Mary, Mother of Jesus and my Mother, pray for us.   
   Holy Angels and Saints of the Living God, pray for us.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)