From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Talents are divine gifts given to the faithful   
      
       To those who believe in him, the Savior distributes a variety of   
   divine gifts. We affirm that this is the meaning of the talent. Truly   
   great is the difference between those who receive the talents and   
   those who have even completely denied his kingdom. They are rebels   
   that throw off the yoke of his scepter, while the others are endowed   
   with the glory of serving him. As faithful servants, therefore, they   
   are entrusted with their Lord’s wealth. They gain something by doing   
   business. They earn the praises due to faithful service, and they are   
   considered worthy of eternal honors.   
   by Cyril of Alexandria(excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 129)   
      
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   November 28th – St. Catherine Laboure   
   (1806-1876)   
      
   Probably every Catholic is familiar with the “Miraculous” Medal. Few   
   Catholics, I imagine, are familiar with Catherine Laboure, the saint   
   whom the Blessed Virgin instructed to popularize that medal. St.   
   Catherine wanted to avoid public notice. She confided her visions to   
   only two personages.   
      
   It wasn’t hard for Catherine to appear ordinary. She was ordinary in   
   most things. Born in France in 1806, Zoe’ Laboure was a member of a   
   large farming family. Circumstances even prevented her, alone among   
   her brothers and sisters, from learning how to read and write. After   
   her mother died, she served as the family housekeeper. In 1830,   
   however, Zoe’ joined the Sisters of Charity, taking the name   
   Catherine. Her novitiate she passed at the motherhouse of the Sisters,   
   on the Rue du Bac, Paris.   
      
   Catherine had not been a novice for long when God began to show this   
   prayerful young woman unusual spiritual favors. Her earliest visions   
   were of St. Vincent de Paul, the founder of the Sisters of Charity.   
   Jesus also appeared to her more than once in connection with the   
   Blessed Sacrament.   
      
   Most notable of these revelations, however, was a series of three   
   visions in the novitiate chapel. Here the Blessed Virgin carried on   
   long conversations with Sister Catherine and gave her a special   
   mission. On November 27, 1830, Our Lady appeared to her standing on a   
   globe, with light streaming from her hands. Framing Our Lady was a   
   prayer, “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse   
   to thee.” Then the picture (for it was essentially that) turned about.   
   On the back side of the vision was a large “M” with a cross above, and   
   below the cross, two hearts, one crowned with thorns and one pierced   
   by a sword. Our Lady told Sister Catherine her mission was to spread   
   Marian devotion through this image in the form of a medal.   
      
   Catherine told these things at first only to her confessor. Because   
   she wanted to avoid publicity, she declined even to appear before the   
   board set up by the archbishop of Paris to investigate the   
   apparitions. But Sister Catherine’s confessor, Father Aladel, was   
   highly regarded by the archbishop, so his testimony was accepted as   
   confirming the reports. It was also Fr. Aladel who had the first   
   medals stamped in 1832. From that time on, the devotion spread   
   throughout the world.   
      
   The Miraculous Medal gained further credence in 1842. In that year,   
   somebody persuaded Alphonse Ratisbonne, a prominent Alsatian Jew, to   
   wear one of the medals. Ratisbonne reluctantly consented. But when he   
   was visiting the church of S. Andrea delle Frate in Rome, he had a   
   vision of Our Lady in the same pose as on the medal. Deeply moved, he   
   sought baptism, studied for the priesthood, and with his convert   
   brother, founded the Fathers of Sion and the Congregation of Notre   
   Dame de Sion. Both orders are dedicated to bringing Jews and   
   Christians together.   
      
   In 1831, Catherine was assigned to the Sisters’ house at Reuilly,   
   Paris. Here she spent the last 46 years of her life. Her mystical   
   experiences continued. Most people saw her, however, simply as an   
   insignificant, rather distant person, busy about ordinary things like   
   tending the door, plucking chickens and serving the aged. Only in her   
   last year, 1876, did she speak of her experiences to a second person.   
   Her superior, Sister Dufes, was anxious to have a statue made   
   according to the design that Our Lady had requested, so she turned to   
   Catherine for details. Catherine supplied them and the whole story as   
   well.   
      
   Despite her efforts to remain hidden, when Sister Catherine died,   
   there was an outburst of devotion at her funeral. Shortly afterward, a   
   child crippled from birth was cured instantaneously at her tomb. St.   
   Catherine’s remains (enshrined today in the Rue du Bac chapel of the   
   apparitions) have remained incorrupt. She was canonized in 1947.   
      
   Why did St. Catherine struggle so to avoid the limelight? Because she   
   believed that the message is more important than the messenger!   
   –Father Robert   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "Where there is no obedience, there is no virtue; where there is no   
   virtue, there is no good. Where good is wanting, there is no love;   
   where there is no love, God is absent; where God is absent, there is   
   no heaven."   
   St. Padre Pio   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Beloved, if God has so loved us, we also ought to love one another.   
   (1 St. John 4:11)   
      
      
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   Prayer to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal   
      
   Virgin Mother of God, Mary Immaculate,   
   we unite ourselves to you   
   under your title of Blessed Mother,   
   Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.   
   May this medal be for each one of us   
   a sure sign of your motherly affection for us and a   
   constant reminder of our filial duties towards you.   
   While wearing it, may we be blessed   
   by your loving protection   
   and preserved in the grace of your Son.   
   Most powerful Virgin, Mother of our Saviour,   
   keep us close to you every moment of our lives   
   so that like you, we may live and act   
   according to the teaching and example of your Son.   
   Obtain for us, your children,   
   the grace of a happy death   
   so that in union with you we may enjoy   
   the happiness of heaven forever.   
   Amen   
   O Mary, conceived without sin,   
   pray for us who have recourse to you.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)