From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Anger and resentment   
      
      Anger and resentment are the killing emotions. First endangering   
   the one who is hated and secondly killing the life of the soul of the   
   one who hates. Sparked by other deadly sins (jealousy, pride,   
   concupiscence, etc.) is the out of control emotion that carries out   
   the final unreasonable act which could end in argument, violence or   
   murder.   
      Let us pray that God enlightens our hearts and removes anger,   
   frustration and resentment from our emotions. Replace these    
   thoughts with service and love for our fellow man.   
      
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   March 9th - St. Catharine of Bologna   
   (1413-1463)   
      
   The birth of Catharine was foretold to her devout father by the   
   Blessed Virgin, with the announcement that the child would be a   
   brilliant light throughout the world. On the feast of the Annunciation   
   of Our Lady in the year 1413, Catharine was born at Bologna. Her   
   father, John of Vigri, was a relative of the marquis of Este, who   
   resided in Ferrara. It was his wish that little Catharine, who charmed   
   everyone with her beauty and lovableness, be brought to his court, to   
   be educated there with his daughter. Here Catharine learned the   
   foreign languages and especially Latin, painting, and everything that   
   belongs to the culture of a young woman of high rank. People admired   
   in her the singular wisdom and insight with which she read the   
   profound works of the Fathers of the Church, along with her great   
   modesty and such purity of soul that she was looked upon more as an   
   angelic than as a human being.   
      
   The court with all its splendor was not able to fascinate Catharine.   
   The most distinguished suitors were compelled to withdraw without the   
   least hope of obtaining her hand in marriage; she entertained no other   
   desire than to be united forever to Jesus Christ, the spouse of her   
   heart. When she was 17 years old, she obtained the consent of her   
   mother--her father having already died--to join a pious company of   
   young women in Ferrara who led a religious life but had not yet   
   adopted a definite rule. Catharine appeared among them as a mirror of   
   all the virtues, but meanwhile she was also being subjected to very   
   severe temptations of the evil spirit.   
      
   Four years later, a royal princess founded a convent for this society   
   according to the rule of St. Clare, and several zealous sisters from   
   Mantua introduced the young women to the Poor Clare rule of life.   
   Catharine was charged with the duties of the bakery; she cheerfully   
   undertook this laborious service, and even when the heat began to   
   affect her eyes, she remained at her post as long as the abbess   
   required it.   
      
   One day, just as she had placed the loaves in the oven, the bell   
   called her to the choir for some very special religious service; she   
   made the Sign of the Cross over the loaves and said, "I commend you to   
   our Lord." She was not in a position to return to the bakery until   
   five hours later, and certainly believed that everything had been   
   burned by that time. However, when she removed the loaves from the   
   oven, there were nicer than ever.   
      
   After a time she was entrusted with the duties of mistress of novices.   
   Catharine tried, indeed, to be excused, explaining that she was   
   entirely incapable of this task; but she was compelled by obedience to   
   accept it. Her diffidence in herself drew down God's blessing on her   
   efforts to give the novices a good training. She endeavored, above   
   all, to impress on their young hearts that they should desire nothing   
   but the honor of God and the fulfillment of His holy will, and so she   
   recommended that they look upon the holy rule and obedience to their   
   superiors as their guides. Her own experience taught her how to   
   protect them from the snares of the devil. "Sometimes," she said, "he   
   inspires souls with an inordinate zeal for a certain virtue or some   
   special pious exercise, so that they will be motivated in its practice   
   by passion; or again, he permits them to become discouraged so that   
   they will neglect everything because they are wearied and disgusted.   
   It is necessary to overcome the one snare as well as the other." She   
   also taught them to use the golden mean that leads to solid virtue.   
      
   For a long time she herself was troubled with the temptation to sleep   
   during the spiritual exercises. Once when she was again heroically   
   struggling against it during the holy Mass, God Almighty permitted her   
   to hear the angelic choir singing after the elevation. From then on   
   the temptation was overcome, and she was even able to devote hours to   
   prayer during the night.   
      
   Catharine had spent 24 years in the convent at Ferrara and had trained   
   many sisters in the way of sanctity when, at the request of the city   
   of Bologna, she was sent with 15 sisters to establish a similar   
   convent in her native town. She was appointed abbess, and governed her   
   community with wisdom and motherly love. She was particularly   
   solicitous for the sick sisters. In dispensing to them spiritual   
   consolation she said, "My dear sisters, you are now the true brides of   
   the Divine Savior, who chose pain and sufferings as His portion."   
      
   Although she was sickly from the time that she was 22, she never   
   complained. When at times it seemed to her that her afflicted body   
   would be justified in complaining, she would say to herself, "O bundle   
   of corruption, that will soon turn into dust, why should you complain?   
   It appears as if you had not yet learnt to be a true servant of   
   Christ."   
      
   She was particularly tactful in preserving peace within herself and   
   peace among the members of her community. Hence she was also loved by   
   all of them. When she died on March 9, 1463, sounds of sobbing and   
   weeping were heard everywhere in the convent. But even after her death   
   her sisters were to be made joyful through her. Her body, which had   
   been the temple of so chaste and immaculately pure a soul, diffused a   
   sweet odor. It remained incorrupt and retained its quality of   
   flexibility like that of a living body. Thus it can still be seen in   
   Bologna, robed in a costly garment presented by St. Charles Borromeo   
   and seated on a throne, under a crystal shrine. Innumerable miracles   
   reward the faithful for their devotion to her. Pope Clement XI   
   canonized her.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
    Sometimes the devil inspires souls with an inordinate zeal for a   
   certain virtue or some special pious exercise, so that they will be   
   motivated by their passion to practice it more and more. This   
   temptation is more to pride rather than virtue....Sometimes, on the   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)