From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On Enduring Injuries and the Proof of Patience [I]   
      
   CHRIST:   
    My son, what are you saying? Consider My sufferings and those of My   
   Saints, and cease to complain. You have not yet shed your blood in   
   resistance; (Heb 12:4) your troubles are but small in comparison with   
   those who have suffered so much, whose temptations were so strong,   
   whose trials so severe, and who were proved and tested in so many   
   ways.(Heb. 11:37) Remember the heavier sufferings of others, that you   
   may more easily bear your own small troubles. If they do not seem   
   small to you, beware lest your impatience be the cause; and whether   
   they be small or great, try to bear them all patiently.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3, Ch 19   
      
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   April 13th - Blessed Margaret of Castello   
   Also known as Margaret of Citta-di-Castello, Margaret of Metola   
      
   d. 1320   
   She set children little tasks which she helped them to perform;   
   instructing them in their duty to God and to man, instilling into them   
   her own great devotion to the sacred Childhood, and she taught them   
   the psalms which, in spite of her blindness, she had learnt by heart   
   at the convent: where many remarkable miracles were wrought at her   
   tomb   
      
   IT must have been about the year 1293 when some women of   
   Città-di-Castello in Umbria, who had gone one day to pray in their   
   parish church, found within a destitute blind child of about six or   
   seven who had been abandoned there by her parents. The kind souls were   
   filled with pity for the little waif, and, poor though they were, they   
   took charge of her--first one family and then another sheltering and   
   feeding her until she became practically the adopted child of the   
   village. One and all declared that, far from being a burden, little   
   Margaret brought a blessing upon those who befriended her. Some years   
   later the nuns of a local convent offered her a home. The girl herself   
   rejoiced at the prospect of living with religious, but her joy was   
   short-lived. The community was lax and worldly: Margaret's fervour was   
   a tacit reproach to them, nor did she bring them the profit they had   
   anticipated. Neglect was succeeded by petty persecution, and then by   
   active calumny. Finally she was driven forth ignominiously to face the   
   world once more.   
      
   However, her old friends rallied round her. One couple offered her a   
   settled home, which became her permanent residence. At the age of   
   fifteen Margaret received the habit of a tertiary from the Dominican   
   fathers, who had lately established themselves in Citta-di-Castello,   
   and thenceforth she lived a life entirely devoted to God. More than   
   ever did God's benediction rest upon her. She cured another tertiary   
   of an affliction of the eyes which had baffled medical skill, and her   
   mantle extinguished a fire which had broken out in her foster-parents'   
   house. In her desire to show her gratitude to the people of   
   Città-di-Castello she undertook to look after the children whilst   
   their parents were at work. Her little school prospered wonderfully,   
   for she understood children, being very simple herself. She set them   
   little tasks which she helped them to perform; she instructed them in   
   their duty to God and to man, instilling into them her own great   
   devotion to the sacred Childhood, and she taught them the psalms   
   which, in spite of her blindness, she had learnt by heart at the   
   convent. We are told that when at prayer she was frequently raised a   
   foot or more from the ground, remaining thus for a long time. Thus she   
   lived, practically unknown outside her own neighbourhood, until the   
   age of thirty-three, when she died amidst the friends who loved her,   
   and was buried by their wish in the parish church, where many   
   remarkable miracles were wrought at her tomb. The cultus of Bl.   
   Margaret was confirmed in 1609.   
      
   The principal document we possess concerning Bl. Margaret is a sketch   
   of her life, written in the 14th century, which has been printed   
   in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xix (1900), pp. 21-36. See also the   
   Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. ii, and Procter, Dominican Saints, pp.   
   90-93, as well as Ganay, Les Bienheureuses Dominicaines. It is   
   probable that the Franciscan Ubertino di Casale in an enthusiastic   
   tribute which he pays in his Arbor Vitae to a devout mystic of   
   Città-di-Castello was referring to Bl. Margaret. An interesting   
   popular account of the beata by W. R. Bonniwell, The Story of Margaret   
   of Metola, was published in America in 1952; it is based on a   
   biography discovered by Fr Bonniwell and differs in some particulars   
   from the account given above. Cf. Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lxx   
   (1952), p. 456.   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   To the extent that you pray with all your soul for the person who   
   slanders you, God will make the truth known to those who have been   
   scandalized by the slander.'   
   --St. Maximos the Confessor   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   And he saith to them: My soul is sorrowful even unto death; stay you   
   here, and watch. (Mark 11:34)   
      
      
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   ACT OF LOVE TO THE SACRED HEART   
      
   How great, O my Jesus, is the extent of Thine excessive   
   charity! Thou hast prepared for me, of Thy most precious   
   Body and Blood, a divine banquet, where Thou givest me   
   Thyself without reserve. What hath urged Thee to this excess   
   of love?  Nothing but Thine own most loving Heart.   
      
   O adorable Heart of my Jesus, furnace of Divine Love,   
   receive my soul into the wound of Thy most Sacred Passion,   
   that in this school of charity I may learn to make a return of   
   love to that God Who hast given me such wonderful proofs of   
   His love.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)