From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   How we should declare our needs to Christ, and ask his Grace  [I]   
      
   THE DISCIPLE.   
   Most dear and loving Lord, whom I now desire to receive with all   
   devotion. Thou knoweth my weakness and my many needs, the countless   
   sins and vices that afflict me, and how often I am discouraged,   
   tempted, troubled, and defiled. I come to Thee for healing; I beg Thee   
   to comfort and relieve me. I make my prayer to Him who knows all   
   things, (Ps 119:2) to whom my inmost thoughts lie unconcealed, and who   
   alone can perfectly comfort and aid me. Thou knoweth the graces I most   
   need, and how lacking I am in all virtues.   
   --Thomas à Kempis--Imitation of Christ Book 4 Ch. 16   
      
   ==============   
   15 April – Bl Cesar de Bus   
      
    (1544-1607)   
   Priest, teacher, Founder of two religious congregations: the Secular   
   Priests of the Christian Doctrine and the Daughters of the Christian   
   Doctrine – Patron of Catechists.   
      
   Cesar was born at Cavaillon, France and little is known about his   
   early life, with the exception that he was middle child – the seventh   
   of 13 children and raised as a pious child. lived both piously and   
   virtuously. At 18 years old, he joined the French army,and took part   
   in the king’s war against the Huguenots. Back in his home town of   
   Cavaillon, he took over the position of his late brother as canon of   
   Salon, a position he wanted for its income and connections instead of   
   its spiritual significance. One night while on his way to a masked   
   ball, he passed a shrine where a small light was burning before an   
   image of the Virgin Mary. He was suddenly overwhelmed by the memory   
   that a friend, Antoinette Reveillade, had prayed fervently for his   
   salvation. He realised that there was no way he could live a life   
   offending God and then expect to be accepted in the end.  There, on   
   the road, he had a complete conversion.  He returned to his studies,   
   resumed his pious lifestyle and was soon ordained to the priesthood at   
   the age of 38.   
      
   Upon ordination, Cesar immediately distinguished himself by his works   
   of charity, serving all in need. He was profoundly affected reading a   
   biography of Saint Charles Borromeo and tried to take him as a model   
   in all things, especially his devotion to catechesis. He worked as a   
   catechist in Aix-in-Provence, France, an area in turmoil following the   
   Religious Wars. Saint Francis de Sales called him “a star of the first   
   magnitude in the firmament of Catechesis.”  He founded the Ursulines   
   of Province and the Fathers of Christian Doctrine (Doctrinarians). The   
   Fathers were destroyed during the French Revolution but an Italian   
   branch, the Doctrinarian Fathers continues today with houses in Italy,   
   France and Brazil. He further demonstrated great effectiveness and   
   zeal in preaching. He focused primarily on those who would receive the   
   Word of God from no one else—those living in horrible conditions,   
   living out of city in the countryside and those marginalised by   
   society. He further focused on catechesis of the family, instructing   
   the parents alongside the children, something which had previously not   
   been done. The congregation was approved by Pope Clement VIII. A few   
   years later, Cesar founded a companion congregation, the Daughters of   
   the Christian Doctrine.   
      
   Blessed Cesar wrote five volumes on the Catechism, portions of which   
   continue in use today. His Instructions for the Family on the Four   
   Parts of the Roman Catechism, was published 60 years after his death.   
   He died on Easter Sunday, 15 April 1607 in Avignon, Vaucluse, France   
   of natural causes and his remains are interred in the church of Saint   
   Mary in Monticelli in Rome, Italy.   
      
      
   Blessed Pope Paul VI at his Beatification:  “He learns in this way to   
   seek and love sacrifice, for sacrifice configures one with Christ   
   Suffering and Victorious. To offer himself as a libation, to leave   
   everything in God’s hand at the cost of the greatest renunciations,   
   this seems to have been the leitmotif, the perpetual aim of his   
   efforts. And when, at the end of his life, suffering and afflicted   
   with blindness for 14 years, he is at last able to prepare for the   
   supreme gift, he will realize how useful asceticism has been to master   
   the old Adam. He will be ready to meet the Lord. His joy will be   
   perfect.”   
      
   He was beatified on 27 April 1975 by Blessed Pope Paul VI who said at   
   the ceremony:   
      
   “The work of Cesar de Bus continues to generate, after three   
   centuries, our admiration. Here’s someone who got it right. He   
   recognised the needs of his time and he responded with equal   
   generosity and efficiency. Attracted by his vision and influence,   
   other enthusiastic men were gradually gathered around him, learning   
   how to approach the catechism and taking a lead from him. Quickly they   
   formed a religious family who, despite the vicissitudes of history,   
   still flourishes today in various countries. Now located in Cavaillon,   
   France, the Fathers of Christian Doctrine know this day our special   
   concern for them, our esteem, and they receive our wishes and   
   encouragement! We are pleased to honour them now in the person of   
   their founder.   
      
   And we wish the pastors and those responsible for catechetical use,   
   who have followed Blessed Cesar’s example and writings, guiding their   
   thinking and their work. Blessed Caesar de Bus, you who left us the   
   admirable example of a life given to God, who burned with a desire to   
   communicate God’s life with your brothers, now intercedes for us with   
   the Lord, for the same Fire consumes us and the same charity urges us.   
   And you, dear brothers and sons, we entrust you to him and we bless   
   you from my heart.”   
      
   Anastpaul April 2017   
      
      
   Thought for the Day – 15 April   
   The life of Blessed Cesar de Bus is one of initial indecision, aimless   
   pursuit of worldly pleasure and return to the grace of the Lord.   
   Cesar’s life reminds us that we are all called at different times in   
   our lives to serve—even if we feel unworthy or unable, the Lord sees   
   within us the spark of faith and hope and we are called to nurture   
   that spark into a flame of Love – just be awake and aware, do not   
   resist the inspiration of the Holy Spirit! As we look toward Christ’s   
   Easter triumph over death, we turn inside ourselves, finding our own   
   call to serve others in love.   
   Blessed Cesar de Bus pray for us!   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   O God of Truth and Love   
   A Prayer of Penitence   
   By St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church   
      
   O omnipotent Father,   
   God of truth,   
   God of love   
   permit me to enter into   
   the cell of self-knowledge.   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)