From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The Lord and Master serves us (Luke 12:35-38)   
      
   But Jesus' story adds an unexpected reward for those who open at   
   once--even in the middle of the night when everyone is fast asleep.   
   The master who returns from a wedding feast to his home late at night   
   does the unthinkable when his servants greet him at the door. He puts   
   on a servant's uniform and apron and seats his servants at his own   
   table. And then--to their astonishment no doubt--the master himself   
   waits on his servants at table by serving them his choice food and   
   drink. Jesus' parable turns the world's way of thinking upside-down.   
   The master rewards his faithful servants by serving them himself with   
   the best provision, care, and service he can offer. (Luke 12:35-38)   
      
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   April 27th - Blessed James of Bitetto, OFM    
    (also known as James of Sclavonia, of Illyricum, of Zara, of Dalmatia)   
      
   Born in Sebenico, Dalmatia; died April 27, c. 1485; feast day within   
   the Franciscan order is celebrated on April 20; cultus approved by   
   Innocent XII.   
      
   James received the habit of Saint Francis at Zara, but served as a lay   
   brother at Bitetto, near Bari in southern Italy. James possessed   
   heroic humility and reached the heights of heaven in his   
   contemplation. During the process of beatification, a fellow friar   
   testified that he had seen James levitate during prayer and heard him   
   accurately predict the future.   
      
   While James was the cook of the abbey at Conversano (18 miles from   
   Bari), he would contemplate the cooking fire and see the fires of hell   
   or the spark of God's love that ignites hearts. Often he would be   
   found in the kitchen, motionless, rapt in ecstatic contemplation. This   
   happened one morning as he was fixing beans for that night's dinner.   
   He stood with his hand in the beans, tears streaming down his face   
   into the vessel before him. Thus he was found by the duke on whose   
   estate the monastery was founded. King Ferdinand I's courtier watched   
   in amazement before declaring, "Blessed are the religious brethren   
   whose meals are seasoned with such tears." Later that day James,   
   learning of the duke's presence, went to him and asked what he would   
   like for his dinner. The nobleman replied that he wanted nothing but   
   some of the beans seasoned with James' tears.   
      
   Eventually James was sent back to Bitetto where he died and where his   
   incorrupted body remains. Many miracles attributed to James'   
   intercession have been recorded (Benedictines, Husenbeth).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "Learn, my Sisters, to suffer something for the love of God, without   
   letting everyone know it"   
   --St. Teresa   
      
    On a Good Friday, the venerable Father Daponte asked Our Lord the   
   favor of giving him a share in His sufferings. He answered by sending   
   him fearful pains for the rest of his life, which he received with the   
   greatest possible joy. Once being asked how he felt, he replied: "Oh,   
   how well God chastises this sinner! I tell you that except my head, no   
   part of my body is without its own particular pain." A little while   
   after, he repented of having said so much and made a vow never to   
   reveal his sufferings to anyone, when he could conceal them without   
   displeasing God.   
   ("A Year with the Saints".  April--Patience)   
      
   Bible Quote   
   So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works,   
   and glorify your Father who is in heaven. 17 Do not think that I am   
   come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy,   
   but to fulfill.  (Matthew 5:16-17)   
      
      
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   Hail Mary of Gold   
      
   According to Saint Gertrude, the Virgin Mary stated that: "At the hour   
   when the soul which has thus greeted me quits the body I'll appear to   
   them in such splendid beauty that they'll taste, to their great   
   consolation, something of the joys of Paradise".   
      
   Words of the prayer   
      
   Hail, Mary, White Lily of the Glorious and always serene Trinity.   
   Hail brilliant Rose of the Garden of heavenly delights;   
   O you, by whom God wanted to be born and by whose milk   
    the King of Heaven wanted to be nourished!   
   Nourish our souls with effusions of divine grace.   
   --Amen!   
      
   Hail Mary of Gold is a Roman Catholic Marian prayer attributed to Saint   
   Gertrude the Great.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)