From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Love God's Creation   
      
   "Suppose a man should make a ring for his betrothed, and she should   
   love the ring more wholeheartedly than the betrothed who made it for   
   her. Certainly, let her love his gift: but if she should say, 'The   
   ring is enough. I do not want to see his face again,' what would we   
   say of her?   
      
   The pledge is given her by the betrothed just that, in his pledge, he   
   himself may be loved. God, then has given you all these things. Love   
   him who made them."   
   --St. Augustine--Sermon on 1 John 2, 11   
      
   Prayer: Lord, let those who understand, praise you, and let those who   
   understand you not, praise you, too.   
   --St. Augustine--Confessions 11, 31   
      
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   February 17th - The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order   
      
   On the feast of the Assumption, 1233 the Blessed Virgin appeared to   
   seven noble Florentines exhorting them to leave the world and retire   
   to live in solitude and prayer.   
      
   The seven retired to La Camarzia. After a time they returned to   
   Florence and the inhabitants came outside the city to receive them in   
   great joy. Newborn infants from the arms of their mothers called out   
   on seeing them: “These are the Servants of Mary!”   
      
   The seven adopted that name and dedicated their lives to propagate the   
   devotion to the Passion of Our Lord and the Sorrows of Mary. Later, on   
   the Feast of the Assumption in 1240 Our Lady appeared to them carrying   
   a black habit, and a nearby angel bore a scroll reading Servants of   
   Mary. She told them:   
      
       “You will found a new Order, and you will be my witnesses   
   throughout the world. This is your name: Servants of Mary. This is   
   your rule: that of Saint Augustine. And here is your distinctive sign:   
   the black scapular, in memory of my sufferings at the foot of the   
   Cross.”   
      
   The Order developed rapidly not only in Italy but also in France and   
   Germany, where the Holy Founders spread devotion to the Seven Sorrows   
   of Mary. Their Order was duly approved by the Pope in 1259. They were   
   canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1888.   
      
      
   Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)   
      
   This is one of the oldest Orders specially dedicated to spread   
   devotion to Our Lady. It is a very beautiful title, The Servants of   
   Mary, which was miraculously inspired when infants still unable to   
   speak began to shout it in praise of the Seven Holy Founders who were   
   returning to Florence. This title designates a special devotion to Our   
   Lady that would reach its full form centuries later with the   
   explications of St. Louis Grignion de Montfort in his Treatise of True   
   Devotion to Mary.   
      
   Essentially to be a servant of Our Lady is the same thing as to be her   
   slave. It represents the renunciation of one’s past, present, and   
   future merits and goods – both spiritual and material. It is an   
   excellent designation that marks the distinction between the true   
   Catholic position and the revolutionary one.   
      
   Today many people, including progressivist theologians, think that it   
   is shameful for the modern man to be a servant or a slave of Our Lady.   
   It would be acceptable in the past, but since the abolition of   
   slavery, there should no longer be servants or slaves, even for Our   
   Lady. So, regarding our relations with Our Lady, we should call   
   ourselves her children but not her servants or slaves, because it is   
   not in accordance with human dignity. This is obviously an egalitarian   
   and revolutionary affirmation.   
      
   In reality, it is an honor to be the servant of Our Lady, who is the   
   Queen of Heaven and Earth. The principal desire of our lives is to be   
   her true slaves. Because as her servants we are also her children, a   
   special kind of children who desire her glory above all and renounce   
   everything for this end.   
      
   The name of the Order of the Servants of Mary, or Servites, was   
   clearly a name desired not only by the Seven Saints who founded it,   
   but also by Our Lady, who affirmed their choice. This name was also   
   endorsed when the Pope approved the Order, and when the Church   
   canonized the Founders in the 19th century. Therefore, it is an   
   excellent name.   
      
   It is a work of the Devil, the inspirer of the Revolution, to strive   
   to destroy every kind of superiority, not only on this earth, but even   
   in the supernatural order. The Revolution cannot abide acknowledging   
   the immense inequality God put between His Mother and all other   
   creatures – Angels, Saints and the rest of mankind. Between Our Lady   
   and all creatures there is a veritable abyss. It is irrational to deny   
   this or even raise a doubt about it.   
      
   Notwithstanding, this is what the Revolution does. Denial of every   
   hierarchy is a characteristic of its spirit. It also is the root of   
   Atheism, which in effect is hatred for the fact that there is a Lord   
   in Heaven Who reigns over all of us. The revolutionary spirit rejects   
   every form of lordship.   
      
   Karl Marx formulated this hatred of any superiority: he said that the   
   goal of Marxism was to do away with every kind of alienation. This   
   word originates from the Latin: alienatio, which is the transfer of   
   the right of ownership from one person to another. For Marx, no one   
   should ever cede dominion over himself to any other person. Any form   
   of superiority and authority would be evil because it would cause an   
   unjustifiable alienation of the inferior person, which would be to   
   usurp his right and will, and to exploit his labor.   
      
   So, it causes alienation when the father commands his children; the   
   husband, his wife; the teacher, his pupil, employer, his employees;   
   the noble, his plebeians; etc. Any sort of authority would cause   
   alienation. The worst alienation for Marx, however, is the one   
   produced by God. According to him, God does not exist; God is a myth.   
   Therefore, in addition to being hateful, the alienation toward God   
   would be something empty and idiotic.   
      
   What should we ask the Seven Holy Founders of the Servites? If these   
   13th century men were to resurrect and see what is going on in the   
   Church and the world today, what would they say? What kind of   
   indignation and censures would they make?   
      
   We should ask them to intervene for the Catholic Church and   
   re-enkindle true devotion to Our Lady among the faithful, along with   
   its correlated hierarchical sense and counter- revolutionary spirit.   
      
   http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j166sd_SevenFoundersServites_2-12.shtml   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Who except God can give you peace? Has the world ever been able to   
   satisfy the heart?   
   --St. Gerard Majella   
      
   Bible Quotes:   
   Now be patient, brethren, until the Lord's coming. Think of a farmer,   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)