From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On the Zealous Amendment of our Life  (II)   
      
   There was once a man who was very anxious, and wavered between fear   
   and hope. One day, overcome with sadness, he lay prostrate in prayer   
   before the altar in church, and pondering these matters in his mind,   
   said, `Oh, if only I knew that I should always persevere!' then he   
   heard within his heart an answer from God: `If you knew this, what   
   would you do? Do now what you would then, and all will be well.' So,   
   comforted and strengthened, he committed himself to the will of God,   
   and his anxious uncertainty vanished. Nor did he wish any longer to   
   inquire into what would happen to him, but strove the more earnestly   
   to learn the perfect and acceptable will of God, (Rom.12:2) whenever   
   he began or undertook any good work (2 Tim.3:17).   
   --Thomas à Kempis--Imitation of Christ Bk 1, Ch 25   
      
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   14 April – Blessed Lucien Botovasoa O.F.S.   
      
   Martyr, Layman, Father, Multi-lingual Schoolteacher, Catechist,   
   Franciscan Tertiary, Musician and Singer.   
     Blessed Lucien was born in 1908 in Vohipeno, Madagascar and died by   
   being beheaded with a sword between 10pm and midnight on 14 April 1947   
   on the banks of the Mattanana River near Ambohimanarivo, Manakara,   
   Madagascar. He was wearing his tertiary “uniform” – khaki shirt and   
   trousers with a black cord for a belt. His body was tossed into the   
   river.   
      
   Bl Lucien was a Madagascan Roman Catholic schoolteacher and a   
   professed member from the Secular Franciscan Order. He served as a   
   teacher for his entire life and was dedicated to both the religious   
   and secular education of children. His thirst for the religious life   
   led him to discover the Secular Franciscan Order in 1940 and he became   
   part of it;  he rallied others to know Saint Francis of Assisi and   
   enter the order themselves. Botovasoa likewise adopted the Franciscan   
   charism for himself through his fasting and clothing habits.   
      
   Botovasoa’s murder came during a period of tumult in Madagascar and   
   his cause for canonisation opened on 11 October 2011 under Pope   
   Benedict XVI in which he became titled as a Servant of God.  Pope   
   Francis confirmed in mid-2017 that Botovasoa was killed in hatred of   
   his faith and decreed that he was to be beatified; it shall be   
   celebrated in Vohipeno, Madasgascar tomorrow, the Third Sunday of   
   Easter, 15 April 2018.   
      
   Lucien Botovasoa was born in 1908 in Vohipeno, a rural town in the   
   southeast of Madagascar, the province of Fianarantsoa.   
   In 1918 he began studies in the state school and then proceeded to the   
   Jesuit College of St Joseph in Ambozontany. In 1928 he concluded the   
   studies and was awarded the teaching diploma and in the same year   
   became a parish teacher in Vohipeno, making his own the motto of the   
   Society of Jesus:  Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.   
      
   On 10 October 1930 he married Suzanna Soazana in the parish church of   
   Vohipeno and on the following 12 September was born Vincent de Paul   
   Hermann, the first of their eight children, of which only five   
   survived. The Servant of God was an excellent teacher, working not   
   only as the village teacher but also in the parish, with generous   
   availability to the needy. In addition to Malagasy, he knew French,   
   Latin, German, and Chinese. He was an exceptional musician and   
   appreciated as a singer, becoming also the director of the parish   
   choir. He was also an athlete and is described as always smiling and   
   joyful.   
   In 1940 the Servant of God stumbled upon the Rule of the Franciscan   
   Third Order and it became for him a text for study and meditation. He   
   decided to take up himself this following of Christ, with investiture   
   in the habit of the Franciscan Third Order on 18 December 1944. He   
   thus began to live a poor life of Franciscan spirituality,   
   characterised by a deep piety and by the burning desire to bring the   
   gospel everywhere.   
      
   After the Second World War, in the years 1946-1947, there grew in   
   Madagascar the desire for independence from France. In 1946, as   
   supporter of independence, Tsimihoño, from the Clan of Ambohimanarivo,   
   became king (Mpanjaka). At Vohipeno there were also violent clashes   
   between the two factions. On 30 March 1947, Palm Sunday, the parish   
   church was burned and so began the king’s hunt for the ‘Christian   
   teacher,’ Lucien Botovasoa, who was respected by both the Catholics   
   and others in Vohipeno.  Lucien was commanded to appear, or his family   
   would be massacred.   
      
   The Servant of God, realising what was happening, entrusted his wife   
   and children to his brother and returned to Vohipeno. Around nine   
   o’clock in the evening of 17 April 1947, his brother André and two   
   cousins, under threat of death, were charged with arresting Lucien.   
   Brought to the house of the king Tsimihoño, he was condemned to death   
   without any trial. Arriving at the place of execution he knelt and was   
   beheaded while he was praying for his murderers.  His body was thrown   
   in the river.   
      
   https://anastpaul.com/2018/04/14/   
      
      
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   Our Morning Offering   
      
   Prayer to Do the Will of God   
   By St Francis of Assisi (1181/82-1226)   
      
   Almighty, eternal, just and merciful God,   
   grant us in our misery, the grace to do for You alone   
   what we know You want us to do   
   and always to desire what pleases You.   
   Thus, inwardly cleansed,   
   interiorly enlightened   
   and inflamed by the fire of the Holy Spirit,   
   may we be able to follow   
   in the footprints of Your beloved Son,   
   our Lord Jesus Christ.   
   And, by Your grace alone,   
   may we make our way to You, Most High,   
   Who live and rule in perfect Trinity   
   and simple Unity   
   and are glorified God   
   all-powerful forever and ever.   
   Amen.   
   -from ‘A Letter to the Entire Order’   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)