From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   All have eyes   
      
   God is seen by those who have the capacity to see him, provided that   
   they keep the eyes of their mind open. All have eyes, but some have   
   eyes that are shrouded in darkness, unable to see the light of the   
   sun. Because the blind cannot see it, it does not follow that the sun   
   does not shine. The blind must trace the cause back to themselves and   
   their eyes. In the same way, you have eyes in your mind that are   
   shrouded in darkness because of your sins and evil deeds. No one who   
   has sin within him can see God. If you understand this, and live in   
   purity and holiness and justice, you may see God.   
   --Saint Theophilus of Antioch   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   July 24th - St. Christina the Astonishing.   
      
   Born in Brustheim, near Liège, Belgium, 1150; died 1224; feast day   
   formerly July 4. Fifteen-year-old Christina was left an orphan with   
   her two older sisters. When she was about 22 (some sources say 32,   
   which is more reasonable given the balance of the evidence), she had   
   an epileptic fit and was thought to be dead.   
      
   As was the custom Christina was carried into the church in an open   
   coffin, where a Requiem Mass was beginning. Suddenly, after the Agnus   
   Dei, Christina sat up, soared to the beams of the roof, and perched   
   there. The congregation fled in fright, except her elder sister. When   
   the Mass was completed, the priest persuaded Christina to come down   
   from the rafters, where she is said to have taken refuge to escape the   
   smell of sinful human bodies.   
      
   Christina told the priest that she had died, gone to hell, to   
   purgatory, and then to heaven. She was allowed to return to earth to   
   pray for the suffering souls in purgatory. In each place she saw many   
   she knew. In her own words:   
      
   "As soon as my soul was separated from my body, it was received by   
   angels, who conducted it to a very gloomy place, entirely filled with   
   souls. The torments which they there endured appeared to me so   
   excessive that it is impossible for me to give any idea of their   
   rigor. I saw among them many of my acquaintances, and, deeply touched   
   by their sad condition, I asked what place it was, for I believed it   
   to be Hell.   
      
   "My guide answered me that it was Purgatory, where sinners were   
   punished who, before death, had repented of their faults, but had not   
   made worthy satisfaction to God. From thence I was conducted into   
   Hell, and there also I recognized among the reprobates some whom I had   
   formerly known.   
      
   "The angels then transported me into Heaven, even to the throne of the   
   Divine Majesty. The Lord regarded me with a favorable eye, and I   
   experienced an extreme joy, because I thought to obtain the grace of   
   dwelling eternally with Him.   
      
   "But my Heavenly Father, seeing what passed in my heart, said to me   
   these words: 'Assuredly, My dear daughter, you will one day be with   
   Me. Now, however, I allow you to choose, either to remain with Me   
   henceforth from this time, or to return again to earth to accomplish a   
   mission of charity and suffering. In order to deliver from the flames   
   of Purgatory those souls which have inspired you with so much   
   compassion, you shall suffer for them upon earth; you shall endure   
   great torments, without, however, dying from their effects. And not   
   only will you relieve the departed, but the example which you will   
   give to the living, and your life of continual suffering, will lead   
   sinners to be converted and to expiate their crimes. After having   
   ended this new life, you shall return here laden with merits.'   
      
   "At these words, seeing the great advantages offered to me for souls,   
   I replied, without hesitation, that I would return to life, and I   
   arose at that same instant. It is for this sole object, the relief of   
   the departed and the conversion of sinners, that I have returned to   
   this world. Therefore be not astonished at the penances I shall   
   practice, nor at the life that you will see me lead from henceforward.   
   It will be so extraordinary that nothing like to it has ever been   
   seen."   
      
   Thereafter, behaved as one of the great eccentrics of Christendom.   
   Christina fled to remote places, climbed trees and towers and rocks,   
   and even hid in ovens to escape the smell of humans. But more   
   importantly, she did everything possible to suffer in the extreme for   
   the good of other souls. After her resurrection, Christina dressed in   
   rags bound together with saplings, lived by begging in extreme   
   poverty, and renounced all the comforts of life- -even a home. She   
   would jump into a burning furnace until she could no longer handle it,   
   or into the river in the coldest weather and stay for weeks. Once she   
   was even said to have gotten into a mill-race and been carried under   
   the wheel. She would pray while balancing on a hurdle or curled up in   
   a ball on the ground. In a church at a place called Wellen, she   
   climbed into the large font and sat in the water. Of course, many   
   thought that she was insane.   
      
   Once she was caught by a man who struck her so hard on the leg that it   
   was thought to be broken. She was taken to a surgeon's home where her   
   leg was splinted, and she was chained to a pillar for her own safety.   
   She escaped at night. On one occasion, a priest refused her Communion;   
   she ran wildly down the street and jumped into the Meuse River.   
      
   Yet many people came to Christina for good advice. Christina spent the   
   last years of her life in the convent of Saint Catherine at   
   Saint-Trond. While she lived there, she was held in high respect by   
   Louis, the count of Looz, who treated her as a friend, accepted her   
   criticism, and welcomed her at his castle. Blessed Marie d'Oignies   
   respected her as well, the prioress of Saint Catherine's praised her   
   obedience, and Saint Lutgardis sought her counsel. She lived this life   
   of penance for 52 years after she had been raised from the dead.   
      
   Christina's experiences were recorded by a contemporary Dominican,   
   Cardinal James de Vitry, in the preface to the Life of Marie   
   d'Oignies, and by the Dominican Bishop Thomas de Cantimpre'. Her body   
   is preserved in the Redemptorist church at Saint-Trond. Her   
   resurrection was witnessed by the whole town and many saw her escape   
   her various tortures unscathed. Her cultus has never been officially   
   confirmed (Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Schouppe, Walsh, White).   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Meditation for troubled times:   
      
    "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for   
   they shall be filled." Only in the fullness of faith can the heartsick   
   and faint and weary be satisfied, healed, and rested. Think of the   
   wonderful spiritual revelations still to be found by those who are   
   trying to live the spiritual life. Much of life is spiritually   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)