From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On the Royal Road of the Holy Cross: [XIII]   
      
   Man is not by nature inclined to carry the cross, to love the cross,   
   to chasten the body, and bring it into subjection; (I Cor. 9:27) to   
   refuse honors, to submit to insults with goodwill, to despise himself   
   and welcome disparagement; to bear all adversity and loss, and to   
   desire no kind of prosperity in this world. And if you trust in your   
   own strength, you will be unable to achieve any of these things. But   
   if you trust in the Lord, you will be given strength from Heaven, and   
   the world and the flesh will become subject to your will. Neither will   
   you fear your enemy the Devil, if you are armed with faith and signed   
   with the Cross of Christ.   
   --Thomas à Kempis--Imitation of Christ Bk 2, Ch 12   
      
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   August 2nd - Bl. Joan of Aza   
      
   d. 1190   
   Matron praise is due in her own right; to beauty of soul she added   
   beauty of body, and both were handed on to the greatest of her sons   
      
   The mother of St. Dominic is said to have been born in the castle of   
   Aza, near Aranda in Old Castile;  nothing is known of her childhood,   
   but doubtless her marriage took place when she was very young,   
   according to the custom of the time and country. Her husband was   
   Felix, perhaps de Guzman, who was warden of the small town of   
   Calaruega in the province of Burgos, of which Dante writes in speaking   
   of St. Dominic: "Happy Calaroga I there where the gentle breeze   
   whispers and wanders among the young flowers that bloom over the   
   garden of Europe, near that shore where the waves break and behind   
   which the great sun sinks at evening."   
      
   Here they lived and here were born to them four children, Antony, who   
   became a canon of St. James and sold all that he had that he might   
   serve the poor and sick in a hospital; Bl. Mannes, who followed his   
   younger brother, Dominic; and an unknown daughter, whose two sons   
   became preaching friars.   
      
   The greatest of these children was a child of promise, for when Antony   
   and Mannes were already grown up and clerics, Joan wished for another   
   son and prayed to that end in the abbey-church of Silos; and a vision   
   of St. Dominic of Silos is said to have appeared to her in sleep,   
   telling her that a son would be born to her and that he would be a   
   shining light to the Church: and she in thankfulness determined that   
   he should be baptized Dominic.   
      
   While the child was yet unborn Bl. Joan dreamed "that she bore a dog   
   in her womb and that it broke away from her with a burning torch in   
   its mouth wherewith it set the world aflame"; this dog became a symbol   
   of the Dominican Order and in later ages gave rise to the pun Domini   
   canes, "the watch-dogs of the Lord".   
      
   His godmother at his baptism (or, as some say, Bl. Joan again)   
   likewise had a dream in which the babe appeared with a shining star   
   upon his forehead, enlightening the world: wherefore is a star often   
   shown upon images of the saint. Dominic remained under the care of his   
   mother till he was seven years old, and then was sent to school with   
   his uncle, the parish priest of Gumiel d'Izan.  Other stories are   
   told, but by later writers, about the saint's infancy.   
      
   It has not been given to many mothers of saints to be themselves   
   beatified, and Joan achieved this distinction by her own virtues and   
   not by those of her children: it is not unusual for hagiographers to   
   praise the parents of their heroes, but the mother of St. Dominic such   
   praise is due in her own right; to beauty of soul she added beauty of   
   body, and both were handed on to the greatest of her sons.   
      
    Her cultus dates from the moment of her death; a hermitage at Uclés,   
   where she would go to visit the commandery of the Knights of St.   
   James, was called after her, and likewise a chapel in the cemetery at   
   Calaruega.  At the request of King Ferdinand VII this cultus was   
   confirmed in 1828.   
      
   It is to be feared that the little we are told concerning Bl. Joan   
   does not rest upon a very sound basis of evidence. See, however,   
   Ganay, Les Bienheureuses Dominicaines, pp. 13 seq. R. Castano,   
   Monografia de Santa Joanna (1900); Procter, Dominican Saints, pp.   
   215-219 and the standard lives of St. Dominic .   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   There are in truth three states of the converted: the beginning, the   
   middle, and the perfection. In the beginning, they experience the   
   charms of sweetness; in the middle, the contests of temptation; and in   
   the end, the fullness of perfection.   
   --Pope St. Gregory the Great   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love.  (John 15:10)   
      
      
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   Meditation for troubled times:   
      
      Turn out all thoughts of doubt and fear and resentment. Never   
   tolerate them if you can help it. Bar the windows and doors of your   
   mind against them, as you would bar your home against a thief who   
   would steal in to take away your treasures. What greater treasures can   
   you have than faith and courage and love? All these are stolen from   
   you by doubt and fear and resentment. Face each day with peace and   
   hope. They are results of true faith in God. Faith gives you a feeling   
   of protection and safety that you can get in no other way.   
   -- From Twenty-Four Hours a Day   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)