From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Love of God   
      
   One day, while conversing with St. Bonaventure, Blessed Giles said to   
   him: "My Father, God has shown you great mercy, and loaded you with   
   many graces in giving you that knowledge which helps you to praise   
   Him. But we, poor ignorant creatures, how can we correspond with His   
   goodness and attain to salvation?" The Saint replied: "If God had   
   given man His love alone, that would be enough." "What?" returned   
   Blessed Giles, "can an ignorant man love God as much as the most   
   learned doctor?" "Certainly," answered St. Bonaventure, "an old woman   
   who knows nothing can love God as much and more than a master in   
   theology." At these words, Giles, transported with delight, ran into   
   the garden, and cried out to the passers-by, "Come, simple and   
   unlearned men, Come poor, wretched, ignorant women, come, listen to   
   me. Do you wish to love Our Lord? You can love Him as much and more   
   than Brother Bonaventure and the most learned theologians."   
   --Bl. Giles of Assisi   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   April 29th - St. Catherine of Siena, Visionary   
      
   d.1380   
   Stars differ in “magnitude”. So do saints. Some clearly excel others.   
   But, of all the spiritual stars, Catherine of Siena is one of the very   
   greatest.   
      
   Catherine was the 23rd child of James Benincasa, a devout dyer of   
   Siena, and his hard-working but unimaginative wife, Lapa. From the age   
   of reason, she showed herself a bright and religious child. When she   
   was only seven, she had a vision which prompted her to decide never to   
   marry. As she matured, her parents even brought pressure on her to   
   enter marriage. But she stood firm, and eventually they consented to   
   her wish to join the Third Order of the Dominicans and to live a   
   hidden life of prayer and self-discipline in her own home. During the   
   next three years, 1365-1368, she advanced so rapidly in her   
   prayer-life that Christ appeared to her and took her as his special   
   “bride”. Catherine now received from Him an order to leave her little   
   domestic “hermitage” and carry his message of love to the outside   
   world.   
      
   Between 1368 and 1374, Catherine Benincasa became accepted by a large   
   number of men and women, young and old as their spiritual “mother”. To   
   them, she began to write an important series of letters – soul   
   counsel. As time went on, she also wrote about international concerns,   
   including a projected crusade of Christians against the Turks. In 1374   
   opponents arose to criticize her as a presumptuous busy-body. But the   
   Dominican Fathers, having examined her beliefs and attitudes, placed   
   their stamp of approval on her and her work. Clearly, she was a born   
   leader.   
      
   Between 1374 and 1378, Catherine was called upon to exercise a broad   
   influence in public affairs. The Republic of Florence, at odds with   
   Pope Gregory XI, sent her to visit the Pope at Avignon, France, to   
   make peace between Florence and the papal states. She failed in that   
   task, but she was more successful in urging the Pope, who, like   
   several of his predecessors had been living in France, to return to   
   his proper residence, Rome. It was during these years that she   
   achieved her widest influence. At the same time she began to write her   
   Dialogues, in which she set forth loyal but strong criticisms of the   
   public faults of some Church leaders. In these years, too, she   
   received the grace of the stigmata – Christ’s wounds on her body.   
      
   When Gregory XI died in Rome in 1378, the cardinals elected an Italian   
   archbishop as his successor, Urban VI. But when these cardinals found   
   that Urban would not cater to them, they forthwith declared his   
   election invalid, and chose another prelate as Pope Clement VI.   
   Clement, a Frenchman, settled in Avignon. Thus began that terrible   
   tragedy, the Great Schism of the West. It lasted 37 years, and during   
   this period Catholics were sorely divided on the question which was   
   the true Pope.   
      
   Catherine defended the claim of Urban VI, even though she sometimes   
   scolded him for imprudence in his words and actions. This grievous   
   division of Christendom brought her from Siena to Rome, where she   
   spent the rest of her life. She was constantly in correspondence with   
   princes and prelates of many lands to win them over to Pope Urban.   
   Even more importantly, she offered herself as a victim to God for the   
   peace of the Church; and she suffered much.   
      
   It was in Rome that Catherine died and was buried, at the age of only   
   33. Considered a saint in her own lifetime, and hailed by later   
   generations as “the greatest woman in Christendom”. Catherine of Siena   
   was canonized in 1461. On October 4, 1970, Pope Paul VI bestowed on   
   her the title of “doctor of the Church”. She was only the second woman   
   to be given that honor. The first was St. Teresa of Avila, proclaimed   
   a “doctor of the Church” by the same pope just a week earlier.   
   Catherine of Siena was absolutely outstanding for her devotion to the   
   Church. She viewed it as an extension of her “Sweet Jesus”.   
   –Father Robert F. McNamara   
      
      
   Saint Quotes:   
   Everything comes from love, all is ordained for the salvation of man,   
   God does nothing without this goal in mind.   
   --St. Catherine of Siena   
      
   Let thy first rule be to flee the conversation of every human being,   
   in so far as it is simply conversation, except as deeds of charity may   
   demand; but to love people very much, and talk with few of them. And   
   know how to talk in moderation even with those whom thou lovest with   
   spiritual love. . .   
   --St. Catherine of Siena   
      
   Saint Quote   
   Everyone--past, present, and future--will be judged. Now, then, is the   
   time for mercy, while the time to come will be the time for justice   
   only. For that reason, the present time is ours, but the future time   
   will be God's only!   
   --St. Thomas Aquinas   
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer to Saint Catherine of Siena   
      
   God of Wisdom   
   you made our sister Catherine burn with divine love   
   in contemplating the Lord's passion   
   and in serving your Church.   
   With the help of her prayers   
   may your people, united in the mystery of Christ,   
   rejoice forever in the revelation of his glory,   
   who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,   
   God, for ever and ever. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)