From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   God Makes Me Good   
      
      "Before any good merits of mine, the mercy of God came to me. Even   
   though he had found no good in me, he himself made me good.   
      It is God who justifies those who turn to him and admonishes those   
   who are still far away that they be converted."   
   --St. Augustine--Commentary on Psalm 58 (2), 2   
      
   Prayer: Lord, our Mediator, God above us, human for our sake, I   
   acknowledge your mercy. In your love for us you chose to be greatly   
   troubled. Now you can much console the members of your body who by   
   their weakness are compelled to be troubled and to keep them from   
   perishing in despair.   
   --St. Augustine--Sermon on John 52, 2   
      
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   June 15th - Alice of Schaerbeek, O.Cist.   
    (or Adelaide or Aleydis)   
      
   The life of St. Aleydis (Alice) is so simple and charming that it   
   might have come from the pen of a devout writer of fiction.   
   Nonetheless, hers is a real story, recorded probably by her spiritual   
   director.   
      
   Alice of Schaerbeek, O.Cist. (or Adelaide or Aleydis) (Dutch: Sint   
   Aleydis, French: Sainte Alix), (1204–1250) was a Cistercian laysister   
   who is venerated as the patron saint of the blind and paralyzed   
      
   Born in Schaerbeck, a suburb of Brussels, Belgium, Aleydis was a frail   
   child but had a winning personality. When she was  (at her own   
   request, it seems) she was sent to be boarded and raised by the   
   Cistercian nuns of a vicinity convent named “Camera Sanctae Marie”   
   (“Chamber of St. Mary”). Although the monastery is long since gone,   
   its name is still preserved in the lovely park southeast of Brussels   
   called “Bois de la Chambre” (“Chamber Woods”).   
      
   From the day she went there, the convent became her permanent home.   
   The sisters educated her not only intellectually, but spiritually, and   
   she proved a good student in both aspects. In due time, she asked to   
   be admitted to the Cistercians. The quiet seclusion of the monastery   
   was well suited to her naturally shy, retiring disposition. Yet her   
   very humility motivated her to serve the needs of her sisters in every   
   way possible. They, in turn, admired her piety, and treasured the   
   memory of the small miracles attributed to her. One of these was the   
   re-lighting of a candle. Once a lighted candle fell to the ground and   
   went out. Through her prayerful intervention, it is said, the candle   
   spontaneously relit itself.   
      
   Leprosy was fairly widespread in medieval Europe. Unfortunately,   
   Sister Aleydis contracted this hideous disease while still young. To   
   the grief of the rest of the nuns she had to be isolated from the   
   community. Medieval science had not yet discovered that leprosy was   
   caused by the communicable germ mycobacillus leprae: but experience   
   had long since proved it to be contagious, and prescribed quarantine   
   to prevent its spread.   
      
   Aleydis, herself, even welcomed segregation in that it enabled her to   
   plunge with still less interruption into her favorite subject of   
   contemplation, the sufferings of Jesus. Where it hurt most, however,   
   was that hygiene forbade her to receive from the chalice (still a   
   general practice, in that time) when she went to Holy Communion.   
      
   Our Lord himself, we are told, consoled her by stating that one who   
   communicated in the consecrated bread alone still received the blood   
   as well as the body of Jesus, for “Where there is part, there also is   
   the whole.”   
      
   On June 11, 1249, Sister Alice became very ill indeed, and was   
   anointed. It was soon revealed to her that she had 12 months more on   
   earth.   
      
   Her sufferings increased during those last months. She became blind,   
   perhaps as a result of the ravages of leprosy. But she lost no   
   opportunity to offer her additional sufferings for the souls in   
   purgatory. Despite her pains, she was comforted by still more   
   ecstasies and revelations. On June 10, 1250, she was again anointed,   
   and in the dawn of St. Bamabas’ Day, as predicted, she went to her   
   reward.   
      
   Today, Holy Communion under both forms is again available, but Jesus’   
   answer to St. Aleydis is still valid: when we receive the Host alone   
   we receive sacramentally the whole Christ, body and blood. Today,   
   also, the offering of prayers and sacrifices for the poor souls seems   
   to have declined. St. Alice’s prayers and sacrifices for them were   
   nevertheless perfectly in keeping with the doctrine of sharing that   
   the Church has always taught, between the faithful on earth, in heaven   
   and in purgatory, that “waiting room” of heaven. Vatican II spoke once   
   again of this “living communion that exists between us and our   
   brothers who are in the glory of heaven or who are yet being purified   
   after their death. (“Lumen Gentium.” 51). We call this bond the   
   Communion of Saints.   
      
   By decree of July 1, 1702 Pope Clement XI granted to the monks of the   
   Congregation of St. Bernard Fuliensi the faculty to celebrate the   
   cultus of Alice. Devotion to Alice as a saint was approved in 1907 by   
   Pope Pius X.   
   –Father Bob   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "[The devil] dreads fasting, prayer, humility, and good works: He is   
   not able even to stop my mouth who speak against him. The illusions of   
   the devil soon vanish, especially if a man arms himself with the Sign   
   of the Cross. The devils tremble at the Sign of the Cross of our Lord,   
   by which He triumphed over and disarmed them."   
   --Saint Antony Abbot.   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Let nothing be done through contention, neither by vain glory: but in   
   humility, let each esteem others better than themselves:  (Philippians   
   2:3)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Supplication to Our Lady   
   to obtain the Favour of her Patronage till Death.   
      
   The more exalted she is, the greater her clemency   
   and sweetness towards penitent sinners."--St. Gregory.   
      
   Sweet Mother! turn those gentle eyes   
   Of pity down on me;   
   Oh! hear thy suppliant's tearful cries,   
   My humble prayer do not despise,   
   Star of the pathless sea!   
      
   In dark temptation's dreary hour,   
   To thee, bright Queen, we flee;   
   Oh! then exert a mother's power,   
   When storms are rough and tempests lower;   
   Star of the raging sea!   
      
   Through all my joys and cares, sweet Maid,   
   May I still look on thee,   
   Who bore the Price our ransom paid,   
   And ne'er the suppliant's cry hath stayed;   
   Star of the azure sea!   
      
   And when my last expiring sigh,   
   My soul from earth shall free,   
   Do thou, bright Queen of Saints, stand by,   
   And bear it up to God on high,   
   Star of the boundless sea!  June 2014   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)