From: rich <
richarra@gmail.com>
March 29th - Blessed Ludovico of Casoria
(1814-1885)
Born in Casoria (near Naples), Arcangelo Palmentieri was a
cabinet-maker before entering the Friars Minor in 1832, taking the
name Ludovico. After his ordination five years later, he taught
chemistry, physics and mathematics to younger members of his province
for several years.
In 1847 he had a mystical experience which he later described as a
cleansing. After that he dedicated his life to the poor and the
infirm, establishing a dispensary for the poor, two schools for
African children, an institute for the children of nobility, as well
as an institution for orphans, the deaf and the speechless, and other institutes for the blind, elderly and for travelers. In addition to an infirmary for friars of his province, he began charitable institutes
in Naples, Florence and Assisi. He once said, "Christ's love has
wounded my heart." This love prompted him to great acts of charity.
To help continue these works of mercy, in 1859 he established the Gray Brothers, a religious community composed of men who formerly belonged
to the Secular Franciscan Order. Three years later he founded the Gray
Sisters of St. Elizabeth for the same purpose.
Toward the beginning of his final, nine-year illness, Ludovico wrote a spiritual testament which described faith as "light in the darkness,
help in sickness, blessing in tribulations, paradise in the
crucifixion and life amid death." The local work for his beatification
began within five months of Ludovico's death. He was beatified in
1993.
Comment:
Saintly people are not protected from suffering, but with God's hel=
p
they learn how to develop compassion from it. In the face of great
suffering, we move either toward compassion or indifference. Saintly
men and women show us the path toward compassion.
Saint Quotes:
Ludovico's spiritual testament begins: "The Lord called me to himse=
lf
with a most tender love, and with an infinite charity he led and
directed me along the path of my life."
"The greatest gift one can receive from God in this world is wisdom,
power and will to conquer himself, by denying self-will"
--St. Francis of Assisi
=C2 =C2 =C2 The Abbot Pastor had the highest opinion of this exerc=
ise, and
used to say that our own will is an iron wall that disunites and
separates us from God.
=C2 =C2 =C2 St. Colette, of the Order of St. Francis, often said th=
at she
thought it a greater mortification to deny one's own judgment and w=
ill
than to abandon all the riches in the world, and therefore she
practiced it to the utmost of her ability.
=C2 =C2 =C2 St. Bernard also entertained the same sentiments, and s=
aid that
all evils spring from a single root, which is self-will.
("A Year with the Saints".=C2 March - Mortification)
Bible Quote:
Whoever will come after Me, let him deny himself.=C2 (Matthew 16:24)
<><><><>
We pray to Christ as God
=C2 =C2 Our minds are slow to come down to the humble level of Jesus w=
hen
we have just been contemplating him in his divinity. It is as though
we were doing him an injustice in acknowledging in a man the words of
one with whom we spoke when we prayed to God; we are usually at a loss
and try to change the meaning. Yet our minds find nothing in scripture
that does not go back to him, nothing that will allow us to stray from
him. Our thoughts must then be awakened to keep their vigil of faith.
We must realize that the one whom we were contemplating a short time
before in his nature as God took to himself the nature of a servant;
he was made in the likeness of men and found to be a man like others;
as he hung on the cross he made the psalmist's words his own: My God,
my God, why have you forsaken me?
=C2 =C2 We pray to him as God, he prays for us as a servant. In the fi=
rst
case he is the Creator, in the second a creature. Himself unchanged,
he took to himself our created nature in order to change it, and made
us one man with himself, head and body. We pray then to him, through
him, and in him; we speak along with him and he speaks along with us.
--St. Augustine of Hippo
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