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| Weedy... |
 Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 8:20 am |
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- Deuteronomy 6:4-9 -
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your
God with
all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
These
commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress
them on
your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk
along the
road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on
your hands
and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your
houses and
on your gates.
__________________________
In Moses' time, the heart was understood to be the seat of a person's
emotions,
the very center of his being, the place where decisions were made. The
soul was
considered the basis for a person's traits and qualities, or his
personality.
Strength refers to physical, mental and spiritual strength. So within
this
command to love God with "your heart and with all your soul and with
all your
strength" every fiber of humanity is addressed. Our goal as people who
follow
Christ should be no less than becoming people who are madly in love
with God.
<<>><<>><<>>
November 4th - Bl. Frances D'amboise, Widow
IN 1431 John V, Duke of Brittany, arranged a matrimonial alliance
between his
house and that of Thouars, and Louis d'Amboise sent his four-year-old
daughter
Frances to be brought up at the ducal court. When she was fifteen she
married
Duke John's second son, Peter, and found she had a rather troublesome
husband:
he was jealous, sulky and sometimes violent. She put up with her
troubles
uncomplainingly, did her best to compose incessant family quarrels,
and by her
patience and prayers wrought a considerable improvement in her
husband. They had
no children.
In 1450 Peter succeeded as duke, and Frances took full advantage of
her
position to forward the work of God. She founded a convent at Nantes
for Poor
Clares, interested herself in the canonization of St Vincent Ferrer,
and spent
large sums in relief of the poor and other benefactions. In 1457 her
husband
died, and his successors did not relish the popularity and influence
of the
dowager duchess (who was still only thirty), so that she withdrew
herself more
and more from public affairs, resisting the attempts of Louis XI of
France to
entice her into another marriage. She spent much time at the Nantes
convent and
afterwards with the Carmelite nuns at Vannes. These she established
and endowed
there in 1463, with the help and encouragement of Bl. John Soreth,
prior general
of the order.
That she was not free from the tendency of foundresses to interest
themselves
too closely in the affairs of their foundations is illustrated by the
story that
she once obtained the services of an extraordinary confessor for a
nun, without
referring the matter to the prioress. But when she was rebuked for her
interference Duchess Frances humbly apologized and asked the prioress
to impose
on her a suitable penance. In 1468 she became a nun herself at the
Vannes
convent, being clothed by John Soreth. She filled the office of
infirmarian, and
four years after profession was elected prioress for life. Under her
rule the
Vannes house became too small, and she opened another at Couets, near
Nantes.
Here she died in 1485. Bl. Frances was the means of Bl. John Soreth
introducing
Carmelite nuns into France, and was in some measure the co-founder of
the
women's branch of the order. Her virtues and the miracles wrought at
her tomb
caused her to be venerated as a saint, but the cultus was not
confirmed until
1863.
No early biography of Bl. Frances is known, and the Bollandists put
the reader
on his guard against accepting as historical such narratives as were
published
at a later date by Albert Le Grand of Morlaix and other enthusiastic
panegyrists. In the second volume of the Acta Sanctorum for November
will be
found only a general discussion of doubtful points, and an abstract of
the more
prominent happenings connected with the life of the beata. The
approval of her
cultus in 1863 was conceded upon the presentment of the case submitted
by the
Abbe F. Richard, who afterwards became archbishop of Paris and
cardinal in 1865.
Mgr Richard published in two volumes a Vie de la bse Françoise
d'Amboise. There
are also other French lives, for the most part uncritical, notably
that by the
Vicomte Sioc'han de Kersabiec (1865). See also B. Zimmerman, Monumenta
Historica
Carmelitana (1907), pp. 520-521.
Beatified in 1863. Reared at the court of Brittany, Frances became
the wife of
Duke Peter of Brittany. She spent her life trying to please and pacify
her
jealous husband--no easy task- -and in charitable works. She was a
great
benefactress of the Carmelite Blessed John Soreth. In 1470, after her
husband's
death, Frances became a Carmelite at the convent she had founded at
Nantes
(Benedictines).
Saint Quote:
If we wish to make any progress in the service of God we must begin
every day of
our life with new eagerness. We must keep ourselves in the presence of
God as
much as possible and have no other view or end in all our actions but
the divine
honor.
-Saint Charles Borromeo
Bible Quote:
Give thanks to the Father, who has made us worthy to share the lot of
the Saints
in the light. (Col. 1:12)
<><><><>
THE CROSS BENEATH THE ROSES
Hidden from all eyes, but only known to Thee,
A treasure brought with suffering,
With sorrow and with glee-
Covered with the fragrance of Heavenly perfume;
Nurtured with a confidence that Heaven would be soon;
Carried through the years along with care and grace;
Fostered by the memory of His beloved face.
Lighter than a cloud, softer than the flower,
The Cross beneath the roses
Was surely Heaven's power!
<><><><>
Saint Anthony, Generator of Charity
Dear St. Anthony, God wants us to see Christ, our brother, in
everyone and love Him truly in word and in deed. God wills
that we share with others the joy of His boundless love. St.
Anthony, Generator of Charity, remember me in the Father's
presence, that I may be generous in sharing the joy of His
love. Remember also the special intentions I now entrust to
you. (Name them.) |
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