- 1 Samuel 16:7 (b) -
- From: "Waldtraud" <richarra@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:29:09 -0500
- 1 Samuel 16:7 (b) -
"The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the
outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
______________________________________________________________
Appearance doesn't reveal what people are really like or what their true
value is. Fortunately, God judges by faith and character, not appearances.
And because only God can see on the inside, only he can accurately judge
people. Most people spend hours each week maintaining their outward
appearance; we should do even more to develop our inner character. While
everyone can see your face, only you and God know what your heart really
looks like. What steps are you taking to improve your heart attitude?
<><><><><>
April 30th - St. Mary of the Incarnation, Visionary, Ursuline nun
1599-1672)
Marie Guyart Martin, fourth child in a family of seven children, was born in
Tours, France. When very young, she had a dream that moved her profoundly.
"I was about seven years old," she wrote. "In my sleep one night, it seemed
to me that I was in a schoolyard... Suddenly the skies opened, and Our Lord
emerged, advancing toward me! When Jesus neared me, I stretched out my arms
to embrace Him. Jesus embraced me affectionately and asked me: 'Do you want
to belong to Me?' I answered, 'Yes.' " She was unceasingly to repeat that
"yes," the key to her entire life, amid joys and afflictions.
When Mary was eighteen, her parents believed she was ready to get married.
She obeyed and married Claude Martin, a master silk worker. In 1619 she gave
birth to a son, who was one day to become Dom Claude Martin. Six months
later, the Lord marked her with the seal of His predilection: she was
visited by the cross of widowhood, with all its trials. Mary of the
Incarnation felt strongly attracted to the religious life, but she realized
that God's hour had not yet struck.
Several very difficult years ensued. Having found employment in her sister's
house, she became the slave of the servants of the household. In this harsh
situation, our Saint practiced the virtues of humility, charity, patience
and total self-forgetfulness to the point of heroism. She remained
constantly in the holy presence of God, even amid the most absorbing
occupations.
At the age of twenty-one, though still in the lay state, she made the vows
of poverty, chastity and obedience. In 1625, God gratified her with a vision
of the Holy Trinity.
When Madame Martin was thirty-one, the call of God to leave everything
echoed imperiously in her soul. On January 25, 1631, she bid farewell to her
elderly father, and overcoming the pangs of her maternal heart, she
entrusted her eleven-year-old son to her sister's care. This absolute
detachment, which makes her a model for parents, was one of the most heroic
and sublime acts in the life of Saint Mary of the Incarnation. The
courageous mother told her child, "God wills it, my son. If we love Him, we
should will it, too. It is up to Him to command, and up to us to obey." With
a broken heart, she was finally able to enter the Ursuline Novitiate in
Tours.
Eight years later, when she had reached the age of forty, Mary of the
Incarnation embarked at Dieppe with some companions on a ship headed for
Canada. She is among the very first nuns to have come to America. At the
time, such a missionary adventure was regarded as an innovation. There was
no room for anything less than heroism for these pioneers of the Church of
New France, who united the cloistered life to the missionary life. Mary of
the Incarnation wrote, "Here we encounter a kind of necessity to become
saints. We must either die or fully consent to it."
She studied the extremely difficult Indian languages and wrote an
Algonquin-French dictionary, as well as an Iroquois dictionary and
catechism. Her work of predilection consisted in teaching little Indian
girls, whom she called "the delight of my heart" and "the most beautiful
jewels in my crown."
Sickness, humiliation and persecution arising from respectable persons,
endless interior sufferings and crosses of all sorts abound in the life of
our Saint. They bear a striking testimony to the spirit of holiness that
reigned in her soul, which was totally surrendered to the love of God. The
highest summits of contemplation to which the Holy Spirit drew her did not
prevent Mary of the Incarnation from being an extraordinary woman of action,
gifted with incomparable common sense.
She gave up her beautiful soul to God at the age of 72. As a result of the
successive vocations to which God called her, this admirable soul remains a
model for spouses, parents, lay apostles and religious alike. Mary of the
Incarnation has very rightly been named "the Teresa of New France." She is
ranked among the greatest glories of Canada and regarded as the true Mother
of the country.
Sources: O.D.M. article; bi-monthly magazine Univers, July-August 1980, No.
4, p. 6.
Saint Quote:
You, O eternal Trinity, are a deep sea, into which the more I enter the more
I find, and the more I find the more I seek. The soul cannot be satiated in
your abyss, for she continually hungers after you, the eternal Trinity,
desiring to see you with the light of your light. As the hart desires the
springs of living water, so my soul desires to leave the prison of this dark
body and see you in truth.
-Catherine of Siena
Bible Quote:
Unless you do penance, you will all perish. (Luke 13:3)
<<>><<>>
Meditation by Saint Claudse de la Colombiere
The Master: Meek and Humble of Heart
"Learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of Heart," [St. Matthew 11:29] said
Jesus in the Gospel. It is therefore by contemplating Him that we can learn
true humility.
It is a great illusion to want all you hear about and all you see in books,
as well as to burden yourself with so many devotional practices. Read very
few books and make a great study of Jesus Christ crucified. [L. 100]
The humble soul is never satisfied with itself; it always seeks to do more
for God.
I do not think there are any souls in the world with whom God is less happy
than those who think they have reasons to be content with themselves. As
soon as someone has begun to know how lovable God is, he must be very
insensitive to prevent himself from loving Him very much. And when we love
Him well, we never think we have done enough for Him. [L. 102]
The person who is humble of heart does not dwell on his neighbor's faults.
O my God, what a sad occupation it is to amuse ourselves examining the life
of others! It would be better to be blind and simple-minded than to use your
mind to consider and judge the actions of your neighbor. One whose heart is
full of the love of God has many other occupations: he no longer thinks of
anything but suffering for that which he loves, and he loves all those who
give him an occasion to suffer for his Beloved. [L. 104]
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