• The Doctrine of Truth {5}

    From Weedy@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jul 19 23:35:49 2021
    The Doctrine of Truth {5}

    Every perfection in this life has some imperfection mixed with it and
    no learning of ours is without some darkness. Humble knowledge of self
    is a surer path to God than the ardent pursuit of learning. Not that
    learning is to be considered evil, or knowledge, which is good in
    itself and so ordained by God; but a clean conscience and virtuous
    life ought always to be preferred. Many often err and accomplish
    little or nothing because they try to become learned rather than to
    live well.
    If men used as much care in uprooting vices and implanting virtues as
    they do in discussing problems, there would not be so much evil and
    scandal in the world, or such laxity in religious organizations. On
    the day of judgment, surely, we shall not be asked what we have read
    but what we have done; not how well we have spoken but how well we
    have lived.
    --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 1, Ch 3

    <<>><<>><<>>
    20 July - Blessed Luigi Novarese

    (1914-1984)
     Priest, co-Founder (alongside Sr Elvira Myriam Psorulla), Apostle of
    the Sick – born on 29 July 1914 in Casale Monferrato, Alessandria,
    Italy and died on 20 July 1984 in Rocca Priora, Rome, Italy of natural
    causes, aged 70. Patronages – Apostolate of the Suffering, Silent
    Workers of the Cross, Marian Priest League, Brothers and Sisters of
    the Sick. Blessed Luigi with Sr Psorulla, founded the Apostolate of
    the Suffering as well as the Silent Workers of the Cross. He also
    established the Marian Priest League and the Brothers and Sisters of
    the Sick. He built several homes for those who were ill and disabled.
    He served in the Secretariat of State until leaving that position to
    work alongside the Italian Episcopal Conference and to dedicate more
    time to the ill and to the work of his orders.

    Msgr Luigi Novarese, was born in Casale Monferrato, in Piedmont, on 29
    July 1914, the last of nine children. His father died when Luigi was
    just nine months old. His young mother Teresa, barely thirty, had to
    take care of the large family alone.

    He personally experienced suffering. In 1923, Luigi, age nine, was
    diagnosed with a life-threatening disease – bone tuberculosis. The
    doctors declared him incurable and his case a hopeless and terminal
    one. His mother, Teresa was determined to save him and intensified her
    work, using every penny to cure her dying son. She is also a very
    devout Catholic and prayed to Our Lady asking for Luigi’s recovery but
    the doctors told her to be resigned to Luigi’s terminal illness.  His doctors will be proved wrong. Thus began the continuous pilgrimage
    from one hospital to another but to no avail. At that time he
    experienced the horror and suffering the chronically ill live with and
    this marked him indelibly.

    The thing that made him suffer the most was hearing the sick cursing
    in anger and desperation, sometimes because they were not assisted by
    the staff. Then, with considerable effort, he tried to help them
    himself, to prevent them from cursing even more.

    Luigi followed his mother’s footsteps in her devotion to Our Lady and
    wrote a letter to Father Filippo Rinaldi, leader of the Salesians
    Order, asking that he and his students pray for him.  Father Rinaldi
    told Luigi that they will ask for the intercession of St John Bosco
    and Our Lady Help of Christians. On 17 May 1931, aged 17, Luigi left
    the hospital for the last time, miraculously recovered.

    During his numerous hospital stays, Luigi decided that he would become
    a doctor if he recovered. All of this changed in 1935 with his
    mother’s death. He realised the great possibility of serving the Lord
    by uniting the suffering of the sick with that of the Resurrected
    Lord’s and so entered the Seminary of Casale Monferrato, Italy. He
    would later complete his studies at the Capranica College in Rome and
    was Ordained a Priest on 17 December 1938, at St John Latern Basilica
    in the same city where he would spend most of his life. On 1 May 1942,
    Msgr Giovanni Battista Montini, Vatican Under Secretary of State and
    the future Pope Paul VI, asked Father Novarese to join his staff,
    where he would remain until 12 May 1970, when he was appointed
    exclusively to the Religious Hospital Assistance of Italy.

    Msgr Novarese saw that many Priests had been wounded or were sick
    because of World War II and he wanted to help them. He founded the
    Marian Priest League on 17 May 1943. He extended his activities four
    years later, by founding the Apostolate of the Suffering (CVS) with
    the aid of Sr Elvira Myriam Psorulla, a young woman born in Haifa in
    Palestine who had moved to Rome to aid her sick uncle. The aim of this Association was completely new and innovative because the sick were no
    longer seen as people to be helped but rather, as active participants
    in society offering and uniting their suffering with that of Christ’s.

    Due to his experience of illness and sanatorium, he wanted to dedicate
    his life to a new apostolate: “the integral promotion of the suffering person.” His aim was to enhance, recover the sick person “in full,” starting from his soul and continuing in every area of his life – the
    body, the work, the affections, etc.

    Then in 1950, Msgr Novarese founded a third essential group, the
    Silent Workers of the Cross composed of men and women, Priests and
    laity, who consecrate themselves totally to the suffering by actively
    aiding and educating the disabled on the Christian concept of pain. In
    that same year, The Anchor magazine began it’s monthly Publication
    focusing on the members’ spiritual growth. Finally, Msgr. Novarese
    realised that strong arms are necessary to carry out all of the
    Association’s numerous spiritual activities and meetings, so in 1952,
    he founded the Brothers and Sisters of the Sick made up of healthy
    persons willing to share their time aiding the disabled in all
    apostolic endeavours.

    From 9 to 15 September 1952 he held the first course of spiritual
    exercises for the first group of Silent Workers of the Cross from
    different parts of Italy. It was on that occasion that it was decided
    to build a house to accommodate the sick and handicapped who wish to
    live the experience of spiritual exercises annually. The first of
    these houses was built and was dedicated to the “Immaculate Heart of
    Mary.” A few years later, in 1957, the first Community of Silent
    Workers of the Cross entered what would become the association’s
    “Mother House,” at the Sanctuary of Valleluogo in Ariano Irpino. The
    works continued to grow. But Luigi Novarese had begun to think beyond
    Italian borders, dreaming of what he called “the worldwide union of
    the sick.”

    Wanting to do more for the sick, Msgr Novarese thought of workshops
    that would allow the disabled to enter the working world and economic independence from their families. This happened in 1954 after a
    miraculous event involving a member of the community. It must be
    remembered that in those years no-one was assisting the disabled.

    Ten years later, His Holiness Pope John XXIII appointed Msgr Novarese
    to the Chaplains of the Italian Hospitals. In his final years, he
    built communities abroad, organised conferences on religious and
    scientific themes bringing doctors and nurses together for discussion
    and planned Spiritual Retreats for psychiatric patients.

    Msgr Novarese ended his earthly life on 20 July 1984, in the newly
    opened house in Rocca Priora where he wanted to establish the training
    place for those who wish to join the Silent Workers of the Cross. His
    work is now continued by the Silent Workers of the Cross who direct
    and co-ordinate the apostolate which takes place locally in Italy and
    in many other countries. He is buried in St Mary’s Suffrage Church,
    Rome, Italy.

    For 15 years Msgr Novarese also directed the Office of the Italian
    Episcopal Conference for the pastoral care of health, following in
    particular the formulation and application of the legislation for
    hospital religious assistance.

    On 19 December 2011, Pope Benedict XVI signed the decree recognising a
    miracle obtained, through the intercession of Venerable Luigi
    Novarese. He was Beatified on 11 May 2013 by Pope Francis with the Beatification recognition being celebrated at the Basilica of Saint
    Paul Outside-the-Walls, Rome, Italy by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

    https://anastpaul.com/2020/07/20/


    And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said,
    “Why does this generation seek a sign?  Mark 8:12

    “But for what sign from heaven were they asking?
    Maybe that He should hold back the sun,
    or curb the moon,
    or bring down thunderbolts,
    or change the direction of the wind,
    or something like that?
    In Pharaoh’s time there was an enemy
    from whom deliverance was needed.
    But for one who comes among friends,
    there should be no need of such signs.”
    --St John Chrysostom (347-407)

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