Patient endurance
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Patient endurance
The apostle writes: With patient endurance we run the race of faith
set before us. For what has more power than virtue? What more firmness
or strength than patient endurance? Endurance, that is, for God's
sake. This is the queen of virtues, the foundation of virtue, a haven
of tranquility. It is peace in time of war, calm in rough waters,
safety amidst treachery and danger. It makes those who practice it
stronger than steel. No weapons or brandished bows, no turbulent
troops or advancing siege engines, no flying spears or arrows can
shake it. Not even the host of evil spirits, nor the dark array of
hostile powers, nor the devil himself standing by with all his armies
and devices will have power to injure the man or woman who has
acquired this virtue through Christ.
--St. Nilus of Ancyra
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7 December - St. Mary Joseph Rosello
Religious sister and Founder of the Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy.
Also known as St Maria Joseph Rosello – Born as Benedetta Rosello on
27 May 1811 at Albissola Marina, Liguria, diocese of Savona, Italy and
died on 7 December 1880 (aged 69) in Savona, Italy. She is the Patron
of the Order she founded.
Three hundred years after the apparitions of Our Lady of Mercy on the
hillsides of Savona, Italy in 1536. That same city was the scene of
another important event – the founding of the Congregation of the
Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy in 1837.
Chosen by God to accomplish this task was an unassuming young woman
named Benedetta Rossello, today invoked as Saint Maria Joseph
Rossello. Pope Pius XII raised her to the altars of sainthood on 12
June 1949.
One of nine children, her father was a potter. Born in poverty, she
suffered from poor health all her life. Pious from early youth she
tried to enter a religious order but was refused admission due to her
health and lack of dowry. The pious, childless couple she worked for
could have given her a dowry but would not because they did not want
to lose her as member of their family. Benedetta was devoted to the
Blessed Virgin Mary which led her to becoming a member of the Third
Order of Saint Francis at the age of 16. Benedetta would become the
sole support of her family after the death of her mother and second
brother and her sister, Josephine and then her father too.
“Oh, that I could find a generous person who would care for these
neglected children of my flock.” These were the words of Bishop De
Mari of Savona one day as he came upon a group of uncouth girls
playing on the street. Benedetta heard them as words from heaven and
offered her services to the Bishop immediately.
Bishop DeMari was quick to see in the young woman before him a truly
apostolic and generous person whom God had destined for great work. He
did not hesitate to confide his plans to her, as he realised that God
had sent Benedetta to him.
On 10 August 1837, Benedetta Rossello and three companions who shared
her vision laid the foundation of a new religious family in the Church
– the Congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy. They began
in a small unpretentious house in the city of Savona on a street
called Vico del Vento.
After a brief but intense period of preparation, the Bishop presented
a religious habit to each young woman as well as a new name to
symbolise their consecration to God and His service. Benedetta became
Sister Maria Joseph because Saint Joseph was to be her protector,
provider and father throughout her whole life. Two years later, the
new Sisters sealed their consecration to God by taking the three vows
– poverty, chastity and obedience. These new Religious – the first Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy – dedicated themselves wholeheartedly
to the work for which God had called the new Congregation to life –
the education of youth, the care of the sick and all the works of
mercy.
The Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy spread rapidly throughout Italy and
during the lifetime of the Foundress, even to South America. In 1875,
Saint Maria Joseph Rossello sent 15 Sisters to Buenos Aires, Argentina
and there too, they spread far and wide, now having foundations in
Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Peru and many parts of Argentina.
In 1919, the Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy arrived in North America
in response to an appeal similar to that of Bishop DeMari. They were
requested to open a Social and Parish Mission Center in Springfield,
MA, principally to offer religious Instruction to the children. Thus
the mission and spirit of St Maria Joseph Rossello was extended to the
United States.
Presently, the Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy minister in 19 countries
on 5 continents. They may be found in Italy, Africa, India, Germany,
Romania as well as North and South America and the Caribbean Islands.
From Anastpaul 2019
Saint Quote:
The hands should be at work, the heart with God.
--Saint Mary Joseph
Bible Quote:
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and
behold the face of God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me
continually, "Where is your God?"
4 These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I went with the
throng, and led them in procession to the house of God, with glad
shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.
[Psalm 42:2-4]
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Qui manet in charitate, in Deo manet, et Deus in eo--Who abideth in
charity, abideth in God, and God in him.--1 John 4:16
1. The object of all virtues is to bring us into union with God, in
which alone is laid up all the happiness that can be enjoyed in this
world. Now, in what does this union properly consist? In nothing save
a perfect conformity and resemblance between our will and the will of
God, so that these these two wills are absolutely alike--there is
nothing in one repugnant to the other; all that one wishes and loves,
the other wishes and loves; whatever pleases or displeases one,
pleases or displeases the other.--St. John of the Cross
The Blessed Virgin possessed this perfect union, and St. Bernard says
of her that she kept her eyes on the watch and her consent fully
prepared for every token of the Divine Will.
The Venerable Mother Seraphina di Dio had advanced far on this road,
for in an account which she gave of herself to her director, she was
able to say: "My soul seems to be so much in harmony with Our Lord,
that whatever He operates in it always appears most fitting, for it is
the very thing which it wills for itself. Whatever comes to my soul is
a sweet morsel made on purpose for it, and it seems unable to desire
anything else, so that it never experiences bitterness or trouble."
Once when she accused herself of want of conformity to the Divine
Will, she received at that moment a ray of light by which she saw how
beautiful is the will of God so clearly that she remained for some
time overcome with astonishment that a creature, sprung from nothing,
should fail to love the most holy and beautiful will of its Creator.
(Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints". December: Union)
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