Subj : True lovers of God. To : All From : rich Date : Wed May 30 2018 10:13:03 From: rich True lovers of God. When a true lover of God suffers at the hands of his fellow men, he is strengthened through the grace of the Holy Spirit and is made so truly humble and patient and peaceable that, whatever wrong or injury he suffers, he always retains his humility. He does not despise his persecutors or speak ill of them, but prays for them with pity and compassion more tenderly than for those who never harmed him. And he does indeed love them more, and more fervently desires their salvation, because he sees that he will have such great spiritual gain from their evil deed, even though they never intended that he should. But this kind of love and humility, which are beyond human nature, are only brought about by the Holy Spirit in those whom he makes true lovers of God. --Walter Hilton <<>><<>><<>> May 31st - Feast of the Visitation And Mary rising up in those days went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda. [Lk. 1:39] How lyrical that is, the opening sentence of St. Luke's description= of the Visitation. We can feel the rush of warmth and kindness, the sudden urgency of love that sent that girl hurrying over the hills. =E2=80=9CThose days=E2=80=9D in which she rose on that impulse were the day= s in which Christ was being formed in her, the impulse was His impulse. Many women, if they were expecting a child, would refuse to hurry over the hills on a visit of pure kindness. They would say they had a duty to themselves and to their unborn child which came before anything or anyone else. The Mother of God considered no such thing. Elizabeth was going to have a child, too and although Mary's own child was God, she could = not forget Elizabeth's need--almost incredible to us, but characteristi= c of her. She greeted her cousin Elizabeth and at the sound of her voice, John quickened in his mother's womb and leapt for joy. I am come, said Christ, that they may have life and may have it more abundantly. [Jn. 10, 10] Even before He was born His presence gave life. With what piercing shoots of joy does this story of Christ unfold! First the conception of a child in a child's heart and then this fi= rst salutation, an infant leaping for joy in his mother's womb, knowing the hidden Christ and leaping into life. How did Elizabeth herself know what had happened to Our Lady? What made her realize that this little cousin who was so familiar to her was the mother of her God? She knew it by the child within herself, by the quickening into life which was a leap of joy. If we practice this contemplation taught and shown to us by Our Lady, we will find that our experience is like hers. If Christ is growing in us, if we are at peace, recollected, because we know that however insignificant our life seems to be, from it He is forming Himself; if we go with eager wills, =E2=80=9Cin haste,=E2=80=9D to wherever our circums= tances compel us because we believe that He desires to be in that place, we shall find that we are driven more and more to act on the impulse of His love. And the answer we shall get from others to those impulses will be an awakening into life or the leap into joy of the already wakened life within them. Excerpted from The Reed of God, Caryll Houselander Bible Quote: =E2=80=9CMy soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God = my Savior. Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me, and holy is His name=E2=80=9D (Lk. 1:46). <><><><> Arise Mary, Mother of God! It is the time for your Visitation. Arise Mary, and go forth in your strength into that north country, which once was your own, and take possession of a land which knows you not. Arise, Mother of God, and with your thrilling voice, speak to those who labour with child, and are in pain, till the babe of grace leaps within them! Amen --Blessed Cardinal JOHN HENRY NEWMAN (1801-1890)-- --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .