Subj : March 24th - Saint Catherine of Sweden To : All From : rich Date : Mon Mar 23 2020 08:44:18 From: rich March 24th - Saint Catherine of Sweden (1322-1381) Saint Catherine was the daughter of Saint Bridget of Sweden and of Ulpho, Prince of Nericia, a region of the same land. The love of God seemed to hasten in her the use of her reason, and at 7 years of age she was placed in the convent of Risburgh, to be educated in piety under the care of the holy abbess of that house. Being very beautiful, she was promised by her father in marriage to a young nobleman of great virtue; but the virgin persuaded her suitor to join with her in making a mutual vow of perpetual chastity. Listening to her discourses, the young man became desirous only for heavenly graces, and, to draw them down upon his soul in greater abundance, he readily acquiesced to the proposal. The happy couple, having but one heart and one desire, by a holy emulation encouraged each other to prayer, mortification, and works of charity. After the death of her father, Saint Catherine, out of devotion to the Passion of Christ and to the relics of the martyrs, obtained her spouse's permission to join her mother in her well-known pilgrimage= s and practices of devotion and penance in Rome. She went to her there and they visited the tombs of the martyrs and the churches, and together practiced mortification and works of piety, caring for the sick in the hospitals. Not long afterward, Catherine's royal spouse died piously and then she found herself obliged to refuse numerous requests for her hand in marriage. When her mother died in 1373, she returned to Sweden, taking the mortal remains of Saint Bridget with her for burial. Catherine entered a monastery at Vatzan, where after a life of severe penance, she died on the 24th of March in 1381. For the last twenty-five years of her life Saint Catherine had purified her soul daily by the sacramental confession of her sins. Reflection. Whoever has to dwell in the world stands in need of great prudence; the Holy Scripture itself assures us that =E2=80=9Cthe knowledge = of the saints is prudence.=E2=80=9D (Prov. 9:10) Sources: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea Reflection. Whoever has to dwell in the world stands in need of great prudence; the Holy Scripture itself assures us that =E2=80=9Cthe knowledge of the sai= nts is prudence.=E2=80=9D (Prov. 9:10) Bible Quote: For as the body is one and hath many members; and all the members of the body, whereas they are many, yet are one body: So also is Christ. For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free: and in one Spirit we have all been made to drink.=C2 [1 Co 12:12-13 ] <><><><> Love is strong as death: =C2 =C2 Fasten this sign of the Crucified upon your breast and your h= eart, fasten it upon your arm, so that in all your actions you may be dead to sin. Do not be dismayed by the hardness of the nails; it is no more than the severity of love. Do not complain of their unbreakable firmness; love also is strong as death. It is love that puts to death all our sins and failings, love that deals their death blow. In a word, by loving the Lord's commandments we die to sin and to deeds of shame. God is love; his word is love, that word which is all-powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, penetrating to the point where soul is divided from spirit or joints from marrow. Our soul and our flesh must be transfixed by the nails of love, and then we ourselves can say: I am wounded by love. Love has its own nail and its own sword with which to pierce the human soul; happy are they who are wounded by them. =C2 =C2 Let us willingly expose ourselves to these wounds; if we succ= umb to them, we shall not taste everlasting death. Let us take up our Lord's cross, the cross on which our unregenerate selves must be crucified and sin destroyed. --St. Ambrose of Milan --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .